Step-by-Step Refutation of Dave Armstrong vs. Sola Scriptura

 A Step-by-Step Refutation of Dave Armstrong vs. Sola Scriptura 

This was to be a reply to a Catholic who posted Armstrong's apologetic on a forum, but which was pulled before I could post it. It takes me a long time to type with my arthritic fingers, and  rather than let my work go to waste I thought I would post it here.  

Note that (as i suspected and later found out) Armstrong's work is from many years ago (2003), and he has posted a reply to a challenger that I have not read, and most likely will not be dealing with, but which has the the link to the original  and is here: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/davearmstrong/2016/01/defense-of-my-ten-step-refutation-of-sola-scriptura.html 

I tried to notify Armstrong of my response here but received this when I tried: "We are unable to post your comment because you have been banned by Biblical Evidence for Catholicism"
 
1. Catholics agree with Protestants that Scripture is a “standard of truth”—even the preeminent one

Actually papal teaching is that,

Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law; for, seeing that the same God is the author both of the Sacred Books and of the doctrine committed to the Church... (Providentissimus Deus; http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/leo_xiii/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_18111893_providentissimus-deus_en.html) 

but not in a sense that rules out the binding authority of authentic apostolic Tradition and the Church. The Bible doesn’t teach that. 

Which means that Armstrong is teaching sola Roma, that she, "The Church" alone is the sure supreme and sufficient standard for faith and morals, providing all the essential oral and written express public revelation of God.

However, while men such as the apostles could speak as wholly inspired of God and provide new public revelation thereby, yet even Rome does not presume its popes and ecumenical councils do either in declaring what they "infallibly" assert is the word of God.

Infallibility must be carefully distinguished both from Inspiration and from Revelation... God Himself is the principal author of the inspired utterance; but infallibility merely implies exemption from liability to error....God is not the author of a merely infallible, as He is of an inspired, utterance; the former remains a merely human document. - Catholic Encyclopedia>Infallibility; http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07790a.htm 

Catholics agree that Scripture is materially sufficient. In other words, on this view, every true doctrine can be found in the Bible, if only implicitly and indirectly by deduction. But no biblical passage teaches that Scripture is the formal authority or rule of faith in isolation from the Church and Tradition. Sola scriptura can’t even be deduced from implicit passages. 

Actually, SS does not need to mean that sufficiency refers to only what is formally provides (such as by clear statements), but that,

The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture:...

those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means , may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them...

and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature, and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed. 

It belongs to synods and councils, ministerially to determine controversies of faith, and cases of conscience...
- The Westminster Confession of Faith, 1646  (emp. mine).

 
And actually Catholics can and do disagree on whether every true doctrine can be found in the Bible, if only implicitly and indirectly.

As James White states,

"Rome's official statements do not explicitly define whether Tradition is the second of a two-part revelation (known as partim-partim), or if both forms of revelation contain the entirety of God's revealed truth." http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=3319

2. “Word” in Holy Scripture often refers to a proclaimed, oral teaching of prophets or apostles. What the prophets spoke was the word of God regardless of whether or not their utterances were recorded later as written Scripture. So for example, we read in Jeremiah: “For twenty-three years . . . the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again . . . ‘But you did not listen to me,’ declares the Lord. . . . Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: ‘Because you have not listened to my words. . . .’” (Jer. 25:3, 7-8 [NIV]). This was the word of God even though some of it was not recorded in writing. It had equal authority as writing or proclamation-never-reduced-to-writing. This was true also of apostolic preaching. When the phrases “word of God” or “word of the Lord” appear in Acts and the epistles, they almost always refer to oral preaching, not to Scripture. 

SS holds that men such as the prophets and apostles could speak as wholly inspired of God and provide new public revelation thereby, yet this does not validate the "infallible" claim of Rome to infallibly do so, (as pointed under #2), and  even Rome does not presume its popes and ecumenical councils do either in declaring what they say is the word of God.

Moreover Armstrong's polemic "proves too much," for the only reason Armstrong can cite this is because it was written.

For God manifestly made writing His most-reliable means of authoritative preservation. (Exodus 17:14; 34:1,27; Deuteronomy 10:4; 17:18; 27:3,8; 31:24; Joshua 1:8; 2 Chronicles 34:15,18-19, 30-31; Psalm 19:7-11; 102:18; 119; Isaiah 30:8; Jeremiah 30:2; Matthew 4:5-7; 22:29; Luke 24:44,45; John 5:46,47; John 20:31; Acts 17:2,11; 18:28; Revelation 1:1; 20:12, 15;

And that as written, Scripture became the transcendent supreme standard for obedience and testing and establishing truth claims as the wholly Divinely inspired and assured, Word of God. As is abundantly evidenced 

3. Tradition Is Not a Dirty Word Protestants often quote the verses in the Bible where corrupt traditions of men are condemned (e.g., Matt. 15:2–6; Mark 7:8–13; Col. 2:8). Of course, Catholics agree with this. But it’s not the whole truth. True, apostolic Tradition also is endorsed positively. This Tradition is in total harmony with and consistent with Scripture. 

Which polemic presumes what it cannot prove, that, "This Tradition is in total harmony with and consistent with Scripture." And what is the basis for this assertion is True? Because Rome has presumed to infallibly declare she is and will be perpetually infallible whenever she speaks in accordance with her infallibly defined (scope and subject-based) formula, which renders her declaration that she is infallible, to be infallible, as well as all else she accordingly declares.

(Consistent with this, in Catholic theology it is taught than man cannot now what Scripture consists of apart from her, and thus Scripture is to be appealed to as a merely historical document. By which the potential convert is supposed to see that the RCC is of God even  though the poor soul cannot discern wholly inspired Scripture as being of God. Which is consistent Rome's exalted view of herself, but contrary to the fact that an  a body of authoritative wholly inspired writings had been manifestly established by the time of Christ - without an infallible magisterium) 

Thus as Keating said regarding (the assumption of) the Assumption,

The mere fact that the Church teaches the doctrine of the Assumption as definitely true is a guarantee that it is true.” — Karl Keating, Catholicism and Fundamentalism (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988), p. 275. 

Which is circular, and is to be remembered when Armstrong later tries to argue what the SS position is.

4. Jesus and Paul Accepted Non-Biblical Oral and Written Traditions Protestants defending sola scriptura will claim that Jesus and Paul accepted the authority of the Old Testament. This is true, but they also appealed to other authority outside of written revelation. 

This is true, as we know. And Paul also quoted a pagan, (Acts 17:28) and Jude quoted from Enoch.

But only texts from  the Hebrew's canonical books are referred to as Scripture. Meanwhile again, men such as the apostles could speak as wholly inspired of God and provide new public revelation thereby, which  Rome does not presumes its popes and ecumenical councils do either in declaring what they say is the word of God.

5. The Apostles Exercised Authority at the Council of Jerusalem In the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:6–30), we see Peter and James speaking with authority. This Council makes an authoritative pronouncement (citing the Holy Spirit) that was binding on all Christians: 

Indeed they did,  with James providing the final judgment, and which council flows from the OT (Dt. 17:8-13) to which  conditional (Acts 5:29) obedience in required, as it is toward all authority. (Rm. 13:7-7)  But contrary to Armstrong, this is  not contrary to SS, for again as Westminster states:

It belongs to synods and councils, ministerially to determine controversies of faith, and cases of conscience; to set down rules and directions for the better ordering of the public worship of God, and government of his Church; to receive complaints in cases of maladministration, and authoritatively to determine the same; which decrees and determinations, if consonant to the Word of God, are to be received with reverence and submission; not only for their agreement with the Word, but also for the power whereby they are made, as being an ordinance of God appointed thereunto in His Word. ( CHAPTER XXXI.)

The distinction Armstrong misses is between being the sure and supreme sufficient standard on Truth, versus judicial authority for church on earth. The OT version of the supreme court certainly had authority, (Dt. 17:8-13) - dissent was a capital offense - but it was not infallible. And the ensured perpetual magisterial infallibility as per Rome is nowhere promised or necessary in Scripture.

6. Pharisees, Sadducees, and Oral, Extrabiblical Tradition.. The Pharisees, despite their corruptions and excesses, were the mainstream Jewish tradition, and both Jesus and Paul acknowledge this. So neither the orthodox Old Testament Jews nor the early Church was guided by the principle of sola scriptura. 

This again "proves too much," for those who sat in the seat of Moses were no more infallible than Rome is, and taught traditions of men that the Lord reproved from Scripture as being supreme. And even the veracity of the apostles was subject to testing by the Scriptures by noble men. (Acts 17:11)

Yet Rome effectively presumes she is above such, even declaring belief in the Assumption of Mary to be dogma, which was so lacking even in early testimony of Tradition (where it would be found) that chief scholars of Rome opposed it being declared apostolic doctrine . But for Rome, history, tradition and Scripture only authoritatively consist of and mean what she says - if she does say to herself!

Thus we see distinctive Catholic teachings that are not manifest in the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, especially Acts thru Revelation. and which best shows how the NT church understood the OT and gospels).

7. Old Testament Jews Did Not Believe in Sola Scriptura To give two examples from the Old Testament itself: a. Ezra, a priest and scribe, studied the Jewish law and taught it to Israel, and his authority was binding under pain of imprisonment, banishment, loss of goods, and even death (cf. Ezra 7:26). 

This also fails to make distinction between being the sure and supreme sufficient standard on Truth, versus earthly judicial authority. Meanwhile Ezra could also speak and write as wholly inspired of God, unlike popes and councils.

b. In Nehemiah 8:3, Ezra reads the Law of Moses to the people in Jerusalem. In verse 7 we find thirteen Levites who assisted Ezra and helped the people to understand the law. Much earlier, we find Levites exercising the same function (cf. 2 Chr. 17:8–9). So the people did indeed understand the law (cf. Neh. 8:8, 12), but not without much assistance—not merely upon hearing. Likewise, the Bible is not altogether clear in and of itself but requires the aid of teachers who are more familiar with biblical styles and Hebrew idiom, background, context, exegesis and cross-reference, hermeneutical principles, original languages, etc. The Old Testament, then, teaches about a binding Tradition and need for authoritative interpreters, as does the New Testament (cf. Mark 4:33–34; Acts 8:30–31; 2 Pet. 1:20; 3:16). 

Which is not an argument against SS, seeing as it affirms the magisterial office, and thus Armstrong is arguing against a strawman. For what Armstrong is not stating is that of his novel and unScriptural premise, that of ensured perpetual magisterial infallibility as per Rome
 
8. Ephesians 4 Refutes the Protestant “Proof Text” “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17). This passage doesn’t teach formal sufficiency, which excludes a binding, authoritative role for Tradition and Church. Protestants extrapolate onto the text what isn’t there. If we look at the overall context of this passage, we can see that Paul makes reference to oral Tradition three times (cf. 2 Tim. 1:13–14; 2:2; 3:14). “And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:11–15).

Which argument is again invalid since Rome does not speak as wholly inspired apostles, prophets and writers did, while what Scripture materially provides is part of SS sufficiency, and thus it affirms teachers, and evangelicalism abounds with teaching aids. What  we  lack  is a central magisterium, which is Scriptural, but which concept Rome has poisoned by presuming too much of herself and by her corruption.

If 2 Timothy 3 proves the sole sufficiency of Scripture, then, by analogy, Ephesians 4 would likewise prove the sufficiency of pastors and teachers for the attainment of Christian perfection. In Ephesians 4, the Christian believer is equipped, built up, brought into unity and mature manhood, and even preserved from doctrinal confusion by means of the teaching function of the Church. This is a far stronger statement of the perfecting of the saints than 2 Timothy 3, yet it does not even mention Scripture. 

This logical fallacy is akin to Armstrong's failure to differentiate between the only infallible source/authority on Truth, and earthly judicial authority. Here the difference is between pastors and teachers etc. and what materially equips them to be part of the church and for it to grow in grace.

For the church itself was manifestly prophetically and doctrinally built upon Scripture, and by which use in doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness, "the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

9. Paul Casually Assumes That His Passed-Down Tradition Is Infallible and Binding If Paul wasn’t assuming that, he would have been commanding his followers to adhere to a mistaken doctrine. He writes: “If any one refuses to obey what we say in this letter, note that man, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed” (2 Thess. 3:14). “Take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them” (Rom. 16:17). He didn’t write about “the pretty-much, mostly, largely true but not infallible doctrine which you have been taught.” 

Which again both proves too much, since we only know of this reference because God manifestly made writing His most-reliable means of authoritative preservation. And that once again, popes and councils do not speak as wholly inspired of God, though councils can be the supreme judicial authority in the church on earth.

Nor can Rome prove she is teaching what the apostles orally did, as instead faithful Catholics are supposed to take her word for it.

10. Sola Scriptura Is a Circular Position When all is said and done, Protestants who accept sola scriptura as their rule of faith appeal to the Bible. If they are asked why one should believe in their particular denominational teaching rather than another, each will appeal to “the Bible’s clear teaching.” Often they act as if they have no tradition that guides their own interpretation. This is similar to people on two sides of a constitutional debate both saying, “Well, we go by what the Constitution says, whereas you guys don’t.” 

Asserting that the Constitution (or Bible) is true because it says so is circular, but once that is settled, arguing about what the Constitution teaches and says about itself is not circular.

