Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality? - Sts. Peter and Paul Catechism Ministry

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Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?

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The Catholic Church is wrong to condemn homosexuality, because it is natural
No Church has any right to tell people what to do with their own bodies

Initial reply

The Bible clearly condemns homosexual acts as intrinsically, gravely sinful. Desperate attempts to explain away this prohibition are futile; the Bible is too clear.

Extensive reply

For those who believe that the Bible is God's inspired word, this issue is easily resolved. Catholics and other Christians didn't make this rule; God did. But if one denies that the Bible is inspired, then, of course, none of the following proof texts will matter:

Leviticus 20:13: If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them. (cf. 18:22)

Judges 19:22-23: . . . behold, the men of the city, base fellows, beset the house round about, beating on the door; and they said to the old man, the master of the house, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him." And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my brethren, do not act so wickedly; seeing that this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing." (emphasis added)

1 Kings 14:24: and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. (cf. 15:12; 22:46; Dt. 23:17; 2 Ki. 23:7)

Romans 1:24-27: Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

1 Timothy 1:8-11: Now we know that the law is good, if any one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, immoral persons, sodomites, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. (emphasis added)

Jude 7: just as Sodom and Gomor'rah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (emphasis added; cf. Gen. 19:4-7 and 1 Pet. 2:4-10; the latter describes the behavior of the Sodomites as not merely violent rape but "licentiousness of the wicked" and "lust of defiling passion")

Objection

What is condemned in the Bible is selfish, abusive sex (of any kind), not homosexuality per se, which is simply a natural desire of some people. We know much more now about genes and psychology than they did in biblical times.

Reply to Objection

God doesn't change. If He states that something is sinful and never permissible, then that prohibition applies at all times. Secondly, it isn't true that the Bible only condemns homosexual rape and not such acts by mutual consent. All the passages above, excepting Judges 19:22-23 and 1 Timothy 1:8-11 condemn consensual homosexual acts. Jude 7 mentions "unnatural lust" and 1 Peter 2:4-10 states similarly. Therefore, this objection collapses. As for the desire itself, Catholics don't believe it is inherently sinful, as long as it isn't acted upon (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2358-59), just as heterosexual lust, fornication, and adultery must be rejected in the will, by God's grace, in order to avoid sin. Everyone has more than enough temptations to resist and overcome.

St. Paul in Romans 1 makes an explicit argument against homosexuality, as an unnatural practice; he also presents a similar argument in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, by stating that excessive appetite for sex (and also food?) amounts to being "enslaved" (6:12). There is a created reality and natural order beyond mere physical pleasure, which must not be violated. Certain things are wrong by their very nature. Sex outside of marriage - whether heterosexual or homosexual - belongs to that category (6:18-20). Again, he casually assumes that sodomy is intrinsically wrong in 1 Timothy 1:8-11.

C.S. Lewis (Anglican apologist):

The disciples were not told why (in terms of efficient cause) the man was born blind (Jn. 9:1-3): only the final cause, that the works of God should be made manifest in him. This suggests that in homosexuality, as in every other tribulation, those works can be made manifest: i.e. that every disability conceals a vocation, . . . The homosexual has to accept sexual abstinence just as the poor man has to forego otherwise lawful pleasures because he would be unjust to his wife and children if he took them.

(in A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, New York: Harper & Row, 1977, Bantam Books edition, 1979, 146; letter of 14 May 1954; abbreviations removed)

by Dave Armstrong

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Catholic Apologetics Guide 101

Scriptural Reference for Catholic Apologetics

by Adadzie, Godwin Delali
This is a little book for those seeking a right understanding of Apologetics in the context of Catholicism. It is written in a simple and friendly manner. It is an attempt to look at some Catholic positions in a Biblical perspective. It is hoped that this book should appeal to the Catholic as well as to the non-Catholic readers. It is not written in a "scholarly" way, but as a plain "theological" statement with the hope of carrying conviction.

This book does not pretend to be exhaustive. The field which it covers is too vast to admit of minute analysis. A good number of Catholics leave the Church every year due to poor understanding of the Faith and also the efforts of anti-Catholic groups and churches. Realizing that misrepresentation and misunderstanding are the chief sources of error; this book serves as a quick guide to remove some of these errors.
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