Homosexuality conflicts with the faith I cherish

[Spiderman]

My ship, which had never been floating so well, has just struck an iceberg. I recently moved to a Catholic Charities apartment next to a beautiful Cathedral, and I have found peace and freedom from Drama for the first time in my life. I do volunteer work at the Cathedral, go to Mass twice a day and find the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist to be thoroughly satiating. I pray the Liturgy of the hours, the official prayer of the Church that Monks and Nuns take a vow to recite, I pray well over 20 decades of the Rosary, the Divine mercy chaplet, and various other prayers and meditations, found cool places in nature to sun bathe and meditate, I truly feel a joy, a bliss, and a Euphoria that I've never had, and feel one with God and unity with the souls in Heaven.

I received multiple broken bones and various other injuries from a suicide attempt last May (drug related), and gave my life over completely to God after that. I'm 100% devoted to prayer and discovering God's will and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But I'm conflicted over how God views homosexuals. The God I know is mercy, love, compassion, and cherishes wounded depraved creatures without conditions. But I have to seriously ask myself, does God want these people to never enjoy a sexual experience and live lonely lives, chronically haunted with desires that they can never satiate? Does God want them to live in guilt and shame their whole lives?

Some homosexuals are devout Christians. I knew a gay man who worked at a Trappist monastery who was very devout and charitable to others. He would often shed tears thinking of other people's suffering, and seemed to have a heart of gold for others. He prayed to God for the grace to be heterosexual. If God wanted him to be heterosexual, why did God refuse to give that grace to him?

I lived with a gay Christian for a few months. He was very compassionate, and when he walked into the Dorothy Day center where I was staying, he shed tears over the suffering of the lost people he saw staying there. I wish I had that kind of compassion and empathy for others.

Anyway, He loves God and used to sternly rebuke me when I would use the Lord's name in vain. He was a very humble charitable man, took me off the streets and gave me a place to stay, and NO, I never indulged in any sexual favors for him to pay for it, I just couldn't live with myself if I had, but his attitude also was that God made us sexual creatures, and sexual creatures are going to have sex. He just happened to be gay, and it wasn't a choice that he could make to be heterosexual. He didn't see anything in the teachings of Christ that condemned homosexuality.

So, I absolutely cherish my faith, but the Magisterium of the Church sternly declares that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.

I'm certain that the God I know and have experienced is unconditional love. However, the God I read about in Scripture is often not that God at all, depending on which verses you read.

I just have a lot of compassion and concern for these people who are rejected by the Church, rejected by family, and bullied by peers, over a condition they have no control of. Sure they can choose to remain celibate, but they can't control the inclination and passion for the same gender.

We had a gay man at AA meetings recently who looked like a tortured soul. He said he struggled with the emphasis in the 12 steps for a higher power. He felt that the Church doesn't want him, so he doesn't want the Church. He feels rejected by Christians, rejected by God, rejected by family, and so many people are saying "He's going to burn for eternity in Hell"! I could not imagine living with that suffering!

So, there is a part of me that wonders, could God see the beauty in a gay marriage, between two people who truly have the virtues that Christ extolled, and who truly love each other, or does God want these people to be alone and tortured mentally, emotionally, and sexually their whole lives? Sure, the Bible condemns the behavior, but there are more verses that condemn things like pride, anger, covetousness, materialism, Greed, and laziness. Also, there are verses in Scripture where God changes his mind and makes exceptions to rules. So, who knows?

I believe we should love and accept gay people, but the attitude of the Saints that I look up to was always, "love the sinner, hate the sin". So, as much as I love these people, I can't let my conscience rest approving of something the Church and the Bible condemns as disordered and an abomination. If only they were the opposite gender, their desires would be totally okay, so it makes me wonder, how serious is it in God's eyes? So, let's say it's a sin...I struggle with blasphemy. Maybe I'm guilty of a worse sin in God's eyes. Many heterosexuals have no love in their hearts for others, and love was the greatest commandment. Maybe a charitable homosexual is more pleasing to God than many of these heterosexuals that treat other people like crap or struggle with blasphemy like I do?

