Simple question?

Quote: FrGamble

I think those practicing abstinence have very low birth rates and zero incidents of sexually transmitted diseases.

So would you recommend or command abstinence for married couples?

Quote: FrGamble

You don't know me and I always question everything it is the only way to get to the truth. The truth doesn't need me to justify it.

Do you really question the tenets of your cult?

When faced with a command, say against "unnatural" means of contraception, do you ask "Is this right?" or do you ask "Why is this right?"

The first instance is really questioning. The second is looking for rationalizations to justify the command. There is a vast difference. The first assumes your judgment and rational faculties matter, and that you are capable of reaching a satisfactory answer. The second assumes you're not qualified to make moral judgments, and that your rational faculty is good only so long as it's placed in service of the command as given. The second, moreover, implies that Jehovah is not to be questioned.

Quote: Nareed

So would you recommend or command abstinence for married couples?

I would recommend talking to each other and respecting each other as to when or if they were abstinence depending on many factors such as family planning or just the desire or interest of the other spouse on any given day.

Quote: Nareed

Do you really question the tenets of your cult?

When faced with a command, say against "unnatural" means of contraception, do you ask "Is this right?" or do you ask "Why is this right?"

The first instance is really questioning. The second is looking for rationalizations to justify the command. There is a vast difference. The first assumes your judgment and rational faculties matter, and that you are capable of reaching a satisfactory answer. The second assumes you're not qualified to make moral judgments, and that your rational faculty is good only so long as it's placed in service of the command as given. The second, moreover, implies that Jehovah is not to be questioned.

Very good question. If I am honest I always begin by assuming that the command is correct and that if I disagree or don't understand it is because I need to learn more or see another perspective. I almost every instance I do discover that there was something I misunderstood or didn't know that helped me to see clearly that this is why this is right. Then sometimes if I cannot find something that I am missing I move to ask the question, "Is this right?"

Quote: Nareed

And so recognizes them as equals to everyone else, that Catholic charities will rather throw orphans under the bus than help a same sex couple adopt.

This is an example of obeying truth. It is true that a child benefits from having both a mom and a dad. So as long as there are qualified and loving moms and dads who want to adopt they would be placed ahead of two men or two women who would like to adopt.

Quote: FrGamble

This is an example of obeying truth. .

The real truth or the Church truth.

'Children of same-sex couples fare better when it comes to physical health and social well-being than children in the general population, according to researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia... Researchers found that the quality of parenting and families’ economic well-being was more important than sexual orientation.'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/07/07/children-of-same-sex-couples-are-happier-and-healthier-than-peers-research-shows/

Quote: FrGamble

Very good question. If I am honest I always begin by assuming that the command is correct and that if I disagree or don't understand it is because I need to learn more or see another perspective.

That's far from what can be called "questioning" by any reasonable standard. Essentially you have a priori ruled out your own judgment.

And once you abdicate the judgment of your own mind, what have you got left?

Quote: FrGamble

This is an example of obeying truth. It is true that a child benefits from having both a mom and a dad. So as long as there are qualified and loving moms and dads who want to adopt they would be placed ahead of two men or two women who would like to adopt.

And the cruelty of this obedience does state that children are better off with no parents than with same sex parents? That's the end result of such obedience, as far as the potential good such charities could have done goes.

Quote: FrGamble

So as long as there are qualified and loving moms and dads who want to adopt they would be placed ahead of two men or two women who would like to adopt..

I could see a young child of two same sex parents getting orphaned, because of some horrible accident, and then being told by some idiot that same gender parents were inferior and they would be adopted by normal parents.

Disgusting.

Quote: Nareed

And the cruelty of this obedience does state that children are better off with no parents than with same sex parents? That's the end result of such obedience, as far as the potential good such charities could have done goes.

This is not true. Of course children would be better with same-sex couples than with no patents at all. However, children would be better with a mom and a dad than with a same-sex couple. There is nothing insidious or untrue about this stance.