Catholic Twitter's endless howling about gays is driving me crazy because it's so insanely self-destructive. Were it not for the Secular Left constantly baiting us, we wouldn't talk about it much at all. We're such stupid, reactive people that when confronted, we keep rushing that machine gun nest and getting shot to pieces. This post is an attempt to formulate a response that maintains the Catechism while helping people not charge the machine guns.
The Catholic position on homosexuality is rooted in two simple premises.
- You were made in the image of God.
Implications:- You are unique among living things in that you have a soul.
- Each one of us is precious to God since he sent his only Son to die for our sins. You can't show more love than that.
- Biology, including evolutionary biology, is a science.
Implications: - As the world was created by God as an ordered place whose laws can be reasoned out from experimental evidence, biology itself is a manifestation of the divine.
- Since God does not make contradictions, science in general and evolutionary biology in particular must be taken into account when creating the Catholic Catechism.
Note that only the first of these premises is theological. It is also completely innocuous. Even if you don't believe, who can criticize someone who thinks everyone else was made in the image of God?
Evolutionary biology is based on the idea that all living organisms strive to propagate their genes through time by way of reproduction. Evolution happens as a result of competition for mates and survival advantages. Whether you're algae or Algernon, the science of evolutionary biology says you exist to make more of yourself as best you can.
Biology has proven that all babies come from the union of one man and one woman. Our faith teaches us that babies are unique among creatures as they have the divine in them. That means that the act of creating a baby, a new soul, is different in kind from all other acts. It is the only way to get a new being that was made in the image of God.
That's it. That's all there is. It's not that anything else is so hateful that we must crucify anyone who deviates from marital, procreational sex, it only means that act is unique and sacramental. Catholics believe that things should be used for the purposes God intended. It doesn't mean that we should obsess over such violations, only that we strive to do things the right way.
The serious trouble comes not from individual gays, but from the pro-LGBT leadership in the Church. If they change Church teaching to endorse the equals sign, then we cease to be Catholic because we've thrown out one of the two premises above. Those "leaders" are pure poison. If we discard objective reality, logic and science, we are no longer the Catholic Church. We may as well be snake-handling Pentecostals.
Having said that, for the average person, be they gay, straight, bisexual or identify as a transgendered wallaby, when confronted by the question, "Do you believe that LGBT people are going to Hell?" or some such nonsense, the proper response is, "I believe you were made in the image of God."
Try that and see where the conversation goes.
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| Both are designed to propagate their genes through time. |
2 comments:
And that strikes me as a fairly healthy attitude. People who choose not to procreate are acting in a way that provides its own punishment (lack of descendants). And everyone is already aware of this. There is no particular need for the Church to be bothered about them, or to try to talk them out of it, or try to shame them into having kids that they, personally, don't want. They should concentrate on providing support for people who do want to be parents.
And to the extent that these people who choose not to procreate are your political opponents, well, remember what Napoleon is supposed to have said: "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"*
*Well, he would have said it in French, but you know what I mean.
Tim, good points all. I'd add this: they aren't our opponents in any way, shape or form, until they attack us. It's the attack that's wrong, not their existence. My word, we all have sins common to us and how in the world are we going to help each other live better lives if we whack each other for things like this?
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