So anyway, I'm vexed and am in a crisis of my faith over this issue and I'm not even gay.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I believe the Abrahamic religions are simply wrong when it comes their traditional teachings about homosexuality and they are slowly having to admit it. The Catholic church is holding out but it's becoming more and more irrelevant in the West because of it as well as other issues. Even in non-Western cultures because I see LGBT rights movements growing among populations around the globe. After all, we are no longer separated with the Internet and so forth.

Their bigotry on this issue and others is a big part of the reason why I left Catholicism. I could no longer support an institution that spreads hatred of minorities, especially in places like Africa, where LGBT people are grievously persecuted. My conscience weighted too heavily on this. I think yours probably does, too. I used to be very devout, as well. I was an altar server, went on a mission trip, was part of my Diocesan Youth Council (before I was kicked off because I missed some meetings when my grandfather died; how Christian of them) and went to the National Catholic Youth Conference.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

From the perspective of those in my circle who are Christians and supportive of homosexuals, starting the process of positivity and support stems from understanding that judgements are for God. Gays have no shortage of people waiting in line to condemn them and tell them it's not part of God's plan. They don't need to hear it from anyone else. What they do is between them and God. You can't change them and you can't change the church. You can only change you. And you wouldn't be the first person who relishes their faith and their church, but doesn't agree with all of it.

 

[Jumi]

But I'm conflicted over how God views homosexuals. The God I know is mercy, love, compassion, and cherishes wounded depraved creatures without conditions. But I have to seriously ask myself, does God want these people to never enjoy a sexual experience and live lonely lives, chronically haunted with desires that they can never satiate? Does God want them to live in guilt and shame their whole lives?

You have to ask yourself if you want the God you know or the God you don't like? I think you'll be happy if you pick the one you know.

I'm certain that the God I know and have experienced is unconditional love. However, the God I read about in Scripture is often not that God at all, depending on which verses you read.

Scripture is written by people.

So, there is a part of me that wonders, could God see the beauty in a gay marriage, between two people who truly have the virtues that Christ extolled, and who truly love each other, or does God want these people to be alone and tortured mentally, emotionally, and sexually their whole lives? Sure, the Bible condemns the behavior, but there are more verses that condemn things like pride, anger, covetousness, materialism, Greed, and laziness. Also, there are verses in Scripture where God changes his mind and makes exceptions to rules. So, who knows?

I'd bet that you know in your heart the answer to this.

 

[Skwim]

My ship, which had never been floating so well, has just struck an iceberg. I recently moved to a Catholic Charities apartment next to a beautiful Cathedral, and I have found peace and freedom from Drama for the first time in my life. I do volunteer work at the Cathedral, go to Mass twice a day and find the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist to be thoroughly satiating. I pray the Liturgy of the hours, the official prayer of the Church that Monks and Nuns take a vow to recite, I pray well over 20 decades of the Rosary, the Divine mercy chaplet, and various other prayers and meditations, found cool places in nature to sun bathe and meditate, I truly feel a joy, a bliss, and a Euphoria that I've never had, and feel one with God and unity with the souls in Heaven.

I received multiple broken bones and various other injuries from a suicide attempt last May (drug related), and gave my life over completely to God after that. I'm 100% devoted to prayer and discovering God's will and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

But I'm conflicted over how God views homosexuals. The God I know is mercy, love, compassion, and cherishes wounded depraved creatures without conditions. But I have to seriously ask myself, does God want these people to never enjoy a sexual experience and live lonely lives, chronically haunted with desires that they can never satiate? Does God want them to live in guilt and shame their whole lives?

Some homosexuals are devout Christians. I knew a gay man who worked at a Trappist monastery who was very devout and charitable to others. He would often shed tears thinking of other people's suffering, and seemed to have a heart of gold for others. He prayed to God for the grace to be heterosexual. If God wanted him to be heterosexual, why did God refuse to give that grace to him?

I lived with a gay Christian for a few months. He was very compassionate, and when he walked into the Dorothy Day center where I was staying, he shed tears over the suffering of the lost people he saw staying there. I wish I had that kind of compassion and empathy for others.

