Serbia Rocked By Orthodox Sex Scandal

[CatholicsAreKewl]

I would say that there is a correlation between the two in the moral sphere. 

How so?
 

 

Does it follow that all men afflicted with homosexual desires will necessarily abuse boys? No.

 

Agreed. But it's the overwhelming minority. In fact, not all pedophiles have a sexual attraction to men. One can like women and little boys. One can also only be attracted to children. There are even cases of child molestation that are unrelated to a pattern of sexual attraction to children. 
 

 

There may even be some men who suffer from this disordered condition who live a life of perfect continence. But for that they would need God's grace in order to strengthen their wills sufficiently to avoid the sin, especially in our hyper-sexualized (and homoerotic) culture.

But couldn't this statement apply to all men? I think that this debate should be focused more on pedophiles, not homosexuals. There are many pedophiles who don't act on their inclinations for moral reasons. Should those people be prevented from joining the priesthood? I honestly think that would be a more interesting argument.

Edited April 30, 2013 by CatholicsAreKewl

[Apotheoun]

I have to go to dinner with some friends, but I will respond in greater detail as to why I see a correlation - in the moral sphere - between the homosexual condition (as an objective disorder of the will) and the abusive sex that has been plaguing the Church (both Orthodox and Catholic) over the last forty or so years.

[Era Might]

What I am saying, which I know you do not like, is that the perverted disorder that this bishop suffers from, and that should have prevented his ordination in the first place (if it was known), added to the predatory nature of his actions. The disorders are connected. Now, can a man with a normal sexual orientation also be a predator? Sure. But the present case is not one that concerns a man with a normal sexual ordering, and to so  say that his homosexual affliction played no part in his sexual perversion is utter foolishness.

 

I think the idea of homosexuality as an "affliction" or a "condition" is questionable, framing it in terms of disease. I don't think Scripture speaks of it that way. St. Paul speaks of it as a darkening of moral sense, much like Pharaoh's hard-heartedness, to which God "gives them up." I'm no expert on the homosexual experience, but I am interested in experience in general, and I think sexual experience is a complicated, animal matter. Even between two married adults, what lurks in the heart behind closed doors, well, I don't need to get into specifics, but even heterosexuals have their strange desires (and I'm not referring to anything predatory, but stuff that goes on in normal households). Where do these desires come from? Are they an "affliction," a "condition"? Maybe, if we look at the matter from the modern psychological perspective. But traditional Christian approach to man, of course, predates modern forms of thinking, and it can get strange when they are wedded together. Is there such thing as "a homosexual"? One can have all kinds of strange desires, even homosexual and heterosexual desires coexisting. The experience of  homosexuality, say, in ancient Greece or Rome differs from the modern experience of homosexuality, and was not necessarily connected with effeminate or bizarre alienation from mainstream society.

 

Anyway, just a few thoughts, not really about this scandal but about sexual experience in general. I would be wary of fixing strange desires into an identity. People change throughout their lives...although certainly in many cases homosexuality is a very fixed point in a person's identity, for whatever reason. I wouldn't be inclined to advocate so-called "conversion therapy" because that runs into the same problem, it medicalizes sexual desire in modern ways of thinking...I think it's just as valid an approach to these matters for a man to flee into the desert and become a monk. No doubt, many of the ancient Christians had their own psychological hangups, sexual or otherwise, which they were fleeing from (modern psychologists would love to examine them).

[CatholicsAreKewl]

I'm no expert on the homosexual experience, but I am interested in experience in general, and I think sexual experience is a complicated, animal matter. Even between two married adults, what lurks in the heart behind closed doors, well, I don't need to get into specifics, but even heterosexuals have their strange desires (and I'm not referring to anything predatory, but stuff that goes on in normal households). Where do these desires come from? Are they an "affliction," a "condition"? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqMxEBFfIHI
"All I wanna do is pop it"

[Era Might]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqMxEBFfIHI
"All I wanna do is pop it"

 

You see, I was trying not to go there, but you done did it.