Dealing with the Homosexual Condition inside the Christian Church - Research Paper Example

Number Dealing with the Homosexual “Condition” inside the Christian Church From biblical times people who act upon their attraction to the same sex have been ostracized and considered a disgrace but since the turn of this century the views on homosexuals have drastically changed. The LGBT community is growing and they aren’t just accepted in society, they are actually celebrated! The clamor for legislation in support of gay rights with regards to marriage and “equality” is loud and clearly heard from every state. In the media, a lot of famous celebrities have come out and they are embraced by society for their strength and guts, and they serve as idols for others who are still inside their closet with regard to their sexuality. During prime time television, it is ok to see women kissing other women and men “living together” with their fellow men and many find these shows a reflection of the real world. Many gay couples are now officially married and have a wonderful “family” together by adopting and giving unwanted and orphaned children homes. A few decades back people would have been thrown into dumpsters for dressing in drag but now it is now common to see gays everywhere and expressing who they are in whatever manner they seem fit. All of us have people we know who are part of the LGBT community and we are even friends with some. Being Christians, we are expected by society and by the Almighty to adhere to certain values and make it the foundation of our decisions and judgments (Article 7). With the outpouring of support for the LGBT community, Christians and the Church are often the target of criticism for not being open and welcoming to homosexuals. Many Christians are labeled as homophobes and it’s as if the tides have turned for the church and the LGBT Community. The Holy Scriptures serves as our guide in dealing with moral issues including that of homosexuality however, there is still contention on how the church should act with regards to homosexuals who are outside and inside the church. Where does compassion end and where will fortitude draw the line in dealing with the homosexual condition inside the church? What is the right attitude for us Catholics with regards to the acceptance of homosexuals in our communities and other denominations? And for homosexuals inside the Church, how should they see themselves and how should they respond to the redemption given to us by Jesus’ suffering on the cross? I. The Stand of the Church on Homosexuality For the Catholic Church, the practice of homosexuality is a grave sin. That was well established in the Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (Ratzinger). But it is also stipulated in the document circular that these brothers and sisters should still be treated with respect as is due every person created by God and helped through pastoral care to pursue chastity. The Christian world is considerably a lot kinder to the homosexuals these days but that was not the case in the past. There may have been some actions of the Christian community that promoted stigma and injustice towards people that has this sexual condition. This stigma caused alienation of the homosexual from the faith and does not cater to their spiritual needs (Calimlim 18-19). A. Traditional Means of Dealing with Homosexuality by the Church Contrary to what most supporters of homosexuality might say, the Bible is very explicit in the condemning of homosexual acts as sin. When God created man in His own image He made the distinction that “…man and woman, He created them” (Genesis1:27) – God created only 2 sexes and nothing in between and the only meaningful, sexual relationship that the Lord sanctified for people is in the context of marriage between man and woman. The Lord’s destructive wrath and judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 was caused largely by the lust that the men had for their same sex in those cities – even to the point of harassing the angels that took shelter in Lot’s house. And in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, the Lord commanded his people to put to death men and women who have sexual relations with persons of the same sex, for these practices defile our bodies which is God’s creation (Brom). This explicitness of the Bible in condemning those that practice homosexuality became a big influence on how the church related with persons that are proven to practice homosexual acts. Homosexual women were marked as witches and burned, while homosexual men proven to have committed buggery or sodomy are also executed (Hilliard 2) as per order of the church. But between 1880s to 189os, a revolution in the way Homosexuality is perceived came to light. Having relations with persons of the same sex was now regarded as a personality trait of certain individuals and homosexuality became to be viewed more as a disorder or an identity rather than an immoral act. Instead of viewing a homosexual as incarnate evil, his/her image transformed into that of a victim, placed in that circumstance as a result of being in a depraved and fallen world (Robinson). This view point tries to legitimize the claim that the affinity for homoerotic relationships is a result of genetics though concrete evidence of this is yet to be discovered. Even though homosexuals became more accepted and seen for the person that they are, rather than with the immoral practices associated with them, there was still a great deal of stigma that the church has placed on gay1 people. Most gays are denied communion and other sacraments. Homosexuals are also frowned upon when they decide to attend mass or services. Because of their condition or gender preference, they are still treated as outsiders and that is the reason they do not really associate themselves with Christianity and the Church (Crowley 500-502). The dissociation was of homosexuals from the church was so great that many gays who grew up as Catholics denounced their faith and left the religion. This compromised