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from Courageous Priest |
Sodom and GomorrahGenesis 18: Are We Re-living Sodom & Gomorrah? Or Does Equality Trump the Bible?by Fr. Marvin Deutsch, M.M. – The first reading from Genesis, chapter 18, for today’s mass is certainly opportune and could not have come at a better time. It is less than a week since the Supreme Court decided that the marriage between one man and one woman (The Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in 1996) cannot be supported by the constitution. The reading comes just one day after the “Gay Pride” parades in San Francisco, gays and lesbians dancing, celebrating and flaunting their victory over the opposition. Gays and lesbians in CA can now get married. Proposition 8, a referendum supported by the majority of residents a few years ago forbidding gay and lesbian marriages, is now null and void. What has happened, of course, is that our Supreme Court judges, unwittingly perhaps, have shot down the democratic process. What good is a vote of the majority of the people if one activist judge in California who just happened to be gay, could declare the vote unconstitutional, and this later would be supported by the 9 men and women in black gowns playing God? (The vote was 5-4 which exonerates some of them) As Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the spokesperson for all the Bishops recently said, “the Supreme Court’s decision was a tragic day for marriage and the country.” Somehow the nation has lost its common sense. All truth has become relative. Right and wrong is arbitrary, determined by the wishes of those in power.So let’s return to the Scripture reading. What does it tell us? Abraham is pleading with God not to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their many sins. God is telling Abraham that he will not destroy the cities if Abraham can find just a few people living the truth of his will. Abraham could find none and thus fire and brimstone rained down up Sodom and Gomorrah destroying both cities. (We see in the next chapter Genesis 19, the principles sins were the sins of sodomy. These sins are named after the city of Sodom)
Does this story from Genesis have any significance for us today?
Is the same admonition being given to us by God today? Or, have
times and customs changed to the degree that unnatural sins are at least
tolerated by God because people claim that God created them that way?
Why did Cardinal Dolan make the above statement regarding the evil of
homosexual marriage? Is he being intolerant and hateful? In response,
first of all, the stability of our society is built upon the truth of
the natural family, one husband and one wife and their children. When
the family is functioning properly and living morally, so is society.
There is peace and harmony. Would that this were true today.The decision of the courts is based on a so called “equality”. According to the 14th amendment, all citizens of the United States should have equal rights and protection under the law. Yes, we are all equal, but what has that to do with gay marriage which is an aberration? For example: if some men and women decided that they prefer to walk around town naked and gave equality as the reason, (out of equality with those who prefer to wear clothes), I doubt whether this would be allowed or tolerated. (Although in the future, the way things are going, it might be). No doubt they would be told that their actions are reprehensible and have nothing to do with equality. It has to do with decency, good order and common sense. Gay and Lesbian marriages are quite the same. Sodomy and other sexual aberrations, fall under the same category . These acts are all reprehensible, contrary to nature, good order and common sense. Can society as we know it continue to exist under these aberrations? The aberrations of Communism destroyed the culture of Russia; Fascism destroyed the cultures of Germany and Italy. Even ancient Rome collapsed because of the loss of moral integrity. Our society cannot continue in the way it is going without dire consequences. It is for us to hold firm to what is right, true and God’s plan. We should not be merely passive. Our future as a country and a moral society is at stake. We have a strong support to stand on, the truth. Yes, God exists; he has a plan; there is a heaven; there is a hell; there is also a future judgment. As the song of the 1960′s goes, “When will we ever learn, when will we ever earn?” Fr. Marvin Deutsch, M.M.
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