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TOBET
4507 Lone Star Dr.
Carrollton, TX 75010
972-849-6543

info@tobet.org

 

 

Homosexuality

By Annie Vining MTh, President TOBET

© 2006

  1. The TOB speaks of the body being the sacrament of the person
    1. a sacrament makes the invisible visible
    2. the visible aspect has to match up with the invisible reality; the visible sign must really make the invisible actually visible
    3. i.e. this is why sex outside of marriage is wrong: it is a visible sign that I give you everything, even the right to choose to marry someone else when I have actually not
    4. the body was made by God to be a sacrament of the person, to make visible the spiritual
  2. Jesus' body hanging on the cross makes God visible
    1. He pointed to this fact when He said that there is no greater love…
    2. When we put this together with the fact that God is love, we realize that Jesus hanging on the cross shows us the image of God in its fullest.
    3. We were made in the image of God, so the secret to happiness is to live like an image of God
    4. How? To love like Jesus did on the cross: to give ourselves fully, freely, faithfully, and fruitfully.
    5. We do this most of all through our sexuality. We find our greatest happiness by giving ourselves body and soul through our sexuality. (Either by giving our sexuality to God and reserving it for Him alone as celebates do, or by giving it to another person in truly loving (i.e. marital) sex.)
    6. So, the body was made to make the invisible image of God (love) visible, and one way to do this is to have sex! This is why the first commandment in the Bible is: "Be fruitful and multiply."
    7. Without being made male and female, we would not be able to image God Who is love. This is why Genesis says that "In the image of God He made them, MALE and FEMALE He created them."
    8. We image God through our maleness and our femaleness by loving one another
  3. Homosexuality is a disorder where the body does not lead a person to the full loving communion that will be his or her ultimate happiness.
    1. God has placed in all of us a deep desire to have this kind of full communion with another person-and of course with God Himself (this is the opposite of the kinds of lonliness and brokenness that we hear sung about so often in many of the songs on the radio)
    2. But, if our body does not lead us to full communion with another person, then there is a problem. We have a major roadblock in the pathway to our greatest happiness.
    3. Yet, God wants the same fulfillment and happiness for all his people. No one is to be excluded.
    4. People of homosexual orientation can never find the fullness of happiness by homosexual sex, because they can never give all that they are to their partner. Their fertility, the ability for their act of love to give life to another human being can never be shared. Their union can never be totally full, as it can for heterosexuals.
    5. To tell people of homosexual orientation anything less is to lead them down a dark alley that eventually dead ends. It is to say to them that because they have this disorder, they have to settle for less than the kind of absolute happiness and love that God desires for all His people.
  4. Homosexuals themselves point to the importance of the male/female complimentarity
    1. In the majority of homosexual couples, each partner plays a role.
    2. ne ends up denying his or her very body in order to play the part of the opposite sex.
    3. In this way, homosexuals unknowingly are trying to image God, but they way they do is by denying that at least one of them was made in God's image in their very body. They deny who they are in order to be more fully in love, because they know that the absolute fullness of union comes through complimentarity.
    4. In addition to this, homosexuals know in their hearts that they were meant for full communion and this is why they try in many ways to mimick what heterosexuals do when they have sex. The problem is that they will never be able to unite fully. Not only this, but certain kinds of homosexual sex actually damages their bodies.
    5. Finally, believing the lie that they are second class when it comes to not only being made in the image of God in their bodies, but also when it comes to happiness does tremendous damage to their souls. It does not make them more fit for heaven, which is the point of our life here on earth.
  5. Homosexuality is a disorder that can be reversed
    1. Many people question whether homosexuality is caused by genetics or environment.
    2. They think that God is contradicting Himself if He made them this way (if its genetic) and He is sending them to hell for being how He made them.
    3. However, even if this disorder is genetic, there are other disorders that are genetic, such as Down's Syndrome. Being genetic does not make it right.
    4. In addition to this, God did not send disorder into the world. That was the result of sin. So, ultimately our sin is the cause of genetic and environmental disorders. God didn't do it.
    5. Nonetheless, God does not send people to hell for having homosexual desires. It is only by choosing to sin, as for example when any person, hetero or homo is unchaste, that separates us from God.
    6. The best part is that if we do not believe the lie that homosexuals just don't get to have the fullness of happiness and communion that heterosexuals do, then we begin to do the truly loving thing: find solutions to this disorder.
    7. There is actually a place where people with homosexual inclinations can go to be healed, and they have at least a 50% success rate for cures.
    8. There is no doubt, though that this disorder is a cross. Yet, if we embrace the cross, like Jesus did, according to the true love He showed us, and without taking any "shortcuts" that we have come up with to make life easier, then we will find what Jesus has meant for us from the very beginning. Our greatest happiness. This is not in spite of the cross, but rather because of it.
    9. God's grace helps us win the victory.
  6. Conclusion
    1. God desires the best for every single one of the people He sent His Son to save
    2. Homosexuals are not going to hell just because their feelings are disordered.
    3. By acknowledging that their feelings are disordered, they open the door to making them ordered.
    4. With ordered emotions, homosexuals can find the absolute fulfillment and ecstasy that is a part of living out the full gift of self that fulfills our entire being, body and soul, made in the image of God.


Annie Vining can be contacted at avining@tobet.org

The Theology of the Body Evangelization Team can be reached at info@tobet.org
 

© 2005
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