Homosexuality
The transmission of life is given through total self donation by becoming one flesh (Genesis 2:21-24). This is the complimentary of the sexes reflecting God’s inner unity as seen in Genesis 1:27. As we will see, I have provided to positions regarding Christian conduct and homosexuality. One is conveyed through strictly Biblical scripture. The other is theological and philosophical.
Biblical Scripture
First, we must understand that God is love. Abundant love. But many forget that God is justice and God is law. Jesus committed to us the knowledge and discipline to chastise ourselves in obedience of His law that we might endure to the end to be the inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Part of this obedience to law permeated through the Church by Christ is to abstain from homosexuality as commanded in Leviticus 18:22, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” Granted, homosexuality becomes a sin once acted upon, not when it remains only a temptation. Another verse, almost verbatim, that promulgates God’s law can be found in Leviticus 20:13, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” Christ redeemed mankind for a second chance, not for a tolerance. Christ had given us a means to repent of our sin, whether adultery, murder, homosexuality, embezzlement, et cetera. But what Christ did was not teach a tolerance for sin. In laymen terms, it would sound something like, “love the sinner, hate the sin”.
We see in Genesis 19 that original sin deteriorated into Sodom’s sin which was then destroyed for their infidelity to God’s law. Many believe that Christ promoted the acceptance of homosexuality [which is different than homosexuals]. This is simply not true. As any Christian should know, the Word of God is infallible. When the Bible says something is wrong, it is an unchallengeable statement. Remember, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever and that Christ came not to change the law but to fulfill it. Again, hate the sin, not the sinner; this goes for any sin whether petty or grave. We find in the New Testament that the law of the Old Testament still stands. This can be found in Romans 1:27 which reads, “In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” St. Paul, appointed by Christ, considered homosexual acts indecent. His statement preserved in the infallible Word of God stands true. This is supported by 1 Timothy 1:9-10 which states that those who engage and remain in homosexual activity are called sinners (homosexual aren’t the only ones called sinners, but this scripture is to elaborate the point that homosexuality is a sin).
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This final verse is a statement of the Bible. It is found in 1 Corinthians 6:9, “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders”. But Christ came so that we all, heterosexual and homosexual sinners alike, might repent and accept the grace, love, and forgiveness of God.
To understand the contrast of homosexual sin, please read articles Matrimony, Trinity, section “Man: Made in the Image of God, the Trinity” (underlines the divine importance of recreation), and Conception, Not Contraception (which elaborates on sterile copulation).
Theology and Philosophy
The Church wrote in 1986 in its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s [CDF], “The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action, and in law.” This is to emphasize that each person be treated humanely. But this is not condoning the act of homosexuality. CDF goes further to say, “What is at all costs to be avoided is the unfounded and demeaning assumption that the sexual behavior of homosexual persons is always and totally compulsive and therefor inculpable.” CDF’s also asserts in their Application II, Letter no. 3, “’Sexual orientation’ does not constitute a quality comparable to race, ethnic background, etc., in respect to nondiscrimination. Unlike these, homosexual orientation is an objective disorder and evokes moral concern….. Including ‘homosexual orientation’ among the considerations on the basis of which it is illegal to discriminate can easily lead to regarding homosexuality as a positive source of human rights, for example, in respect to so-called affirmative action or preferential treatment in hiring practices. This is all the more deleterious since there is no right to homosexuality, which therefore should not form the basis for judicial claims.” Lastly, CDF claims, “The Church has the responsibility to promote family life and the public morality of the entire civil society on the basis of fundamental moral values, not simply to protect herself from the application of harmful laws.”
Pope John Paul II writes in his Address to the National Convention of the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists, “The good ‘of the human community is strictly linked to the health of the family institution’.”
Homosexuality demeans the fruition of family and promotes a society of death in the sterility of its morality, lifestyle, and inability to promote life. Nothing about it is can be considered as a contribution. Again, the person must be respected with the utmost dignity and humanity, but no conditional rights are obligated, and further, cannot be delegated to them. We are to be aware not only of discrimination but of affirmation in over-reaction to discrimination. CDF writes, “A person’s homosexuality would be invoked in opposition to alleged discrimination, and thus the exercise of rights would be defended precisely via the affirmation of the homosexual condition instead of in terms of a violation of basic human rights. The ‘sexual orientation’ of a person is not comparable to race, sex, age, etc.. An individual’s sexual orientation is generally not known to others unless he publicly identifies himself as having this orientation or unless some overt behavior manifests it. As a rule, the majority of homosexually oriented persons who seek to lead chaste lives do not publicize their sexual orientation. Hence the problem of discrimination in terms of employment, housing, etc., does not usually arise.”
It lies within all necessity to ask ourselves, are we the people that G. K. Chesterton calls the “people that have lost the power of astonishment at their own actions”?
“In matters of action it is most grave and shameful to act against things as determined by nature” Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologia, 1200c..
Your’s,
Drew Castel.