their spiritual lives and made it harder for the church to give the much needed care and salvation from the Lord. In the church’s past, there is a strong sense of exercising fortitude. Fortitude is the virtue of doing what is essentially right and good. Homosexuality is considered an abomination that can contaminate other “clean” believers so they excluded, excommunicated, and even executed those that have the affinity to develop feelings of desire for persons of the same sex. Effeminate gents and masculine ladies were ostracized because they were deemed as freaks and they have the most propensities to be molded into a homosexual. However, in some cases, this exercise of fortitude has replaced the niche that should have been occupied by compassion and the trust on Christ’ redeeming grace. Instead of helping the homosexual realize the true purpose of why he or she was created male or female, the sin they committed was pegged on them resulting to injustice and abuse. Many members of the LGBT community are still against the church because of the church’s stand on the condition of homosexuality and this translates to many individuals not coming to know the saving grace of our Lord. B. Contemporary paradigms on Homosexuality The Catholic Church has long given bishops a pattern on how to properly address homosexuals in their community with Article 6 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the letter regarding pastoral care of homosexual persons. According to these documents, having relations with the same sex is still and will always be forbidden. And also according to the documents, church position cannot be given to a homosexual, marriage will never be allowed for both man who are in love with men and women who are in love ., and ministers who are gay will never be ordained. But it is also written in their documents that if a gay person submits to the correction of the Lord through the church and crucify his or her need to fulfill the sexual attraction that he or she feels for a person of the same sex then his or her fallen nature will be redeemed and he or she will be allowed to participate once again in the sacraments and in the different ministries (Crowley, 502-509). Even in the face of strict rules implemented by the catholic faith, there are members of the LBGT community that did not renounce their faith and their religion but rather, they proposed a different interpretation of the verses in the Bible that have been used for centuries by the catholic church to condemn those in the LGBT community. This reinterpretation focuses on the new understanding that homosexuality is an identity and applies the more important issues in the Gospels like love and fellowship. This new teaching, often referred to as “gay and lesbian theology” is opposed to the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church and the catechism on which the religion is founded. This new interpretation of the Bible especially those verses that condemn homosexual acts promotes that homosexuality is normal and is within the design of God since the creation of man (Calimlim 22-23). When we look at other Christian denominations and their stand point on the issue of homosexuality, we will come to many different views and bases to what is lawful with regards to the acceptance of the LGBT community. These denominations either agree with the traditional Catholic Church’s view in not accepting homosexual behavior as natural and condemning the homosexual acts as sin. Others stay on the neutral side and don’t really comment about the issue of Homosexuality inside the church. While others are very permissive such that they allow and ordain homosexual ministers and they do not see that homosexuality and homosexual acts as immoral to some degree (Davis). The Anglicans have their own radical experiment in their approach to homosexuals. A study has shown that there are more gays that are open to attend fellowship in Anglican churches rather than any other denomination. This might be because a lot of the Anglican churches permits gay marriage, practices ordination of homosexuals and gives the sacraments to gays (Hilliard 22). The Baptists, Lutherans, Pentecostals and Methodist Churches have left the decision to the local churches with regards to policy for gay people. Churches that have the same stand with the Roman Catholic Church includes the Reformed, the Calvinists, Mormons, and eastern Orthodoxy (“Where do they stand…”). These churches do not condone homosexuality and especially the sexual practices that are identified with it. These churches are labeled by gay rights activists as unwelcoming for these churches require homosexuals to abandon their gender orientation before they can be included in the fellowship of the believers and partake in the ministries and sacraments of the church (Davis). C. The Theology of the Cross and gay Catholics Ultimately, it all boils down to the homosexual person and his/her decision on what faith he/she will submit to or if he/she will exercise any kind of religion at all. It is understandable that many homosexuals and members of the LGBTQ community stay away from the church because they have been neglected and furthermore ostracized by the church for so long. But for those brave souls who choose to be under the mercy of our Lord and under the Roman Catholic Faith, all homosexual tendencies should be renounced and put under the counsel of the Cross. Our faith asks for a certain kind of celibacy – a willful abandonment of the desire for sexual relations with the same sex. This entails suffering for the homosexual because the sexual practice and preference is part of their identity and surrendering that to the poser of the cross is incomprehensibly hard and will require all the strength of character the homosexual can muster coupled with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that resides in each one of us after we’ve received Jesus as our one and true Savior (Crowley, 324). This prescription of embracing the self-sacrifice required of us by the love of our Lord which