Napakasakit Fra.

Joseph
•Dear Fra Joseph,
•Thank you for considering this letter of mine.
I’m writing about Ben and of my self. We’re in
our twenties and both work in Makati. In fact, we
used to be officemates. I’ve known him for almost
two years and all the time, I’ve been in-love with
him, although we are just friends and he has a
girlfriend. He intends to marry.
•Fra Joseph, I can’t help but fall in love with him.
He is perfect! He’s responsible, intelligent,
resourceful, thoughtful, loving, sweet, caring,
upright, kind, family-oriented, and a God-
fearing individual. His good looks are just an
added bonus. I can’t believe such a man still
exists today and I will forever be thankful for his
friendship.
 Napakasakit Fra. Joseph
• It is a pain to be so in-love with him because he
and his girlfriend are perfect for each other and
are so happy being together. I don’t know if he’s
aware of my feelings for him, but winning his
heart, I think, is out of the question. His girlfriend
is too precious for him. Loosing her would truly
hurt him, and I don’t want to see him in pain. I
know, however, that a part of me wishes he would
reciprocate my love, but he’s just too good for me.
He deserves someone better, like the girl he has
now.
• Knowing he’s happy with her is enough
consolation for me. I want his happiness even if it
would mean my own despair. God knows how
much I’m suffering. Writing this letter alone is
already a torture. I’ve been trying very hard to
forget him. I’ve done ways I know to free myself.
 Napakasakit Fra Joseph
• Pero ang kulit talaga ng puso ko ayaw
sumunod. Fra Joseph, I haven’t seen or talked
with him for a long time and I thought his
absence would somehow cool down the feeling,
but it hasn’t. I don’t want to miss him, but I do
miss him terribly. How can I forget him?
Whenever I see a place, a thing, or a situation,
my mind automatically associates it with him.
His memories occupy most of my waking and
sleeping hours. His face pops into my mind in the
middle of my lunch, when I’m talking with my
friends, cleaning my house, or just doing
something which has nothing to remind me of
him. Odd, but true. I’m not bitter, Fra. I don’t
blame myself, him, nor God for this situation.
 Napakasakit Fra Joseph
• As a matter of fact, I’m thankful. Painfully odd
as it is, this situation has made me the mature
person I am now. But I can’t help ask myself why
should someone fall for another when they are
not meant for each other? Why Fra Joseph? Why?
• You know Fra, whenever I pray, I always ask God
to help me let go of this love. I just want to feel
the same way he feels for me…as a friend and
nothing more. I know I can get through this
because I believe that God wouldn’t give me
something He knows I couldn’t handle. Someday
I will be able to smile again without being hurt
when I remember him. God has His reason for all
these and until I know the reasons, I want to
hear words from you. Attached is my picture to
show my sincerity and let you decide if am really
not meant for his love…
 Napakasakit Fra Joseph
• MY picture…
 Napakasakit Fra Joseph
• But before I end this letter of mine, allow me to
ask some questions regarding my present
situation. I’m sure that many of your listeners
are also like me but nahihiya lang siguro silang
magtanong. Kaya I got the courage to ask you
now. So Fra, what is homosexuality? (Ang lalim
no?) What is the nature of homosexuality? What
are the early writings or teachings of the Church
regarding homosexuality? What are the biblical
passages in the old and new testament about
homosexuality? Lastly, I would like to ask your
advise on how to live a better Christian in spite
of my being a homosexual.
 Napakasakit Fra Joseph
• Fra, thank you very much. Alam ko’ng
maintindihan mo ako dahil we have the same
feelings…
• Sincerely yours,
• Tania
 Homosexuality
• What is Homosexuality?
• Homosexuality is the manifestation
of sexual desire toward a member of
one’s own sex or the activity with a
member of the same sex. The Greek
word homos means the same and
Latin word sexus meaning sex.
