Sunday, October 24, 2010
It gets better... and other random thoughts.
Gay marriage, gay adoption, gay parents, gay soldiers, gay priests, gay, gay, gay.
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What to do? I edited an earlier post on homosexual parents raising gay kids because of inappropriate humor - I said something like: "How very sad - and yet the cycle continues, these kids too will be disowned by their homosexual parents. Why? Because no one wants gay kids." I know - how offensive. I thought what an awful thing to say in light of teen suicides and all - so I didn't post it. (I know, I did here.) Why would I want to say that anyway? I don't know. Maybe because I wouldn't wish being gay on my worst enemy.
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False hope.
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Contrary to the YouTube video campaign, it doesn't really get better. Unless you are taking a butt-load of anti-depressants. Many of the gay people I know all take some form of medication for depression and anxiety. In the old days alcohol was the drug of choice in self-medicating - today there are prescription remedies and pornography to take your mind off things. Though well intentioned, telling kids it gets better is rather deceptive however. In truth, it doesn't necessarily get better, it is just that if you give life a chance, and suffer yourself to mature, you learn how to cope and handle stress - you learn survival skills - you become a better person. Just like anyone else who is different has to do. eventually one finds friends along the way to support you - some will even exploit you, and there is an entire gay culture out there just waiting to take you in... to make you feel normal. If you believe what that culture tells you - then yeah, I suppose it gets better.
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New sexual ethics.
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As I always say, contraceptive culture leveled out the playing field of sexuality, and laid the groundwork for general acceptance of homosexuality as a 'natural' variant in human sexuality. I'm convinced that is why we see so many gay people today - why so many can come out publicly, and so on. Call me Dr. Janet Smith, but I think contraceptive culture is a big part of it. Likewise, the women's movement or radical feminism has pretty much always partnered with the homosexual movement. I'll stop here because I don't want to pretend this is something academic and follow up with footnotes and links to prove my point.
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Gay all around us.
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They're here and they're queer - as the proverb goes. They are here - they've always been here. So what to do? I don't know. I'm accused of writing about this stuff all of the time - 'all gay all day' - but gay activists write about this stuff all of the time as well, while the news and entertainment industry is almost all about gay stuff - so why am I the bad guy for writing my opinions on the subject? It's turning into a gay world. Thankfully the Church is currently teaching more clearly on this issue, than it did on contraception. It is hard teaching. For the person able to accept it and who orders their life in accord with Church teaching, it does indeed get better - the state of grace is the only true happiness on earth - but that doesn't mean it gets easier. I think the it gets better people really mean to say it gets easier. Not for the Christian however.
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Gays in the military.
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At first glance, I can't see why gays in the military, or the repeal of don't ask-don't tell is a big deal. They have women in the military - so the increased-sexual-assault threat/argument goes rather limp when you consider that arrangement. Yet obviously there are deeper considerations, as pointed out by Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio:
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Broglio also detailed his concern that Christian chaplains, and those of several other religions, might lose the right to proclaim teachings that oppose homosexual behavior. The danger to religious liberty, he said, “is latent in the agenda being advanced by many” under the guise of mere tolerance. In reality, he said, “there is an agenda to force everyone to accept as normal and positive behavior that is contrary to the moral norms of many religions, including the Catholic Church.”
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“While the Armed Forces will never oblige a priest or minister to act in an official capacity contrary to his or her religious beliefs,” he noted, “there is the danger that teaching objective moral precepts or seeking to form youngsters in the faith could be misconstrued as intolerance. Then indeed, freedom of religion would be compromised.”
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The archbishop also articulated the crucial difference between constitutionally guaranteed “free exercise of religion,” and the much more limited idea of a mere “freedom of worship.” If the military opts to silence many faiths' opposition to homosexuality, he said, their religious liberty would suffer.
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"As Catholics,” he warned, “we must be attentive to the protection of our freedom of religion”-- neither subordinating it to the idea of tolerance, nor trading it for the mere “freedom of worship.” If members of the Church do not defend this freedom in the public square, he said, “we may well lose it.” - CNA
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To me, the Archbishop makes sense - I get it, I can agree with it, and I accept it. But just as with the say no to gay marriage thing, or the exclusion of gay men in seminaries, I wonder if it will be listened to. These matters have taken on a political trajectory of their own and I don't see how it can be stopped in our moral and political climate. Moral relativism seems to have been the one key dynamic at work in the attempt to normalize homosexual behavior these days.
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Consider these statements - a sampling of personal testimonies as it were:
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"I don't know what is wrong with gay marriage, my neighbors are two really nice lesbians, and they are okay." "My brother or some other relative is gay, and he's really successful and happy - what he does in his bedroom is no one's business." "My dad is transgender - we love him because he is more himself in women's clothes." "My kid is gay and has a boyfriend - I just want him to be happy - even though they drink too much." "Father So'n'So used to be gay but he isn't now." "Brother Arnold just thinks he is gay - he'll get over it during the dark night."
