Too Much Talk of Sex and Homosexuality!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dj87
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Hats off to the original poster.

I almost wrote this same thread a month ago but I guess I didn’t have sufficient authoring rights.

I realize the sexual sins cause a lot of people to stumble, maybe a majority, but the site seems littered by recurring questions, easily solved and well answered already by some well written FAQ type areas.

In my conspiracy mindset - which activates every few weeks - I even wondered whether the site was being deliberately littered or worse attacked with such topics to give the overall effect that such matters represented an accurate sampling or “centroid” of today’s Catholics.

I think there ought to be some sort of consolidation/funneling of threads to minimize such an atmospheric effect. There’s enormously good advice being offered for everyone of the original posters.

Somehow, though, people feel compelled to - rather than to use the great search capability in this site and to use their own inductive/generalizing capabilities, they seem to want to one-up or one-off the particular sin in question, in greater than needed detail, and by starting new ‘dramatically’ labeled threads. Discretion, simplicity can help here.

In a way, you can see the very same sort of 'one off-ism" going on in the Gospels themselves, with various people each offering the Teacher with ‘new’ cases and questions for Him to answer.

What’s needed overall, it seems to me, is greater pursuit of holiness for us all, sharing of how to pursue holiness - irrespective of what particular sin(s) is/are involved. That too seems voluminous here - there are so many good posters here offering such good advice.

Peace and Charity.

God and Catholicism aren’t complicated. Charity, self-donation, rectifying our will to His, drawing strength from the Sacraments, Humility, and joyful struggle, beginning again…a lot. In my opinion, only.
 
There is a certain amount of recycling here. For example, it appears some are looking for a way to justify their behavior. A few are looking for a loophole that makes what they’re doing alright. And even after a link or two is posted to clear Church teaching, the same or similar questions return.

A few of the posts appear not to be legitimate questions at all but attempts to convince Catholics that the Church is somehow wrong. That it perhaps missed a detail or something.

The homosexuality threads, in some cases, also appear to involve a “the Church will change its thinking at some point” on this issue. Some of the references used to attempt to justify this position seem well researched but Catholics should always point to what the Church clearly teaches. People can state their opinions but we should never confuse opinions with the truth. The truth matters. Opinions are often based on newspaper and other Mainstrean Media sources and get repeated here.

I agree that certain subjects should be stickied with appropriate Church documents. It would avoid attempts to find some exception to the rule so that posters can justify a wrong action. It will also be helpful to those who really need help.

In the end, like bringing a horse to water, you can’t make him drink, or force him to obey Church teaching.

It is sometimes pointed out here that “the majority of Catholics don’t follow this or that teaching so why should we?” That, of course, does not invalidate the Church’s teaching. As I’ve pointed out, it took 40 years for us Catholics sitting in our pots of cool water to experience a very gradual increase in the temperature. I was there. I know. At first, it was a little risque, a little off color. It wasn’t ‘too bad.’ Today? It’s really bad. But we need to realize that this poison was not injected in one dose. It took 40 years to effectively poison the Catholic community - to the point, as a priest said on Catholic Radio, that too many Catholics are living like Agnostics. So yeah. I can see a few Catholics looking at other Catholics and thinking, “Well, they do it. So why can’t I?”

God bless,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
There is a certain amount of recycling here. For example, it appears some are looking for a way to justify their behavior. A few are looking for a loophole that makes what they’re doing alright. And even after a link or two is posted to clear Church teaching, the same or similar questions return.

A few of the posts appear not to be legitimate questions at all but attempts to convince Catholics that the Church is somehow wrong. That it perhaps missed a detail or something.

The homosexuality threads, in some cases, also appear to involve a “the Church will change its thinking at some point” on this issue. Some of the references used to attempt to justify this position seem well researched but Catholics should always point to what the Church clearly teaches. People can state their opinions but we should never confuse opinions with the truth. The truth matters. Opinions are often based on newspaper and other Mainstrean Media sources and get repeated here.

I agree that certain subjects should be stickied with appropriate Church documents. It would avoid attempts to find some exception to the rule so that posters can justify a wrong action. It will also be helpful to those who really need help.

