David Ancell / Tuesday July 22, 2003
Well, I just had someone tell me that I was being offensive on Busted Halo. I guess I should have figured I was offending someone. I don’t think I’ve been booted yet. She told me that I was dismissing real people with real feelings by denouncing homosexual behavior. My offending comment was that I said that it may be a cross for a person with a homosexual tendency to have to go without sex, but not only must such a one bear it, but it is an opportunity to demonstrate great holiness.
The irony is that I could just as easily be offended by her dismissal of those who believe in the authority of the Church as people who “blindly follow rules.” This is especially true given that I have taken great pains on this forum to give an explanation of the teaching. I didn’t just stop and say “Oh, it’s bad.” It just goes to show you that one must convert one’s will in order to be open to the teaching of the Church.
UPDATE: Here is my response:
I know not what to make of the fact that you find my statements offensive. You say that I am dismissive of real people with real feelings. Am I not a real person with real feelings? Do you think that I do not have struggles against disordered desires of another kind? I may have these desires, but my point is not so much that I am sinless as the fact that I understand indulgence in disordered desires as reasons to go to confession and to resolve to change. This is what I am getting at.
I could easily take offense at you for suggesting that those who believe what the Church teaches are “blindly following rules.” Can you so easily dismiss me? I have labored to provide as full an explanation as I know how to give for why the Church teaches what she teaches. Have you read through it all? Although I have arrived at this teaching at least in part by my conviction that the Church has been given to us by Christ as the authority, I do not believe the Church simply because she says she has authority. I had to arrive at that conviction some other way. Even Jesus acknowledged that the teachers of the Law have the keys to the kingdom of Heaven and that there every teaching must be followed. It’s their actions that were not to be imitated. The conflict of Jesus and the Pharisess was not because the Pharisees were really concered about the Law (They weren’t; they made exceptions in certain aspects that suited them.) but because of their hypocrisy.
It is not my intent to push people off any more than it was that of Jesus. However, we know full well that Jesus offended people so much that they crucified him. If I denounce sins, it is only so that people will turn towards Christ and the Church. It is not to tell people they are in a hopeless situation. I do not believe such. Jesus told us that we have to deny ourselves and take up our crosses. To follow Jesus is to go where he led. He went to the cross. Therefore, self-denial is a part of what it means to follow Christ.
Neither am I trying to stifle or oppress people. I oppose not people but sin, including my own. I oppose sin because I know that ultimately it will not lead to greater happiness. We know this from what God has taught us. So many people try to fill their God-shaped vacuum with sex, drugs, and other things that may numb their pain but will not lead to their happiness. If you have a friend who is involved in destructive behavior, you will no doubt tell the person that what he/she is doing is destructive. This is far more compassionate than the alternative. I wish to help as well.
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