Speaktruth,
I acknowledge that the Catholic church teaches homosexuality is wrong, and if your proof is the Bible, then I back off.
My enemy isn’t Catholic teaching, my enemy is bad arguments.
If you argue that a Corolla gets better gas mileage than an Explorer because it’s painted red, then I will point out that paint color has nothing to do with gas mileage.
In the case here, I started by stating my bias not to try and convince people, but because I wanted to give an honest assessment of the research, and part of being honest is admitting your bias so that others can know your analysis might be tainted.
For instance, if someone were trying to convince you that a Corolla was a great car, wouldn’t you want to know that the person worked for Toyota, and might be biased? It doesn’t make what they’re saying automatically wrong, but it lets you listen to their case with a more appropriate skepticism.
Again, my enemy is faulty logic. I would much rather have someone oppose SSM for a good reason than support it for a bad reason. With that said, saying “there is this one person who was raised by a _________, and her childhood was horrible.” is not an argument against ________ being good parents, whatever you fill in that blank with. It’s just a bad argument.
If you don’t see how that specific argument was bad, please let me know, and I’ll try and make it clearer.
If you look through my posts, you’ll see I’ve taken the Catholic side in many arguments where the antagonistic atheist was using faulty logic.
Maybe I need a signature.
–maybe just a change of heart?
This foward written by Dr.Scott Lively hit the nail on the head–this is not about some philosophical debate—but sin and its’ consequences.
Foreword ** REDEEMING THE RAINBOW** A Word About
Sin
I believe that the purpose of life is to be conformed to the character of Jesus Christ,
through a life-long series of challenges uniquely designed for each person by God Himself.
How we face our challenges defines us eternally, and in the end is the only thing that matters.A thousand years from now, the earthly impact of the choices we have made and t
the work we have done will be virtually meaningless. Yet the Bible tells us that each of us
will still exist as an individual person in the presence of God or in hell. The person we will be is the product of our choices here on earth.
The challenges we face in life are not punishments sent by God. They are tests. They are
our opportunities to choose between good and evil, between spiritual life and death.
Challenges come in many forms but each one is tailored to meet our specific strengths
and weaknesses as individuals.
Same-sex attraction is a challenge faced by many. It is no more or less immoral than the
temptation to steal or to commit adultery. It is just one of many forms of testing that
human beings can encounter. As with any other temptation, one must choose whether to indulge in it or struggle to overcome it.
What distinguishes homosexuality (the indulgence of same-sex attraction) from other sins
is that some of those who practice it have created a social and political movement to
normalize and legitimize it. They deny that homosexuality is a sin and insist (militantly)
that society embrace homosexual relationships as equivalent to marriage and the natural family.
That is the reason for this book. It is not written to define homosexuality per se as a
greater sin than others that plague our society (although we will address the relative gravity of homosexual sin in these pages. Neither is it written to single out homosexuals for condemnation. Indeed, there but for the grace of God goes any of us.
Nor does this book intend to imply that the author in any way esteems himself personally
above any of those who define themselves by their homosexual inclinations. I too am a sinner,saved only by my acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for my sins (John 3:16-18).
From the eternal perspective, the only difference between them and me is that I admit that my sin is sin,while they claim that their choice to give in to same-sex attraction is an act of righteousness (or is morally neutral).
However, this book does condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the homosexual
movement and its destructive agenda for social change. As the Scripture warns: “Woe unto them that call evil good,and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet
for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah
5:20-21).
How should we respond to a movement whose fruit, the Bible warns, is a society “filled
with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness…envy,
murder,debate ,deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud,
boasters,inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers,without natural affection, implacable [and] unmerciful”? (Romans 1:26-32) How can we love these “enemies”
(Mathew 5:44) while at the same time “overcoming evil with good”? (Romans 12:21).
The rise of this “gay” movement represents one of the toughest moral (and political)
challenges the church has ever faced, and we cannot confuse our duty to love the sinner
with tolerance for the evil institution that movement has created. The Christian response to
its agenda must be one of uncompromising opposition. Our duty to be salt and light to society, and to love our neighbors as ourselves,compels us.
This book is written to equip believers for this work.