In the end, like bringing a horse to water, you can’t make him drink, or force him to obey Church teaching.

It is sometimes pointed out here that “the majority of Catholics don’t follow this or that teaching so why should we?” That, of course, does not invalidate the Church’s teaching. As I’ve pointed out, it took 40 years for us Catholics sitting in our pots of cool water to experience a very gradual increase in the temperature. I was there. I know. At first, it was a little risque, a little off color. It wasn’t ‘too bad.’ Today? It’s really bad. But we need to realize that this poison was not injected in one dose. It took 40 years to effectively poison the Catholic community - to the point, as a priest said on Catholic Radio, that too many Catholics are living like Agnostics. So yeah. I can see a few Catholics looking at other Catholics and thinking, “Well, they do it. So why can’t I?”

God bless,
Ed
Click to expand...
Isn’t it traditional Catholics starting nearly all the threads in question? That is what puzzles me (interests me, too. I find it very curious…)
 
edwest2 said:
Hello,

Opinion has overturned truth, even for some Catholics.

The media has made it so a person will have difficulty thinking about his prayer life as opposed to his sex life. Religion is bad, we’re told. Whatever you feel is good is good.

The media has made it so too many TV programs and movies portray love as ‘just sex.’ And portray men and women degrading themselves, sexually, all the time.

Instead of portraying generally functional living, dysfunctional living is marketed as the “norm,” when it is nothing of the kind.

Some people I know actually believe that living some kind of normal life is impossible and therefore appreciate watching people who live dysfunctional lives since it makes them feel better about living dysfunctionally to some degree.

How can Catholics talk about faith here when we need to address our works? How can we be more effective Catholics in a media culture that is teaching people to live against what our faith teaches is true?

That is what I want to talk about. Faith in action and prayer.

So let’s hear it: how do Catholics help to get sex out of the mainstream?

God bless,
Ed
Click to expand...
Hi ed west,
Very good post, sir!
Here is a website for a free Catholic newspaper: www.alive.ie
I am involved in the distribution of this fine publication. The editor, Fr. Brian McKevitt, is a good and determined teacher. At times, he may seem like “a voice in the wilderness” but he continues to challenge our materialist, sex-obsessed, moral relativist society.
We must always and ever keep fighting this good fight.
A while back, on another non-religious web forum, I challenged an atheist to a public debate. As we both live in Ireland, I thought that distance would be no defence of a refusal.
As it turned out he said he had no interest in a public debate as he had better things to be doing with his time!!
This is one aspect of what faces us in our evangelising.
But onward we go safe in the knowledge that His Truth is guiding us.
God Bless,
Colmcille1.🙂
 
Larkin,

Thanks…it’ll take some looking, the beach is pretty littered over the many months.
 
OK.

I did a thread search with “homosexual” in the title. I read down the last 12, in descending chronological order. ALL 12 were begun by Catholics of Catholic news bots (feeds).

12 Catholics

0 others

The twelfth one was Pro-Life news, and the thread title is this: Homosexual ‘Marriage’ is a Machination of the Devil, Argentinean Cardinal Warns

Someone else can keep looking back more threads if they think that the threads on homosexuality are not overwhelmingly started by Catholics. It’s patently obvious to me, and I have been here since January only.
 
Good work.

I don’t think the question was whether they were started by self-identified / proclaimed Catholics, even ones that perhaps self-identify themselves as “traditional”.

What I’ve noticed is that the content of the first postings in many cases seems to take an initial dissenting / stir the pot / show me / stance…why is this so…vs. why do we have discussion on the matter, for example. They often start with defiance / dissent / disobedience angle.

And some of the “specifics” that are used to initiate the threads are - how shall I say - more dramatic and descriptive than are needed to get the point of the moral question across. There thus begins a pattern of a dramatic description…followed by reasonable suggestions/help…followed up by the original poster adding even more detail and peculiar details…followed by patient helpers suggestions…followed by the same poster raising a near identical question elsewhere.

I don’t want to over make the case…but there are just way too many near identical threads to ignore.
 