 Homosexuality
• The Early Writings on Homosexuality
• The Didache (70 AD)
• “You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you
shall not commit pederasty (the homosexual corruption of boys by
men), you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall
not practice magic….(Didache 2:2)
• Letter of Barnabas (74 AD)
• “You shall not commit fornication; you shall not commit adultery,
you shall not be a corrupter of youth (You shall not be a corrupter of
boys, nor like unto such) ( Letter of Barnabas 10)
 Homosexuality
• Justin Martyr (151 AD)
• “We have been taught that to expose newly-born children is the part
of wicked men, and this we have been taught lest we should do
anyone harm and lest we should sin against God, first, because we
see that almost all so exposed (not only the girls, but also the males)
are brought up to prostitution. And for this pollution a multitude of
females and hermaphrodites, and those who commit unmentionable
iniquities, are found in every nation. And you receive the hire of
these, and duty and taxes from them, whom you ought to exterminate
from your realm. And anyone who uses such persons, besides the
godless and infamous and impure intercourse, may possibly be
having intercourse with his own child,or relative, or brother. And
there are some who prostitute even their own children and wives, and
some are openly mutilated for the purpose of sodomy, and they refer
these mysteries to the mother of the gods” (First Apology 27)
 Homosexuality
• Clement of Alexandria (190 AD)
• All honor to that king of the Scythians, whoever
Anacharsis was, who shot with an arrow one of his
subjects whoimitated among the Scythians the mystery of
the mother of the gods…condemning him as having
become effeminate among the Greeks, and a teacher of
the disease of effeminacy to the rest of the Scythians.”
(Exhortation to the Greeks)
 Homosexuality
• Tertullian (220 AD)
• “All other frenzies of the lusts which exceed the laws of nature,and
are impious toward both (human) bodies and the sexes, we banish,
not only from the threshold but also from all shelter of the Church,
for they are not sins so much as monstrosities” (Modesty 4)
• Novatian (250 AD)
• “God forbade the Jews to eat certain foods for symbolic
reasons…what does the law mean when it…forbids the swine to be
taken for food? It assuredly reproves a life filthy and dirty, and
delighting in the garbage of vice…or when it forbids the hare? It
rebukes men deformed into women…” (The Jewish Foods 3)
• Cyprian of Carthage (253 AD)
• Turn your looks to the abominations, not less to be deplored, of
 Homosexuality
• another kind of spectacle…men are emasculated, and all the pride
and vigor of their sex is effeminated in the disgrace of their enervated
body; and he is more pleasing there who has most completely broken
down the man into the woman. He grows into praise by virtue of his
crime; and the more he is degraded, the more skillful he is considered
to be. Such a one is looked upon-oh shame!-and looked upon with
pleasure…nor is there wanting authority for the enticing
abomination…that Jupiter of theirs is not more supreme in dominion
than in vice,inflamed with earthly love in the midst of his own
thunders…now breaking forth by the help of birds to violate the
purity of boys. And now put the question: Can he who looks upon
such things be healthy-minded or modest? Men imitate the gods
whom they adore, and to such miserable beings their crimes become
their religion?” (Letters 1:8)
 Homosexuality
• “Oh, if placed on that lofty watchtower, you could gaze
into the secret places-if you could open the closed doors
of sleeping chambers and recall their dark recesses to the
perception of sight-you would behold things done by
immodest persons which no chaste eye could look upon;
you would see what even to see is a crime; you would see
what people embruted with the madness of vice deny that
they have done, and yet hasten to do-men with frenzied
lusts rushing upon men, doing things which afford no
gratification even to those who do them…” (ibid., 1:9)
 Homosexuality
• Arnobius (305 AD)
• The mother of the gods loved (the boy Attis) exceedingly, because he
was of most surpassing beauty, and Acdestis (the son of Jupiter) who
was his companion, as he grew up fondling him, and bound to him by
wicked compliance withhis lust…Afterwards, under the influence of
wine, he (Attis) admits that he is…loved by Acdestis…Then Midas,
king of Pessinus, wishing to withdraw the youth from so disgraceful
an intimacy, resoves t five him his own daughter in marriage…
Acdestis, bursting with rage because of the boy’s being torn from
himself and brought to seek a wife, fills all the guests with frenzied
madness, the Phrygians shriek, panic stricken at the appearance of the
gods… Attis too, now filled with furious passion, raving frantically
and tossed about, throws himself down at last, and under a pine tree
mutilates himself, saying, “Take these, Acdestis, for which you have
stirred up to great and terribly perilous commotions.” (Against the
Pagans 5:6-7)
 Homosexuality
• Eusebius of Caesarea (319 AD)
• “Having forbidden all unlawful marriage, and all unseemly practice,
and the union of women with women and men with men, he (God)
adds: ‘do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for in all
these things the nations were defiled, which I will drive out before
you. And the land was polluted, and I have recompensed (their)
iniquity upon it, and the land is grieved withthem that dwell upon it’
(Lev. 18:24-25)” (Proof of the Gospel 4:10)
• Basil the Great (367 AD)
• “He who is guilty of unseemliness with males will be under
discipline for the same time as adulterers” (Letters 217:62)
• “If you O monk are young in either body or mind, shun the
companionship of other young men and avoid them as you would a
flame. For through them the enemy has kindled the desires of many
 Homosexuality
• And then handed them over to eternal fire, hurling them into the vile
pit of the five cities under the pretense of spiritual love…at meals
take a seat far from other young men. In lying down to sleep let not
their clothes be near yours, but rather have an old man between you.
