cari…
“First of all, I have to be honest and tell you that your exuberant
(mis)use of elilipsis in your writing makes gleaning meaning very, very
difficult. From what I am able to piece together, you are stating that
one who condems homosexual acts is fostering persecution of homosexuals.
I suppose that depends on what your defenition of
“persecution” is. My four year old claims that I’m “persecuting” her when I tell
her that something she’s doing is wrong. Lots of people claim
“persecution” or “harrassment” when told that something they’re doing is wrong.”
my apologies i need to edit better.
persecution 101…historically homosexuals have been severely persecuted. they have been abandoned by friends and family, rejected by society including the church, subject to incarceration, assaullt, which in some cases has led to death. in regards to the church in addition of being rejected and denied access, they were wrongly told, that they would be subject to eternal damnation if they allowed themselves to succomb to their same sex feelings.
“So sin is to be accepted? Forget the whole “take up your cross and
follow me” bit? Yes, there is emotional and psychological pain involved
with those who struggle to remain faithful to the Church’s teachings.
Go ask someone like St. Gianna Molla if there was emotional pain in
adhearing to Church teachings. Ask someone like St. Maximillian Kolbe if
he suffered psychologial duress. Sin exists. We are called to fight
against it.”
im not familiar with any of those martyrs, but my understanding is that in cases like brother lawrence or bernadette, whatever suffering they felt compelled to endure, it was from the grace and conviction by the holy spirit. their suffering wasnt thrust upon them by others who felt compelled to burden someone with their understanding of sin.
"Perhaps the problem lies in a defintion of “persecution”. You seem to
be of the opinion (and forgive me if I’m misreading this) that if one
is unwilling to embrace homosexual acts, one is engaging in persecution,
or as
dictionary.com defines it:
- to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment, esp. because of
religion, race, or beliefs; harass persistently.
- to annoy or trouble persistently.
To engage in this behavior is anti-christian. However, refusal to
condone homosexual acts does not equal persecution."
that’s what im trying to get at. what is the basis for making that statement"To engage in this behavior is anti-christian." is it an unsubstaniated opinion. are you merely reiterating your church leaders. is it an expression of cultural bias(christian culture) is this a result of witness. witness being an observation, apart from one’s belief system, that either supports that belief system or comes against it.
there were a number of references to christ being there for the gentiles as well. an example of winess…peter’s visit to cornelius’s house, acts 10, he witnessed something that totally countered everything he had been taught ( the reason he took 7 witnesses with him)
there were a number of references to christ being there for the gentiles as well. but it was only because of peter’s witness that those scriptures were embraced.
so what im asking you to consider. that to declare a person a sinner apart from from an interpretation of scripture requires a 1john1 witness of hearing, seeing, and touching(emotionally mentally and physically) with one’s heart in the spirit of fellowship of christ(fruit of the spirit) with your homosexual brothers in christ to determine if the spirit of their orientation comes against the fruit of the spirit(galatians) love, joy peace,kindness,gentleness,goodness,self-control,patience and faithfulness.
im sure you are famaliar with christ’s teaching a bad tree cannot produce good fruit and a good tree cannot produce bad fruit.
whether it is your intention or not, making homosexuals less than heterosexuals will cause persecution. you cant say one orientation is of god and the other is of satan or is anti christ or against god’s will and not cause persecution.
im not telling you not to believe what you believe. im merely telling you the consequences of your belief, and am asking you do you believe that spirit of christ supports persecution for the benefit of anything?
what is your understanding of witness? in scripture(the old testament required 2 witnesses) wouldn’t you conclude that lack of personnal witness raises the possibility of false witness.
I am not afraid of homosexuals. I am not afraid