im new here

[Liberalsaved]

Mijoy2:

LiberalSaved, have your read the Gospels? God wants us to be infinately happy. Yet He knows our happiness rests in Him. It’s our attachments to the world that make us unhappy. He is willing to allow us to find this out for ourselves…thus our unhappiness.

I wish I had more time. God did not create us to be smiling gremlins. This took a long while for me to learn and accept. As I have heard mentioned, one of the most joyful persons to ever walk this earth was Mother Teresa. Certainly not because she was pursuing her own “happiness”.

I get all this. What I am asking is “Why?” Why do all this? What does God gain by creating us? He’s God. What can we give Him that He doesn’t have? Why put us here and then make us jump through such hoops? Why put us in front of the tree and tell us not to eat the fruit? That’s like dangling a cnady cane in front of a four-month-old. It doesn’t do anyone any good, because there was no problem in the first place, nothing that was lacking, that the world needed to be put here.

I am very Liberal, and I beleive in higher powers. But I don’t beleive that something so pointless would be worth the time. I don’t think God doesn’t want us to think of worldly happiness. And if He doesn’t, then He’s playing with us like puppets on a strong. And I can not accept that. So I am forced into the other logical conclusion; that the idea that God does not want us to be concerned with worldly things is highly exaggerated.

 

[FightingFat]

I am gobsmacked at some of the replies here. Whether we are catholic/christian or not, whether we believe in God or not, there is one thing we ALL believe in, THATS LOVE! How about showing some in these posts!

:clapping:

 

[iamme]

BlindSheep:

Hmm - people throw the term “hypocricy” around so easily, about things they have no way of knowing.
People here have encouraged you to remain celibate. How do you know that none of us are celibate?
Sorry you didn’t find what you were looking for here (an excuse to do whatever you like, maybe?).

youre name is blind sheep… blind people usually die at crosswalks… as for not knowing about hypocricy, i do know how to spell it, so im one up on you…

 

[hurst]

Liberalsaved:

I don’t think God doesn’t want us to think of worldly happiness. And if He doesn’t, then He’s playing with us like puppets on a strong. And I can not accept that. So I am forced into the other logical conclusion; that the idea that God does not want us to be concerned with worldly things is highly exaggerated.

Question: why do you suppose God deigned to be born in a stable and live in poverty His whole life?

Why do you think He said it was hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom?

Mark 10:23 And Jesus looking round about, saith to his disciples: How hardly shall they that have riches, enter into the kingdom of God! 24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus again answering, saith to them: Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God?

Why do you think He told a rich young man that if he wanted to be perfect, to go sell all he had and then follow Him?

Matthew 19:21 Jesus saith to him: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me.

If it is okay to think well of worldly happiness, then it is even better to think even more highly of heavenly happiness. Heavenly happiness consists in giving of oneself.

Philippians 2:5 For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.

The logical conclusion is that true happiness consists in giving and sharing one’s own goods and very self.

Matthew 16:25 For he that will save his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it.

That would logically mean to love poverty, so that if one were to gain anything, they would prefer to immediately give it to help someone else.

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 14:13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind; 14 And thou shalt be blessed, because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense: for recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just.

Does this help?

hurst

 

[BlindSheep]

iamme:

youre name is blind sheep… blind people usually die at crosswalks… as for not knowing about hypocricy, i do know how to spell it, so im one up on you…

I’m sorry. Clearly you are much smarter than me, and therefore should not listen to what I say.
Just read the Catechism, if you want to know what Catholic doctrine has to say about this, since I am too stupid to assist you in your search for truth.

 

[decn2b]

I have read some of these posts and still am trying to figure out the real reason for you coming to this message board.

Could it be your nagging freudian conscience? I don’t know but if you know nothing of Catholicism you really have no idea how to approach anyone on this board. Catholicsm is my very being. Every aspect of my life involves my faith. At one time in my life I was an agnostic who had no idea what it was like to be Christian and Catholic. People that frequent these boards have Jesus Chirst on their minds 24/7 most of us here are big time sinners. Homosexuality is a condition that is NOT a sin unless you act on it. Most traditional orthodox Catholics view homosexuality similar to alcoholism. Being an Alcoholic isn’t a sin but the act of succumbing to the condition by drunkeness is a sin. I think I can use analogy to speak for quite a few on this board that.To me you seem like an alocholic who says that there is nothing wrong with slamming a 5th of jack Daniels to start the day off. But in your case its not Alchoholism its Homosexuality. You come here by disagreeing with our core being in life and that is Catholicsim (Christianity). As Catholics we believe in the inspired word of god that we call a bible. The book of Romans (which is in the bible) explicitly states that homosexual relations are evil acts that are condemned. You say you are who you are but in my eyes you are an individual who has failed to recognize who you really are. Who you are is a God created human being that was born with homosexaul inclination. My cousin is a diabetic he was born that way just like you were born the way you were. But does my cousin say that his diabetes is normal? NO. There is psycological evidence that some individuals are BORN with addictive personalities. Just because they were born that way do they say its OK for them to engage addictive behaviors? NO. Unless you make an honest attempt at answering the question of who you really are and acknowledge that there is a God who created you. You will never be content in your life. This discontent will drive you to places like Catholic answers message boards and start threads titled… “I am new here”

