A commenter recently left a note on my post, "Sex and Marriage are Sacred". And although I responded, I felt that this really deserves to be addressed in its own post. I will not quote the entire comment, but I will respond to the pertinent parts. I provided the link to the post so all can go read the full context of the post and this anonymous person's response. There were actually two parts; I will address the second point in a seperate post.
1. You say "There is NOTHING natural about homosexual sex." But homosexuality and homosexual sex occurs all throughout nature. 8% of sheep are gay (cf. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/science/25sheep.html). There are gay penguins (cf. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/07/MNG3N4RAV41.DTL).
Just because something occurs in 8% of the population doesn't make it "unnatural." If 8% of the world's population were caucasian, does that mean caucasians are "unnatural"?
First of all, the reality is that this commenter obviously has not been able to discern the difference between an inclination and acting out on the inclination. My post was about the actual behavior of human beings. It is simply a straw-man argument to suggest that just because sheep hump each other and engage in what appears to be homosexual activity, that it justifies human behavior. Additionally, suggesting that voluntary behavior is tatamount to racial statistics is just completely illogical. It has no place in this conversation.
People, if you are using the argument that it's ok to engage in unnatural sexual acts because sheep do it, then you have a major problem. Suggesting that it's "natural" because dogs do it is not a logical argument. If you want to use that argument, then I would also like to see you bend over and clean your rear end as a dog does, I would also like to know if you support eating your young, as this also occurs in the "natural world", and I'm very curious as to whether you fully consume your sexual partner after being impregnated as does the black widow.
We are human beings. We sometimes have disordered inclinations such as same sex attraction, alcoholism, kleptomania, etc. The Catholic Church teaches that we ALL have some sort of disordered inclination: it's often referred to as "Concupiscence", that is, the inclination to sin.
So let's define this term, "inclination" (taken from Dictionary.com):
–noun 1. a disposition or bent, esp. of the mind or will; a liking or preference: Much against his inclination, he was forced to resign.
2. something to which one is inclined: In sports his inclination is tennis.
3. the act of inclining; state of being inclined.
4. a tendency toward a certain condition, action, etc.: the door's inclination to stick.
5. deviation or amount of deviation from a normal, esp. horizontal or vertical, direction or position.
It can safely be said, then, that it is a natural part of our human condition to have the inclination towards sin, which are acts contrary to God's divine order. Thus, the inclination towards homosexuality in and of itself is not a sin; it is simply a tendency towards sin. It is only upon acting upon that tendency that it becomes a sin. So, a logical person can see that there is a difference between a latent state of inclination versus the kinetic activity enacting up the inclination.
As human beings, we have a choice; we can recognize our tendencies and resist them so as to continue to be unified with God and His will, or we can act upon our sinful inclinations and seperate ourselves from the Lord. To act upon something contrary to God's will is unnatural, disordered, and it is a SIN. Pure and simple. Thus, homosexual behavior is unnatural and disordered.
We have the ability to reason and maintain self-control, even in the face those strong tendencies towards a certain type of behavior. We have the ability to understand the consequences of our behavior; personal, social, moral consequences. We do not have to look to animal behavior in order to see what is natural or unnatural in a human. To do so is complete folly.
Animals do not act according to a moral code; they act according to instinct. If they happen to have an inclination towards disordered behavior, then it is simply an abnormality. Animals cannot sin. Only human beings can sin, and only human beings can respond to a reasoned moral code and know right from wrong. To suggest that our inclinations and resultant behavior is "natural" is not only ignorant, but it is willfully illogical and completely contrary to our dignity as human beings.
We cannot look to animals to validate our willful human behavior.
5 comments:
Excellent post, thank you!
Most animal behavior perceived as 'homosexual' is actually just one animal displaying dominance over another.
My female beagle does this regularly to my male beagle, to the annoyance of the humans and the chagrin and shame of Boy Dog.
Great point, and I considered bringing that up as well...but didn't.
I had a dog that used to do this all the time, and one that humped my brother! Much to my extreme embarassment. I guess, by the logic followed by the "gay sheep" crowd, then my dog must be attracted to other species.
Most homosexuals in their hearts know that they are disordered and the proof is in their addictions, their obsessions and their statistically shorter life spans.
And maybe their biggest obsession is comparing themselves to animals, not to God, in whose image and likeness we are all made.
"There are gay penguins"
Ahahahaha!!!
Oh my, that is rich. If we used that logic then what about the fact that dogs eat poop?
I really hope that you all have missionary position sex only.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be "natural."
Also, I totally agree with you all, I think we should reject "unnatural" things including optical glasses, airplanes, telephones, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, cars, computers and air conditioning!
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