Anyway, He loves God and used to sternly rebuke me when I would use the Lord's name in vain. He was a very humble charitable man, took me off the streets and gave me a place to stay, and NO, I never indulged in any sexual favors for him to pay for it, I just couldn't live with myself if I had, but his attitude also was that God made us sexual creatures, and sexual creatures are going to have sex. He just happened to be gay, and it wasn't a choice that he could make to be heterosexual. He didn't see anything in the teachings of Christ that condemned homosexuality.

So, I absolutely cherish my faith, but the Magisterium of the Church sternly declares that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.

I'm certain that the God I know and have experienced is unconditional love. However, the God I read about in Scripture is often not that God at all, depending on which verses you read.

I just have a lot of compassion and concern for these people who are rejected by the Church, rejected by family, and bullied by peers, over a condition they have no control of. Sure they can choose to remain celibate, but they can't control the inclination and passion for the same gender.

We had a gay man at AA meetings recently who looked like a tortured soul. He said he struggled with the emphasis in the 12 steps for a higher power. He felt that the Church doesn't want him, so he doesn't want the Church. He feels rejected by Christians, rejected by God, rejected by family, and so many people are saying "He's going to burn for eternity in Hell"! I could not imagine living with that suffering!

So, there is a part of me that wonders, could God see the beauty in a gay marriage, between two people who truly have the virtues that Christ extolled, and who truly love each other, or does God want these people to be alone and tortured mentally, emotionally, and sexually their whole lives? Sure, the Bible condemns the behavior, but there are more verses that condemn things like pride, anger, covetousness, materialism, Greed, and laziness. Also, there are verses in Scripture where God changes his mind and makes exceptions to rules. So, who knows?

I believe we should love and accept gay people, but the attitude of the Saints that I look up to was always, "love the sinner, hate the sin". So, as much as I love these people, I can't let my conscience rest approving of something the Church and the Bible condemns as disordered and an abomination. If only they were the opposite gender, their desires would be totally okay, so it makes me wonder, how serious is it in God's eyes? So, let's say it's a sin...I struggle with blasphemy. Maybe I'm guilty of a worse sin in God's eyes. Many heterosexuals have no love in their hearts for others, and love was the greatest commandment. Maybe a charitable homosexual is more pleasing to God than many of these heterosexuals that treat other people like crap or struggle with blasphemy like I do?

So anyway, I'm vexed and am in a crisis of my faith over this issue and I'm not even gay.

My condolences for your quandary, and a thumbs-up for recognizing that homosexual behavior is no more an abomination than heterosexual behavior, and certainly doesn't deserve god's condemnation, or that of anyone else.

.

 

[oldbadger]

But I'm conflicted over how God views homosexuals.

God doesn't mind about our sexuality.

Some homosexuals are devout Christians.

Fine. No Problem there.

He didn't see anything in the teachings of Christ that condemned homosexuality.

Sure..... and nobody else has ever seen anything from Jesus to condemn our various sexualities.

the Magisterium of the Church sternly declares that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.

There are Christian Churches that accept any sexuality, so you could always go to them, or you could conmtionue where you are with your own belief in God's disinteresat in varying sexualities...?

..... Sure, the Bible condemns the behavior.....

The Mosiac Laws condemned any behaviour that could spread sickness through the people, or which could not increase the people, but today we have too many people, and closed-couples have nothing to fear from STDs, so God thinks varied sexuality is ok, imo.

If only they were the opposite gender, their desires would be totally okay, so it makes me wonder, how serious is it in God's eyes?

God doesn't mind one way or another, imo.

So anyway, I'm vexed and am in a crisis of my faith over this issue and I'm not even gay.

Don't listen to the Bigots....... investigate yourself for the truth and then let the vexation dwindle and die.
Let's leave people alone to be happy with their partners, eh?

 

[Spiderman]

I just had a miserable argument with my conservative Protestant Mother via phone about this issue. I told her that conservatives reject me and my views and liberals accept me. She said, "The Apostles and early Christians were skinned alive, dismembered, boiled, fed to wild beasts, decapitated, and crucified...Those homosexuals don't have a monopoly on being persecuted and despised. Of course the Liberals will accept your views. The things you are saying make Liberals drool. Those mushy lovey dovey liberals are not likely as Charitable and compassionate as you think they are. You don't know what they would do to people like us if they had the full authority and power. Atheists, leftists, and Liberals have persecuted and oppressed more people and are responsible for more deaths in the 20th Century than Christians. That isn't counting all the babies these Liberals murder! They accept homosexuals and anyone disgruntled with God's law and in rebellion against God, while believing it is perfectly fine to murder innocent defenseless babies!"

