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Pope Francis urges parents to support their gay children – not condemn them

Vouthon

Dominus Deus tuus ignis consumens est
Staff member
Premium Member
Pope Francis urges parents to support their gay children – not condemn them

Pope Francis has urged parents worldwide to unconditionally support, not condemn, their children if they are gay.

The leader of the Catholic Church made his latest gesture of outreach to the LGBT+ community in off the cuff statements during his weekly general audience on Wednesday (26 January).

"Parents who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude,” Pope Francis said.

He told parents “never condemn” and not to be afraid of their children.

Pope Francis said Catholic Church officials encountered parents who struggled with how to support their gay child “all the time in the confessional”. He added that he had experienced such confessions “several times” when he worked in “Buenos Aires”.

“We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their son or daughter,” he said.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
Yup. God forbid folks love their kith and kin, or friends.
Ultimately the Bible does condemn homosexuality, and does condemn those to death who are "men who lie with man as he would a woman." Both of them, their blood is on their hands. Jehovah considers it abominable and detestable. Jesus clearly did not have a "no gays allowed" policy for his Earthly ministry, but the Kingdom is clearly very discriminatory. Homosexuals and bisexuals won't inherit it.
It's great what the Pope is doing, but the Bible is pretty clear about those who "trade natural uses" of their sexual organs.
 

Sgt. Pepper

All you need is love.
Homosexuality isn't the only abomination condemned in the Bible. In fact, many abominations are mentioned in the Bible. Lying is another abomination. Stealing, coveting, fornication, and adultery are also condemned in the Bible, and there are seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride) mentioned in the Bible. But we don't see or hear any weeping and gnashing of teeth from evangelical Christians over other sins condemned in the Bible. Their preferred moral indignant rants are condemning LGBTQ.

Meanwhile, 68% of Christian men are addicted to pornography, sex abuse plagues the conservative Southern Baptist Church, and a majority of evangelical Christians loyally support a morally depraved man who bragged about how he could get away with kissing women and groping them in-between their legs because he's a celebrity. And that's not to mention the fact that he's twice divorced, thrice-married, and he paid off his porn star and Playboy Bunny mistresses to buy their silence about their extramarital affair. He's not exactly a prime example of traditional family values and Christian morality, now is he? His loyal supporters never condemn him for his many sins. As a matter of fact, they dismissed his sins with multiple excuses, such as "I voted for a president, not a pastor."

My point... "Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones."

Porn Addiction Statistics
The statistics for Christian men between 18 and 30 years old are particularly striking:
  • 77 percent look at pornography at least monthly.
  • 36 percent view pornography on a daily basis
  • 32 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 12 percent think they may be).
The statistics for middle-aged Christian men (ages 31 to 49) are no less disturbing:
  • 77 percent looked at pornography while at work in the past three months.
  • 64 percent view pornography at least monthly.
  • 18 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 8 percent think they may be).
Even married Christian men are falling prey to pornography and extramarital sexual affairs at alarming rates:
  • 55 percent look at pornography at least monthly.
  • 35 percent had an extramarital affair.
Is Porn Addiction a Problem in Your Church?
 
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Kooky

Freedom from Sanity
Ultimately the Bible does condemn homosexuality, and does condemn those to death who are "men who lie with man as he would a woman."
"The Bible" says whatever its readers want it to say.

For example, the line "if a man lies with another man, he shall be stoned", clearly endorses both homosexual relationships and recreational drug use!
 

Neuropteron

Active Member
Pope Francis urges parents to support their gay children – not condemn them

Pope Francis has urged parents worldwide to unconditionally support, not condemn, their children if they are gay.

The leader of the Catholic Church made his latest gesture of outreach to the LGBT+ community in off the cuff statements during his weekly general audience on Wednesday (26 January).

"Parents who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude,” Pope Francis said.

He told parents “never condemn” and not to be afraid of their children.

Pope Francis said Catholic Church officials encountered parents who struggled with how to support their gay child “all the time in the confessional”. He added that he had experienced such confessions “several times” when he worked in “Buenos Aires”.

“We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their son or daughter,” he said.
Hi,


"...the vine of Sodom and from the terraces of Gomorah. Their grapes are grapes of poison. Their clusters are bitter"(De 32:32)

We will all reap what we sow.
There is no question as to what type of "crop" this philosophy will grow into.
 

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
Pope Francis urges parents to support their gay children – not condemn them

Pope Francis has urged parents worldwide to unconditionally support, not condemn, their children if they are gay.

The leader of the Catholic Church made his latest gesture of outreach to the LGBT+ community in off the cuff statements during his weekly general audience on Wednesday (26 January).

"Parents who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude,” Pope Francis said.

He told parents “never condemn” and not to be afraid of their children.

Pope Francis said Catholic Church officials encountered parents who struggled with how to support their gay child “all the time in the confessional”. He added that he had experienced such confessions “several times” when he worked in “Buenos Aires”.

“We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their son or daughter,” he said.

I love this pope here.
 