The U.S. Constitution, like the Bible, is not sufficient in and of itself to resolve differing interpretations. Judges and courts are necessary, and their decrees are legally binding. Supreme Court rulings cannot be overturned except by a future ruling or constitutional amendment. In any event, there is always a final appeal that settles the matter. 

Again, SS affirms the judicial office, but not as possessing ensured infallibility, which is the real argument Armstrong does not make.

And rather than an infallible magisterium being required  for writings to be established as being from God, Scripture attests that a body of authoritative wholly inspired writings had been manifestly established by the time of Christ, as being "Scripture, ("in all the Scriptures") " even the tripartite canon of the Law, the Prophets and The Writings, by which the Lord Jesus established His messiahship and ministry and opened the minds of the disciples to, who did the same . (Luke 24:27.44,45; Acts 17:2; 18:28, etc.)

But Protestantism lacks this because it appeals to a logically self-defeating principle and a book that must be interpreted by human beings. Obviously, given the divisions in Protestantism, simply “going to the Bible” hasn’t worked. In the end, a person has no assurance or certainty in the Protestant system. 

This also is a logically self-defeating since Rome herself has neither defined all the issues that RCS can disagree on, nor what magisterial level each belongs to, and what she has taught is subject to varying degrees of variant interpretations. And today Catholicism exists as a collection of formal and informal sects. And rather than her magisterium providing unity, as one poster wryly commented,

The last time the church imposed its judgment in an authoritative manner on "areas of legitimate disagreement," the conservative Catholics became the Sedevacantists and the Society of St. Pius X, the moderate Catholics became the conservatives, the liberal Catholics became the moderates, and the folks who were excommunicated, silenced, refused Catholic burial, etc. became the liberals. The event that brought this shift was Vatican II; conservatives then couldn't handle having to actually obey the church on matters they were uncomfortable with, so they left. ” Nathan, https://christopherblosser.wordpress.com/2005/05/16/fr-michael-orsi-on-different-levels-of-catholic-teaching (original http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/blog/2005/05/fr-michael-orsi-on-different-levels-of.html)

And as what we really believe is shown by what we do, Rome shows her interpretation of what/who she inclusively constitutes a member can be by manifestly treating even liberal proabortion, prohomosexual public figures as members in life and in death.

In addition, considering what is broadly classed as Protestantism then comparing one church, albeit existing in schisms and sects, with such a broad class is invalid.

'But the Bible doesn’t teach that whole categories of doctrines are “minor” 

Actually, once again Armstrong needs to be schooled:
In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy of truths, since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian faith." (CCC 90) 

and that Christians freely and joyfully can disagree in such a fashion." 

Armstrong here in engaging in sophistry by blaming SS for division, a problem which his alternative has not solved, while most of what he describes is among those who do not take Scripture seriously, and mischaracterizes such.

Meanwhile Catholics attest to being far less unified in core beliefs/values than those who most strongly esteem Scripture as the accurate and wholly inspired word of God, which Catholics attack as a basis for unity.

And under his alternative to SS then submission to Rome is the answer, and Rome shows her interpretation of what constitutes a member by manifestly considering liberal proabortion, prohomosexual souls as members in life and in death, while officially teaching false doctrine even on salvation, then her's is a unity that leads to Hell.

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. (Revelation 18:4) 

Supplemental: questions for those who argue for the alternative of SS, sola ecclesia. 

1. What is God's manifest most reliable permanent means of preserving what He told man as well as what man does: oral transmission or writing?

2. What became the established supreme authoritative source for testing Truth claims: oral transmission or "it is written"/Scripture?

3. Which came first: the written word of God and an authoritative body of it, or the NT church?

4. Did the establishment of a body of wholly inspired authoritative writings require an infallible magisterium?

5. Which transcendent sure source was so abundantly invoked by the Lord Jesus and NT church in substantiating her claims to the nation that was the historical instruments and stewards of express Divine revelation: oral transmission or writing?

6. Was the veracity of Scripture subject to testing by the oral words of men or vice versa?

7. Do Catholic popes and councils speak or write as wholly inspired of God in giving His word like as men such as 
apostles did, and also provide new public revelation thereby?

8. In the light of the above, do you deny that only Scripture is the supreme, wholly inspired-of-God substantive and authoritative word of God, and the most reliable record and supreme source on what the NT church believed?

9. Do you think sola scripture must mean that only the Bible is to be used in understanding what God says?

10. Do you think the sufficiency aspect of sola scripture must mean that the Bible formally provides everything needed for salvation and growth in grace, including reason, writing, ability to discern, teachers, synods, etc. or that this sufficiency refers to Scripture as regards it being the express Divine revelation which formally and materially provides for what is necessary for salvation and growth in grace?

11. What oral source has spoken to man as wholly inspired   public revelation outside Scripture since the last book was penned?

12. Where in Scripture is a magisterium of men promised ensured perpetual infallibility of office whenever it defines as a body a matter of faith or morals for the whole church?

13. Does being the historical instruments, discerners and stewards of express Divine revelation mean that such possess that magisterial infallibility?

14. What is the basis for your assurance that your church is the one true apostolic church? The weight of evidence for it or because the church who declared it asserts she it cannot err in such a matter?

Is "Roman Catholic" or "Roman church" simply a slur invented by Protestants?

In addition to their objections to virtually anything that impugns their self-proclaimed elitist "one true church,"  whose  distinctives are not what is manifest in the only wholly inspired record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, in particular Acts through Revelation, which best shows how the NT church understood the gospels), Roman Catholics also object to the very use of "Roman Catholic"  in distinction from others, as being an invented Protestant slur.

However, if this is true than then their church is guilty of making that distinction, for  the use of  the term "Roman" in identifying herself often occurs in her own encyclicals as well as some Bulls, usually in distinguishing her from others, and not counting those referring to the Roman pontiff or cardinals or other prelates, and beginning from before the needed Reformation, including in Latin (eph. mine):

Gregory VII: Dictatus Papae 1090: " the Roman church was founded by God alone... the Roman church has never erred; nor will it err to all eternity, the Scripture bearing witness...he who is not at peace with the Roman church shall not be considered catholic. - https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/g7-dictpap.asp

Fourth Lateran Council 1215: Council Fathers - 1215 A.D.: "the faith held by the Roman church, which is by God’s plan the mother and mistress of all the faithful." "Wishing therefore to remove such a great scandal from God’s church, we strictly order, on the advice of this sacred council, that henceforth they do not presume to do such things but rather conform themselves like obedient sons to the holy Roman church, their [the Greeks] mother, so that there may be one flock and one shepherd." " the Roman church, which through the Lord’s disposition has a primacy of ordinary power over all other churches inasmuch as it is the mother and mistress of all Christ’s faithful..." "In order that privileges which the Roman church has granted to certain religious may remain unimpaired..." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum12-2.htm

The Council of Florence (A.D. 1438-1445) From Cantate Domino — Papal Bull of Pope Eugene IV: "The sacrosanct Roman Church, founded by the voice of our Lord and Savior, firmly believes, professes, and preaches one true God omnipotent, unchangeable, and eternal, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; one in essence, three in persons;... the Holy Roman Church...believes firmly, professes, and proclaims that “every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected that is received with thanksgiving.” - https://catholicism.org/cantate-domino.html

Exsurge Domine Condemning the Errors of Martin Luther Pope Leo X - 1520: "Give heed to the cause of the holy Roman Church, mother of all churches... Against the Roman Church, you warned, lying teachers are rising..." "opposed they are to all charity and reverence for the holy Roman Church who is the mother of all the faithful and teacher of the faith..." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo10/l10exdom.htm

Quo Primum Pope Pius V - 1570: "Let all everywhere adopt and observe what has been handed down by the Holy Roman Church, the Mother and Teacher of the other churches...the penalty for nonobservance for printers, whether mediately or immediately subject to Our dominion, and that of the Holy Roman Church, will be the forfeiting of their books and a fine of one hundred gold ducats..." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius05/p5quopri.htm

Ineffabilis Deus The Immaculate Conception Pope BI. Pius IX - 1854: "Ordinary Teaching of the Roman Church These truths, so generally accepted and put into practice by the faithful, indicate how zealously the Roman Church, mother and teacher of all Churches...It is the Church in which alone religion has been inviolably preserved and from which all other Churches must receive the tradition of the Faith." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9ineff.htm

Ex Quo On the Euchologion Pope Benedict XIV - 1756: "the Decree for the Jacobites of the Council of Florence reads: “The holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes, and preaches that every creature of God is good and not to be rejected if it is taken with thanks." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/ben14/b14exquo.htm

Singulari Quidem On the Church in Austria Pope BI. Pius IX - 1856: "There is only one true, holy, Catholic church, which is the Apostolic Roman Church." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9singul.htm

 Decrees of the First Vatican Council Council Fathers - 1868 A.D. SESSION 2 : 6 January 1870 Profession of faith "I, Pius, bishop of the catholic church, with firm faith believe and profess each and every article contained in the profession of faith which the holy Roman church uses, namely:" - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/councils/ecum20.htm

Grande Munus On Saints Cyril and Methodius Pope Leo XIII - 1880: "We decree that July 5 be set aside in the calendar of the universal Roman Church, as Pius IX ordained." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/leo13/l13cym.htm

Fausto Appetente Die On St. Dominic Pope Benedict XV - 1921: "has ever been the stout defense of the Roman Church." -https://www.papalencyclicals.net/ben15/b15fadie.htm

Mystici Corporis Pope Pius XII - 1943: "If we would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ - which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church...nothing surely more honorable can be imagined than to belong to the One, Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, in which we become members of One Body" - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/p12mysti.htm

Humani Generis Pope Pius XII - 1950: "the Mystical Body of Christ and the Roman Catholic Church are one and the same thing." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/p12human.htm

Sacramentum Ordinis On the Sacrament of Order Pope Pius XII - 1947: "every one knows that the Roman Church has always held as valid Ordinations conferred according to the Greek rite.." - https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius12/p12sacrao.htm

 And as for what the  New Testament  Church is called,

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)

Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)

What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. (1 Corinthians 11:22)

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. (1 Corinthians 15:9)

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: (2 Corinthians 1:1)

For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: (Galatians 1:13)

(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) (1 Timothy 3:5)

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)

Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you. (Romans 16:16)

And contrary to what the deformation  called Catholicism asserts, the church which the Lord promised to overcome the gates of Hell was not one organic organization outside of which no believers were to be found, but the one true church was and is the body of Christ that the Spirit baptizes every believer into, (1Co. 12:13) and to which He is married. (Eph. 5:25)   "the household of faith."  (Galatians 6:10)

For it uniquely only and always consists 100% of true believers, while organic fellowships in which they express their faith inevitably become admixtures of wheat and tares, with Catholicism and liberal Protestantism being mostly the latter.

14 questions as regards sola scriptura versus sola ecclesia

14 questions as regards sola scriptura versus sola ecclesia   

Some think that sola scriptura (SS) must mean that only the Bible is to be used, and  that no one can be saved unless they have and can read the Bible, and even that a SS preacher could not preach the gospel to people without a Bible, nor enjoin obedience to oral exhortation (under the premise that the preaching can pass the test of Scripture), and that Scripture formally explicitly provides all that is necessary for salvation and growth in grace, thus dispensing with the teaching office of the church, and helps of commentaries and any authority of synods,  

But which opinions means that such are misled as to what SS means, and reason dictates, versus "alone" in SS meaning Scripture alone is the only infallible, supreme, standard of express Divine public revelation, to which all teaching must agree with, and as the sole sure, substantive source and authority on doctrine, it is  sufficient (in its formally and material senses* combined) to  provide all that is needed for salvation and growth in grace, by which  one can (not necessarily all will) do so thereby. 

As in the words of the Westminster Confession, in Scripture

 "the whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for God's own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture."

"All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them"   (necessary things).

The "due use of the ordinary means" can include helps such  as dictionaries and commentaries (which abound among SS advocates), as Scripture materially provides for the gifts such as teaching. 

As well as providing for administration, that of the teaching office of the church,  under which Westminster Confession  (originally  a confession of the Church of England) itself falls.  

And in which it is affirmed,

 "It belongeth to synods and councils, ministerially to determine controversies of faith, and cases of conscience; to set down rules and directions for the better ordering of the public worship of God, and government of his church; to receive complaints in cases of maladministration, and authoritatively to determine the same..." 

Also, as a matter of material providence:

.".we acknowledge...that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature , and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.” http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/ch_I.html 

And since Scripture also testifies to and affirms the recognition and establishment of a body of authoritative wholly inspired writings by the time of Christ, so also it provided for the complete canon of Scripture.
For a body of authoritative wholly inspired writings was manifestly established by the time of Christ as being “Scripture, (”in all the Scriptures” - Lk. 24:27) “ even the tripartite canon of the Law, the Prophets and The Writings. ( Lk. 24:44). 

 And which body provided the doctrinal and prophetic epistemological foundation for the NT church (which was thus a product of Scripture)

And regarding the objections of how Scripture alone can be the wholly inspired, sure, supreme and sufficient (in its formal and material senses) standard on faith and morals, when Paul referred to keeping oral tradition 2 Thessalonians 2:15, and the church as being the foundation of the Truth, and that souls could be regenerated without a complete Bible or being able to read it, then it is because,

1. From Adam onward, God always provided enough revelation for obedience to Him, which (aside from general revelation of nature, and morally of conscience) before Moses, was in a very limited sense and expressly to a limited amount of persons  who thus shared it.

