Reflections On a "Memory"

In my Facebook “Memories” post that they put on our Newsfeed daily I came across some comments that I made last year at this time. The Supreme Court of the United States of America had just handed down their decision legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states and the territories. In the debate and discussion (nice terms for it...mostly unrelated to Facebook, of course) that resulted from that decision I predicted that we were be going to hear this argument or something along the same lines: "God made us all and God doesn't make mistakes. So if two men or two women love each other then God made them that way."

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it. After all, as Catholics we believe in a God Who is all-knowing and incapable of error. So how could we believe that He made a mistake in making someone gay? The problem is that the conclusion is based on a flawed premise.

Caveat: This article is not about homosexuality/gay marriage specifically but about all sin.

God Made Us?

Actually, the prediction hardly qualifies me for “prophet” status. It’s the same old saw that gets trotted out to support many other sinful lifestyles. As I said, however, the premise is in error. The fact of the history of humanity from the Creation is that God did not make us. God made Adam and Eve.

Adam was created by our perfect God and then He created Eve as the mate that was supposed to complete Adam… made from one of his own ribs according to the Genesis account. They were created in the "Imago Dei" (Image of God). After the Creation was finished we hear God say for the last time that it is good. But He made mankind with free will (except the Calvinists, of course) with the ability to choose right from wrong. They fell and sin entered the world… and then Adamand Eve made the rest of us.

“God Doesn’t Make Junk”

We are not the result of a perfect creation but of an imperfect choice made by our first parents. I suppose we could call Satan “the first Pro-Choice Advocate.” In any event, that imperfection marred the Imago Dei in man and very quickly manifested itself when Cain murdered Abel. As David says in Psalm 51 we are sinners (by nature) conceived by people descended from Adam and Eve with like natures. No, God doesn't make “junk” ... but the choices of sin scarred men and women do all the time.

Understand too that NO sin is the ultimate sin or the unforgivable sin… except “Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit”, of course. Divorce, gluttony, adultery or heterosexual relations outside of marriage and many more are on the same plane with homosexuality. But the divorced person can repent and allow God to change him or her...what the Scripture calls "conforming us to His Image" and so can any other sinner.

Restoring the Image of God

To say that God is pleased with any sin is to call God a liar, because He makes it quite clear in both Testaments that He isn't. To say that God made people drunks or adulterers or homosexual is to impugn the Holiness of God. No, God didn't make us like that, but He is ready to make you like He wants us to be...to restore that "Imago Dei" (Image of God) marred in Eden. The Lord Jesus Christ died on the Cross and rose from the grave to restore the ability to choose. He provided a Church and Sacraments to bring us into fellowship with Him once again. But, as with Adam and Eve, the choice is still ours.