Posted on 11/03/2011 3:21:27 PM PDT by NYer
Theological error, they called it.
The Pilot, the journal of the Archdiocese of Boston, published a column written by Daniel Avila, policy director for marriage and family at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
This is what Avila had to say about the root of homosexuality.
“Whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally un-chosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.”The Pilot has since retracted the article and apologized "for having failed to recognize the theological error in the column before publication." For sure, concupiscence is a human thing and we don't need the devil to choose wrong.
“Scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil.”
Very interesting comments on the original post. Check them out!
Well, I don’t think the Devil causes homosexuality directly, but I do think it’s safe to say that he encourages it any way he can.
Personally, I think most homosexuality is a result of childhood abuse, and the inability to deal with the consequences of that abuse in a healthier way. If that conjecture is correct, then the Devil could be encouraging abuse, and thereby encouraging homosexuality in a roundabout way. Of couse, some of those abused grow up to be abusers, so the cycle will perpetuate itself and the Devil wouldn’t have to keep knocking over dominoes to get his desired effect.
This reminds me of a movie I saw recently, called The Rite, about Catholic exorcists (or the Hollywood version of them, at least). In the movie, there is a women who is possessed, who was sexually abused by her father. The one priest who doubts the existence of the Devil points out that the symptoms of someone suffering mental illness because of the abuse would be nearly indistinguishable from someone suffering possession. I think it’s a similar situation here. Whether the Devil causes homosexuality, or abuse causes homosexuality, or the Devil causes the abuse that causes homosexuality, or the Devil just set the vicious circle in motion, the results would be pretty much indistinguishable, and in all cases, the results would be just as pleasing to the Devil.
Indeed we live in a fractured creation, and the Devil has a role in the creation of disorder. As long as man has a free will, he will make the wrong choices, but that means to allow our selves to be led by evil spirit as we flee from God.
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