But when choosing to reveal Himself more fully and to an entire nation, God committed His word to writing, this manifestly being His  chosen means of preservation, versus  materially insubstantial  untestable oral transmission which is highly vulnerable to undetectable  corruption   (Exodus 17:14; 34:1,27; Deuteronomy 10:4; 17:18; 27:3,8; 31:24; Joshua 1:8; 2 Chronicles 34:15,18-19, 30-31; Psalm 19:7-11; 102:18; 119; Isaiah 30:8; Jeremiah 30:2; Matthew 4:5-7; 22:29; Luke 24:44,45; John 5:46,47; John 20:31; Acts 17:2,11; 18:28; Revelation 1:1; 20:12, 15;

2. As with Moses, men such as the apostles could speak as wholly inspired of God and provide new public revelation thereby, neither of which even Rome presumes its popes and ecumenical councils do. Yet  Scripture had become the standard by which even the veracity of  even the apostles could be subject to testing by:

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Likewise, as from Adam onward, souls today can be saved who do not personally possess a Bible or are able to read Scripture, as faith comes by hearing the word of God, and those who hear the Truth of gospel of the grace of God, and convicted of their need for salvation thereby can be saved thru those who share that truth.  By the grace of God souls could hear  the basic message of  Acts 10:43-47 and could be saved, and go on from there.

But it is Scripture that alone is the sure supreme standard for the veracity of what is taught, and formally provides necessary Truth, explicitly or implicitly, and materially provides for teachers, etc. Thus what is taught must be the Truth of Scripture, versus contrivances as the  assumption of the Assumption. 

3. Moreover, under the alternative of sola ecclesia, one can only assume that what their church teaches as oral tradition includes the teachings Paul referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2:15. 

And for a RC, the assurance (that something is the word of God) is based upon the novel and unScriptural premise of ensured perpetual magisterial veracity, which itself is based upon so-called tradition (nowhere in Scripture is perpetual magisterial veracity in all universally binding matters of faith and morals promised or seen, nor is that how God preserved faith, nor is it required for authority). 

4. While Catholicism presumes that what Paul referred to as tradition is part of its body of unwritten oral tradition, but which cannot be proved and the premise that unwritten oral tradition is the word of God is  based upon its own tradition of ensured   perpetual magisterial veracity.  

However we can assume that what Paul referred to as tradition was subsequently written down, since God manifestly made writing His most-reliable means of authoritative preservation of the word of God. 

5. And it is abundantly evidenced that as written, Scripture became the transcendent supreme standard for obedience and testing and establishing truth claims as the wholly Divinely inspired and assured, Word of God. Thus the veracity of even apostolic oral preaching could be subject to testing by Scripture, (Acts 17:11) and not vice versa.

6. Rather than an infallible magisterium being required for a body of wholly God-inspired  writings to be established as being from God, as mentioned, a  body of authoritative writings had been manifestly established by the time of Christ, as being "Scripture ("in all the Scriptures:" Lk. 24:27), even the tripartite canon of the Law, the Prophets and The Writings, by which the Lord Jesus established His messiahship and ministry and opened the minds of the disciples to, who did the same . (Luke 24:27.44,45; Acts 17:2; 18:28, etc.)

7. None of the few Greek words in 1 Timothy 3:15 ("church living God pillar and ground the truth" teach that the magisterial office of the church is supreme over Scripture, and both words for “pillar” and “ground” of the truth denote support (apostles were called “pillars”). And Scripture itself and most of it came before the church, and the latter was built upon the prophetic, doctrinal epistemological foundation of transcendent Scripture. And thus we see the abundant appeal to it in establishing the authority of teaching by the church, as the Lord did Himself in establishing His prophetic messiahship and ministry to those who would build His church, and opening their understanding of Scripture,  which included expanding the contents of Scripture, such as through Paul (cf. 2 Peter 3:15,16) 

Thus here are questions for those who argue for the alternative of sola scriptura, which is that of sola ecclesia:

1. What is God's manifest most reliable permanent means of preserving the word of God: oral transmission or writing?
2. What became the established supreme substantive authoritative source for testing Truth claims: oral transmission or  Scripture?
3. Which came first: an authoritative body of  wholly God-inspired writings  of the word of God, or the NT church, and which provided the transcendent prophetic, doctrinal and moral foundation for the NT church?

4. Did the establishment of a body of wholly God-inspired authoritative writings by the first century require an infallible magisterium?
5. Which transcendent sure, substantive source was so abundantly invoked by the Lord Jesus and NT church in substantiating Truth claims to a nation which was the historical instruments and stewards of express Divine revelation: oral transmission or writing?
6. Was the veracity of Scripture ever subject to testing by the oral words of men, or vice versa?
7. Do Catholic popes and councils speak or write as wholly inspired of God in giving His word like as men such as apostles could and did, and also provide new public revelation thereby?
8. In the light of the above, do you deny that only Scripture is the transcendent, supreme, wholly inspired-of-God substantive and authoritative word of God, and the most reliable record and supreme source for what the NT church believed?
9. Do you think sola scriptura must mean that only the Bible is to be used in understanding what God says, and means that all believers will correctly understand what is necessary, and that it replaces the magisterial office (and ideally a centralized one)  as the  formal  judicial earthly authority on matters of dispute (though it appeals to Scripture as the only infallible and supreme substantive source of Divine Truth)?
10. Do you think the sufficiency aspect of sola scripture must mean that the Bible explicitly and formally provides everything needed for salvation and growth in grace, including reason, writing, ability to discern, teachers, synods, etc. or that this sufficiency refers to Scripture as regards it being express Divine public revelation, and which formally and materially (combined) provides what is necessary for salvation and growth in grace, as the sole sure, supreme, standard of express Divine public revelation?
11. What infallible oral magisterial source has spoken to man as the wholly God-inspired public word of God outside Scripture since the last book was penned?
12. Where in Scripture is a magisterium of men promised ensured perpetual infallibility of office whenever it defines as a body a matter of faith or morals for the whole church?
13. Does being the historical instruments, discerners and stewards of express Divine revelation mean that such possess that magisterial infallibility?
14. What is the basis for your assurance that your church is the one true apostolic church? The weight of evidence for it or because the church who declared it asserts she it cannot err in such a matter?

 *SS actually includes the materially sense as regards sufficiency, as  affirming such things as reason and the recognition by Truth-loving souls as to what is of God, thus  providing for a canon of Scripture,  but not as in Catholicism, (esp. RC). 

In which "The Church" asserts that written and oral tradition teach ensured perpetual magisterial veracity in formal teaching on faith and morals, uniquely for their church, thus effectively validating its own claim. 

Whereby  they claim the Assumption is a fact ("remembering" what history forgot to record in that era), and thus all are required to believe it. 

But SS does teach material sufficiency in the sense that "what is "necessary for God's own glory, man's salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added [as public express revelation], whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men." To which it adds that souls by "a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them" (necessary things). And that,

.".we acknowledge...that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature , and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.” https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/westminster-confession-faith 

Required Catholic submission

Roman Catholics (RCs) have been basically telling us (often misinterpreting 2 Peter 1:20,21) for centuries that relying on our judgment of what valid teaching is and what it means is wrong, and that we need a pope and magisterium to submit to in order to avoid division, and not only in solemn ex cathedra teachings.

However, then Traditionalist RCs - mainly based upon their own interpretation of selectively chosen pre-modern RC teachings - declare their own pope (or all modern popes) as wrong and much conciliar teaching (including Vatican 2) as in error, based upon their judgment of what valid teaching is and means, including as regards what requires assent. Yet which is contrary to many papal teachings of the past. 

* Epistola Tua: To the shepherds alone was given all power to teach, to judge, to direct; on the faithful was imposed the duty of following their teaching, of submitting with docility to their judgment , and of allowing themselves to be governed, corrected, and guided by them in the way of salvation.

Thus, it is an absolute necessity for the simple faithful to submit in mind and heart to their own pastors, and for the latter to submit with them to the Head and Supreme Pastor.... Similarly, it is to give proof of a submission which is far from sincere to set up some kind of opposition between one Pontiff and another. Those who, faced with two differing directives, reject the present one to hold to the past, are not giving proof of obedience to the authority which has the right and duty to guide them; and in some ways they resemble those who, on receiving a condemnation, would wish to appeal to a future council, or to a Pope who is better informed.

On this point what must be remembered is that in the government of the Church, except for the essential duties imposed on all Pontiffs by their apostolic office, each of them can adopt the attitude which he judges best according to times and circumstances. Of this he alone is the judge. It is true that for this he has not only special lights, but still more the knowledge of the needs and conditions of the whole of Christendom, for which, it is fitting, his apostolic care must provide. - Epistola Tua (1885), Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII; http://www.ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage_print.asp?number=403215&language=en

"It follows that the Church is essentially an unequal society, that is, a society comprising two categories of per sons, the Pastors and the flock...the one duty of the multitude is to allow themselves to be led, and, like a docile flock, to follow the Pastors ." - VEHEMENTER NOS, an Encyclical of Pope Pius X promulgated on February 11, 1906.

Nor can we pass over in silence the audacity of those who, not enduring sound doctrine, contend that "without sin and without any sacrifice of the Catholic profession assent and obedience may be refused to those judgments and decrees of the Apostolic See, whose object is declared to [only] concern the Church's general good and her rights and discipline, so only it does not touch the dogmata of faith and morals." But no one can be found not clearly and distinctly to see and understand how grievously this is opposed to the Catholic dogma of the full power given from God by Christ our Lord Himself to the Roman Pontiff of feeding, ruling and guiding the Universal Church. (Quanta Cura. Encyclical of Pope Pius IX promulgated on December 8, 1864; http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9quanta.htm)

20. Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in Encyclical Letters does not of itself demand consent... if the Supreme Pontiffs in their official documents purposely pass judgment on a matter up to that time under dispute, it is obvious that that matter, according to the mind and will of the Pontiffs, cannot be any longer considered a question open to discussion among theologians. - PIUS XII, HUMANI GENERI, August 1950; http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis.html

The authority (of papal encyclicals) is undoubtedly great". It is, in a sense, sovereign. It is the teaching of the supreme pastor and teacher of the Church. Hence the faithful have a strict obligation to receive this teaching with an infinite respect. A man must not be content simply not to contradict it openly and in a more or less scandalous fashion. An internal mental assent is demanded. It should be received as the teaching sovereignly authorized within the Church." - Msgr. Joseph Clifford Fenton, esteemed Catholic theologian and professor of fundamental dogmatic theology at the Catholic University of America, who served as a peritus for Cardinal Ottaviani at the Second Vatican Council. Extract from the American Ecclesiastical Review, Vol. CXXI, August, 1949; http://www.catholicapologetics.info/thechurch/encyclicals/docauthority.htm

For it is quite foreign to everyone bearing the name of a Christian to trust his own mental powers with such pride as to agree only with those things which he can examine from their inner nature, and to imagine that the Church, sent by God to teach and guide all nations, is not conversant with present affairs and circumstances; or even that they must obey only in those matters which she has decreed by solemn definition as though her other decisions might be presumed to be false or putting forward insufficient motive for truth and honesty.

Quite to the contrary, a characteristic of all true followers of Christ, lettered or unlettered, is to suffer themselves to be guided and led in all things that touch upon faith or morals by the Holy Church of God through its Supreme Pastor the Roman Pontiff, who is himself guided by Jesus Christ Our Lord. - CASTI CONNUBII, ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI; https://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19301231_casti-connubii.html

...when we love the Pope, there are no discussions regarding what he orders or demands, or up to what point obedience must go, and in what things he is to be obeyed ; when we love the Pope, we do not say that he has not spoken clearly enough, almost as if he were forced to repeat to the ear of each one the will clearly expressed so many times not only in person, but with letters and other public documents ; we do not place his orders in doubt, adding the facile pretext of those unwilling to obey – that it is not the Pope who commands, but those who surround him; we do not limit the field in which he might and must exercise his authority ; we do not set above the authority of the Pope that of other persons, however learned, who dissent from the Pope, who, even though learned, are not holy, because whoever is holy cannot dissent from the Pope.

The Bishops form the most sacred part of the Church, that which instructs and governs men by divine right; and so he who resists them and stubbornly refuses to obey their word places himself outside the Church [cf. Matt. 18:18]. But obedience must not limit itself to matters which touch the faith: its sphere is much more vast: it extends to all matters which the episcopal power embraces. - (Pope Saint Pius X, Allocution Vi ringrazio to priests on the 50th anniversary of the Apostolic Union, November 18, 1912, as found at http://www.christorchaos.com/?q=content/choosing-ignore-pope-leo-xiii-and-pope-saint-pius-x

to scrutinize the actions of a bishop, to criticize them, does not belong to individual Catholics, but concerns only those who, in the sacred hierarchy, have a superior power; above all, it concerns the Supreme Pontiff, for it is to him that Christ confided the care of feeding not only all the lambs, but even the sheep [cf. John 21:17]. - Est Sane Molestum (1888) Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII; http://www.novusordowatch.org/est-sane-molestum-leo-xiii.htm 

In addition, as concerns social teaching, The "Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church" (2005) states: 

80. In the Church’s social doctrine the Magisterium is at work in all its various components and expressions. … Insofar as it is part of the Church’s moral teaching, the Church’s social doctrine has the same dignity and authority as her moral teaching. It is authentic Magisterium, which obligates the faithful to adhere to it . - http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html 

And it is quite well evidenced that the pope's  prolix  encyclical Laudato si'  (http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html) is intended to teach what the Church's moral teaching demands as regards ecology and economy. (172 references in this encyclical cite church teaching and prelates for support). 

