Silent
on acceptance
Regarding the recent ecumenical conference held at the Vatican,(NCRonline.prg/node/89481) there was much to be praised in the recognition of the holiness of traditional marriage and family life. The synod, however, was silent on God’s acceptance of other forms of family life and intimacy. The exclusion of this topic left the impression that only traditional male-female marriage could be universally condoned by God and all the Churches
Regarding the recent ecumenical conference held at the Vatican,(NCRonline.prg/node/89481) there was much to be praised in the recognition of the holiness of traditional marriage and family life. The synod, however, was silent on God’s acceptance of other forms of family life and intimacy. The exclusion of this topic left the impression that only traditional male-female marriage could be universally condoned by God and all the Churches
As
I make my home in SLC, home of the Mormon church, I am keenly aware, of the
struggle being endured by many of our young people over their sexual identity.
Their subsequent inner isolation, shame and self hatred all too often end in a
suicidal solution. I was recently told, for instance, of a friend’s young
teenage nephew who was found hung in his garage by his mother. Though we may
never know the details of this young man’s anguish, my intuition fills in the
blanks and I am heartbroken that so much aspiring life has fallen prey to the
institutional Church’s ignorance and outright discrimination.
It
is urgent that we, as a Christian society, find a way to convey the message that
God created, loves and sustains the innate beingness of each human person. We
must feel compelled to present the clear message that Divine Blessing is
inherent in all truly loving relationship, and especially in the
sacred bonds entered into by our gay (as well as our straight) brothers and
sisters and their families.
Clare Julian Carbone, ARCWP
Y![]()
tZ
1 comment:
Genesis 38 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2038:8-38:8&version=DRA
Genesis 38
1 At that time Juda went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Odollamite, named Hiras.
2 And he saw there the daughter of a man of Chanaan, called Sue: and taking her to wife, he went in unto her.
3 And she conceived, and bore a son, and called his name Her.
4 And conceiving again, she bore a son, and called him Onan.
5 She bore also a third: whom she called Sela. after whose birth, she ceased to bear any more.
6 And Juda took a wife for Her his firstborn, whose name was Thamar.
7 And Her, the firstborn of Juda, was wicked in the sight of the Lord: and was slain by him.
8 Juda, therefore add to Onan his son: Go in to thy brother's wife and marry her, that thou mayst raise seed to thy brother.
9 He knowing that the children should not be his, when he went in to his brother's wife, spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name.
10 And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing.
What was the ‘detestable thing?’
The spilling of the seed is seen by the Church as the ‘detestable thing.’ The story of Onan’s Sin has therefore been used by the Church to condemn the various practices or techniques of birth control. This interpretation does not give weight to the other possibilities inherent in the story, but not expressed directly in the text.
Other possibilities:
• Violation of the law or custom of the time.
• Denial of the widow’s right to bear offspring to her deceased husband.
• Disobedience of the father.
• Violation of the sexual act.
• Abuse of the person of the widow, physically, psychologically and socially.
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