What in essence makes homosexuality wrong?

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After thirteen years of catholic education no teacher has been able to explain what is seemingly a simple explanation, in the meantime this and other incompetencies by theology classes have driven me away from the faith my parents raised me in. After reading I still can find no answer, what makes homosexuality wrong and to extend it, why do people want it outlawed? What is the basis for it as a sin?

Please Note: I have read many a thread in these forums and have noticed trends of hostility whenever issues are brought up (from “both” [though there are really more than two] sides, not just one), so please civility 🙂
 
The Catechism is a good source of information and ought to be the first stop when looking for answers. Quoting from Paragraph 2357,
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,[sup]141[/sup] tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.”[sup]142[/sup] They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
footnotes 141 and 142 are
141 Cf. Gen 19:1-29; Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10.
142 CDF, Persona humana 8.

What makes it wrong is that it is contrary to natural law, i.e., there is no procreative abilities in the homosexual acts.
 
After thirteen years of catholic education no teacher has been able to explain what is seemingly a simple explanation, in the meantime this and other incompetencies by theology classes have driven me away from the faith my parents raised me in. After reading I still can find no answer, what makes homosexuality wrong and to extend it, why do people want it outlawed? What is the basis for it as a sin?

Please Note: I have read many a thread in these forums and have noticed trends of hostility whenever issues are brought up (from “both” [though there are really more than two] sides, not just one), so please civility 🙂
Could you perhaps rephrase the question? I’ll try anyway. Actual homosexuality can’t really be outlawed. It is disordered, an anomoly. The person is not a disorder or bad; this particular disorder is one that can lead to a particular sin. It goes against Natural Law and some (a well known, very intelligent saint) think this means it is more grievous than pre-marital or extra-marital sex. I don’t agree with this. The Church is consistant in teaching that pre-marital, extra-marital and contracepted sex are all serious sins. I think many non-Catholic churches believe/teach that homosexuality is a sin but the Catholic church teaches that the act of homosexual sex is sinful.
 
After thirteen years of catholic education no teacher has been able to explain what is seemingly a simple explanation, in the meantime this and other incompetencies by theology classes have driven me away from the faith my parents raised me in. After reading I still can find no answer, what makes homosexuality wrong and to extend it, why do people want it outlawed? What is the basis for it as a sin?

Please Note: I have read many a thread in these forums and have noticed trends of hostility whenever issues are brought up (from “both” [though there are really more than two] sides, not just one), so please civility 🙂
Because it was ADAM and EVE, not ADAM and STEVE. God designed the world to be male and female, and the union of male and female is a complete unit. It’s a matter of natural law.

From the CCC:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

You might ask what “natural law” is.

1955 The “divine and natural” law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end. The natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. It hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other is one’s equal. Its principal precepts are expressed in the Decalogue. This law is called “natural,” not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature: Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it is written every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring that passes onto wax, without leaving the ring. The natural law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light or law at the creation.

Violations of natural law: Hot snow. Objects falling upward under the influence of gravity. People who don’t ever die, ever. Old people who grow young instead of young people who grow old. Got it? These things are perversions of how the world works as God designed it for his own reasons, which we may not always know.

The fact that homosexuality happens is a terrible anomaly, like some rare diseases and psychological problems. The world isn’t perfect and these things happen. The thing to do is to cooperate with God and do the best that a person can when a person is stricken with an anomaly like one of these things.
 
Question: what in essence makes alcoholism wrong?
Because it destroys a human being in every way (physical, social, mental, psychological, etc). Also a matter of natural law. People are not designed to sustain this kind of damage. That’s not what they’re “for.” It doesn’t serve the proper ends of a human being to drink large amounts of alcohol. The proper ends of a human being, of course, are goodness, salvation and eternal life with God.

As the old Baltimore Catechism used to say:
Q: “Why did God make me?”
A: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever.”
 
Because God said so. And He hasn’t changed His mind.
True enough. God doesn’t change his mind about such things.

The missing piece of these discussions so often is that everyone carries a cross, and everyone has things that aren’t right. Some are visible and some aren’t. Some are public and some aren’t. Some are diffuse and hard to identify, and some are very sharp as alcoholism and rare diseases and homosexuality can be. The issue isn’t what we have or don’t have, so much as the issue is how do we rise above it and find our way to God, using the normal means he has given us which are the church and our everyday lives. That’s the goal. No matter what we have to overcome.
 
Because it destroys a human being in every way (physical, social, mental, psychological, etc). Also a matter of natural law. People are not designed to sustain this kind of damage. That’s not what they’re “for.” It doesn’t serve the proper ends of a human being to drink large amounts of alcohol. The proper ends of a human being, of course, are goodness, salvation and eternal life with God.

As the old Baltimore Catechism used to say:
Q: “Why did God make me?”
A: “God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever.”
This is also what makes homosexuality wrong. Participating in homosexual acts implies a sexual addiction.
 
Simply put, homosexuality is itself not a sin. Homosexual acts are sin (as explained by others above). Homosexuals are therefore called to live the chaste life required of any single person regardless of gender.
 
