In Genesis 19, Lot and his wife — who is, by the way, completely nameless; defining tertiary characters was apparently not their strong suit — are forced to flee Sodom because shit is about to get wrecked over a little anal. In the course of their flight, Lot and his nameless wife are told not to look back, but Lot’s wife looks back anyway out of compassion and gets turned into a pillar of salt.
Lesson learned: if you’re compassionate to sinners, you will be turned into flavour rocks.
Keep that moral in mind as you read this letter from a Minneapolis archbishop to the mother of a gay child, in which he tells her in no uncertain terms that if she doesn’t reject her son’s sexuality, she’ll go to hell.
I write to inform you that the teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality, as described in paragraphs 2357 and 2358 and 2359 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is rooted in Scripture and based on the Natural Moral Law. It, therefore, shares in God’s revelation to us. Catholics are bound in conscience to believe this teaching. Those who do not cannot consider themselves to be Catholic and ought not to participate in the sacramental life of the Church.
Indeed, some might find this is a hard saying but many of Jesus’ teachings were likewise received as such. I urge you to reconsider the position that you expressed in your letter. Your eternal salvation may well depend upon a conversation of heart on this topic. (Source)
Once again: most religious people tend to be loving, tolerant, rational people. We can agree on that. But unfortunately, the most vocal people of any community tend to be the biggest, loudest assholes of the bunch and usually don’t represent the general consensus. What I’m trying to say is, if a guy who claims to speak for god tells you that hating people is the only way to get to heaven, he’s probably off by a mile.
Why you can trust Xtra