When a young man converses with you, or sings psalms facing you,
answer him with eyes cast down, lest perhaps by gazing at his face
you receive a seed of desire sow by the enemy and reap sheaves of
corruption and ruin. Whether in the house or in a place where there is
no one to see your actions, be not found in his company under the
pretense either of studying the divine oracles of of any other business
whatsoever, however necessary…” (The Renunciation of the World)
• John Chrysostom (391 AD)
• The pagans were addicted to the love of boys, and one of their wise
men made a law that pederasty…should not be allowed to slaves, as
if it was an honorable thing, and they had houses for this purpose, in
which it was openly practiced. And if all that was done among them
was related, it would be seen that they openly outraged nature, and
 Homosexuality
• There was none to restrain them… As for their passion for boys,
whom they called their paedica, it is not fit to be named…” (Homilies
on Titus 5)
• “All of these affections in Romans 1:26-27…were vile, but chiefly
the mad lust after males, for the soul is more the sufferer in sins, and
more dishonored than the body in diseases…” (Homilies on Romans
4)
• “The men have done an insult to nature itself. And a yet more
disgraceful thing than these is it, when even the women seek after
these intercourses, who ought to have more shame than men.” (ibid.)
 Homosexuality
• Augustine (400 AD)
• “Those shameful acts against nature, such as were
committed in Sodom, ought everywhere and always to be
detested and punished. If all nations were to do such
things, they would be held guilty of the same crime by the
law of God, which has not made men so that they should
use one another in this way…” (Confessions 3:8-15)
• The Apostolic Constitutions (400 AD)
• “Christians abhor all unlawful mixtures, and that which is
practiced by some contrary to nature, as wicked and
impious…” (Apostolic Constitutions 6:11)
 Homosexuality
• Nature of Homosexuality
• According to Alfred Kinsey, we are neither perfect heterosexuals
(sexually oriented to the person of the opposite sex) nor perfect
homosexuals (sexually oriented to the person of the same sex), but
we all find ourselves at a certain point on a scale of 0-6:
• 0- very seldom exclusively heterosexual;
• 1- predominantly heterosexual (only incidentally heterosexual);
• 2- predominantly heterosexual but more than incidentally
homosexual;
• 3- equally heterosexual and homosexual;
• 4- predominantly homosexual (only incidentally heterosexual);
• 5- predominantly homosexual (only incidentally heterosexual;
• 6- exclusively homosexual.
 Homosexuality
• Today gay is accepted as synonym for homosexual.
Many homosexual women prefer to be identified as
lesbian. Homophile is another synonym for
homosexual. Homophobia is a related term designating
the hatred or fear of homosexual persons and
relationships. The use of the word gay began in France
in the sixteenth century, originally applied only to men.
Homosexuals of today’s generation prefer the use of gay
for shorter, easier and cheerful connotation. The word
lesbian is derived from the Greek island of Lesbos
where ancient times poetess Sappho lived and wrote
about her love for her female companions.
 Homosexuality
• Kinds of Homosexuality
• 1. Bisexuality- is sexual attraction to both women and
men. However, the degree of attraction is not equal. A
bisexual person may be more attracted to men than to
women, or more to women than to men.
• 2. Transvestites- are those who have sexual excitement
and gratification by wearing the clothing characteristics
of the opposite sex.

• 3. Transsexuals/transsexualism- is a matter of sexual

identity, not of sexual orientation or attraction.
