Hi, Momma Angel, and another welcome aboard - hope you find A2K is a place you like to visit. It really isn't scary - sometimes it can get a little rough-and-tumble, and sometimes vigorous argument is met with rigorous objection, but its remarkably civil, and diverse. And remember, its all just pixels on a screen; nothing there to be scared of at all.
Anyhow, the bible has been mentioned, and cited - a bunch in this thread, and with some discussion of interpretation. Its pretty clear there's no biblical acceptance of homosexual bejhavior, thats for sure. In terms of this particular discussion, I believe too its been shown conclusivel that the topic's author began with an ambiguously defined premis, and that the author's arguments, both implicit and explicit, as presented, have been unambiguously and incontravertably refuted.
The topic title, "Catholic Church Now Accepts Gays", can be taken different ways. In one sense, the sense that all who freely accept and conscientiously abide by The Church's teachings most certainly are accepted by The Church. "Hate the sin, love the sinner", in effect. On the other hand, The Church is, and by unbroken tradition has been, staunchly opposed to homosexual practice, and/or, by extension, advocacy thereof. The Church has no proscription against homosexual inclination, but no tolerance for homosexual practice. Sort of "OK to think it, but not at all, not ever, OK to do it".
As to marriage being specifically an indisoluable contract between one man and one woman, the pair first meeting certain other prerequisites, well, no wiggle room there; that is an unchangeable matter of dogma, doctrine, and tradition, an irrevocable, immutable core precept of The Church's teachings on morality. for The Church, and strong biblical argument is made by The Church for that interpretation. Likewise, the role of sex, according to The Church, is procreation within the sacrament of Matrimony, period. That rules out any sexual act the nature of which precludes procreation. The Church makes strong biblical argument for that interpretation as well, and it too is a matter of dogma, doctrine, and tradition, and likewise, an irrevocable, immutable core precept of The Church's teachings on morality. The Church is in a corner there, period, end of discussion, thats all kids, no wiggle room whatsoever.
The question of whether The Church's stance on these matters may be "right" or "wrong", or "out of step with the times", is moot, not even open to debate within The Church. It is a question The Church frankly cannot even acknowledge; to The Church, its a non-issue on its face. The Roman Catholic Church does not, has not, will not, and cannot "accept" presons who openly and persistently engage in or advocate homosexual practice.
What other churches or religions, or even society in general, may or may not do or feel or advocate is immaterial; The Roman Catholic Church, as an instutution, does, always has, and forever must condem homosexual practice. There is no counter argument possible within the structure, dogma, doctrine, and tradition of The Church.
Oh, and Frank and I are pretty much of the same conviction when it comes to theology, and we both have strong opinions concerning the issue, which we always are quite willing to discuss. The matter is one to which we individually have devoted considerable attention over a period of several decades. Neither of us are religionists, but we both consider ourselves as having a respectable grasp of the concept, history, and philosophy of religion, and both of us have considerable familiarity with the Abrahamic mythopaeia, particularly as regards its Judaeo-Christian permutations.
Politically, on the other hand, Frank and I have been known to differ some
- yeah, I get that a lot. Is there something I could explain for you? Be glad to.