Lastly If you do not believe in God it is your choice.Remember this, that free will is a Gift and if you didn’t have free will you would be nothing more than a puppet. If you think what we believe is a bunch of Malarky then I offer you Pascals wager… If I am wrong then I will only look like a fool for about 35 more years…If You are wrong…then who will it be that is a fool for eternity…and from what I have read hell isn’t a nice place. Weird thing is it only takes a very very small choice to avoid the place. You can live for this life or you can live for this life and the life to come. The choice is yours.

 

[ElizabethAnne]

hurst,

My response, meant for iamme, was my effort to respond to his struggles in a caring and compassionate way. I am not sure why you seem to be refuting my post.

hurst:

On the contrary, the Church teaches that homosexuality is an objective disorder. In other words, it is not pleasing to God. While we are called to be compassionate for those who struggle with it, they are called to overcome it as much as they are able.

When did I say that homosexuality was pleasing to God? More specifically what I meant was that God does not condemn those who have a homosexual orientation. Perhaps the words “does not have a problem with” were not as clear as they should have been.

hurst:

You must have made a typo here. It sounds like you are saying that such acts are not a choice, which is obviously untrue.

Perhaps you misread my words. I said that homosexuality, the disorder, is not necessarily a choice. There are many factors involved in the cause, and I do not believe that anyone can definitively say that the only cause is a personal, conscious, choice. As I said, “It is any sexual act outside of marriage that is immoral” and I mentioned that homosexuals “are all called to live chastely, as everyone is called to do.” Sexual acts outside of marriage, including homosexual acts, are a choice, and are immoral.

hurst:

God does tolerate us, but we are all called to do penance, for He has appointed a day of judgment.

Acts 17:30 And God indeed having winked at the times of this ignorance, now declareth unto men, that all should every where do penance.31 Because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in equity, …

If God is giving us time, it is so we can seek His mercy and be converted back to Him. He does not tolerate it in order that we remain obstinate.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance.

hurst

Unfortunately some people do “remain obstinate,” and God does tolerate that. He also tolerates sin. This doesn’t mean that He’s happy about the situation, but He has given us true free will.

I did not tell iamme to not do penance or not to convert back to God. What I said was:

ElizabethAnne:

I would encourage you to reach out toward God. He is watching over you, loves you and wants the very best for you…He does have a plan in mind for you. For that reason, God gave us the prophets, the Bible and Jesus to help us understand how to best live here in this world so that we can be with Him in the next.

 

[hurst]

ElizabethAnne:

More specifically what I meant was that God does not condemn those who have a homosexual orientation. Perhaps the words “does not have a problem with” were not as clear as they should have been.
…
Perhaps you misread my words. I said that homosexuality, the disorder, is not necessarily a choice. There are many factors involved in the cause, and I do not believe that anyone can definitively say that the only cause is a personal, conscious, choice. As I said, “It is any sexual act outside of marriage that is immoral” and I mentioned that homosexuals “are all called to live chastely, as everyone is called to do.” Sexual acts outside of marriage, including homosexual acts, are a choice, and are immoral.

Yes, I had trouble establishing what exactly you were trying to say, since some things seemed to conflict with others. Thank you for clarifying what you meant.

hurst

 

[bear06]

It seems that, because you are not a practicing Catholic, that any answers we give will be wrong for you.

Those who believe in the Catholic Church’s teachings on the issue of homosexuality believe that being homosexual is not a sin. We believe the the homosexual act is a sin. We believe that you can be helped by such organizations as couragerc.net/

On a personal note and from personal experience I’d say that most homosexuals I’ve been in contact with want me, my family, and the Catholic Church to embrace their lifestyle. Everyone preaches tolerance to us as long as tolerance means believing what you believe. Do I hate you? No, but I do not except the homosexual lifestyle. I pray that you lead a chaste life and rely on the support of organizations such as couragerc.net/ to do so. I think you’ll find their manner of dealing with homosexuality to be quite in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church and quite charitible.

 

[FightingFat]

I worry about predjudice. It seems to me any form of predjudice is a backward sort of thing that demonstrates a lack of understanding and compassion.
I worry that saying things like ‘homosexuality is disordered’ breeds hatred, not overtly perhaps, but that it is implicit in such a statement. One does not need to add ‘go and beat a gay up’, but for some more ignorant members of society, such an instruction is implicit in that statement. This is one reason I feel nervous about ‘condemning’ anyone, or anyone’s behaviour. I think it is the Church’s job to make a statement on such issues, to take a stand, but I think we should concentrate on the Christian elements of our faith, charity, love and a desire for social justice for all people.