 Homosexuality
• The Bible and Homosexuality
• “Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city
of Sodom-both young and old- surrounded the house. They called to
Lot, ‘where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to
us so we can have sex with them.’” Gen. 19:4-5
• “Do not lie with a man s one lies with a woman;that is detestable.”
Lev. 18:22
• If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have
done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will
be on their own heads.” Lev. 20:13
• “While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of
the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to
the old man who owned the house, ‘bring out the man who came to
your house so we can have sex with him.’” Judges 19:22
 Homosexuality
• “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the
dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the
truth, it will more favorable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of
judgment than for that town.” Matthew 10:14-15
• “If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in
Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will
be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
Matthew 11:23-24
• “Because of this (idolatry), God gave them over to shameful lusts.
Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In
the same way the men abandoned natural relations with women and
were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent
acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for
their perversion.” Romans 1:16-27
 Homosexuality
• “You know perfectly well that people who do wrong will not inherit
the kingdom of God: people of immoral lives, idolaters, adulterers,
catamites, sodomites…will never inherit the kingdom of God.”
1Corinthians 6:9
• “…for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and
perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine…”
1 Timothy 1:10
• “…if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning
them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen
to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was
distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men…” 2 Peter 2:6-7
• “In similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns
gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve
as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”
Jude 7
 Homosexuality
• Considerations of Homosexuality
• A homosexual acts take place in the life of a person who
is not irreversibly homosexual but has the prospect of
developing and strengthening a heterosexual orientation.
If the person who is free to develop as a heterosexual is
not seeking to do so, but deliberately seeks homosexual
acts, these acts are objectively immoral.
• A true irreversible homosexual who expresses his or her
homosexuality in a manifestly irresponsible fashion such
as the seduction of youth, homosexual prostitution, etc., is
objectively immoral.
 Homosexuality
• A true homosexual who feels genuinely free to
live a life of perfect chastity that is, he does not
engage in prominently erotic or orgasm-
producing behavior.
• A case of the true homosexual who is committed
to avoiding manifest sexual abuses, but at the
same time does not see himself or herself as
being free to choose perfect chastity.
 Homosexuality
• Pastoral Implications:
• A pastor must listen with an open mind to the homosexual
who attempts to unburden his or her problem, regardless
of the language or descriptions used.
• A pastor must always remember that the homosexual is
redeemable from his or her sexual life-style. If it was
possible in the early church, it is possible now. The only
requisite is the desire to change on the part of the
individual.
• A pastor must build that desire within the individual by
showing the love of Jesus Christ rather that the
condemnation of man. In the face of such love, the
individual will judge his or her life-style and find it
lacking.
 Homosexuality
• A pastor must not quote scripture verses which
condemn the sin unless you’re asked to name
them. Rather, quote passages which proclaim
deliverance from sin and promises of life and
hope.
• After a counseling relationship of trust has been
established, a pastor must get the individual to
make a new commitment to Jesus Christ as his or
her personal savior.
 Homosexuality
• Remember that the individual is a spiritual child
and must be helped to grow in the Christian
walk…a pastor must continually be on hand for
helpful counseling if the individual falls into old
patterns.
• Remember that you are not accomplishing the
miracle of liberation from the life-style; neither is
the individual the means for his or her liberation
other than through the desire for change. The
spirit of the individual and defeats the desires of
the senses, the flesh, and the sexual appetite
through Jesus Christ.
 Homosexuality
• Conclusion:
• All individuals are born with genital sex but not with
erotic desires. The awakening of the sexual drive comes
through conditioning, education and circumstance, as
well as through the development of the bodily functions.
This is why being homosexual is a choice of the will and
not a genetic or hormonal imbalance. Thus the
homosexual is not a special class of sinner that is the
particular object of a special divine wrath. Homosexuals,
like all of us, are the victims of sin and of a sinful society.
God’s grace is as available to them as to all the rest of this
lost and blighted race. The business of the church then is,
as Paul suggested in 2 Timothy 2:25-26… that goes,
• He has to be gentle when he
corrects people who dispute what
e says, never forgetting that God
may give them a change of mind
so that they recognize the truth
and come to their senses, once out
of the trap where the devil caught
them and kept them enslaved.
 homosexuality
• Reporters:
• Rev. Bro. Founder
• Bro. Nathaniel T. Cassion