Authentic Freedom and the Homosexual Person | Dr. Mark Lowery
The tragic impasse that exists in our culture on the issue
of homosexuality stems from two errors.
On the one hand, many moderns have
embraced an autonomous view of reality: "I can do what I want as long as it
doesn't hurt anyone else." According to such relativism, homosexual acts are
perfectly legitimate so long as they are between two consenting adults. In
stark reaction to such subjectivism, many others embrace a moralism that easily
turns venomous when it vilifies and demonizes: "Homosexuality is wrong because
God said so" (and nothing more). The distinction between the homosexual
condition and homosexual acts, if added at all, is added as an afterthought.
This view, opposite that of autonomy, could be termed heteronomy, because God's law is understood to be extrinsically
and somewhat arbitrarily placed upon man with a seeming lack of concern for
actual experience of the persons involved.
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Veritatis Splendor (art. 41), distinguishes the Catholic moral outlook
from these two erroneous positions. He labels the Catholic view a "participated
theonomy." If for autonomy there is no law, and if for heteronomy the law is to
be followed because God said so, for participated theonomy the moral law is
something friendly to our being, something built for our genuine fulfillment
and for our authentic freedom. The law is not true because God commanded it;
rather, God commands it because it is true. When we use our free will to align
our lives with this truth, we possess authentic freedom.
What does this mean for the debate on homosexuality?
"The distinction between the homosexual condition and homosexual acts, if added at all, is added as an afterthought."
By means of this sentence, you are writing yourself a permission slip to ignore what someone actually says and address a mere straw man who did not add that distinction.
Posted by: Howard | Friday, June 28, 2013 at 03:50 PM
"The law is not true because God commanded it; rather, God commands it because it is true. When we use our free will to align our lives with this truth, we possess authentic freedom."
This sentence reminds me of the reading today,
Gal 5:1, 13-18
Brothers and sisters:
For freedom Christ set us free;
so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters.
But do not use this freedom
as an opportunity for the flesh;
rather, serve one another through love.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement,
namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
beware that you are not consumed by one another.
I say, then: live by the Spirit
and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh.
For the flesh has desires against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh;
these are opposed to each other,
so that you may not do what you want.
But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Posted by: MyKCMom | Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 08:10 PM
"The law is not true because God commanded it; rather, God commands it because it is true. When we use our free will to align our lives with this truth, we possess authentic freedom." So there is a truth which is greater than God and constrains Him?
This problem goes back to Socrates, if not earlier. The Catholic position is to reject both that "the law is true because God commands it" (in most cases) and "God commands it because it is true". Rather, God is the Truth (and Way and the Life) from which the law comes.
(Those laws which are implied by the very nature God are eternal, and the Christian is not free to disregard them. Other laws, like not eating pork or shrimp, have no inherent truth in themselves. They were in fact binding precisely because God commanded them, and for no other reason.)
Posted by: Howard | Monday, July 01, 2013 at 03:33 PM