Looking for a different kind of argument

[Cynot]

I am finding myself more and more confronted with homosexuality. People I meet, issues that are being discussed etc etc

My typical approach is always to be a silent witness, and respond with a well reasoned and well articulated response when asked for my opinion. However I am having difficulty on the topic of homosexuality.

I absolutely believe in the teachings of the Church and that homosexual acts are wrong. I also am fully capable of working with and being friends with homosexual people. But I am worried they might challenge me and I am troubled that I don’t have a response.

To be sure I have a response if I cite Scripture or the teachings of the Church, but what common ground can I find if the person I am talking with isn’t Catholic, or isn’t even remotely religious?

I can quote scripture and doctors of the church until I am blue in the face, but it will all be dismissed if it is based on a concept of God they do not believe in, Yet without God, how can I argue morality as an objective truth?

I am trying to find an argument against homosexuality that an atheist might respect.

 

[underacloud]

I have similar concerns. I believe in and accept the Church’s teaching on this issue, but have homosexual friends and can understand that from their perspective they feel they do nothing wrong.

It is a topic I prefer not to discuss with such friends, because I fear my views will only offend them. But equally I am conscious to be open as a person of faith. A wise priest explained to me one day that we are to be prepared to share our faith, but that’s very different from defending it or trying to win an argument (unless one is a professional apologist). We don’t neccessarily need to point out other people’s faults, but more focus on the role that faith plays in our own lives. Well, he explained it better.

As you identify, the key issue is their concept of God, not their sexuality. Attacking (or being perceived to attack) their sexuality is unlikely to be an effective way of bringing them closer to God. But perhaps sharing your experiences of God’s love in your own life just might be helpful to some people.

 

[one_truth_1]

Two things that I’ve been thinking about are the high divorce rate and the fact that the rate of American kids born to unwed parents used to be 4%, but is now 40%. I think that most people innately know these two things to be bad, not good. The divorce rate used to hover between 6% and 15%. It now sits between 47% and 53%. I realize there are other statistics that can be brought up, but I think these two examples are arguably the most startling, in terms of society’s drastic changes since the 1960’s. I think that the cause of these two problems is society’s persistent efforts to divorce sex from family life. Birth control, no-fault divorce laws, homosexuality and sex in popular culture all result from, and help to further, this phenomenon. The ideal sex is between a man and a woman who are married to each other, so that they can lovingly raise any potential children who result from that union. A promiscuous single lifestyle falls short. So do masturbation and homosexual acts. It doesn’t mean that the people who do those things are bad people, though. It’s just that, if we only have one physical life to live, why not strive for the truth, and the truth alone? The Church isn’t going to waste any time teaching anything less.