Thus we either have Trad. RCs contradicting past papal teaching in dissenting from modern papal and magisterial teaching, and that Rome's interpretation of herself is to be trusted. They also disagree on whether a pope can be deposed. 

And the fact that the supposed one sure and supreme definer and interpreter of the word of God is herself subject to interpretation testifies that  it is not the solution to disunity.  

As  one poster wryly stated of V2,

The last time the church imposed its judgment in an authoritative manner on "areas of legitimate disagreement," the conservative Catholics became the Sedevacantists and the Society of St. Pius X, the moderate Catholics became the conservatives, the liberal Catholics became the moderates, and the folks who were excommunicated, silenced, refused Catholic burial, etc. became the liberals. The event that brought this shift was Vatican II; conservatives then couldn't handle having to actually obey the church on matters they were uncomfortable with, so they left. ”  Nathan, https://christopherblosser.wordpress.com/2005/05/16/fr-michael-orsi-on-different-levels-of-catholic-teaching (original http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/blog/2005/05/fr-michael-orsi-on-different-levels-of.html) 

Another poster provides a list of notable sects (as of 2019) which traditional Catholics have split themselves into:  

1. Church Militant who chastise the Bishops but not the Pope
2. The Wanderer supporters
3. The Remnant led by the brother of the publisher of The Wanderer who now disowns The Wanderer
4. The SSPX
5. Those that believe the SSPX is a valid Catholic organization but aren't members.
6. Those who believe the SSPX is in apostasy
7. Those former members of the SSPX that believe Fellay is too deferential to the Pope
8. Sedevacantists who believe Francis is the first anti-Pope or non-Pope
9. Sedevacantists who believe John XXIII was the first anti-pope or non-Pope and that the Second Vatican Council is invalid
10. Those that believe in various conspiracy theories that the Church is now completely controlled by: The Vatican Bank, Gays, Masons, Space Aliens, the Illuminati or some combination of the above
11. Various groups of reasonable Catholics who either quietly or on record disagree with the Pope but are unwilling to go all the way and call him a heretic
12. Various groups of reasonable Catholics who are willing to call the Pope a heretic but are also willing to wait for the process of replacement to unfold in an orderly manner. - who_would_fardels_bear: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3755297/posts?page=6#6

The there are confessions such as "Changing My Mind about the Changeable Church,"  by Richard A. McCormick, S.J.https://www.religion-online.org/article/changing-my-mind-about-the-changeable-church/

However, the real problem is that  RC distinctive Catholic teachings are not manifest in the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, especially Acts thru Revelation. which best shows the NT church understood the OT and gospels).

Negative effects of homosexual relations (also heterosexual fornication)

Negative Physical, Psychological, Financial and Spiritual effects of fornication  - mainly homosexual but also and heterosexual  (https://peacebyjesuscom.blogspot.com/2019/10/negative-effects-of-homosexual.html),

Excerpt: 

Although only approximately 7% of adult and adolescent males reported having had male-to-male sexual contact at some point in their lives 81% of HIV infections among males in 2019 were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. and over 80%  HIV infection among adolescent and young adult males (85%) in 2019, and over 63%  of all [not just men] new HIV diagnoses. Overall, homosexual relations has  (historically) resulted in a greatly increased incidence of other infectious diseases  and effects besides HIV,  from Meningitis to  premature death.  Which diseases includes Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis A and B, HPV, Syphilis, HIV to Meningitis and body dysmorphia and eating disorders and recently Monkey pox. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men have accounted for 83% of primary and secondary syphilis cases where sex of sex partner was known in the US. Goy, Bisexual and other men who have sex with men have been found to be 17 times more likely to get anal cancer than  heterosexual  men. In addition to which is accelerated aging and premature death. Which costs this nation greatly in lives, souls - and money, with the latter alone resulting in billions spent per year due to STD's, with domestic response to HIV itself rising to more than $28 billion per year (2024). And thus (as of 2024 compilation) sodomy has been primarily responsible for close to 800,000 American deaths, and yet all the above is not the decisive reason why homosexual relations are wrong.

What follows is a progressively compiled piecemeal and thus somewhat disorganized (not chronological, etc.) collection of statistics, mostly from  between 2017 to 2021, with many images (almost all from the CDC) on sexually transmitted diseases/infections (STD's/STI's), mainly focusing on effects of homosexual relations and mostly between biological males). 

And in anticipation of attacks on this study, let me say that this page is not presented as a self-righteous condemnation as if I (or any who cite this study) are without sin, for we are all sinners, having misused everything from our brain to our feet, and thus in this way and to some degree we and I have usually committed many or most things that we condemn others for, and our lesser sins that we may excuse are offensive to God and not just those that we may rightly deplore.

However, the difference here is that of having turned to the Lord Jesus from sin, and thus toward characteristic obedience to Him - including repentance from known sin - versus defending and even promoting it.

And this page is particularly written in response to those who justify fornication, especially sodomy, and even promote it, and even attack dissent (which is one reason why it provokes more reaction).  Many of such even attempt to argue against the Bible, but which teaches that God made man and women distinctively different yet uniquely compatible and complementary, and only joined them together in marriage - as the Lord Jesus Himself specified (Mt. 19:4–6) - andScripture only unconditionally condemns homosexual relations wherever they aremanifestly dealt with (all sin is condemned, yet there are different degrees, and  unlike some sins, there is no provision that will sanction homosexual relations).   

And thus fornication is immoral/wrong even aside from the deleterious physical, mental  and financial effects substantiated here. 

However, most of all, may this compilation work to bring repentance and salvation thru effectual, penitent, regenerating justifying faith in the risen Lord Jesus, (Acts 10:34-47; 15:5-7; Titus 3:5) whom the Father sent to be the Savior of the world. (1 Jn 4:14) Thanks be to God, Amen 

Note: statistics were what the referenced pages stated when first referenced, but the CDC  revises and often deletes them, and recent CDC reports also tend to focus more on race and ethnicity than among behavior as a class, while treating the infected as victims as if not being the result of volitional choices to engage in known risky behaviors. Thus, I may sometimes reference archived versions. If a linked page no longer provides sourced material, try it in https://web.archive.org.. Also, a back up folder of most images is here. Finally, as this long work is a piecemeal compilation, and  listing of data is not all chronological, and distinctions btwn categories must be made, then please forgive any redundancy, disorganization, or seeming minor discrepancies resulting in this. 

 (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/media/images/2024/06/CDC-HIV-in-the-US_2024-10.png)

In 2021, male-to-male sexual contact accounted for 67% (24,107) of all [not just men] new HIV diagnoses in the United States and dependent areas. In the same year, heterosexual contact accounted for 22% (8,059) of all HIV diagnoses. (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html)

(https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/basics/statistics/2023/new-hiv-diagnoses-in-the-us-and-dependent-areas-by-transmission-category-2021.png?_=27625)

(https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/media/images/2024/06/CDC-HIV-in-the-US_2024-09.png)

(https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/media/images/2024/06/CDC-HIV-in-the-US_2024-17.png)

(https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/media/images/2024/09/cdc-hiv-gay-bisexual-men-2024_dfe-01.png)

And "in 2019, among transgender adults and adolescents, the largest percentage (93%) of diagnoses of HIV infections was for transgender MTF. And  in 2019, diagnoses of HIV infection among adolescent and young adult males (85%) and females (12%) accounted for approximately 97% of HIV diagnoses  (Table 8b") (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html; https://web.archive.org/web/20210707083722/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance/vol-32/content/special-focus-profiles.html)

In 2019, male fornication with men (sodomy) was responsible for 81% of new HIV cases among among adolescents and young adult men:  

(https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-report-2018-updated-vol-32.pdf; https://web.archive.org/web/20221110213233if_/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/library/reports/hiv-surveillance/vol-32/cdc-hiv-surveillance-vol32-fig30-1000x856.png?_=05943, p. 34) 

 In 2020, male-to-male sexual contact accounted for 68% of all new HIV diagnoses in the United States and dependent areas. In the same year, heterosexual contact accounted for 22% of all HIV diagnoses. And,

"Young gay and bisexual men accounted for 84% (5,161) of all new HIV diagnoses in people aged 13 to 24 in 2020." 

 

Also, as reported in 2020:

(https://web.archive.org/web/20211022161450if_/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/group/gender/men/2020/cdc-hiv-men-diagnoses-bar-graph-700x318.png?_=96703)

While the CDC states that,

  "Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are the population most affected by HIV in the United States. Stigma, homophobia, and discrimination make MSM of all races/ethnicities susceptible to multiple physical and mental health problems," 

the means of HIV transmission is almost always due to volitional actions, which cannot be blamed on discrimination, while billions are spent on this communicable disease via a chosen practice.

Although only approximately 7% of adult and adolescent males reported having had male-to-male sexual contact at some point in their lives, 82% of HIV infections among [all classes of] males in 2018 were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. (CDC: Estimated HIV Incidence and Prevalence in the United States, 2015–2019 P. 7)  

In 2019, diagnoses of HIV infection among adolescent and young adult males (85%) and females (12%) accounted for approximately 97% of HIV diagnoses (Table 8b). (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-report-2018-updated-vol-32.pdf)

And in 2018: 

(from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/group/age/youth/cdc-hiv-youth.pdf) 

In 2018 92% of NEW HIV infections among men aged 13 to 24 was attributed to male-to-male sexual contact:

https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/group/age/youth/cdc-hiv-youth-sex-700x698.png  

For 2018, the CDC reported as concerns male youth: 

   https://web.archive.org/web/20190807143141im_/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/group/age/youth/Piecharts-03-large.png)

(from https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/group/age/youth/cdc-hiv-youth.pdf) 

 Similarly, male-to-male sex accounted for more than three-fourths (78 percent) of new HIV infections among men and nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of all new infections in 2010.  (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/todaysepidemic-508.pdf) 

And which was less than 2014: 

(https://supremecourt.flcourts.gov/content/download/242689/file/Debaun%2013-2336(2).pdf)

And in 2016, "Gay and bisexual men continue to be most affected by the HIV epidemic in the U.S. At current rates, 1 in 6 MSM will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime, including 1 in 2 black MSM, 1 in 4 Latino MSM, and 1 in 11 white MSM." (https://www.hiv.gov/blog/half-of-black-gay-men-and-a-quarter-of-latino-gay-men-projected-to-be-diagnosed-within-their-lifetime/)

Eighty-seven percent [7,125] of youth in the US who received an HIV diagnosis in 2017 were young men, and male-to-male sexual contact was the HIV risk factor for 93% of these men (1) (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8063006/#r1 )

In 2019, gay, bisexual, and other men who reported male-to-male sexual contact accounted for 86% of estimated infections among all men. (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/in-us/incidence.html)

As well as 80% of all new HIV cases  (not just among men) in 2020:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240705162819if_/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/library/reports/hiv-surveillance/vol-33/infographics/cdc-hiv-diagnoses-by-gender-infographic-1920x1080.png

In 2019, 70% of all new HIV infections in the U.S. were among homosexual men, and 63% of all people in the US with HIV were homosexual men. (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/fact-sheets/hiv/HIV-gay-bisexual-men.html) 

https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/library/reports/hiv-surveillance/vol-33/Graphics-03.png?_=75165

https://web.archive.org/web/20230204063202/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/statistics/overview/in-us/HIV-in-the-US_2022-49-large.png?_=61599   (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/fact-sheets/hiv/HIV-gay-bisexual-men.html)

https://web.archive.org/web/20230301083038if_/https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/images/2022/New-HIV-infections-in-the-U.S.-by-transmission-category-2019-medium.jpg?_=61116

In 2019, heterosexual men accounted for 7% of all HIV diagnoses, and heterosexual women accounted for 16% of HIV diagnoses. 

 
In 2019, the largest percentage of HIV infections among all was attributed to male-to-male sexual contact (66% overall and 81% among males).  In 2019, among females, the largest percentage of HIV infection was attributed to heterosexual contact (83%).

"New HIV infections declined 8% from 37,800 in 2015 to 34,800 in 2019, after a period of general stability.

In 2020, 30,635 people received an HIV diagnosis in the U.S. and 6 dependent areas—a 17% decrease from the prior year, likely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV prevention, testing, and care-related services." (https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/statistics/)

 

Overall there were 36.801 new HIV diagnoses in the United States and Dependent Areas in 2019 among both men and women, with 23% being among heterosexuals:

 https://web.archive.org/web/20211003024334if_/https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/images/statistics/overview/ataglance/2021/cdc-hiv-stats-us-new-diagnoses-990x201.png

(https://files.hiv.gov/s3fs-public/2023-10/hiv-incidence-cdc-large.jpg)

The proportion of infections attributed to male-to-male sexual contact or male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use was 75% in 1981, 67% in 1984–1985, and 70% in 2019. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7022a1.htm)

MSM accounted for 70% (22,400) of the 32,100 estimated new HIV infections in 2021 and 86% of estimated infections among all males. In 2021, as compared to 2017, the annual number of HIV infections among MSM decreased 13.5% overall.