Edward_H said:
Good work.

I don’t think the question was whether they were started by self-identified / proclaimed Catholics, even ones that perhaps self-identify themselves as “traditional”.

What I’ve noticed is that the content of the first postings in many cases seems to take an initial dissenting / stir the pot / show me / stance…why is this so…vs. why do we have discussion on the matter, for example. They often start with defiance / dissent / disobedience angle.

And some of the “specifics” that are used to initiate the threads are - how shall I say - more dramatic and descriptive than are needed to get the point of the moral question across. There thus begins a pattern of a dramatic description…followed by reasonable suggestions/help…followed up by the original poster adding even more detail and peculiar details…followed by patient helpers suggestions…followed by the same poster raising a near identical question elsewhere.

I don’t want to over make the case…but there are just way too many near identical threads to ignore.
Click to expand...
Ed blamed non-believers and others who have otherwise fallen away. That is incorrect, clearly. If there are too many gay threads here, or others on sexuality, then look to those who start them: traditional Catholics. It’s not atheists or other gay supporters who start the threads.

THAT is my point.
 
A lot of us know and/or are close to someone who is struggling with sexual issues, including homosexuality.

Lots of parents/grandparents are going through the agony of watching their children/grandchildren try to decide if they are homosexuals.

Many of us have relative, friends, or associates who are professing or closeted homosexuals, and we struggle to figure out exactly how we can demonstrate the love of Christ to them without compromising the clear teachings of the Church.

As for other sexual issues, there are a lot of parents who are suffering as they watch their unmarried children become sexually active.

There are married couples who are suffering over various sexual problems in their marriage.

There are kids (and adults) who are terrified about going to hell because they can’t stop masturbating, even when they cut out all forms of stimulation and try their darndest not to think about sex ever.

There are people who are being abused sexually.

You can say “just don’t think about it so much,” but that really isn’t the best way for people to handle these problems. Sex IS important. Our sexuality is part of being human. Even Jesus was a sexual Being.

People come to CAF because they are embarrassed and have no one else to talk to in person about sexual issues.

So I suggest easing up a little. When you have a problem, you’ll be glad when people respond and try to help you.
 
Cat said:
A lot of us know and/or are close to someone who is struggling with sexual issues, including homosexuality.

Lots of parents/grandparents are going through the agony of watching their children/grandchildren try to decide if they are homosexuals.

Many of us have relative, friends, or associates who are professing or closeted homosexuals, and we struggle to figure out exactly how we can demonstrate the love of Christ to them without compromising the clear teachings of the Church.

As for other sexual issues, there are a lot of parents who are suffering as they watch their unmarried children become sexually active.

There are married couples who are suffering over various sexual problems in their marriage.

There are kids (and adults) who are terrified about going to hell because they can’t stop masturbating, even when they cut out all forms of stimulation and try their darndest not to think about sex ever.

There are people who are being abused sexually.

You can say “just don’t think about it so much,” but that really isn’t the best way for people to handle these problems. Sex IS important. Our sexuality is part of being human. Even Jesus was a sexual Being.

People come to CAF because they are embarrassed and have no one else to talk to in person about sexual issues.

So I suggest easing up a little. When you have a problem, you’ll be glad when people respond and try to help you.
Click to expand...
I have yet to see very many posts that describe what you say, most read like they are posted by homosexual men looking for a way to still be considered Catholic, or middle aged men that are looking for ways to feel better after masturbating to some type of porn. Perhaps they should be attending confession and working with their priests on these issues to REALLY overcome them.

The reality is that sex however important or unimportant it really is, It is on every single forum page on this site, I’m just saying I think its a bit excessive. This should be a Catholic Answers Forum, not the Catholic Sex Asvisor.

I am also curious as to How Jesus was a Sexual being?! He was human and I am sure that he must have had sexual urges, but I certainly have never read anything of this in the bible, only in the DaVinci Code.
 
Dj87 said:
I have yet to see very many posts that describe what you say, most read like they are posted by homosexual men looking for a way to still be considered Catholic, or middle aged men that are looking for ways to feel better after masturbating to some type of porn…
Click to expand...
:eek:

😃

:newidea:
 
How people identify themselves says little to nothing.