Sgt. Pepper

All you need is love.
It has so many mixed messages and contradictions that any type of Christian can find something to focus on.

Christians can't even agree on what the Bible actually teaches, because there's the Catholic Church, the Orthodox, and thousands of Protestant denominations disagreeing about biblical interpretation, salvation, baptism, female pastors, and the list goes on.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
"The Bible" says whatever its readers want it to say.

For example, the line "if a man lies with another man, he shall be stoned", clearly endorses both homosexual relationships and recreational drug use!
Clearly it doesn't. Yes, the Bible is saturated with inconsistencies and contradictions, but it does say what it says. And that is homosexuals and bisexuals (really, the act is more what if focuses on) are immoral, do not inherit the kingdom, and do deserve death.
Pick and choose? It warns against that.
Why not just leave it behind instead? Very few people actually do what Jesus said to anyways.
But, then again Jesus said there will only be a few. He did say there will be many who call upon him before the Kingdom and he will say he does not know them and he will cast them out into eternal darkness.
 

Kooky

Freedom from Sanity
Clearly it doesn't. Yes, the Bible is saturated with inconsistencies and contradictions, but it does say what it says. And that is homosexuals and bisexuals (really, the act is more what if focuses on) are immoral, do not inherit the kingdom, and do deserve death.
A text cannot speak for itself. It needs somebody to read and interpret, and that leaves all power in the reader's hands.
I can cherry pick messages of tolerance and love for our fellow humans just as I can endorsements of genocide.
The bigotry fundamentalist Christians read out of the Bible is one they themselves put in, to justify hatred and persecution, oppression and authoritarianism.

There are Christians who see no conflict between acceptance of homosexuality and their Christian faith.
Your position on what constitutes "true" Christian faith, on the other hand, aligns with that of the worst bigots.
 
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9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Ultimately the Bible does condemn homosexuality, and does condemn those to death who are "men who lie with man as he would a woman." Both of them, their blood is on their hands. Jehovah considers it abominable and detestable. Jesus clearly did not have a "no gays allowed" policy for his Earthly ministry, but the Kingdom is clearly very discriminatory. Homosexuals and bisexuals won't inherit it.
It's great what the Pope is doing, but the Bible is pretty clear about those who "trade natural uses" of their sexual organs.
OTOH, it also says this:

28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

It also (in 1 Timothy 4) describes people who forbid marriages for others as "hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron," and says that they're following the teachings of demons.

... so there's that.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
It also (in 1 Timothy 4) describes people who forbid marriages for others as "hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron," and says that they're following the teachings of demons.

... so there's that.
Forbidding what the Bible regards as valid marriage. Clearly it doesn't regard two men and two women as valid, but rather that they are behaving in unnatural and abominable ways. And you can't dismiss the misogyny of the Bible either. It blames women for sin. It calls women unclean when she's on her period, and she must be sent away. Women are explicitly told they are beneath men, they are to be a help to men, amd they are to shut up in church and hang their heads in humility, with Paul going as far to say he will not suffer a woman to usurp authority over a man.
 

Sgt. Pepper

All you need is love.
There's a massive elephant in the room that anti-LGBT evangelicals tend to outright ignore when they're ranting about the sanctity of marriage, and it's the fact that the Bible clarifies EIGHT different marriages that were allowed by God during the biblical times.

biblemarriage.jpg
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Forbidding what the Bible regards as valid marriage.
It doesn't actually say that in the text.

And when I look around, the only people I see trying to forbid any marriages are Christians trying to forbid same-sex couples from marrying.

Clearly it doesn't regard two men and two women as valid, but rather that they are behaving in unnatural and abominable ways.
I don't think there's any "clearly" here. The Bible is the Big Book of Multiple Choice. You can find material in it to support pretty much any position.


And you can't dismiss the misogyny of the Bible either. It blames women for sin. It calls women unclean when she's on her period, and she must be sent away. Women are explicitly told they are beneath men, they are to be a help to men, amd they are to shut up in church and hang their heads in humility, with Paul going as far to say he will not suffer a woman to usurp authority over a man.
I don't dismiss it, but I do think the Bible is the creation of many authors with a range of positions.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
And when I look around, the only people I see trying to forbid any marriages are Christians trying to forbid same-sex couples from marrying.
Yeah, that's because they're obsessed with splinters in the eyes of others while not addressing the mote in their own eye (like divorce for any reason other than adultery and allowing remarriage).
I don't think there's any "clearly" here. The Bible is the Big Book of Multiple Choice. You can find material in it to support pretty much any position.
On this subject, no, it's not. The Bible says what it says. Nowhere in the Bible permits homosexual acts.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
What's a "homosexual act" when there is "neither male nor female"?
Where does the Bible literally say there is no male and female? It doesn't. It says before Christ are as one. Not literally all one and indistinguishable. Before Christ even the rich and poor stand as equals.
This "none of it all" translation also does not fit in anywhere with the rest of the Bible. It simply cannot be reached with a critical reading of the Bible, because he made them, male and female.
 
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