LGBT+ and the Church

QI. Same-Sex Relationships

The Questions:

➣ Why does God care if I love someone of my same-sex?

➢ Why can't homosexuals marry? (answered in chapter three)

➣ What about being in a relationship without sex?

The Answer: 

Everything returns to origin. God, the Author of all life, fashioned humanity in His image, male and female He made them. From that design springs our purpose, our moral compass, and our understanding of intimacy. Marriage exists as one of the clearest reflections of that divine order: a covenant uniting husband and wife, a bond that carries within it the possibility of life. Pleasure is permitted, even cherished, but only as it aligns with the purpose for which God created it. To separate intimacy from procreation, deliberately or habitually, is to bend the sacred towards the self rather than toward God.

The Fathers of the Church spoke plainly. They taught that the virtue of each thing appears when it is used rightly. Wine for cheerfulness, bread for nourishment, sexual intimacy for the procreation of children. Acts divorced from their proper purpose, though they may bring fleeting delight, misrepresent the good God intended and obscure the path to holiness. In marriage, husband and wife become "one flesh" (Gen. 2:18), a unity that is both physical and spiritual. Even in barrenness, this union remains sacred, for God's blessing is never fully measured by fertility alone.

Homosexual unions are contrary to the natural order established by God. They cannot fulfil the purposes for which sexual intimacy was created—union between husband and wife and the potential for procreation. Affection or desire alone does not escape moral evaluation, for God designed male and female to complement each other in body and spirit. Sexual acts outside this design, even if entered into with love or longing, depart from holiness. Such actions are not prohibited arbitrarily, but because they distort the divine intention for human life, obscuring the reflection of God's image and the purpose for which men and women were created.

Singleness, in contrast, is a gift. It allows the faithful to dedicate themselves wholly to God, cultivating virtue, prayer, and spiritual growth. It is not second best, but an opportunity to walk unburdened by earthly attachments, to mirror in some measure the devotion of the angels, who know the fullness of God without earthly distraction.

Thus, marriage is more than companionship or pleasure. It is a covenant with God, a living reflection of creation, and a vessel for the gift of life. Acts outside this design, however sincere in affection, cannot fulfil the sacred calling God has given. To love rightly is to honour not merely one another, but the Author of all life, the Giver of purpose, and the One who binds us into His eternal order.