People who acquired HIV through heterosexual contact accounted for 22% (7,100) of the 32,100 estimated new HIV infections in 2021. Men reporting heterosexual contact accounted for 6% (2,000) of estimated new HIV infections, while women reporting heterosexual contact accounted for 16% (5,100) of estimated new HIV infections. In 2021, as compared to 2017, the annual number of HIV infections among people who acquired HIV through heterosexual contact decreased 12%.

People who inject drugs accounted for 8% (2,500) of the 32,100 estimated new HIV infections in 2021. Men who inject drugs accounted for 4% (1,400) of estimated new HIV infections, while women who inject drugs accounted for 3% (1,100) of estimated new HIV infections. In 2021, as compared to 2017, the annual number of HIV infections among people who inject drugs increased 4%.

By age group, people aged 13 to 34 accounted for 58% (18,700) of the estimated 32,100 new HIV infections in 2021. In 2021, as compared with 2017, the annual number of HIV infections among persons aged 13 to 34 decreased 18%. According to CDC, no change was detected in persons aged 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, and ≥55 years.

By race/ethnicity, in 2021 Black/African American  individuals accounted for 40% (13,000) of the estimated 32,100 new HIV infections, 

Hispanic/Latino  individuals accounted for 29% (9,300) of new HIV infections, and White individuals accounted for 26% (8,200) of new HIV infections. 

In 2021, the highest rates of new HIV infections were among Black/African American persons (37.3).

Hispanic/Latino persons (18.9), and persons of multiple races (17.0). 

According to CDC, in 2021, Black/African American persons made up approximately 12% of the population of the United States but accounted for 40% of new HIV infections. 

White persons made up 61% of the population of the United States but accounted for 26% of new HIV infections, and Hispanic/Latino persons made up 18% of the population of the United States but accounted for 29% of HIV infections.

By sex at birth, in 2021, people assigned male at birth accounted for 81% (25,900) of the estimated 32,100 new HIV infections, while people assigned female at birth accounted for 24% (6,200) of new HIV infections. 

According to CDC, the annual number of new HIV infections in 2021, as compared to 2017, decreased among people assigned male at birth but remained stable among people assigned female at birth. In 2021, the rate for people assigned male at birth (18.8) was 4 times the rate for people assigned female at birth (4.4).

Women (people assigned female sex at birth) accounted for 18% (6,666) of the 36,136 new HIV diagnoses in 2021.

Black/African American females accounted for 54% of new HIV diagnoses among people assigned female sex at birth.

White females aged ≥ 13 years accounted for 23% of diagnoses among people assigned female sex at birth.

Hispanic/Latino females aged ≥ 13 years accounted for 18% of diagnoses among people assigned female sex at birth.

At year-end 2021, an estimated 1.2 million people in the United States [0.4% out of 330 million, versus 0.07% of persons diagnosed with lung cancer, up  to 90% of which is caused by smoking, and which is rightly penalized] aged 13 and older had HIV in the U.S., the most recent year for which this information is available. (https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/statistics/)

Yet less than half of people in the US have even been tested for HIV. (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/hiv-testing-us-508.pdf)

And about 13% (153,500) of people with HIV in the U.S. don’t know it and so need testing. 

Homosexual and bisexual males have accounted for  2 out of every HIV 3 diagnoses in the United States, and which has been a historical trend even when  this class only represented approximately 4% of the male population). 

 There were 16,350 deaths in 2017 alone among adults and adolescents diagnosed with HIV in the United States and 6 dependent areas. [like as is usually the case with deaths attributed to the flu and COVID-19, deaths attributed to AIDS refers to killing indirectly].

For the receptive male the estimated average chance of contracting HIV can range from 1.38% - about one transmission occurring for every 71 exposures, male or female - (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/chances-of-getting-hiv) to over 20% - equivalent to 1 transmission per 5 exposures via unprotected sex with an HIV-positive person who has acute HIV infection.. (https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/sexual-and-reproductive-health/hiv-aids/causes/risk-of-exposure.html)   

In 2016 the rate of people living with HIV per 100,000 population was 368, with the death rate being 6. Male-to-male sexual contact made up  82.4% of HIV infections among males in 2017, while heterosexual contact made up 85.7% of HIV infections among females. The rate of Black males living with an HIV diagnosis is 5.6 times that of White males. The rate of Black females living with an HIV diagnosis is 17.6 times that of White females. The rate of Hispanic/Latino males living with an HIV diagnosis is 2.5 times that of White males. The rate of Hispanic/Latina females living with an HIV diagnosis is 4.2 times that of White females. (https://aidsvu.org/local-data/united-states)

The South has the highest number of people living with HIV, but if population size is taken into account, the Northeast has the highest rate of people living with HIV.

"Cumulative deaths in US through 2002 -- 501,669" due to or with HIV/AIDS.   (https://www.factlv.org/timeline.htm)

"Since the beginning of the epidemic, nearly 675,000 people with AIDS in the United States have died, and even today, nearly 13,000 people with AIDS in the United States die each year."  (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/todaysepidemic-508.pdf)

In 2017, 16,358 people with HIV died.  (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/2020/hiv-related-death-rate-press-release.html) 

In 2019 HIV.gov stated (using data from 2017)  that "More than 700,000 American lives have been lost to HIV since 1981."  And while these deaths may be related to many causes, yet in death there is the immediate cause, like a heart attack,  and then there are the comorbidity causes, such as obesity (and the NIH stated in 1999,“The estimated number of annual deaths attributable to obesity among US adults is approximately 280,000”), without which the former would likely not occur prematurely. 

In 2020, there were 18,489 deaths among adults and adolescents with diagnosed HIV in the US and dependent areas. (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/index.html)

In 2021, there were 19,986 deaths among adults and adolescents with diagnosed HIV in the United States and 6 dependent areas.  (https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/statistics/)

"About 13% (153,500) of people with HIV in the U.S. don't know it and so need testing." (https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/statistics/) 

Ignoring deaths among the undiagnosed, including the early years of the epidemic, and using the rounded number of the figures above (13,000, 16,000, 18,000, and 20,000 = 67,000) of deaths due to, or with HIV/AIDS per year, then this averages out to 16,750 per year x 5 = 83,750. 

And when added to the 700,000 figure of deaths due to AIDS which has been cited since at least 2017 and onward without updating (a, b, c, d, e, f, g) then this would mean that as of 2023, the total deaths of Americans that have died so far due to or with HIV/AIDS is close to 800,000. (784,000, rounded)

Among single means of transmission, male with male sexual relations have been primarily responsible for the deaths due to HIV/AIDS, which is more  than the previously cited figure of  700,000 people with HIV having died (as of 2017 since 1981) in the USA since the beginning of the epidemic.    

For while the US death rate of those with HIV had fallen by nearly half from 2010 to 2017, (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/2020/hiv-related-death-rate.html)  and continues a decline, and with more persons being virally suppressed,  yet it remains that the predominate means of HIV transmission is that of male with male sexual relations,  (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html)  despite decades of attempting to tame them into being "safe." 

In 2019, gay and bisexual men (men who have sexual relations with other men: (MSM) accounted for 69% (25,552) of the 36,801 new HIV diagnoses and 86% of diagnoses among males in the United States and 6 dependent areas (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/ataglance.html, accessed Mon, 09/20/21 (Fig. 6). 

 In 2019 in the United States and 6 dependent areas, diagnoses of HIV infection for adolescents and young adults attributed to MMSC (approximately 83%, including 3% MMSC and IDU) and those attributed to heterosexual contact (13%) accounted for approximately 97% of diagnoses in the United States.

Asian female adults and adolescents had the largest percentage (93%) of diagnoses of HIV infection attributed to heterosexual contact, followed by Black/African American (91%), and Hispanic/Latino (87%) female adults and adolescents. In 2019, Black/African American children made up approximately 14% of the population of children but accounted for 57% of diagnoses of HIV infection among children. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-report-2018-updated-vol-32.pdf 

In 2019, among all Black/African American persons, males accounted for 76% of HIV infections, most of which (82%) were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-supplemental-report-vol-26-1.pdf P. 6)

Although only approximately 7% of adult and adolescent males reported having had male-to-male sexual contact at some point in their lives [9], 81% of HIV infections among males in 2019 were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact (Table 1). (ibid P. 7) 

Most (78%) persons living with HIV were male; among those, 75% of infections were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. The largest percentages of persons with undiagnosed infection were among males with infection attributed to heterosexual contact (16.6%) and among males with infection attributed to male-to-male sexual contact (15.2%) (Table 7). 

The percentages of persons living with diagnosed HIV infection in 2019, compared with 2015, increased among males with HIV infection attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and females with infection attributed to heterosexual contact, but remained stable among all other transmission categories (Table 8) (ibid P. 8)

In 2005, 28.7% of HIV-negative men reported sex without a condom, rising to 32.8% in 2008, 34.7% in 2011 and 40.5% in 2014. The overall trend was similar for HIV-positive men: in 2005, 34.2% reported sex without a condom, rising to 37.3% in 2008, 39.8% in 2011 and 44.5% in 2014. (https://www.aidsmap.com/news/may-2016/american-gay-mens-use-condoms-has-been-falling-decade-regardless-serosorting-or-prep)

 

Meanwhile, Worldwide, 77.3 million people have contracted HIV and 35.4 million have died of AIDS-related illnesses since the beginning of the pandemic in 1981 (https://health.usnews.com/conditions/hiv-aids/articles/hiv-statistics)   

In Africa, although it has often been  cited as showing HIV being mainly due to heterosexual relations,  HIV/AIDS stats in Africa have a troubled history, (https://abrahamson.medill.northwestern.edu/WWW/IALJS/Malan_AidsInAfrica_RollingStone_22Nov2001.pdf,  while a 2019 scholarly study reported that, 

 

 "The results of the present study reveal the following: HIV prevalence is significantly higher in the populations of men who have sex with men than in men in the general population and, more specifically, in men in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the 2015 UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) report, studies in sub-Saharan Africa found prevalence rates of HIV infection ranging from 6 to 37%
among MSM

As the observed prevalence rate of HIV in the general population was between 0.1 and 19%, the prevalence rate among men who have sex with men (MSM) was often 13 to 17 times higher." 

"In 2015, according to the progress reports on the global AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) response, the  highest prevalence rates of HIV infection among MSM were as follows: 19% in central and western Africa; 15% in southern and eastern Africa; 12% in Latin America; 11% in the Asia-Pacific region; and 8% in central and western Europe and North America." (https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s12889-019-8000-x.pdf)     

As regards STD's and other conditions, as well as as well as suicides in the US among MSM and lesbians  and "transgendered" persons:

 

Although only approximately 7% of adult and adolescent males reported having had male-to-male sexual contact at some point in their lives, up to 81% of HIV infections among males (2019) were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact. and over 80%  HIV infection among adolescent and young adult males (85%) in 2019, and over 63%  of all [not just men] new HIV diagnoses. 

Overall, homosexual relations has  (historically) resulted in a greatly increased incidence of other infectious diseases  and effects besides HIV,  from Meningitis to premature   death.  Which diseases includes Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis A and B, HPV, Syphilis, HIV to Meningitis and body dysmorphia and eating disorders and more recently, Monkey pox.

Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men have accounted for 83% of primary and secondary syphilis cases where sex of sex partner was known in the US. Goy, Bisexual and other men who have sex with men have been found to be 17 times more likely to get anal cancer than heterosexual  men. In addition to which is accelerated aging and premature death. 

(https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)00759-3)

And thus (as of 2024 compilation) sodomy has been primarily responsible for close to 800,000 American deaths, 

All of which costs this nation greatly in lives, souls - and money, with the latter alone resulting in billions spent per year due to STD's, with domestic response to HIV itself rising to more than $28 billion per year (2024). 

And yet all the above is not the decisive reason why homosexual relations are wrong.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center states: Men who have sex with men and gay men are at increased risk for certain types of chronic diseases, cancers, and mental health problems…  #1: HIV/AIDS.  #2: Anal Papilloma  #3: Hepatitis  #4: Substance Use  #5: Depression and Anxiety  #6: Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)  #7: Prostate, Testicular, and Colon Cancer  #8: Alcohol  #9: Tobacco  #10: Body image problems and obesity. (https://www.vumc.org/lgbtq/key-health-concerns-msm-men-who-have-sex-men)

Anal cancer is particularly  one of the diseases that is far more prevalent among MSM than other population groups, being diagnosed in about 2 people out of every 100,000 people in the general population. In contrast, it is estimated that MSMs that are not infected with HIV are 20 times more likely to be diagnosed with anal cancer. HPV is present in approximately 65% of HIV negative MSMs and 95% of MSMs who are HIV positive. Anal cancer is caused by the same strains of HPV (Human Papillomavirus)  that cause cervical cancer in women. (https://cancer-network.org/cancer-information/gay-men-and-cancer/anal-cancer-hiv-and-gaybisexual-men)

Also, a new analysis (Oct. 11, 2024) reveals that infection with the mpox (money pox) virus is five times more likely among gay and bisexual men who engage in unprotected sodomy as the receptive partner, while clusters of mpox cases with are strain of mpox that is  resistant to treatment  have been reported. Of 1,500 American men under the age of 50 who said they had sex with other men  457 had contracted mpox.  (https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2024-10-11/unprotected-sex-boosts-mpox-danger-for-gay-men-as-drug-resistant-strain-spreads)

Related to this is that,  

The risk of becoming infected with HIV during condomless anal sex is 10 to 20 times greater than condomless vaginal sex. Because the rectal lining is only one-cell thick, the virus can more easily reach immune cells to infect. (https://www.mtnstopshiv.org/news/rectal-microbicides-fact-sheet) 

Also, multiple studies [2017] have found a rise in unprotected sex among men who have sex with men. (https://europepmc.org/article/med/32332483)

Also reported, "People living with HIV in Canada had eight times the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other non-AIDS-related dementia as their HIV-negative counterparts, and they were diagnosed 12.5 years earlier [which in part may be due to more medical attention], according to an analysis published in BMJ Open. 

