So many Christian's and their denominations are struggling with the issue of same sex marriage and relationships. Why? The bible is clear on this. It has nothing to do with "homophobia" or being "biased" or wanting to make some people into "second class citizens". God, not man, decides what is sin and what is not. Man has the choice to accept the Word of God or reject it. The scriptures list what God calls sin. For Christians, Catholics and Protestants alike we proclaim Christ as our Savior and follow our Lord and his teachings to the best of our abilities. There are many laws in the bible, but on the issue of same sex marriage we need to look at Moral Law and the institution of marriage in the bible between men and women, not people of the same sex. We look to God's Word because we are Christians and the bible is a wonderful tool- gift really- to be used in teaching God's will for us and our lives. Should we thump non-Christians over the head with our bibles? No. They have the choice and free will to accept or reject God's teachings. For those of us who call ourselves Christians, we have made our choice and must adhere to the Word of God in all things in our lives.
Why do some Christians think that the Moral Laws of the Old Testament where tossed out by Jesus Christ in the New Testament? Did Jesus ever say that adultery, fornication and/or sexual immorality etc., are A-Okay under the New Covenant? No, he did not. So that tells us that ALL those things (Moral Law) still apply today for believers. It is still wrong to rape, murder, commit incest, adultery, fornication and all forms of sexual immorality as defined by God (man didn't decide what was immoral, God did). The liberal (religious, not political) argument that is spewed out about Leviticus Moral laws only apply to Jews is a house built on sand with the tide coming in.
The Moral Laws include (but are not limited to) not murdering, raping, stealing, fornicating, incest, sex with animals and more, those things are still wrong. The liberal religious thinking that gay relationships are okay after Jesus came is absurd. You can't pick one Old Testament sexual abomination and say "This one is OK now, but all the others are still abominations." Either they ALL are or they are not. Is it OK for a father to have sex with his daughter now? Is it OK for a brother to have sex with his sister in law now? Is it OK for siblings to have sex now? All of these are listed in Lev.18 as wrong, sinful and you can't pick one out of this list and stamp it as "good" while rejecting the rest as still wrong. That is ridiculous. All the sexual immorality abominations in Lev.18 are still abominations in the New Testament. Jesus never said "Oh and by the way, all those sexual abominations in Lev. still hold true except for the "man with man" one, you can do that all ya want now." That is not biblical no matter how people try to twist the Word of God or justify their actions. God will not be mocked and the Truth will always be the Truth. That will not change no matter who says what.
The Word of God is built on the Rock of Truth, not the sand of the liberal religious wishing to rewrite the Word. The Old and New Testaments up hold Moral Law, all Moral Law.
Romans 1:24 "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. 26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In 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."
Also, 1 Cor.5 addresses the issue of the sexually immoral (in all its forms) within the church and what the church is told to do about these people (vs 13). The strawman that some attempt to build (that we've all heard a thousand times) is "well you eat shellfish! blah, blah, blah" (referencing dietary laws placed on the Jews under the Old Covenant). Apparently these people can't grasp the difference between dietary laws and Moral Law (and Jesus knew it too when he said "Are you so dull?"). Jesus was clear on the dietary law in the New Testament.
Mark 7:18 "Are you so dull?" he [Jesus] asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.") 20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"
The next strawman that gets tossed out by some is "Monogamous gay love is OK with Jesus". Where did that come from? Certainly not God or the bible in any verses we can find. Monogamy has nothing to do with it. The sin is the same if you have one partner or a hundred! It's the relationship that is wrong. That's a bit like saying a father who has four daughters isn't wrong if he has sex with only one of them, but if he has sex with all of them then its wrong. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. The relationship is immoral. That is the sin according to scriptures. The amount of times the act happens is just how many times you need to repent of the same sin. That is The Word of God, no one has to accept it for their lives, Christianity isn't forced on anyone. But if you claim to be a Christian then you must accept and believe the Word of God taught by Christ our Savior. That is how we follow Christ and become Christians by believing the Word and accepting it as the Word of our God and Savior.
If we do not repent or accept God's teaching then God is not our Father but Satan is. Satan is the one rejecting the Word and deceiving people. Jesus came and gave us the gift of salvation. We have free will to reject that gift, but in order to receive that gift we must not deny the Word of God. Repentance is part of our relationship with our Father- but not our whole relationship. If you don't accept what God calls sin and you don't repent of all the things He tells us are sin (God decides what is sin, not man) then we are not being Christians following our Lord and Savior. We are less than true Christians if we only adhere to what we want to accept. God never gave us multiple choice on sins. He declares what is sin and we (Christians) must believe Him. Who are we to tell God He is wrong? The bible is clear on Moral Law, it stands today the same as yesterday and generations ago. God never changed Moral Law, what was wrong before is still wrong now.
I am a gay Catholic and after reading some of the hate words on this website I too am questioning my faith. Marriage is not between a man and a woman. It is between two souls. I think the Catholic Church needs to concentrate on molestation by many of these priests, who are in the closet gays. Catholics should love all other Catholics regardless of what they do. It is time to take your beliefs and bring them to par with modern times. If Jesus, who loved ALL even the "sinners," were here right now he would be disgusted by such disgusting words.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... so it's your opinion that "closet gay" clergy are child molesters? I am surprised a gay person would say that to be quite honest. You see, I don't believe only gay clergy are child molesters as my previous article "Is That Why Priests Molest?" addresses. I believe both gay and straight sexual child abusers are pedophiles. I don't single out gays alone, though I've seen a great deal of people who do.
ReplyDeleteTo read my views on clergy abuse, please see:
http://connecticutcatholiccorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/is-that-why-priests-molest.html
In Christ,
Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner
To the individual who created the first response (above):
ReplyDeleteAnd it is YOU who is defining marriage to be between two souls, rather than between two souls who are man and woman. As a homosexual individual, you should be questioning your faith. As a true Christian, you would know the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
Let me ask this; do you truly believe that homosexuality can be considered progressive in the creation of mankind so that more people may be created to live and worship our Lord, Jesus Christ? Even for the folks who are non-religious, can they too, truly say that homosexuality is progress at all? What if everyone on earth were homosexual? Mankind would cease to exist.
We are here today because we share in the positive relationships, bestowed upon us by God, between man and woman.
I could go into much more "earthly" detail of why homosexuality is unnatural but I will leave it as it is. If you feel what you are doing is right, then so be it. But we will not hate, we will pray for you.
By all means, go into 'earthly detail', because what you are saying does not make sense.
ReplyDeleteLove is not a perversion, and being gay is not about sex, any more than a heterosexual relationship is. Being gay is a spiritual and emotional thing, as I have said in a former post. As an eighteen year old girl who straight, I do not understand the hate. There should be more love in the world.
You equate incest with homosexuality, will you next equate it with bestiality? It is wrong for a father to have sexual relations with a daughter (but again you are making this about sex. What would you say to a gay couple that does not have sex? I am curious.)for several reasons. One; is that a father is meant to protect and nurture, and any other relationship taints this. As for sibling love, I am going to be controversial about that and say that if two consenting adults love eachother and want to have a safe, sexual relationship then there is no reason that they should not be able to do this. The Catholic faith has survived by adapting with the times. In the Bible, God forced a man to sacrifice his teenaged daughter. People choose not to accept this view of God, and yet they easily choose to accept that he would discriminate against harmless people that he created in their natural state. I have known many gay couples that were more loving than straight couples. I think people are being very blind as far as this issue goes. As Catholics, you should open your hearts.