"[T]he Sermon on the Mount is addressed to sinners. It is to lustful human beings that Jesus says, 'I tell you that anyone who looks on a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.'
"… Christ knows our hearts. …
"… Laws and rules may constrain our outward behavior, but they can't heal our distorted desires. The Gospel is aimed at the heart."
An der Grabstätte von Kronprinzessin Cecilie
1 week ago
5 comments:
I'm wondering why Jesus purposefully chose the word "woman" rather than saying something like . . . .
"I tell you that anyone who looks on a "person" lustfully etc etc
Why use only the word "woman"??
I'm sure that women look lustfully at men.
And what about gays. Don't we look "lustfully" at men?
I know I do!
The Bible simply raises more questions than answers. You can just go on forever counting it's many flaws.
So I just dont believe those words were ever said. Why is the human race so gullabe and unable to think for itself. I'm on the side of the Scientists and academics. These are the men I admire. Men that can think for themselves and not told what to think by others.
I have never considered lust as some sort of sin. Lust is within every human being. It is part of our natural make-up.
Why heck, I just visited David's blog ( gay andy ) who's comment sits next to mine, and I visually lusted at his hot near shirtless picture. Is that a sin? We all do it Natgtz, and so do you I'm sure when scouting around the many youth blogs.
Yes I was raised and brainwashed into the Catholic faith until my mind matured and I was able to think for myself. But when I realized that the faith 'supposedly' outlawed gays then that was it. I'd had enough of religion. Just too many flaws written in a book years after it's subject's demise.
In a few weeks I'll once again be coming into contact with the Christian 'Anti-Gay' fanatics at next month's London Gay Pride. Just hope I'll be able to give them a piece of my mind.
As for the Pope, it was a disgrace that he didn't even refer to the abuse cases in his Easter message. There's no getting away with the fact that he was part of the big cover up. The Vatican seems to think itself too big in this modern world to make any sort of apology.
The Pope is sure to have a rough time when he visits the UK this year. Campaigner Peter Tatchell wants him arrested on his arrival. Interestingly enough the Mayor of London has now slashed the budget for his visit.
But yes I'm still having problems with your preaching the Faith as a gay man, but who still accepts the teachings of the Church, which does does not condone homosexuality.
D.
Thanks for the comments.
@ D@vid — Of course it is possible to look lustfully at men. I think Jesus was speaking in the context of his culture. He had to speak in a way which his hearers would understand. And of course, the quoted words are as they were remembered and passed down for thirty or more years before they were included in the written gospel. The point is clear in any event: looking with lust is sinful as truly as actually engaging in an illicit sexual act. What is in the heart is at the root of sin.
@ deejohn — frankly, I find the "scientists think for themselves and Christians are told what to think" line silly and tiresome. As if Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, John Henry Newman, Chesterton, the Curies, Maritain, Rahner, Wojtyla, and Ratzingernever thought for themselves. As if there weren't scientific "orthodoxies" like global warming and the big bang — and peer review of articles to be published in learned journals.
I think one has to distubguish between temptation and sin. Obviously there is sexual attraction and appetite, and it is inevitable that we find some others attractive. Lust, as the Pope was trying to explain it, goes beyond the involuntary response to another's appearance and involves a choice. Choice is necessary for there to be any sort of sin.
Considering all that the Pope has said and done over the past ten years with respect to the sexual abuse crisis (e.g., in taking control of the issue in 2002, in his actions and statements in the U.S. and with respect to Ireland, in Malta, and on the way to Portugal), I think there was no need to mention it in his Easter message. And I think that to call him part of the coverup really says no more than that he was alive when the coverup was part of virtually everybody's standard operating procedure — in and outside the Church. Anyone acquainted with the facts knows that he has been one of the most vigorous officials in the Vatican in trying to root out sexual abuse and to make amends to the victims. When people want him arrested, I can only surmise that they are woefully ignorant of what he has been doing or simply anti-Catholic bigots who will use any excuse, however unjustified, to bash the Catholic Church. JMO
PS — there is no reason to suppose that none of my desires is sinful, and therefore there is no reason for me to reject the Church simply because it tells me that to give in to some of my inclinations would be a sin.
PPS — another couple of recent notable examples of people who thought for themselves (and became Catholic as a result): Edith Stein and Malcolm Muggeridge.
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