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I suppose one could go on and on with anecdotal evidence on how normal everything has become and how happy everyone is with their choices in life. Individually. Over the years, tolerance paved the way for acceptance, and acceptance has opened the flood gates of equality.
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But will it get better?
The image of God, unique in every person's making, is being dismantled. Such is equality.
ReplyDeleteNo, Terry, it isn't going to get better...unless they will it so.
ReplyDeleteWe all bear crosses of some sort, and to embrace that cross is to recognize it for what it is, meet it head-on and seek God through it, knowing He can overcome all things. It requires honesty and calling a sin what it is, and a temptation what it is and knowing the difference between the two. And oh, my, some temptations are much stronger than others, especially if they are of a sexual nature!
I had a friend, a very dear friend, most of whose other friends were actively gay men. She was a big supporter of the gay lifestyle (even though she is heterosexual) and we both noticed, among all the proclaimed lesbians we knew, that they were angry, they were wounded, they had been abused by men, they had absent fathers. But chief among their traits was their anger and the fact, which our respective friends told us in conversation, that they had fled the arms of men for those of women because of trust issues - from abuse.
I can't comment as much on the men, other than what I witnessed with regard to their sexual escapades (which they just LOVED to talk about), their heavy use of alcohol and other prescription meds, and yes, their health problems.
I always wondered...if this lifestyle was such a good thing, then why were ALL of those I knew, who were a part of it, suffering from such serious traumas?
It simply doesn't compare with those men and women who are properly married, truly seeking holiness. It's not that they don't have their problems, or that alcoholism does not rear it's awful head, or other drug abuse or child abuse; it is that the incidence is not nearly so common and, well, ubiquitous as it is in the homosexual lifestyle.
Not an easy cross to bear.
God bless those who try so hard to live chastely, seeking God, knowing His will and even when they fall, getting up again to try once more to bear their cross.
No different than the rest of us sinners, although I do think their burdens are particularly heavy.
For this gay kid in a Pentecostal church and Christian school at the brink of suicide... it got better.
ReplyDeleteI think Our Lady gave me a 'honeymoon' period last year, when I first started praying the rosary. This year has been more of a wrestle generally. I am more convinced than ever that the rosary is the key for me, personally. I have known deep sadness and loneliness, some of it real, some caused through projecting fourteen fears at once, onto my mind's eye ( I always do things in a mega way, be they good or bad).
ReplyDeleteThe truth for me, is calm now. It rests easy on my soul. I'm not looking for anything new, or a get out clause. Only my lack of discipline causes friction in my life. Sadness and loneliness are part of this world's path. I can hear Our Lady saying to me, as she did to Bernadette ( and indeed does to each one of us) "I cannot promise you happiness in this world, only in the next."
That's the deal. Joy, anticipation, they are available. I find joy here Terry, I don't mind if you blog gay all day, and fright all night. I know you love the Lord. Truth saves. I want to be saved, and I want us all to be saved.
Blimey, this sounds like a dying person's last speech.
I'm gonna go post an Erasure track, always cheers me up temporarily. That's allowed, surely?
Oh, I am also attempting to get closer to God the Father, although I tread with trepidation, for some reason. I reckon He might be calling all of us, for a closer relationship. Hope I haven't rabbit holed too much, in this comment.
Shadowlands - I always appreciate your comments. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteshadowlands: I want us all to saved, as well.
ReplyDeleteSo very much.
The real sadness, darkness and general despair that mark the lives of so many can become a horrible burden for those of us who are attempting to be "wounded healers", if you will.
The Rosary.
Absolutely.
And love of our Lord in the Holy Mass and Blessed Sacrament.
Nazareth priest said:
ReplyDelete'And love of our Lord in the Holy Mass and Blessed Sacrament.'
Absolutely!! Our Lady gave me a love for those two precious gifts too. Also a recognition of Christ's presence, which I had not truly felt before. I suppose I expected to sprout angel's wings, once I glimpsed these, and to still see myself capable of sinking into mire was a bit of a shock!! Boohoo! I'm yet to be perfected. Keep on,keeping on...
I love you, Terry...we are just saturated with it, aren't we? I am made to think of Fr. Hardon and his battle cry: for martyrs. Those who defend the Truth, in the public square, are now persecuted. Many are silenced for fear of rejection by others and so will not take a stand. Fr. Hardson also warned about the insidiousness of the human need for acceptance and respect. People will not speak out for this reason. To be a faithful Catholic now is to invite persecution and rejection. Try voicing opposition at America Magazine. Your comments are deleted. Your comments are edited, policed. They work at extruding the Truth, and this INSIDE the Catholic Church. You would ever, at one time, have thought this possible?Fr. Hardon talks about planting the Faith through suffering. This thing that is happening is calling for, well, martyrs almost, right?
ReplyDelete