You Are God's Work Of Art
SB
A Reflection on Catholic Teachings on Homosexuality
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFA
Mission Saints Sergius and Bacchus
Holliston, MA
The rite of the Sacrament of Baptism says: "You are God's Work of Art,
created in Christ Jesus" and the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1269
says: "As Baptized persons, lesbian and gay Catholics share the rights
of all the Baptized; To receive the sacraments, to be nourished with
the Word of God and to be sustained by other spiritual helps of the
church".
The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2358 also states: "The number of
men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not
negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition....They must
be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of
unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.
Unfortunately far too many members of the Universal Catholic Church and
of other Christian denominations have chosen to use the mistranslated
transcripts of Holy Scripture to attack and make individuals of same
sex orientation feel unwanted and have actually led to violence toward
GLBT persons and in many cases suicide.
What many of them refuse to acknowledge or possibly do not even know is
that King James for whom the authorized King James Version of the Bible
is named was a homosexual himself.
They have mistranslated passages in Gen 19:4-5 by translating the
Hebrew word "enowsh" as MEN when in all other passages where the word
is used it is translated as PEOPLE.
Another example of an incorrect translation is the Hebrew word "yada"
which according to the Hebrew Lexicon means "to get acquainted with"
which would be in accord with the accepted custom and indeed and almost
law of the time of hospitality toward strangers. When "yada" is
translated to mean sex it is only found when the sexual activity is
between a man and a woman.
In reality, the word HOMOSEXUAL was not even in existence until 1868 in
Germany and it was first used in English in 1891.
If the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was actually homosexuality why then
would Lot have offered his daughters to homosexuals? The answer to what
the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was can be found in Deuteronomy 29:17
"You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and
stone, of silver and God". When Scripture uses the Hebrew word
"towebah" is has and always meant idolatry as in Ezekiel 16:50.
Another example of mistranslated meanings can be found in 1 Corinthians
66:11. This passage is referring to male prostitutes and not
homosexuals. The word used for homosexuals during Paul' time was
"arrenomanes" and was in wide use but NOWHERE does Paul use that word.
A very affirming message from Christ can also be found in Holy
Scripture in Matthew 19:11 "Not everyone can accept this teaching"
(Marriage and divorce between a man and a woman was the subject in
verses 8 and 9 and the disciples made the statement "Isn't it better
then not to marry" in verse 10 ) "Some men are incapable of sexual
activity from birth, some have been deliberately made so, and some have
freely chosen to renounce it for the sake of God's reign. Let them
accept this teaching who can." This passage simply put, is telling all
people to accept the way God made them and then go about living their
lives in a decent and respectable way in accordance with God's
Commandments and the teachings of Christ.
So what do the scriptures actually say about homosexuality and
homosexuals?
1 When homosexuality is being used by a person for the purpose of
worshiping idols of false Gods or a person is born heterosexual and
decides to abandon their heterosexual orientation and practice
homosexuality, that type of homosexual behavior is condemned. Refer
Romans 1
2 The scriptures are silent in respect of those persons who are born
homosexual, and decide either, to remain celibate, practice their
homosexuality in a committed long term loving relationship, or abandon
their homosexual orientation to try to practice heterosexuality.
(In Revelation 22:18 we are warned about adding anything to the
teachings of God)
3 When any individual, group, church or denomination judges
homosexuals, that person, group, church or denomination is condemned
for doing so. See Romans 2:1.
These words are the whole point of all that Paul said about
homosexuality in Romans 1.
The only person who is capable of judging anyone is Almighty God. When
judgments are then followed by prohibitions, sanctions, discrimination,
hatred and by homophobia, the institutions or people who are doing that
stand condemned by God, every time they do it.
4 Whatever interpretation you put on Romans 1, you need to remember
what the Catholic Bishops have declared regarding Homosexual persons.
(See statement that began this reflection)
5 Those who claim that the scriptures condemn homosexuality are
distorting the actual words written by the blessed founding fathers as
they meant at the time of the writing of the Scriptures.
This is also mentioned in 2 Corinthians 4:2 "nor do we distort the word
of God."
Church history and documents in church archives have many instances of
persons of homosexual orientation that became saints and whose love of
God far outweighed their love a pleasure and material things. It is sad
that so many who profess their love for Christ has so little knowledge
of the history of the church and are so willing to make judgments and
discriminate just because they do not have all the true facts but just
those that are politically correct at a particular time.
As followers of Christ we need to pray that the Holy Spirit will open
their minds and hearts and guide them to living the way Christ
commanded "Love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, mind, soul
and body and love your neighbor as yourself" AMEN