"But do these treatments work? Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh write 'Adolescents with gender identity disorder have poor anxiety tolerance. Seeking sex reassignment surgery is a defensive solution and a mechanism for control of anxiety. The thought of not having a solution for their distress increases their anxiety, thus making it very difficult to achieve a therapeutic alliance.' Basically, this means, according to their analysis, that giving adolescents a sex change doesn’t actually treat their underlying anxieties or depression, rather it sweeps their emotional distress under the rug by providing a temporary bandage that makes them FEEL like they are in control."

"Today’s media makes pornography one of the most difficult addictions to break. Even scrolling through social media surrounds us viewers in temptation. There is nothing liberating about being trapped by our base sexual desires. If anything, containing sex to marriage actually liberates us, as it helps us appreciate the more fulfilling aspects of sex and helps us love our partners more."

"There’s something beautiful, almost magical about the realization that what you are doing is participating in a procreative action. That is something that same sex intercourse cannot do. The point of this episode isn’t to say that people with same-sex attraction should be demonized, hated, or unjustly treated. Rather, the point is that awareness needs to be raised of the health risks, both psychologically and biologically, that are associated with homosexual and bisexual lifestyles. There are people who are born with same-sex attraction and can live holy and healthy lives. If we love them, then we ought to help them, not by forcing them to do anything, but by providing resources and information that they could willingly choose to accept or reject."

Studies Mentioned: Sara Reardon, “Massive Study Finds No Single Genetic Cause of Same-Sex Sexual Behavior,” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/massive-study-finds-no-single-genetic-cause-of-same-sex-sexual-behavior/

Andrea L. Roberts, M. Maria Glymour, and Karestan Koenen, “Does Maltreatment in Childhood Affect Sexual Orientation in Adulthood?” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3535560/

Richard Fitzgibbons, Phillip Sutton, Dale O’Leary, “The Psycopathology of ‘Sex Reassignment Surgery: Assessing its Medical, Psychological, and Ethical Appropriateness,” http://www.laityfamilylife.va/content/dam/laityfamilylife/Documenti/donna/culturasocieta/english/psychopathology-of-sex-reassignment-surgery.pdf

Ron de Graaf, Theo Sandfort, Magreet ten Have, “Suicidality and Sexual Orientation: Differences between Mena and Women in a General Population Based Sample from the Netherlands,” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16799841/

Kevin Heslin, Johanna Alfier, “Sexual Orientation Differences in Access to Care and Health Status, Behaviors, and Beliefs: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, National Survey of Family Growth, and National Health Interview Survey,” https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr171.pdf

Stephen Russell, Jessica Fish, “Mental Health in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth,” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4887282/

Kevin Heslin, Johanna Alfier, “Sexual Orientation Differences in Access to Care and Health Status, Behaviors, and Beliefs: Findings from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, National Survey of Family Growth, and National Health Interview Survey,” https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr171.pdf

Jeffrey Parsons, T. Starks, K. Gamaarel, C. Grov, “Non-monogamy and Sexual Relationship Quality among Same-Sex Male Couples,” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22906124/ Center for Disease Control, “Sexually Transmitted Diseases,” https://www.cdc.gov/msmhealth/STD.htm#:~:text=the%20United%20States.-,Gay%2C%20bisexual%2C%20and%20other%20men%20who%20have%20sex%20with%20men,who%20have%20sex%20with%20men.

"More sexual partners seems to correlate with higher divorce ratings. In 2000, the Center for Disease Control began tracking women who had reported different numbers of extramarital partners. Within five years, only 5% of women with 0 sexual partners before marriage had divorced. Women who had reported just one single sexual partner before marriage jumped up to a 22% divorce rate. That’s a 17% increase due to just one partner. The average for 2-9 partners was 30%, and above 10 partners was 35%."

"The problem with introducing sex into stages one or two is that we still view others as tools for pleasure. The purpose of Christian marriage is to provide a guide and framework for sex to occur appropriately. Marriage, in the Church’s eyes, ensures that sex is a mutual expression of self-sacrifice that culminates in the creation of children. Throughout this series, we will explore how the Christian paradigm of marriage really does lead to the healthiest and most fulfilling expressions of sexuality."

"In having relations with someone of the opposite sex, you are 1) admitting you desire them, 2) admitting they can fulfill you in a way you cannot fulfill yourself, 3) renouncing the possibility of having sex with anyone else and giving yourself to them and your children, and 4) imitating God’s creativity by participating in the creation of new life. Thus, a good marriage engages all four levels that Spitzer describes."

Studies Cited:

David Briggs, “5 Ways Faith Contributes to Strong Marriages, New Studies Suggest,” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-ways-faith-contributes_b_6294716

"I believe that Zubiri’s work has aptly demonstrated that Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics are no longer a sustainable backbone for theology to rest upon. Essentially, it’s time for the Church to move on from a sola-Thomistic approach. Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics make too many assumptions about how the world functions; they fail to account for a dynamic universe and their overemphasis on the soul threatens to upend the body-soul unity that Christians profess exists. Just as Platonism needed to be replaced by Aristotelianism at the beginning of the second millennium, I believe that Aristotelian-Thomism is no longer sufficient to account for what science tells us about biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics. We need to shift to a new paradigm or else the divide between philosophy and the hard sciences will continue to bleed into a divide between theology and the hard sciences."

"Thus, knowledge depends on reason, which depends on being, which depends on truth, which depends on judgment, which depends on logos, which depends on reality, which depends on real content. Basically, a thing’s explanation depends on the real content of said thing. But, since we can never exhaust the totality of said thing, our search for a comprehensive explanation of reality, much less any one real thing, is endless. Basically, the real world is so rich that it not only inspires us to pursue comprehensive knowledge, but it is so rich that we will never reach that which we seek. Thus, knowledge is an infinitely expanding horizon that rests upon the real, but given the fundamental richness of the real, will never be exhausted."

"Now, reason has three moments. First is inquiry or searching. This means that reason has an inquisitive character. The second is in-depth intellection, which means its search is for a more thorough understanding of reality. The third is called intellective measuring. This means that reason not only sets up its own searches or problems, but it determines the conditions by which that search will be resolved. If reason compels me to figure out how many jelly beans are in a jar, it also dictates the conditions by which I’ll figure that out, which is counting the jelly beans. The most deep seeded of these measures by which we reason are called principles."

"Simply put, according to Zubiri, a thing’s being is basically is how it relates to other things that are in the network of reality. And a thing’s being is defined by the sense of towards that reality impresses upon the intellect via the thing’s interaction with other things. I know this cup’s being because I’ve apprehended the cup interacting with other things, which situates the cup in the network of reality. The cup’s place in reality, its relation to other things, like liquid and tables, in turn, tell me what it is. Basically, we define things based on how they interact with other things. Being is relational and depends on things like utility and culture. Thus, according to Zubiri, being, like truth and reality, is dynamic, whereas for classical philosophy, being is static, fixed, rigid, and universal, and for modern philosophy being is in our mind alone and it shapes reality over time. Specifically, for Freidrich Hegel, being determines reality, whereas for Zubiri, reality determines being."