They also had higher rates of several other age-related chronic conditions....Antiretroviral treatment has been associated with kidney damage and cardiovascular disease, and viral hepatitis and alcohol use—both common among HIV-positive people—can cause liver disease."  (https://www.poz.com/article/people-hiv-diagnosed-dementia-13-years-earlier)

 Even when their disease is well controlled, people with HIV can develop aging-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, certain cancers, kidney and liver disease, osteoporosis, and cognitive impairment decades ahead of their HIV-negative counterparts, and their life expectancy is significantly reduced.) 

 

And a new study shows evidence that  "HIV-positive people are at an increased risk of age-related diseases such as some cancers, frailty, osteoporosis, kidney disease, and neurocognitive disease. Researchers think that it is the HIV itself that accelerates the aging process by 14 years, rather than medications used to treat it."  (https://www.hivplusmag.com/treatment/2015/03/25/study-people-hiv-age-14-years-faster)

Moreover, while (2020) one "life expectancy study has shown that HIV-positive people who start antiretroviral therapy (ART) promptly and have good access to medical care live as long as their HIV-negative peers," yet "the researchers found that HIV-positive people were living with additional health problems for many of those years – on average, they had major co-morbidities 16 years earlier than HIV-negative people."  (https://web.archive.org/web/20220625103005/https://www.aidsmap.com/news/mar-2020/yes-same-life-expectancy-hiv-negative-people-far-fewer-years-good-health)

A 2021 study of comparison of dementia incidence and prevalence between individuals (90% male) after age 50 with and without HIV infection in primary care from 2000 to 2016 found that HIV was associated with an 80% increase in dementia diagnosis overall compared with HIV-negative people. (https://www.poz.com/article/even-modern-era-people-hiv-increased-risk-dementia; https://journals.lww.com/aidsonline/Abstract/2022/03010/Comparison_of_dementia_incidence_and_prevalence.13.aspx  

In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 82% of respondents ever considered and 40% ever attempted suicide; 48% of respondents considered and 7% attempted suicide during the past year (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7301a7.htm).

In a Danish study of  "6,657,456 Danish-born individuals who were at least 15 years old and lived in Denmark from January 1980 through December 2021," in  which  "3,759 (52.5% assigned male at birth) were identified as transgender at a median age of 22," "there were 92 suicide attempts, 12 suicides, and 245 suicide-unrelated deaths among this group."  "Among over 6.6 million individuals, standardized suicide attempt rates per 100,000 person-years were 498 for those who were transgender compared with 71 per 100,000 person-years for those who were not transgender."

"Transgender individuals also had higher rates of mortality not related to suicide (aIRR 1.9, 95% CI 1.6-2.2) and higher rates of all-cause mortality (aIRR 2.0, 95% CI 1.7-2.4) compared with non-transgender individuals." (https://www.medpagetoday.com/)

39% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year — including 46% of transgender and nonbinary young people. LGBTQ+ youth of color reported higher rates than White peers. (https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2024/)

The NHBS-Trans conducted by CDC during June 2019–February 2020 which included 1,608 transgender women in seven urban areas in the United States found that "Among transgender women in the sample (N = 1,608), many were aged <40 years (59.5%), were Hispanic or Latina (Hispanic) (40.0%) or Black or African American (Black) (35.4%), lived at or below the Federal poverty level (62.7%), were ever incarcerated (58.1%; 17.2% during the past 12 months), and had experienced homelessness during the past 12 months (41.6%)" 

"Most were currently taking gender-affirming hormonal therapy (71.5%) and wanted gender-affirming surgery but had not received procedures (52.2%); 41.0% tested positive for HIV. During the past 12 months, 59.7% experienced certain forms of violence and harassment: 53.4% reported gender-based verbal abuse or harassment, 26.6% reported gender-based physical abuse or harassment, 15.3% reported being physically abused or harassed by an intimate partner, and 14.8% reported sexual violence (not mutually exclusive). Among all participants, 75.2% reported high social support from significant others, 69.4% from friends, and 46.8% from family." (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7301a7.htm)

"Transgender women [worldwide] are 49 times more likely to have HIV than other adults of reproductive age." (https://www.who.int/hiv/topics/transgender/en/)

Transgender women have a higher risk of venous thromboembolism, stroke and meningioma compared to cisgender men and cisgender women. Compared to cisgender men, transgender women have a higher risk of breast cancer and transgender women > 50 years old have a higher risk of fractures.

(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32757514/)

Negative health results from treatment and surgery in transgendering itself are reported from  research:

A landmark 15-year study found that landmark 15-year study most gender-confused children grow out of it: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-024-02817-5 

Gender non-contentedness, while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general decreases with age and appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development. - Rawee, P., Rosmalen, J. G. M., Kalverdijk, L., & Burke, S. M. (2024). Development of Gender Non-Contentedness During Adolescence and Early Adulthood. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-02817-5 

A massive, yearslong study  in Germany shows the overwhelming majority of young people who identify as transgender will grow out of the diagnosis within five years.  Two out of three young people medically diagnosed with gender dysphoria will no longer identify as a member of the opposite sex within five years.

The most likely group to change its mind is 15-to-19-year-old females, with 72.7% desisting. But a majority (50.3%) of young men who came to their transgender identity in adulthood (males aged 20-24) also desisted in five years. - https://www.dailysignal.com/2024/06/15/german-study-vast-majority-of-people-will-grow-out-of-transgenderism-within-5-years/ 

In addition, LGBTQ and transgender persons  medically serious attempts at suicide are 4 times more likely among LGBTQ youth than other young people. (https://save.org/about-suicide/suicide-facts/)  

LGBTQ young people are more than twice as likely to feel suicidal, and over four times as  likely to attempt suicide, compared to heterosexual youth (Kann 2016)

In a 2016-2017 survey from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 28 percent of LGBTQ youth — including 40 percent of  transgender youth — said they felt depressed most or all of the time during the previous 30 days, compared to only 12 percent of non-LGBTQ youth (HRC Foundation 2017: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/LGBTQ_MentalHealth_OnePager.pdf)

A large study also found that  of 10,270 transgender patients identified, approximately 58% of transgender patients had at least one DSM-5 diagnosis compared with 13.6% of cisgender patients, indicating  transgenders had  about 4.5 times higher rate of psychiatric illness than straight persons. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6830528/)

 

Psychiatric disorders were more prevalent among homosexually active people compared with heterosexually active people. Homosexual men had a higher 12-month prevalence of mood disorders and anxiety disorders than heterosexual men. Homosexual women had a higher 12-month prevalence of substance use disorders than heterosexual women. (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/481699)

The suicide attempt rate among transgender persons ranges from 32% to 50% across  surveyed countries. Fifty percent of transgender persons in Australia have attempted suicide at least once in their lives.[12] In England, 48% of the transgender young people had attempted suicide at least once in their lives.[13] The prevalence of suicide remains high among transgender persons irrespective of disclosing their transgender status to others and undergoing sex reassignment surgery.[8]  (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5178031)

 "41% of trans adults said they had attempted suicide, in one study. The same study found that 61% of trans people who were victims of physical assault had attempted suicide." (https://save.org/about-suicide/suicide-facts/) 

 

(Note that compassion toward such is to be shown,  while the high  suicide rate among LGBTQ persons is blamed on societal rejection, yet  in the West it is actually those who oppose homosexual relations that face the most widespread persecution, and minorities such as evangelical Christians face great persecution worldwide without being suicidal.) 

Based upon a review of 40 studies that involved a total of roughly 185,000 adults with HIV or AIDS (PLWHA -- People Living With HIV/AIDS), "suicide risk is 100 times higher among  such patients," and with "person attempting suicide for every two who think about it. And among every 13 who do attempt it, one ends up losing their life." (https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-07-06/people-with-hiv-have-much-higher-risk-for-suicide)

In 2017 almost 35% of high school students who identified as transgender reported attempting suicide in the last 12 months (versus 9.% of straights), and almost 44% considered attempting it.  Transgender students were much more likely to have ever had engaged in sexual relations than were cisgender (straight) females (43.1% versus 33.2%), and with more persons,   while almost 15% reported their first act was before age 13 years vs. 1.5% for straights. 

Approximately 41% of transgender people attempt suicide at least once in their lives compared to the rate of 5% in the general population. [122] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-psychiatry/article/risk-factors-for-suicide-in-the-transgender-community/3AE67FF7615DDB5452A9672F9DF11714 March 2020 

Almost 23% of transgender  students reported they had experienced sexual dating violence, with approx. 26% reporting it has being physical.  In addition, 70% reported  lifetime alcohol, use,  Ecstasy 31.6% cocaine 27.2%, heroin  26.1%, methamphetamines  24.9%, and prescription opioid misuse 35.9%    respectively.  https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/mm6803a3.htm?s_cid=mm6803a3_w&_ga=2.187304552.190159804.1675607478-738421497.1675607478

Also relevant, disputed (https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/03/20/journal-places-warning-flawed-abuse-homosexuality-study) research by   Jessica Jones Steed and Donald I. Templer reported in 2010 that  a study by Tomeo, Tem- pler, Anderson, and Kotler [1] found that,

56% of gay men in contrast to 7% of heterosexual men, and 22% of lesbian women in contrast to 1% of heterosexual women, had reported homosexual molestation. Previous research also reported a history of molestation in gay men and lesbians [2-6]. The Tomeo et al. [1] research went beyond the previous research in that they used specific criteria of molestation by requesting the gender and age of the perpetrator and by the determination of both current sexual preference and that before the molestation. They found that 32% of gay men and 38% of the lesbians reported they were not homosexual before the homosexual molestation.

Steed and  Templer went further, engaging in a study consisting  of 280 non-clinical adults from gay, lesbian, and bisexual organizations in Central California, in which 49.6% of males reported being gay and 50.4% reported being bisexual.

Of both gay/bisexual men and lesbian/bisexual women, females reported 57.3% being lesbians and 42.7% being bisexual. It found that 42 (30.7%) of the 137 males, 59 (41.3%) of the 143 females, and 101 (36.1%) of the total number of participants reported experiencing childhood/adolescent molestation. A high rate of molestation of homosexual persons has also been reported by other authors [2-4, 11, 12]

Of the male participants who reported homosexual molestation, 80.0% of the perpetrators were said to be homosexual, 4% heterosexual, and 16% of unknown orientation. Of the female participants who reported homosexual molestation, 94.4% of the perpetrators were said to be homosexual, none heterosexual, and 5.6% of unknown orientation. 

Seventeen (67.4%) of the participants who were homosexually molested, in contrast to 26 (45.6%) of those who were heterosexually molested, said the molestation had an impact on their sexual orientation.   (https://openpsychologyjournal.com/contents/volumes/V3/TOPSYJ-3-36/TOPSYJ-3-36.pdf) 

 According to a different  study in the November 2009 issue of the International Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect, about 20 percent of men who have sex with men are sexually abused as children, a rate similar to that found among heterosexual women. The difference is that 80 percent of gay and bisexual men, compared to 20 percent of heterosexual women, who are sexually abused report experiencing "severe" abuse, often involving violence. Both men and women who are abused as children tend to engage in what researchers define as "high-risk" behavior as adults, which includes unprotected sexual encounters. (https://today.oregonstate.edu/archives/2008/dec/high-rates-childhood-sexual-abuse-contributing-factor-spread-hiv)

Also as regards violence, 

In 2013, the CDC released the results of a 2010 study on victimization by sexual orientation, and admitted that “little is known about the national prevalence of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking among lesbian, gay, and bisexual women and men in the United States.” The report found that bisexual women had an overwhelming prevalence of violent partners in their lives: 75 percent had been with a violent partner, as opposed to 46 percent of lesbian women and 43 percent of straight women. For bisexual men, that number was 47 percent. For gay men, it was 40 percent, and 21 percent for straight men. - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/if-youre-not-stragiht-youre-at-higher-risk-for-domestic-violence-180949988/

2015: According to the CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), there is a higher prevalence of lifetime experiences of IPV among bisexual women than heterosexual women (Walters et al, 2013). Bisexual women are 1.8 times more likely to report ever having experienced IPV than heterosexual women (see Table I).

According to the NISVS, bisexual women are 2.6 times more likely to report ever having experienced intimate partner sexual violence compared to heterosexual women.