She went on to say, "Matt, you are stubborn, in rebellion against God, are consenting to the Devil, and you have the arrogant belief that you know better than God!" I eventually had to end the conversation, but I was listening to such things for over an hour.

Keep in mind, my Mother was quite hedonistic, did a lot of damage to her Children mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. She was cheating on my biological Dad, has been married four times and is currently a divorced lonely Doctor who lives at her private "Christian" Clinic, and is very influential in the pro-life movement and many offensive countercultural letters to the editor. When I was 12 she prescribed me a controlled substance, and that was where my drug abuse began. It's really hard for me to listen to her preach God's law, in light of what she did.

My Catholic Dad, was a little more reasonable, but he said, "Matt, those homosexuals can be chaste and not be condemned to a lonely life. I know many unmarried men and women in the Church. I am not married. Many people don't get married or are divorced or widowed. But many of them aren't lonely. They don't have to have unlawful sex to avoid loneliness".

Anyway, my faith was already shaken. Now I feel evil, and recently had a priest refuse to give me absolution. Oh well, life has always been full of Drama. Things were going so well though! I guess God is testing me and this is my cross to carry. *Shrug* I don't want to lose the faith!

 

[columbus]

So anyway, I'm vexed and am in a crisis of my faith over this issue and I'm not even gay.

She was cheating on my biological Dad, has been married four times

Do what your mother does concerning divorce.
Ignore church teachings. Do what you think is right. Religious people do it all the time.

It might be different if you were struggling with homosexuality yourself, but you're not. All you need do is be loving and charitable and accepting towards people who are.
It's the Christlike thing to do, and you know that's true.
Tom

 

[pearl]

So, I absolutely cherish my faith, but the Magisterium of the Church sternly declares that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.

When it comes to morality, in this case homosexuality, there is the faith perspective and the religious perspective. Go with the faith perspective, that's what Jesus, the embodiment of God's love, did. The NT is replete with warnings against the religiosity of faith. What is of concern is whether there exists a real guilt before God, and that's between your conscience and God. Even Pius XII stated; "Conscience is the innermost secret nucleus in man. It is thee that he takes refuge with his spiritual faculties in absolute solitude alone with himself and his God. Conscience is a sanctuary on the threshold of which all must halt, even in the case of a child, his father and mother..."

 

[Cacotopia]

@OP

I don't mean to be rude but I don't think your mother actually knows the history of the Church's involvement of oppressing minorities, homosexuals, non-believers and the like, Currently in say Africa which is is roughly half Christian, Homosexuality in all but 2 is a crime worthy of either death or life term imprisonment. If they aren't murdered by the zealots before they go to their actual trial, I need not say what the Muslims think of homosexuality. South-East Asia with the exception to Thailand, is very limited in terms of identity recognition or practice. For centuries up until a veritably late reformation with in the church, Christians throughout the world have torture and murdered millions of people who did not conform to their view of the world and how you were supposed to act according to them.

Current die hard Christians lobby hard for unborn children, but beyond the womb I don't see them caring too much just that it gets born. Contraceptives still, by hard line christians, it's a sin to use, and it in my opinion is criminal behavior to discourage their use in HIV ravaged areas of the world.

If the god you know accepts homosexuals then cool I guess. I mean I personally don't think you need a god to tell you what you already knew that treating another human being with decency regardless of who they loved mattered. You go with your gut, if that's what makes you feel right, perhaps the church that you might belong to says otherwise, will you follow what they say when you know in your heart is wrong? When was voluntarily hurting another person mentally, physically, or emotionally ever the right thing to do?

 

[Cacotopia]

If the topic with your mother gives you this much grief, I would avoid the topic, I have had to avoid talking about the validity of god with my own family, other than that singular topic we get along just fine, they have finally accepted me for who I am after nearly 34 years of trying to get me to believe. You need to accept yourself I think before seeking acceptance from others.

Your faith is yours, no one else's.