And, therefore simply put, homosexuality is itself not a sin. Homosexual acts are as explained by others above. Homosexuals are therefore called to live the chaste life of any single person regardless of gender.
Correct. The inclination is disordered in its nature, but in itself it is not a sin, only a predisposition to sin. The act of homosexual relations is the sin. Homosexual relations are a violation of natural law and that is why they are gravely sinful. The human person is not designed to sustain this kind of damage and homosexuality is not oriented to the proper ends of a human being. See the post on alcoholism, at this point. The reasoning is the same.

Before protesting, recall that alcoholics see rather little about tippling at the beginning of their addiction that can be wrong. This is the “hook.” Violations of natural law that end up deadly to the body, emotions, soul or mind, often seem harmless at the start, to those inclined to them.
 
Simply put, homosexuality is itself not a sin. Homosexual acts are sin (as explained by others above). Homosexuals are therefore called to live the chaste life required of any single person regardless of gender.
Or, I assume, to attempt to become heterosexual, unless they are already bisexual. That’s not so easy to do, however. There’s also nothing stopping a gay person from having heterosexual sex, within marriage of course, if they are able to love a particular person of the opposite sex. This is not unheard of for sexual attraction is not an either-or proposition for some people.
 
Or, I assume, to attempt to become heterosexual, unless they are already bisexual. That’s not so easy to do, however. There’s also nothing stopping a gay person from having heterosexual sex, within marriage of course, if they are able to love a particular person of the opposite sex. This is not unheard of for sexual attraction is not an either-or proposition for some people.
We’re talking about love, not just sex, meltzer. You make it sound like the dog pound, buddy. Maybe for some people it is, huh?

News flash: It’s not supposed to be that way. People consist of more than just the parts between their legs. There actually is a point to life and this kind of indiscriminate sex ain’t it.
 
We’re talking about love, not just sex, meltzer. You make it sound like the dog pound, buddy. Maybe for some people it is, huh?

News flash: It’s not supposed to be that way. People consist of more than just the parts between their legs. There actually is a point to life and this kind of indiscriminate sex ain’t it.
I think I said if they are able to LOVE a particular person. I did not mean to suggest that love is only sex, but certainly sex is part of a marriage, is it not? I was actually agreeing with the poster’s comments and adding to them. Reread my comment and you’ll find there was no need for you to lash out in this way.
 
I think I said if they are able to LOVE a particular person. I did not mean to suggest that love is only sex, but certainly sex is part of a marriage, is it not? I was actually agreeing with the poster’s comments and adding to them. Reread my comment and you’ll find there was no need for you to lash out in this way.
Not lashing out. This is really very straightforward. Homosexuality in all its forms is a violation of natural law. As a result:

The inclination to homosexual activity is disordered as is any attempt to liken homosexual emotion to the love of marriage between two people.
Homosexual acts are wrong and gravely sinful, no matter who does them or how they classify themselves.
 
Not lashing out. This is really very straightforward. Homosexual acts are wrong, no matter who does them or how they classify themselves. The inclination to homosexual activity is disordered as is any attempt to liken homosexual emotion to the love of marriage between two people.
If you re-read my comments, you’ll see I was not talking about homosexual sex. I was talking about gay people who have heterosexual sex with a particular person whom they love, and the fact that this can and does happen.
 
If you re-read my comments, you’ll see I was not talking about homosexual sex. I was talking about gay people who have heterosexual sex with a particular person whom they love, and the fact that this can and does happen.
You are speaking of a homosexual person who is validly and licitly married to a heterosexual person, I assume. And no divorce has taken place. This can happen. I don’t know how common it is. Probably not very.
 
After thirteen years of catholic education no teacher has been able to explain what is seemingly a simple explanation, in the meantime this and other incompetencies by theology classes have driven me away from the faith my parents raised me in. After reading I still can find no answer, what makes homosexuality wrong and to extend it, why do people want it outlawed? What is the basis for it as a sin?

Please Note: I have read many a thread in these forums and have noticed trends of hostility whenever issues are brought up (from “both” [though there are really more than two] sides, not just one), so please civility 🙂
A homosexual person is not “wrong.” They are made in the image and likeness of God, and God doesn’t make garbage.

Homosexual acts are wrong because by their very nature they are sexual acts outside of marriage, and any sexual act outside of marriage is wrong.
 
You are speaking of a homosexual person who is validly and licitly married to a heterosexual person, I assume. And no divorce has taken place.
Exactly. If the gay person is up front about their sexual orientation, but they still love the particular person of the opposite sex, who also loves them despite knowing they are gay, then there is nothing wrong with that so long as they are both faithful to one another. And it does happen in real life.
 
Exactly. If the gay person is up front about their sexual orientation, but they still love the particular person of the opposite sex, who also loves them despite knowing they are gay, then there is nothing wrong with that so long as they are both faithful to one another. And it does happen in real life.
NO. Sex outside marriage is gravely sinful. And you know full well that’s not what I asked you.

If they were validly and licitly married and one was homosexual, one was heterosexual, then sex would be okay within that marriage. But not outside of it.

This rarely happens, but I think it’s possible that it might happen sometimes. I don’t know how sustainable it is. I suspect not very.

Triumphguy, homosexual inclination is disordered and a violation of natural law.
 
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