It’s not a question that there are real issues among Catholics on these topics. I think the question is why are there so many new/duplicative/recurring threads on these topics, the net new content added by these threads is negligible, if nil.

There are 4 reasons that I can come up with why it is a fact that there are so many such threads:
  1. People are enormously lazy and don’t search prior content. p. >.50
  2. People think somehow their situation is unique. Most of us are Americans and we all think we’re special. p. >.20
  3. People like to talk about such matters, titillating, etc. it, like to stir up the pot p. >.15
  4. People don’t understand how the Church works…that it’s not a democracy, open to a bunch of debate, discussion, interpretation; with some large overlap with the above p. > .35.
 
In my view, too many post here thinking they have some new awareness or angle to outflank clear Church teaching. Like, Masturbation is a Sin?

The outside world is filled with examples of people point-blank telling people: Hey. Whatever it is it’s OK. Nobody’s perfect so why try? Life is hard enough to try to come to terms with whatever so I’ll just go with the flow.

And what are people seeing? Jay and Silent Bob? American Pie? Seriously, the movies have changed a lot. That’s why most need to be avoided. And there are countless boy meets girl, have sex, move in together, and he’s just a jerk who has a female roommate and too many think it is A-OK. Hey. What’s the big deal?

And before the push for Gay Marriage, what? Catholics decided it was a good idea? And then some post here to argue with the Church teaching or with others here. Perhaps they think if they can change the ‘thinking’ of enough Catholics, they will get ahead. Clear Church teaching has not changed since gay marriage proponents came up with the idea.

But, you have to understand, some people live in a mathematical universe where enough billboards times enough other advertising = Turning American “opinion” in the direction we want. Church teaching is not based on opinions or polls and is not affected by advertising. But after defeat after defeat in the States, what did I read: "WE didn’t spend enough money on advertising. So, the purpose of the advertising was to influence public opinion. The same here.

God bless,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
In my view, too many post here thinking they have some new awareness or angle to outflank clear Church teaching. Like, Masturbation is a Sin?

The outside world is filled with examples of people point-blank telling people: Hey. Whatever it is it’s OK. Nobody’s perfect so why try? Life is hard enough to try to come to terms with whatever so I’ll just go with the flow.

And what are people seeing? Jay and Silent Bob? American Pie? Seriously, the movies have changed a lot. That’s why most need to be avoided. And there are countless boy meets girl, have sex, move in together, and he’s just a jerk who has a female roommate and too many think it is A-OK. Hey. What’s the big deal?

And before the push for Gay Marriage, what? Catholics decided it was a good idea? And then some post here to argue with the Church teaching or with others here. Perhaps they think if they can change the ‘thinking’ of enough Catholics, they will get ahead. Clear Church teaching has not changed since gay marriage proponents came up with the idea.

But, you have to understand, some people live in a mathematical universe where enough billboards times enough other advertising = Turning American “opinion” in the direction we want. Church teaching is not based on opinions or polls and is not affected by advertising. But after defeat after defeat in the States, what did I read: "WE didn’t spend enough money on advertising. So, the purpose of the advertising was to influence public opinion. The same here.

God bless,
Ed
Click to expand...
If anyone here actually said these things, you might be right.
 
EdWest is clearly making summary observations based on the content of thousands of postings; dip into any area and you’ll find far more matching cases than not. He’s on very solid ground.

I’ll point out what should also have been obvious, his first three words “in my view.”

I’ll go beyond that and say he’s accurately described the stance and methods of many dissenting posters. Outflanking is a great word for their tiresome tactics.

The more I hang around these forums, the more I find myself praying for the poor parish priests…what heroic work they take on, shepherding onward such poorly formed, opinionated, truculent Catholics. Everyone has an opinion and a gripe and an agenda.

Can it be said of us that we let a single day go by where we don’t pray ardently for our parish priest(s)?

Do we offer small sacrifices for them?

Do we help them spread true teaching…or do we chatter away pridefully in the cafeteria line?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top