Theology of the Body - From the Beginning

I learned a great deal this past week. The main stimulus of watching and reading these sermons and writings was to build a stronger theological foundation of understanding God's purpose for creating human with two genders.

The best lecture I have ever heard on the subject is by Christopher West - see YouTube. He referred to JOHN PAUL II'S THEOLOGY OF THE BODY which contains 129 lectures (!) collectively explaining the glorious teaching on why God created man and woman - expounding on scripture that spans from Genesis to Revelation. Take for an example, on the subject OF THE UNITY AND INDISSOLUBILITY OF MARRIAGE  Pope John Paul II spoke on 5 September 1979, in the first of his General Audiences on the Theology of the Body, expounded the words of Christ, "In the beginning the Creator made them male and female." to over 20,000 people. This is based on the following Gospel account:
"And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?' He answered, 'Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.' They said to him, 'Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?' He said to them, 'For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so'" (Mt 19:3-8, cf. also Mk 10:2-12).
Pope John Paul II explained: "Christ quoted Genesis 1:27 in summary form: "In the beginning the Creator made them male and female." The original passage reads textually as follows: "God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Subsequently, the Master referred to Genesis 2:24: "Therefore, a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." Quoting these words almost in full, Christ gave them an even more explicit normative meaning (since it could be supported that in Genesis they express de facto statements: "leaves. cleaves. they become one flesh"). The normative meaning is plausible since Christ did not confine himself only to the quotation itself, but added: "So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." That "let not man put asunder" is decisive. In the light of these words of Christ, Genesis 2:24 sets forth the principle of the unity and indissolubility of marriage as the very content of the Word of God, expressed in the most ancient revelation."

Based on this Theological Foundation "it is the Church's resolute 'yes' to conjugal love, the spousal meaning of the body, and the meaning of the complementarity of the sexes, to its ordering to pro-creation, that necessarily requires a 'no' to homosexual activity" (from Theology of the Body and Homosexual 'Marriage') There are six specific passages in scripture that condemn homosexuality: Gen. 19:5-8; Lev. 18:22-23; Lev. 20:13; 1 Tim. 1:9-10; Rom. 1:26-27; Jude 7. But there are proponents of the "Gay Theology" who interpret these same passages differently to normalize homosexual behaviour in the church. In other words, it is fine to be both a professing Christian and a practicing homosexual. To gain a better understanding how these scriptures were interpreted and the problem with their interpretation, watch this Joe Dallas's talk on the subject: I Was an Apologist for Gay Theology
Another worthwhile lecture series worth watching: Refuting Pro-Gay Arguments and Theology

This subject is very important to me as I have several family members (and likely most of my friends and relatives) who are quite offended by my stance on the subject. I know I ought to love everyone, irrespective of their belief on homosexuality, and I can honestly say I do love my gay friends and relatives. But is it wrong? - absolutely! It is not God's original intention when He created man and woman. But I consider this sinful behaviour no worse than lying, gossiping, sex before marriage, abortion etc. "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another... Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh... Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:13, 16-21) I admit I do commit quite a number of these deadly sins from time to time. If it wasn't for the grace of salvation offered by Christ on the cross, I would be doomed myself. I often quote this passage because homosexuality is not on the list! I think it's covered under "fornication, impurity, licentiousness". But the point is I am just another sinner trying to help other sinners to the path of ultimate fulfillment.

2 Corinthians chapter 4 is absolutely one of my favorite passages in Scripture. Listen to this:
"Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:1-6)

May God use me to help my brothers and sisters who have been mislead, to bring them back to the fullness of the truth! Live Truth, Live Catholic!