According to the NISVS, bisexual men seem more likely to report ever having experienced IPV than heterosexual men, and gay men seem less likely than heterosexual men to report ever having experienced IPV. - https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/ipv-sex-abuse-lgbt-people/ 

• 61.1% of bisexual women, 26% of gay men, and 37.3% of bisexual men have reported an experience of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking within an intimate relationship.
• 63% of lesbian women, 76% of bisexual women, 60% of gay men, and 53% of bisexual men have reported experiencing psychological aggression by a partner at some point in their lives.
• Transgender folks also experience some of the highest levels of intimate partner violence with 54% of individuals reporting an instance of IPV. Nearly one-quarter (24%) have experienced “severe physical violence by an intimate partner.” - https://www.phila.gov/2022-10-05-intimate-partner-violence-in-lgbtq-communities/

Most studies found a lifetime prevalence of intimate partner violence among LGBT people that is as high or higher than the general population. 

among 1,608 transgender women, 59.7% experienced certain forms of violence and harassment and 17.7% reported suicidal ideation during the past 12 months; 75.2% reported high social support from significant others, 69.4% from friends, and 46.8% from family. (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7301a7.htm)

• The CDC found that 43.8% of lesbian women reported experiencing physical violence, stalking, or rape by their partners, with two thirds (67.4%) reported exclusively female perpetrators.
• Also, 61.1% of bisexual women reported physical violence, stalking, or rape by their partners in the same study with 89.5% reporting at least one perpetrator being male. 
• In contrast, 35% of heterosexual women reported having been victim of intimate partner violence, with 98.7% of them reporting male perpetrators exclusively.  (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_sofindings.pdf)

1. 43.8% of lesbian women and 61.1% of bisexual women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime, as opposed to 35% of heterosexual women.
2. 26% of gay men and 37.3% of bisexual men have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, in comparison to 29% of heterosexual men.
3. In a study of male same sex relationships, only 26% of men called the police for assistance after experiencing near-lethal violence.
4. In 2012, fewer than 5% of LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner violence sought orders of protection.
5. Transgender victims are more likely to experience intimate partner violence in public, compared to those who do not identify as transgender.
6. Bisexual victims are more likely to experience sexual violence, compared to people who do not identify as bisexual.
7. LGBTQ Black/African American victims are more likely to experience physical intimate partner violence, compared to those who do not identify as Black/African American.
8. LGBTQ white victims are more likely to experience sexual violence, compared to those who do not identify as white.
9. LGBTQ victims on public assistance are more likely to experience intimate partner violence compared to those who are not on public assistance. - https://ncadv.org/blog/posts/domestic-violence-and-the-lgbtq-community

 In addition are CDC stats that also include many STDs, which mainly are a result of heterosexual fornication.

In 2021 the CDC estimated that 1 in 5 people in the U.S. have a sexually transmitted infection and at a cost to the U.S. healthcare system of billions of dollars annually. (https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p0125-sexualy-transmitted-infection.html) 

(Note that in dealing with comparative statics as is done here, not only is the rate or percentage more revealing than simply the number of cases, but also relevant aspects of the historical context. 

For instance, while the rate of cases of syphilis was actually higher in the 1940's (especially) and overall (with exceptions) decreasing until 2006 when it began an overall  steady increase, the historical context of the former included aspects such as increased testing and diagnosis,  soldiers returning from war, but with increased effective treatment with penicillin in the 1940s onward leading to a large decrease in transmission, and  overall steady decrease in infection rates despite the increased % of teens to middle ages from the 60's to mid 80s. Which, after a brief increase in 1987 to 1992, saw an overall steady and significant decrease until about 2012 (but nowhere close to the 1940's). After which an overall steady rise occurred, leading to a rate of 53.2, which has not been seen since 1919 and 1966.  

In contrast, gonorrhea saw unprecedented high rates from 1970 to 1990 when they began to overall steadily  fall to a rate of 98.1 in 2009, only to rise to 214, not seen since 1991. (https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2021/tables/1.htm)  All of which  is despite an increasingly aged population and better testing and treatment.) 

Half of all sexually active people will get an STD by the time they reach 25. (https://medalerthelp.org/blog/std-statistics/) 

 Also relevant, by 2021 the percentage  of 18-24-year-olds who were married  was 5% for men and 8% for  women. with more cohabitating (fornicating) than were married    (https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/family-profiles/brown-manning-relationship-status-trends-age-gender-fp-21-25.html) 

 About half (54%) of adolescents age 15-19 have had some type of sexual experience.  (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590151621000113?via%3Dihub)

Never-married adults report engaging in sexual relations approx. 14 times per year more than married adults.   (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314273096_Declines_in_Sexual_Frequency_among_American_Adults_1989-2014)

Single Americans over 45 engage in sexual relations more  than married ones.  (https://www.aarp.org/relationships/love-sex/info-05-2010/2009-aarp-sex-survey.html

By 2008 a CDC study estimated that one in four (26 percent) young women between the ages of 14 and 19 in the United States -- or 3.2 million teenage girls -- was infected with at least one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, and trichomoniasis). (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080312084645.htm) And note that only 33%of women even between age 20-34 are married.

In 2017 it was estimated that about 45 percent of U.S. men and women were infected with the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV sexually transmitted disease - the most common sexually transmitted disease among men and women in the United States. Among women, the prevalence of HPV infection drops to about 22 percent as they age, but it remains high among men. (https://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/hpv-genital-warts/news/20170119/nearly-half-of-us-men-infected-with-hpv-study-finds)

Syphilis (all stages) has increased 447 percent in the last two decades. Cases of P&S syphilis—the most infectious stages of the disease—have increased a staggering 781 percent since 2001.

African Americans accounted for nearly a third of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and primary and secondary syphilis (P&S) cases while only accounting for 12.1 percent of the US population. 

Meanwhile, gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men were severely impacted by gonorrhea and syphilis in 2021. (https://www.naccho.org/blog/articles/new-cdc-report-more-than-2-5-million-u-s-cases-of-chlamydia-gonorrhea-and-syphilis-were-reported-in-2021)

Excerpt: https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/images/infographic-natl-thumb-600x776-1.png?_=12966

The declining use of condoms is cited as a driver of surging STI rates is. A  study found that between 2012 and 2017 rates of condomless sexual relations  increased among MSM,  "and other research suggests this shift in behavior may be partially tied to the increased use of PrEP, which guards against HIV but not other STIs." (https://www.livescience.com/why-are-sexually-transmitted-infections-on-the-rise-in-the-us) 

[Contraception itself is overall ultimately harmful to societies, as large stable husband and wife families best foster learning  sharing, sacrificing for the common good,  tolerance, and how to resolve conflicts, thus preparing them for society at-large.  But homosexual relations are not for procreation, and are ultimately deleterious to self and society. And which affect all.] 

Abstinence is the choice to refrain from some or all sexual activity.  It is the only method that is 100% effective in preventing unintended pregnancy and STD transmission when used consistently and correctly. (https://sacd.sdsu.edu/_resources/files/well-being/03698-Abstinence_05-2013.pdf)

Moreover, I have not found any studies on STD infections among married monogamous couples versus nonmarried in the US, thus it seems that this is not something that the CDC judges worthy to pursue, but it does report that,    

The 1995-1999 CDC STD Surveillance Reports state: “During the past two decades, the age of initiation of sexual activity has steadily decreased and age at first marriage has increased, resulting in increases in premarital sexual experience. …”

Non-marital sexual activity with multiple partners is the singular cause of the proliferation of STDs and yet for some reason all CDC surveillance reports since 1999 omit the above statement and make no reference to marriage at all. Instead we get, “talk openly about STDs” and the obligatory, “use condoms.” (https://chicago.suntimes.com/2016/12/6/18344396/opinion-as-marriage-rates-decline-reports-of-stds-rise)

 Note that less than 1% of all U.S. adults are in a same-sex marriage [which is not what God joined together]. LGBT Americans married to same-sex spouse remain 10%. (https://news.gallup.com/poll/389555/lgbt-americans-married-same-sex-spouse-steady.aspx)

In 2017, in the first survey to look at the prevalence of the virus in the adult population, the CDC reported that over 42 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 were infected with genital human papillomavirus. (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db280.pdf)

The incidence of many STDs in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM)—including primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis and antimicrobial-resistant gonorrhea—is greater than that reported in women and men who have sex with women only (MSW).

Since 2000, rates of P&S syphilis have increased among men, primarily attributable to increases in cases among MSM. Similar to past years, in 2018, MSM accounted for the majority (53.5%) of all reported cases of P&S syphilis and, of these, 41.6% were known to be living with diagnosed HIV. Although rates of P&S syphilis are lower among women, rates have increased substantially in recent years, increasing 30.4% during 2017–2018 and 172.7% during 2014–2018, suggesting a rapidly growing heterosexual epidemic.

In 2000 and 2001, the national rate of reported primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis cases was 2.1 cases per 100,000 population, the lowest rate since reporting began in 1941 (Figure 35, Table 1). 

However, the P&S syphilis rate has increased almost every year since 2001. This rise in the rate of reported P&S syphilis has been primarily attributable to increased cases among men and, specifically, among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). MSM account for the majority of P&S syphilis cases and estimated rates are substantially higher among MSM compared with women or men who have sex with women only (MSW). 5 The number of cases among MSM has continued to increase, but within the last five years, cases among MSW and women have increased substantially as well. The increase in syphilis among women is of particular concern because it is associated with a striking and concurrent increase in congenital syphilis.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: STD Surveillance 2018 National Profile 27 West, and 7.2% in the Northeast (Table 29). Among women, the largest increases were observed in the West (41.2%), followed by the Northeast (40.0%), the South (30.8%) and the Midwest (30.8%) (Table 28). MSM continued to account for the majority of P&S syphilis cases in 2018 (Figures 39 and 41). 

Of 35,063 reported P&S syphilis cases in 2018, 18,760 (53.5%) were among MSM, including 16,905 (48.2%) cases among men who had sex with men only and 1,855 (5.3%) cases among men who had sex with both men and women (Figure 39)....

Among the 24,176 male cases with information on sex of sex partners, 77.6% occurred among MSM. A total of 36 states were able to classify at least 70.0% of reported P&S syphilis cases as MSM, MSW, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: STD Surveillance 2018 National Profile 27 West, and 7.2% in the Northeast (Table 29).

 Among women, the largest increases were observed in the West (41.2%), followed by the Northeast (40.0%), the South (30.8%) and the Midwest (30.8%) (Table 28). MSM continued to account for the majority of P&S syphilis cases in 2018 (Figures 39 and 41). Of 35,063 reported P&S syphilis cases in 2018, 18,760 (53.5%) were among MSM, including 16,905 (48.2%) cases among men who had sex with men only and 1,855 (5.3%) cases among men who had sex with both men and women (Figure 39). 

Overall, 5,416 (15.4%) cases were among MSW, 4,995 (14.2%) were among women, 5,858 (16.7%) were among men without information about sex of sex partners, and 34 (0.1%) were cases reported with unknown sex. Among the 24,176 male cases with information on sex of sex partners, 77.6% occurred among MSM. A total of 36 states were able to classify at least 70.0% of reported P&S syphilis cases as MSM, MSW, or women each year during 2014– 2018 (Figure 41). In these states, during 2017–2018, the number of cases increased 5.3% among MSM, 16.3% among MSW, and 32.9% among women.

Among 2018 P&S syphilis cases with known HIV status, 41.6% of cases among MSM were HIV-positive, compared with 7.9% of cases among MSW, and 4.0% of cases among women. 

When examining reported P+S syphilis cases over time, 36 states were able to classify at least 70% of reported P+S syphilis cases as MSM, MSW, or women each year during 2014–2018. In these states, cases among MSM increased 5.3% during 2017–2018 and 51.5% during 2014– 2018 (Figure 41). 

Among males, 610,447 cases of chlamydia were reported in 2018 for a rate of 380.6 cases per 100,000 males (Table 5). The rate of reported cases among males increased each year during 2000–2018, with the exception of 2012–2013, when rates remained stable (Figure 1). During 2017–2018 alone, the rate among males increased 5.7%; during 2014–2018, rates of reported cases among males increased 37.8% (Tables 4 and 5). This pronounced increase among males could be attributed to either increased transmission or improved case identification (e.g., through intensified extra-genital screening efforts) among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). 

Despite this considerable increase in males, the rate of reported chlamydia cases among females was still about two times the rate among males in 2018, likely reflecting a larger number of females screened for this infection. 

 

As regards Gonorrhea...San Francisco had the highest proportion of cases estimated to be MSM (86.4%), while Baltimore had the lowest proportion of MSM cases (20.1%). In total, across all SSuN sites, 42.5% of gonorrhea cases were estimated to be among MSM, 25.1% among MSW, and 32.4% among women. 

Among six jurisdictions participating in SSuN [STD Surveillance Network] continuously from 2010 to 2018,..The estimated gonorrhea case rate among MSM increased 375.5% during 2010–2018 from 1,368.6 cases per 100,000 MSM in 2010 to 6,508.0 cases per 100,000 MSM in 2018. Over the same time period, case rates among MSW and women also increased by 69.3% and 95.2%, respectively.
 
[Overall,] Rates of chlamydia have gone up by 19 percent since 2014. For gonorrhea, there are 583,405 cases in the U.S., and rates have gone up 63 percent since 2014. Rates of syphilis have increased 71 percent since 2014, and are highest in men and women 25-29 years old. congenital syphilis — when an infected mother passes syphilis to her baby during pregnancy — which have shot up by 185 percent since 2014, (https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats18/STDSurveillance2018-full-report.pdf)

 

More than 1.6 million cases of chlamydia were reported in 2021. Chlamydia is often asymptomatic and so cases may go uncounted when screening falters, the CDC report states. 