flowed from the cross does not merely concern the gays inside the Catholic Church, but it should be practiced by each believer as a sign of piety and gratitude to the Lord’s undeniable and great sacrifice for our deliverance from sin. II. Ethical Analysis on the church’s approach to homosexuality After taking a general view of perspectives in homosexuality of the Roman Catholic and other churches, and the changes that are happening with regards to the attitude towards gays and their role in the church, there seems to be a struggle between upholding two of the virtues of our Christian faith – Compassion and Fortitude. The Catholic Church classifies and acknowledges that homosexuality is a condition. There are those that are curable and there are others that have deeply-seated homosexual tendencies that for them it is their Paul’s thorn in the flesh. To these people, they did not choose to become homosexual but homosexuality is given to them as a trial to be faced through sexual repudiation for the sake of the cross of Christ (Crowley 504; Article 6). As the Homosexuality tract published online by Catholic Answers points out: Homosexual desires and tendencies are not in themselves sinful. Sinful desires often come to people in circumstances which they have little direct control, but these do not become sinful until a person does something to manifest the desire, either by actually doing the desire or by keeping the desire alive by fantasizing about acting out the sinful desire. The temptation of improper sexual desires may they be homo- or heterosexual does not count as sin unless the ones tempted act upon the temptation. Though many gay rights activist would argue that they are born that way, homoerotic propensity is something that is not innate but like any addiction, takes constant conditioning and exposure to stimuli to develop and manifest into being the person’s identity (Robinson). It is frightening how distorted people make the teachings in the Bible just so people can have their belief validated. The action of the LGBT community if creating a gay and lesbian theology is at the very least shocking! The interpretations and translations of the Bible that we have today is the work of many scholars that are under God’s influence. These teachings and the Scripture itself cannot be revoked with just a snap. And these groups that made the gay and lesbian theology should have juts placed their talents on more worthwhile projects because what they have done can be a form of blasphemy against God’s word. Yes, it is good that some of the LGBT community did not want to abandon their faith for their new found identity but it is dangerous territory to customize God’s word so that it will fit to your particular needs and lifestyles. It is stated in 1 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is God-breathe and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” – therefore we must take the scriptures for its entirety and not reinterpret so as not to be offensive towards our personal beliefs. Fortitude comes in to denounce the evils of the homosexual act and demand cleansing from the people who submit themselves to such wiles while compassion is looking out for the sinner with love – accepting them with their faults and believing that Christ through His redemptive grace and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit can change the person into a new creation. In the olden times, there was too much exercise of fortitude that caused injustice and the abandonment of other Christian values for the sake of “cleansing” the people from the sin of sodomy. That is a sin which we Christians should repent about because we have cast the stone at our fellow though we too were sinners. We have either consciously or unconsciously promoted the alienation of homosexuals in our churches and we’ve placed ourselves as better than them when in fact, we too have our struggles with sin. Nowadays, especially with regards to some Christian denominations and certain sectors in the Catholic faith, compassion is overtly practiced to the point of having sexual relations with the same sex is not seen as immoral anymore when in fact the Bible explicitly warns us about it in Leviticus, in Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, and in Paul’s 1st letter to Timothy. Some denominations see the benefit in this compromise because Christ Himself was open to the company of those people who His society marked as sinners. And they argue that these compromises are an expression of the love that extends from the Love of our Lord. However, condoning the sin is not an example that Christ gave. He was with sinners during His time on earth because they are the ones who readily accepted Him and the salvation that He brings. But Jesus in His ministry never gave in to sin. He accepted everyone who is willing to be cleansed from their sins and healed from all their sickness. What these fellowships have done is to blur the line between sin and righteousness. God accepts sinners but He makes them realize that they should not sin again. These permissive churches only make things worse by not enforcing church discipline and not upholding the value of our Christian Faith. Our best example on how to deal with people who have committed sexual sin is Jesus. In John 8:1-30, the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus for stoning according to the Law of Moses. The Lord did not pay attention to them and asked them whoever is blameless should cast the 1st stone. The Pharisees did not condemn the woman and Jesus went and forgave the woman of her sins. In this passage, Jesus exercised a balance in fortitude and compassion. He acknowledged that the woman sinned but the life and spirit of the woman was more important for him than condemnation. After ridding the woman of her sins, He asked her to “…sin no more” which is a sign of fortitude. Yes, it may be true that adultery is a different sin than having sexual relations with persons of the same sex, but essentially, it is still a sin against the body that our Lord