We can help them find their way by being loving and pointing them the way to God if we care enough about their salvation. And of course praying for them. That’s what we as Catholics, are called to do. We are called to Evangelize if we truly care about people.
No.
OK, I looked it up. It was not covered in the basic study I undertook.
Yes, we must work out our own salvation, but we are called to evangelize and tell others about God. I heard of a girl once whose family didn’t go to church. For years she didn’t know about God, but eventually someone told her about him, invited her to church, and she came to know and love God. She said she wished someone had told her about Him a long time ago.
Since it was your claim, it is up to you to demonstrate that it is true. So far, I have only seen an appeal to emotion.
You are very kind but I would rather stick with the gay question.
This is a terrible example. As a homosexual, I didn’t choose to be gay. In this example someone is choosing to be stupid and put honey in their car. I can see the point you’re getting at but this still goes to show the large misunderstanding of most Catholics and homosexuality by placing some type of blame on the homosexual. God is the one in control here and intimately knows that He created me this way:Because, logically, it is against the Natural Law. It’s not how we were made to operate. Our reproductive parts were made to do just that, reproduce. Homosexuality, by its nature, doesn’t reproduce.
Most folks aren’t aware of what the Natural Law is. Let me offer a brief explanation. You probably have a car, right? Your car has an owner’s manual put together by the cars manufacturer. In that manual, it probably says you need to use unleaded gasoline in the tank to make it operate correctly. What if, in all sincerity, you came up with the idea that it would be better to put honey into your gas tank. After all, it’s “your car” right and you should be able to do with it “whatever you like,” right? What will be the result of you not following your manufacturers manual? You’ll be a pedestrian. Your car won’t work and you’ll have nothing but trouble with it.
The Natural Law is our Manufacturer’s (God’s) manual for human beings. Since He designed and manufactured us, He knows how we should best operate. If we deviate from that, we will have problems in our lives. Not maybe. But for sure, sooner or later.
If you would like to hear a good lecture on the Natural Law, I would invite you to listen to Dr. Charles E. Rice (professor emeritus at Notre Dame School of Law) at the following link:
alabamacatholicresources.com/Downloads/Natural_Law-1.mp3
Even though you feel gay, you don’t have to act on it. There is a deeper reason why we have those feelings. It takes some work on finding the emotiona/psychological reasons and then addressing them. No one chooses to be gay, but that doesn’t mean we have to act out on those urges if it is against what we believe to be true…that God and the Catholic church teach the acting out on it sinful and staying chaste. There are support groups for people like you who have come out of the lifestyle and through in depth counseling and prayer. It can be done especially if you wouldn’t “choose” it for yourself. I’m here to say there is freedom from it. Ask God to help you.
What greater way to praise Him than with your body and your sexuality as a chaste Christian!
Argument: If gay sex is always wrong, how can it sometimes be right?
God has helped me fully realize who I am by coming out and accepting that I’m gay. This is not an issue between me and a support group, it’s between myself and God and honestly I really think God could care less.
We have control over our bodies. If we’re attracted to someone’s wife, we don’t have to act on it. Thus, we don’t have to act on our sexual desires if we don’t desire to. The key is “if we don’t desire to”. There are plenty of Catholics who have same sex feelings that want to obey God and the church who choose to be chaste. We are called by God to be chaste until marriage. I’m sure you’ve read in scripture where fornication is sin, the definition of which is sex before marriage.God has helped me fully realize who I am by coming out and accepting that I’m gay. This is not an issue between me and a support group, it’s between myself and God and honestly I really think God could care less.
I see what you were trying to say with your example, but staying on that issue, you’re still implying I have to choose something that isn’t me. That’s not right. Even my mom said “I know you’ll make the right decision” when I came out to her which I just didn’t get. I don’t understand why straight people think there is a decision involved. There’s not.
There are other, more meaningful things, I could do to praise God in this life…
Exactly, but the impression I get from many Catholics is that just because I’m gay means I just sleep around and can’t control my decisions and that I wouldn’t care about whoever I find to love. I’m sure many Catholics indeed have chosen to live chastely, but this is not for me at this point. The Christian journey is long though, and I’m still really young, so I can’t say for certain that this will always be the case, in fact I see a future for myself where I am chaste (as I am now), but I don’t want that now and I know for certain that God has the sense to see that I see that this is a time where I’m still figuring everything out. That’s not sin. That’s life. Doing “gay things” is not always wrong. That’s not how the world works.
I’m not here to judge you, just to point you in the right direction by telling you the truth. There was a time I was involved in a relationship with the same sex when I knew it was wrong. I felt guilty all the time. I was trying to get my needs met my own way instead of turning to God to meet them, which didn’t work. The relationship was terribly painful and it went nowhere. I learned why God said to stay away from this sin (or any sin) since it hurt me and the other person emotionally and spiritually.