[HIJACK]
forlife,
Zeb is relying on statistical documentation as evidence to support the idea that the homosexual lifestyle is both risky & dangerous and that sexual orientation can actually be manipulated. I’m the one who introduced the concept (somehow or other by addressing a post involving religious attitudes) of homosexual practices as being immoral and defiling.
I know you currently disagree with my religious tangent, but I want to emphasize that despite anyone’s religious beliefs, all humans deny or repress certain behaviors within themselves.
Lorisco mentioned having an affinity for gambling, thus he avoids gambling (whether he uses tricks like avoiding the casino altogether, going there with only $5, or bringing with him a nagging friend). My acquaintance journeys over to the strip-joint but practices self-discipline and restraint instead of grabbing any of the dancers. A heavy drinker may have an affinity for driving while impaired, so he hopefully stops drinking or discovers other methods of transport.
Perhaps the key to maintaining your spiritual/physical welfare in those 10 years should’ve been that instead of repressing that sexual energy, you could have used it for other endeavors; painting with the kids, weight-lifting, praying, etc. Maybe you did all of that but it still wasn’t enough? Only you know for sure how hard you tried.
I also want to quickly mention the possibility that perhaps your beliefs (though Christian-based) were underscored and riddled by principles of philosophy versus theology. False principles which painted one icon of the Christian life while genuine Christian theology paints another.
I witnessed that you used the term “happy” a few times in your posts. Since most people are under the misleading impression that pleasure is a condition or symptom of being virtuous and saintly, I leave you with this quote from Saint Maximos the Confessor, a 6th century theologian of the Orthodox Christian Church:
Saint Maximos says:
"33. When God the Logos created human nature He did not make the senses susceptible either to pleasure or to pain; instead, He implanted in it a certain noetic capacity through which men could enjoy Him in an inexpressible way. By this capacity I mean the intellect’s natural longing for God.
But on his creation the first man, through an initial movement towards sensible objects, transferred this longing to his senses, and through them began to experience pleasure in a way which is contrary to nature. Whereupon God in His providential care for our salvation implanted pain in us as a kind of chastising force; and so through pain the law of death was wisely rooted in the body, thus setting limits to the intellect’s manic longing, directed, in a manner contrary to nature, towards sensible objects.
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Pleasure and pain were not created simultaneously with the flesh. On the contrary, it was the fall that led man to conceive and pursue pleasure in a way that corrupted his power of choice, and that also brought upon him, by way of chastisement, the pain that leads to the dissolution of his nature. Thus because of pleasure, sin became the freely chosen death of the soul; and pain, by means of this dissolution, brought about the disintegration of the material form of the flesh.
For God has providentially given man pain he has not chosen, together with the death that follows from it, in order to chasten him for the pleasure he has chosen."
Phil; v.II; 243-44;
The true Christian life involves suffering and self-denial, not pleasure-seeking and a promotion centered on earthly happiness. Happiness is sometimes a byproduct of being faithful to God, but He wants us to love and follow Him through waves of good fortune and waves of persecution and despair.
The Christian walk is not about evolving into a junky who can enjoy endless pleasure by being awarded an infinite supply of heroin. Pleasure is not the ultimate goal of the Christian Life - it is about loving God & all of His creations, and this is accomplished by abiding in His commandments (even if achieving these feats is incredibly painful).
If you need any further religious support for what I’ve just relayed, feel free to pm me.
Peace be with you.