created and a sin against His grand design for the sanctity of sex and marriage2. Even if the world’s view is changing about the morality of homosexual practices, we should not “…conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of (our) minds…” (Romans 12:2) We must exercise fortitude just as Christ did and renounce the homosexual act but we should exercise compassion on the homosexual. Jesus was criticized heavily by the church leaders of His time because He was always in the fellowship of sinners – tax collectors, harlots, the poor, and the sick. He did this out of compassion for the loss. And we too are commanded to imitate Christ and extend His love to all mankind regardless of their gender orientation. The theology of the Cross – crucifying our unrighteous desires for the sake of the sacrifice of our Lord is a good perspective for any Christian to follow. All of us are sinners and though we humans classify sin from mild to grave, to our righteous God, sin is sin no matter how big or how small. Everyone is equal in the sight of God and it is but proper that we submit ourselves to the power of the cross and endure the suffering it will bring us so that we can be cleansed fully and enjoy fellowship with the Lord and His people. Gay Christians should subscribe to this as well as anyone who chose to exercise our faiths. And sins we too are sinners and had needed to be delivered from our sins by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we should never take the suffering of our gay brothers and sisters lightly. We should respect them and help them to change their lifestyle and gender orientation for the Lord. This is a great struggle for anyone and as brothers and sisters in the Lord we must build each other up and be each other’s encouragement (1 Thessalonians 5:11) rather than become each other’s hindrance. I personally believe that we Catholics should never take the sin of homosexuality lightly. We must never see it and the practices therein as moral and natural. We must not be swayed by the rhetoric of acceptance and freedom in choosing who we want to be with regards to homosexuality. God bought our freedom from sin with the blood of His Son on the Cross so we must submit to Him our lives and desires and allow Him full control over our being. If we truly desire to honor God, we must take whatever our weaknesses are; may it be lies, anger, jealousy, or even improper sexual desires of homo- and heterosexual inclination and crucify them to the cross of Christ. We must exercise fortitude and stand on what’s right but we should live out this belief coupled with compassion for the loss and sensitivity to the present condition and trials that each person has just as Christ did. III. Summary The reception for gays inside and outside the church is changing from being largely against to full welcoming. The Roman Catholic Church and homosexuality have had a long and gruesome history that resonates as stigma even up to this very age. Other denominations also express their sides on the matter, with varying degrees on welcoming and accepting gays into the congregation and allowing them sacraments and church office. It is alarming how sin has infiltrated the church so as to blur the distinction of sin from righteousness in some churches by condoning the sexual relations of homosexuals. But as Catholics we must make a stand to combine and exercise fortitude and compassion in dealing with the homosexual condition. We must follow Christ’s example to hate the sin but not the sinner. We must be helpful for gays who agree to submit to the authority of Jesus and His church and help them crucify their homosexual tendencies to the Cross. We too must surrender the broken parts of our lives and be one with the Lord on His suffering on the cross, just like our gay brothers and sisters in order to enjoy full fellowship with each other and the Lord. IV. Conclusion Compassion and fortitude should go hand-in-hand in the way that we handle homosexuality. We must not compromise the truth found in scripture so as not to offend but we should carry the message of redemption and forgiveness with genuine love and concern for our fellow, especially for them that are struggling with homosexuality. The atmosphere in our churches should be welcoming but with a firm stance against immoral acts that displeases the Lord. We Christians must also encourage our brothers and sisters who are struggling with the trial of homosexuality to continue to cling to the Cross of Christ for strength and keep their faith on the restorative and transforming power of the Holy Ghost. Lastly, our actions towards each other, no matter how grave the sin we have committed, should be fueled with Love because as John 13: 35 says, “By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Works Cited Article 6: “The Sixth Commandment.” Chapter two: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Section Two: The ten commandments. Part three: Life in Christ. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd Ed. Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church website with permission by Amministrazione Del Patrimonio Della Sede Apostolica. Web. Retrieved on10 April 2013 “Article 7: The Virtues.” Chapter 1: The dignity of the Human Person. Section 1: Man’s vacation life in the Spirit. Part Three: Life in Christ. 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(1984) Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.” Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Web. 01 Oct. 1986 Retrieved on: 10 April 2013 Robinson, B. A. “Homosexual Teachings and Beliefs based on the Bible, Church tradition, and natural law, Part1”. The Roman Catholic Church and Homosexuality. Ontrio Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. Retrieved on 10 April 2013 Waldron, Martin Augustine. "Virtue." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, (1912). 11 Apr. 2013 Retrieved on April 10, 2013 “Where do they stand – Protestant denominations and LGBT members”. Powered by WordPress.www.sacredpauses.com. web. (2013) Read More