I don’t think those here quoting the Church’s teaching are wrong, nor do I find myself at odds with it, I just take that teaching in context with the whole of my Catholic faith. I hope that makes sense.

This is a link to an interesting article on predjudice stonewall.org.uk/documents/long_summary_no_logo.doc

 

[BlindSheep]

FightingFat -

Perhaps you are reading the term “disordered” differently than it is intended?
Binging and purging is disordered, cutting your arms with razor blades is disordered, eating a half gallon of ice cream at one sitting is disordered (I’ve done that before)…does anyone think they should therefore beat up people who do these things?

 

[goofyjim]

I won’t go into detail but if you read the right sources there are various health risks in homosexual behavior. Compassion would be helping our brothers avoid this in life.

 

[Melanie01]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/18.gif

to this dynamic Board

 

[catsrus]

originally posted by iamme
and for the third time, when your kid says he is gay, what will you do if he refuses to change (like he has a choice)?

Since this was posted to me…
"WHEN"?? my kid says he’s “gay”?
Not ever happening.
My “kids” are all married with children. Heterosexual by CHOICE.
Have you no control over your sexual desires? Though you may be attracted to SS, it is a choice to not act on it and live according to God’s word.
Do not buy into the world view that we have no control over ourselves.
If a person is attracted to stealing, does that mean he will steal? Choice to not act on the urge to steal, lie, kill, gossip or engage one’s self in sexual immorality.
The CHOICE is yours.

 

[iamme]

goofyjim:

I won’t go into detail but if you read the right sources there are various health risks in homosexual behavior. Compassion would be helping our brothers avoid this in life.

i hate to break it to you, but there are various health risks in ANY sexual behavior…

 

[bear06]

iamme:

i hate to break it to you, but there are various health risks in ANY sexual behavior…

Actually, if both spouses have led a chaste life or managed to avoid and STDs when they weren’t in that state *and * are in a monogamous relationship there is little to no health risks based on sexual behavior as God intended. (Please note the "as God intended part) This is not so with promiscuous or homosexual sex. I’ve yet to have to worry about health risks or incur any negative health problems due to marital relations with my husband.

Can you name one health risk in my above described scenario?

 

[BlindSheep]

Gosh, there are health risks to walking down the street, too…yet somehow we don’t think of it the same way as, say, driving the wrong way on the expressway. Some things are far riskier than others (so risky, in fact, that the mental health of anyone doing them is called into question).

 

[iamme]

bear06:

Actually, if both spouses have led a chaste life or managed to avoid and STDs when they weren’t in that state *and * are in a monogamous relationship there is little to no health risks based on sexual behavior as God intended. (Please note the "as God intended part) This is not so with promiscuous or homosexual sex. I’ve yet to have to worry about health risks or incur any negative health problems due to marital relations with my husband.

Can you name one health risk in my above described scenario?

yes… you can never be certain that scenario even exists, because you cant be positive that everything you said above is true in the relationship… they very well might be, but you dont know… youre taking a risk… ask anyone who found out that they were being cheated on if they thought they were being cheated on, if they trusted the other person…

and as for the “as god intended” please explain the rampant drug use of the time of david…

 

[bear06]

iamme:

yes… you can never be certain that scenario even exists, because you cant be positive that everything you said above is true in the relationship… they very well might be, but you dont know… youre taking a risk… ask anyone who found out that they were being cheated on if they thought they were being cheated on, if they trusted the other person…

and as for the “as god intended” please explain the rampant drug use of the time of david…

Now you’re stretching. You said there were health risks to any sexual behavior. I described a sexual behavior and now you’re changing your argument to ask whether or not that sexual behavior can change. Duh? Sin can always rear it’s ugly head. The stats are there to support that those that live the Catholic Faith according to the teachings of the Churchregarding sex and marriage have a less than 5% divorce rate. The rate is higher for those who pick and choose what they will believe in our Faith and for those who don’t buy into any of it.

As for rampant drug use… What the heck does that have to do with anything and where are you getting this? It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with sex the way God intended it and it certainly wasn’t as God intended.

So, let’s try this again. For the monogamous couple, chaste before marriage or who have avoided STD’s when they weren’t the chaste, monogamous couple they are today, what exactly are the health risks for their sexual behavior? Please don’t address the possiblities of what can happen if this relationship changes because this is not the topic of the argument. The point is that there are always health risks with homosexual sex.

So, as a person who is concerned about her fellow man, the influences her fellow man has on her children and society, I pray that you will reconsider your support for the gay lifestyle, remain a virgin (unless your attraction to women changes) and live a chaste life.

 

[Mijoy2]

iamme:

i hate to break it to you, but there are various health risks in ANY sexual behavior…

Yes, if you have a child, about 18 years later when they go to college, it is catastrophic to ones finacial health.