Q. Should we criminalise homosexuality?
A. No. For the same reason you don't or at least shouldn't criminalise anorexia.
Q. Wait. Anorexia? Why do you liken homosexuality with anorexia?
A. Because both are psychological illnesses where the subjects see themselves as something they are not (objectively).
Now if we don’t encourage the dieting/slimming/starving of an anorexic person, why should we encourage the homosexual acts of a homosexual person?
Q. Should we encourage homosexuality?
A. No. Because homosexuality encourages homosexual acts.
Q. Why are you separating homosexuality and homosexual acts?
A. First because not all homosexuals – or people with homosexual tendencies – engage in homosexual acts. Secondly because it always does well to distinguish the person and the acts, the sinner and the sin, the patient and the disease.
Q. And I guess you’d say the same for transsexual-
A. “Transsexual-ity”. Let’s invent the word! But yes. For the same reason we shouldn’t encourage the transsexual behaviour of trans-people.
Q. What’s wrong with encouraging or at least allowing homosexual acts?
A. Main idea is that they are simply anti-natural and consequently denaturalize the whole understanding of sexuality and its importance in nature.
Q. Anti-natural!? That’s a strong word you guy! Anti-natural how? What does that even mean?
A. I can think of three ways to explain this: first is from the principles or policy perspective. Second is from the effects or consequences perspective. Third is from the Biblical or God perspective.
Q. Can we focus on the first two please? I'm not interested in verse-slinging.
A. Haha! I think that’s one thing we share: a dislike for verse-slinging.
Q. Really? So how else do you plan to explain why homosexual acts are wrong from a Biblical perspective without verse-slinging?
A. Something called Theology of the Body.
Q. Ummm… Let’s first deal with the other two please.
A. Ok. So from the principles or policy perspective we observe the following:
1. Digestion has a natural purpose: put food in a stomach and something naturally happens to the food. Sex too has a natural purpose: put sex in a couple and something naturally happens to the couple.
2. What naturally happens to the couple? First they want more, together. Sex naturally unites. Secondly, they tend to conceive a child: sex is naturally procreative.
Or look at it from the reverse angle: contraceptives are designed to stop something happening that precisely is expected to happen naturally when the sexual act occurs!
3. Anything that stops the food from being digested in the stomach is not normal or proper, it goes against natural expectations; it is anti-natural. Anything that stops sex from uniting and being open to procreation is not normal or proper, it goes against natural expectations; it is anti-natural.
(Admittedly there are instances when digestion naturally does not occur e.g. in the case of indigestion. There are also instances when procreation does not naturally occur e.g. in the case of barrenness. But for these anomalies we usually seek medical remedies.)
4. Now one thing that does stop sex from uniting and from being open to procreation is contraception. So too with homosexual acts. There’s something abnormal, improper or anti-natural with homosexual acts.
To be continued...
18thSeptember 2017