A Brutally Vulgar Attack Continues...

As the Controversy Continues with the "Cakesniffers" blog, I thought this would be of interest...

"Today’s Reading is from a Letter from St. Paul to the Romans 1:18 – 32

The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven against every impiety & wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood & perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, & their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools & exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.

Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts for the mutual degradation of their bodies. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie & revered and worshipped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, & the males likewise gave up natural relations with females & burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males & thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, & malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, & spite. They are gossipers & scandalmongers & they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, & rebellious toward their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, & ruthless.

Although they know the just decree of God, that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

The Word of the LORD…(pause)…Thanks be to God

An Explanation of Today’s Reading

In this passage Paul uses themes & expressions to condemn the actions of the world. The close association of idolatry & immorality is easy to understand; Romans themselves were shocked over devotion given to animals by the Egyptians. But this generality needs to be balanced against the fact that in Paul’s time, the non-Jewish Christian society (Gentiles who were converted to Christianity) displayed moral attitudes & actions whose qualities would shock much of modern-day Christian culture. Paul’s main point is that the wrath of God, God’s reaction to human sinfulness, does not await the end of the world, but goes into action at each present moment when a person sins.

Paul is also saying that men don’t have an excuse of why they commit horrible sins because each individual person has a conscience that tells them what is sinful & not sinful. This is known as Natural Law. If a person refuses to listen to his conscience & does whatever he wants to do & not what God wills, the person’s conscience weakens until his conscience won’t be able to tell him, “Hey, this is wrong. I shouldn’t be doing this!” Therefore, the person keeps on committing the same sins & keeps on getting farther away from God & eternal salvation. At the same time he will be getting closer to Satan & eternal damnation. God tells man what he expects of him through Natural Law, but allows man to exercise his free will; “Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts, for the mutual degradation of their bodies.”

Paul describes the treacherous sins of impurity that the Romans performed with each other: Homosexuality. Because they did these “shameful things”, they will receive, “the due penalty for their perversity”.

Paul tells us how he thinks God must look upon those who committed these sexual and unchaste sins: They are wicked, evil, greedy, & malicious, envious, murderers; that they are gossipers & that they hate God & His commandments; that they are faithless, heartless, & ruthless.

At last Paul warns us that people who commit acts of homosexuality and wickedness, “deserve death”, which means they will not merit, nor obtain, the glory of going to Heaven. If you don’t go to Heaven, ultimately, the other alternative is Hell.

LET US PRAY

Jesus, please give us the grace to be able to put our future in your hands, to trust in You first & foremost. Give us the grace to recognize that You love us more than anyone else ever could. Direct our efforts & open our eyes to see the opportunities & the challenges You place before us. Lead us to those who can best assist us in all decisions regarding our futures. Lord, help us to avoid those who are not in the best interest of our future. Help us to trust & reach out more to those closest to us: our parents, family, & friends. Help us to recognize that Your Church is an important safeguard for our eternal salvation. Grant us the grace to seek out true & noble values as the cornerstones for our future. Jesus, help us to see through false images and values that the world so often sets before us: greed, fame, riches, and pleasure. Give us also a strong thirst for prayer. Help us to see that our connection with You will eventually open up direction for our future. Jesus, we pray that we can keep our eyes focused on You. If You are in our future, our future is secure. Finally, help us Jesus to dedicate our future to You: all that we can be, all that we can achieve. Give us the perseverance & patience we need to see it through. In Your Name we pray, Amen."

God Bless!