More than 710,000 cases of gonorrhea were reported in 2021, an increase of 4.6% from 2020. Since hitting a historic low in 2009, gonorrhea rates have increased by 118%. The CDC says it's only a matter of time before a strain becomes fully resistant to available treatments. (https://www.livescience.com/health/viruses-infections-disease/as-syphilis-levels-hit-70-year-high-sexually-transmitted-infection-epidemic-shows-no-signs-of-slowing)

In the six years preceding the Covid-19 pandemic, gonorrhea rates increased by an average of roughly 10% each year, chlamydia rates increased by an average 3.6% annually and syphilis rates increased by an average 14% annually.  Syphilis case rates surged more sharply in the same time period, to their highest rate in three decades — a 27% uptick compared to 2020. (https://www.livescience.com/why-are-sexually-transmitted-infections-on-the-rise-in-the-us)

Men who have sex with men accounted for  56.7% of all male P&S syphilis cases in 2019. Also, estimated rates of reported gonorrhea among MSM are 42 times the estimated rate among men who have sex with  women. (https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2019/overview.htm) 

The CDC study Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2014 found that among male cases for whom the sex of the  partner was known, 83% of syphilis  cases were MSM.  75.53% of syphilis cases in 2014 were among homosexual men. 51% of the homosexual men diagnosed with syphilis in 2014 were also HIV-positive. (https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/cdc-83-syphilis-cases-2014-among-gay-men-where-sex-sex-partner-was)

Among women, studies have shown that viral STD rates among bisexual-identifying women aged 15 to 44 years were almost three times higher than women who have sex with women exclusively.  (https://www.stdcheck.com/blog/lgbt-std-statistics)

2021 saw  a 26% rise in new syphilis cases, with the rate of syphilis cases reaching its highest since 1991, and with the total number of cases achieving its highest number  since 1948, while   HIV cases were up 16% in 2021. (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/sep/19/sexually-transmitted-disease-rise-syphilis-us?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1)

 And a  new CDC report provides final surveillance data for 2021, and shows that overall in a single year (2020-2021) syphilis rates  increased nearly 32% for combined stages of the infection. Cases of congenital syphilis rose by an alarming 32% and resulted in 220 stillbirths and infant deaths.

As regards related behavioral patterns, a recent (2024) CDC report which includes survey data from National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Among Transgender Women (NHBS-Trans) conducted by CDC during June 2019–February 2020  to assess behavioral risk factors, PrEP, antiretroviral therapy, condom use, and HIV prevalence, found that, 

During the past 12 months among 902 transgender women without HIV infection, 42.5% had five or more sex partners, 64.6% had condomless sex, and 34.1% received money or drugs in exchange for sex (Table 2). 

More than one-third (41.1%) reported that they did not know the HIV status of their last sex partner, 3.2% reported their last partner’s HIV status was positive, and 14.5% had condomless sex with the last partner whose HIV status was positive or unknown. 

During the past 12 months, 5.0% injected drugs, 2.3% did not always use a sterile needle to inject for gender affirmation, and 3.5% shared a syringe to inject drugs or for gender affirmation. More than seven in 10 (73.2%) reported receiving transgender-specific health care within the past 12 months, and 70.2% currently had transgender-specific health insurance coverage. 

Approximately two thirds (68.1%) were currently taking hormones, 23.6% wanted to but were not currently taking hormones, and 8.2% were not currently taking hormones and did not want to take them.

During the past 12 months, a majority of the 902 transgender women without HIV infection reported PrEP awareness (91.8%), more than half (56.6%) had discussed PrEP with a health care provider, and approximately one-third (32.0%) had used PrEP (Table 2). 

PrEP use was reported by 37.0% of those who had two or more sex partners, 38.0% of those who had condomless sex, 37.0% of those whose last sex partner’s HIV status was positive or unknown, 40.0% of those who received money or drugs in exchange for sex, and 44.0% of those who had condomless sex with last partner whose HIV status was positive or unknown (Figure). 

PrEP use also was reported by 33.0% of transgender women who injected drugs and by 44.0% who shared a syringe to inject drugs or for gender affirmation.   (https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7301a2.htm)

Also reported by the CDC which includes survey data from the NHBS-Trans conducted by CDC during June 2019–February 2020 was that  

Certain transgender women receive or desire gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT) (1),...certain transgender women use hormones without a prescription (1,6,7). Although masculinizing GAHT is a Schedule III controlled substance, feminizing GAHT is not a scheduled or controlled substance, but it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for over-the-counter use, leaving those seeking non-prescription feminizing GAHT uncertain if what they are doing is punishable by law. Side effects and health risks associated with GAHT among transgender women include ischemic heart disease and hypertension (8).

(https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/su/su7301a4.htm)

 

https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2021/syndemic-infographic-2023.pdf)

Some older stats on Adultery, Fornication, and Sodomy can be seen here. 

In addition to which are the ongoing financial costs:

https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/2021/syndemic-infographic-2023.pdf)

The United States is expected to spend more than $26 billion annually on HIV. (https://www.healthline.com/health/hiv-aids/facts-statistics-infographic) 

(cdc-hiv-wad-2022-hiv-affects-everyone-medium4678.png)
 

The CDC estimates indicate about 20 percent of the U.S. population – approximately one in five people in the U.S. – had an STI on any given day in 2018, and STIs acquired that year will cost the American healthcare system nearly $16 billion in healthcare costs alone. (https://www.cdc.gov/std/statistics/prevalence-2020-at-a-glance.htm) 

"STIs and their complications amount to about $16 billion annually in direct medical costs. HIV imposes the largest financial burden, costing $12.6 billion in direct medical costs, followed by HPV at $1.7 billion, chlamydia at $156.7 million, gonorrhea at $162.1 million, and syphilis at $39.9 million." (https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/STI-brief.pdf) 

And based upon a lifetime from 2015 to 2020 (study published in  4-21) then NIH research  stated:

"We estimated an average lifetime HIV-related medical cost for a person with HIV of $420,285 (2019 US$) discounted (3%) and $1,079,999 undiscounted for a median 3-year diagnosis delay and 3% base dropout rate. Our discounted cost estimate was $490,045 in our most favorable scenario and $326,411 in our least favorable scenario."

"Discounted costs are highlighted throughout because they represent economic costs that take into account time preferences of individuals and society and the opportunity cost of funds." The Lifetime Medical Cost Savings from Preventing HIV in the United States

    

And as reported Mar 27, 2023,

  Medicaid is the largest source of insurance coverage for people with HIV in the United States, covering an estimated 40% of the nonelderly adults with HIV, compared to just 15% of the nonelderly adult population overall...Medicaid accounted for 45% of all federal HIV spending in FY221 and it is the largest source of public spending for HIV care in the U.S. In FY22, the federal government spent an estimated $13 billion on Medicaid services for people with HIV...Medicaid enrollment among people with HIV has grown over time  (https://www.kff.org/hivaids/issue-brief/medicaid-and-people-with-hiv/)

Before the Affordable Care Act, most individuals living with HIV were ineligible for Medicaid unless they had very low incomes, or were deemed permanently disabled due to an AIDS diagnosis. Starting in 2014, under the Affordable Care Act, states can receive federal Medicaid payments to provide coverage for the lowest income adults in their states, without regard to disability, parental status, or most other categorical limitations. (https://www.medicaid.gov/about-us/program-history/medicaid-50th-anniversary/entry/47641) 

Costs associated with engaging in sodomy also can include those for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) [which was] at more than $1,700 for 30 tablets (https://mosaicscience.com/story/hiv-prep-truvada-prevention-sti-std-lgbtqi-gay-condom-pride/).

The cost for  PrEP medication was about  2,000 a month, and which "Most health insurance plans, including Medicaid, cover." (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/stds-hiv-safer-sex/hiv-aids/prep) Under the Affordable Care Act, PrEP must be free under almost all health insurance plans. (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep/paying-for-prep/index.html) The rule says insurers must not charge copays, coinsurance or deductible payments for the quarterly clinic visits and lab tests required to maintain a PrEP prescription. (https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/prep-hiv-prevention-pill-must-now-totally-free-almost-insurance-plans-rcna1470) 

For any Medicaid insured HIV-negative adult 18 years of age or older patients, lab testing and prescription medication costs are 100% covered. (https://www.louisianahealthhub.org/teleprep/) 

In 2017, around 61,300 people were actively taking PrEP.

(https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/western-central-europe-north-america/usa) with the rate of PrEP users per 100,000 population in 2018 being 68. (https://aidsvu.org/local-data/united-states)

A few states have their own drug assistance programs that cover out-of-pocket expenses for PrEP. Some will also cover the costs of doctor visits and lab tests. Requirements to qualify for these programs differ by state. (https://www.talktomira.com/post/how-much-is-prep-how-to-get-it-for-free-truvana-descovy) 

"Despite biomedical advances in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention with antiretroviral pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the burden of HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) remains high [1]. MSM are a high‐priority risk group for PrEP use based on their behavioral and biological risk factors [2, 3]."

[Between 2017 and 2019] "of 3508 sexually active, HIV‐negative MSM, 34% met indications [condition that leads to the recommendation] for PrEP. The proportion with current PrEP use was 32% among MSM meeting indications and 11% among those without indications." 

(https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/media/images/2024/06/CDC-HIV-in-the-US_2024-23.png)

"PrEP is a key part of HIV strategy globally. In the United States, PrEP is available through multiple mechanisms including national and state health insurance programs covering health care costs for those with low income, private insurance plans, programs for those without health insurance and copay assistance from the drug manufacturer or US states [5, 6]." (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8488229/#:~:text=Results,11%25%20among%20those%20without%20indications)

The Ready, Set, PrEP program makes PrEP medication available at no cost for qualifying recipients who lack prescription drug coverage, and  are tested for HIV with a negative result, and have a prescription for PrEP. (https://www.getyourprep.com/)

EDIT: "the federal government has announced that almost all health insurers must cover the HIV prevention pill, known as PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, with no cost sharing — including for the drug itself and, crucially, for clinic visits and lab tests...This means...Truvada or Descovy, the two approved forms of PrEP, should now be totally free for almost all insured individuals....when taken daily, the tablet reduces men’s risk of contracting the virus from sex with other men by more than 99 percent...PrEP use remains largely limited to white gay and bisexual men...  (https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/prep-hiv-prevention-pill-must-now-totally-free-almost-insurance-plans-rcna1470)

A one-month supply of Truvada or Descovy costs around $2,000. Add in $15,000 a year for the lab tests and doctor visits you'll need to get your prescription. Generic versions of PrEP pills are available and less expensive. They cost about $60 a month.  The Affordable Care Act requires most private insurance plans to cover the full cost of PrEP medications, plus lab tests and clinic visits, although not all of them do. PrEP is also covered under Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration (VA).Apretude is $3,700 per shot, or more than $22,000 a year. There is no generic form of the injection.(https://www.webmd.com/hiv-aids/prep-choose-medication)

All of the above raises  raises private insurance rates and or taxes for all who pay them. 

Based on 2022 inflation-adjusted dollars, the US government spent $314 million potentially related to TDF-FTC for PrEP development, including $143 million directly linked to development and clinical testing. (https://www.ajmc.com/view/us-government-spent-far-more-on-costly-hiv-prep-development-than-previously-thought)

Such are just part of the financial and societal costs  that affect every one to varying degrees due to man disobeying God's program, in which sexual union is only between male and female in marriage. And which provides the stable safe environment for trust and intimacy and for  children which are to result, versus  fornication as well as artificial contraceptives.

 However, not only is the practice of sexual sin promoted, but war is waged against all who do not agree with such, which includes the tactical, indiscriminate psychological use of the term “homophobic”  as part of the overall strategy to misrepresent any  all who object to homosexuality and its homoeroticism as being motivated by an irrational fear, and as hate-mongering KKK types.   

Which was the strategy and psychological tactics advocated by Harvard-trained graduates Marshall Kirk (1957–2005) and Hunter Madsen (pen name Erastes Pill) in their book “After the Ball.”

The idea that one can be caring, charitable, and friendly toward practicing homosexuals while peaceably opposing homosexuality and its relations, is not to be allowed by those who demand we affirm this.

In addition, since the  practice of homosexual relations is unnatural, it usually requires greater attempts at rationalizing away the guilt that sin normally should result in, and  many even engage in strenuous attempts to insist all must affirm it. 

Which effects mean rejection of the Lord Jesus, leaving the sinner with no forgiveness and more repressed guilt, or worse, a seared conscience that will not repent and which finally may no longer be able to. Which state is to be avoided at all costs.  

 For beyond the financial and societal costs is the spiritual cost, of separation from God now and eternal damnation later  due to impenitent sin. For which only repentance and committed faith in the risen Lord Jesus is the solution,  Christ the Son of God  was sent by God the Father to be the savior of the world. And who therefore gave Himself for our sins on the cross of His death, paying the price for our forgiveness with His sinless shed blood. Thanks be to God.

  

For God made man and women distinctively different yet uniquely compatible and complementary, and only joined them together in  marriage - as the Lord Jesus Himself specified (Mt. 19:4-6; cf. Gn. 2:24) - and only condemned homosexual relations wherever they are manifestly dealt with.

Yet there is still room at the cross for all who will come to God in repentance and faith, and trust in the Divine Son of God  sent by the Father, the risen Lord Jesus, to save them on His account, by His sinless shed blood, and thus be baptized and live for Him. Acts 10:36-47 

Thanks and glory be to God, who made everything good, but which we have misused, thus requiring salvation which God provided for, at His own cost. For we are all (including me) sinners in nature and by choice, but those who are of true faith in the risen Lord Jesus seek to follow Him, and repent from  sin when the realize they are practicing such.