Truly, what *you* think is hardly more relevant. For several reasons. First, you've expressed your opinions here, but given that the bible passages you produced weren't persuasive to many here, your opinions remain just that, your opinions. Second, God's judgement is what matters, not your opinions which are formed, like everybody's opinions, by your own cultural biases. |
Actually, there are plenty of denominations that don't talk about categorizing sinners, or labeling drug addicts, or anything else of that nature. I for one do not tell my children that alcoholics or anyone else are sinners. I tell them that alcoholism and drug abuse are illnesses and cause deep suffering. Sin doesn't enter into it. If I were to talk about other people's sins, which I don't, I would focus on greed. The banking system is a much worthier target of our Christian outrage than our gay neighbors. I hope any gay children of the OP, or posters who agree with her, have enough of a support system outside of their family and church to know that they too are created in God's image. They are loved by God exactly as He made them. |
No, I'm not the OP and also not a troll. I've been following this discussion from the beginning. My point is, God says that homosexuality is a sin so frankly, it really doesn't matter what you or I or OP thinks. And just as an aside, when it comes to the argument that people are "born that way" in terms of a sexual orientation, I think that we are all born into sin of some sort. Some people may have homosexual tendencies, just like others are born with a predisposition to be, say, alcoholics. The only way we conquer any of it is through redemption in Christ. |
There are also a lot of false prophets are plenty of so-called Christians who have strayed far, far from the teachings of Jesus. That doesn't make them right, just because some people choose in their own weakness to believe them. |
You have yet to point to any passage that convincingly says that God says homosexuality is a sin. |
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There is nothing to reconcile. It just is:
Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Pretty straight forward. God does not approve. However, lets keep this on context: Unless you are Jesus Christ himself (or Joel Olsteen and his wife lol) we are all sinners the day we come out of the womb. This is not to dismiss or diminish homosexuality, but its just one of many things that Jesus's death has saved us from. We are suppose to repent for our sins and not actively live an ungodly live style. The problem with sin is that it you could die directly as a result of it. But even if you do live an ungodly lifestyle, as long as you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will meet him at the gates of heaven. This goes for lairs, killers, homosexuals, transexuals, idlers, adulterers, rapists and the like. So all this debate about the weight of sin, or anything else is really irrelevant from a big picture perspective. |
yes, PP, the message of Christ is love, forgiveness and redemption. No doubt, I believe that this is the central message of Jesus, and this is what we need to focus on. However, we would also be ignoring other tenants of Christian teachings if we just sweep all sins under the rug. That's not the point of Jesus' teachings either. It's about acknowledging our failings but not being overcome by them. This is what redemption means. |
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The problem with the idea that being gay is a sin is that it forces gay people to be something they are not. It forces them to live a lie that is far more destructive than the truth. It tells them that they are less than, that they are sinful and damaged, that they are broken. Have you known a closeted gay person who then came out? To be able to be yourself, fall in love, and live your true life is far closer to what God wants for us.
Gay people cannot become straight. They cannot "repent" and live a happy, fulfilled life as a straight person. We shouldn't ask them to. I don't believe Jesus would. |
It's already been mentioned several times in this thread alone that the Old Testament is not definitive on God's word. Jesus, who is God, has said in the New Testament that most of the bans from the old Testament are no longer bans. So this condemnation of homosexuality is like the proscription of shellfish, blended fabrics, other sins outlined in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Paul, who may be a disciple, but is only a man, may condemn homosexuality, but Jesus does not. Can you find text in the New Testament that show that Jesus has decried homosexuality? |
Well, unless you have a direct line to God, we typically believe what the prophets and Jesus state in the Bible is what God is saying. Leviticus 18:22: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Your argument is weird. Is there a passage in the Bible that explicitly prohibits pedophilia? Or let's look at slavery. Would Jesus condone slavery since there is a passage in the Bible that states: "Slaves obey your masters"? My DC sometimes kicks the back of my chair in the car. I tell DC to stop. Then a few seconds later I feel pounding again. I say to DC, "I told you to stop". DC says, "But, I wasn't kicking it. I was punching it". This is the type of argument you are using, that you would only consider what Jesus explicitly states as the truth, and not the spirit of what he is saying. This is how my 8 yr old reasons. |
I care about what Jesus meant, not what the Pharisees thought they heard. But unlike you, I don't pretend to know exactly what Jesus meant in this passage. What makes you so sure you know exactly what Jesus was thinking? I was going to use the word "hubris" but that doesn't begin to cover it. Enough with the "simple logic" nonsense. Let's try to keep this civil. |
PP, what does Jesus mean when he refers to "sexual immorality", because He does state that this is a sin. I suppose pedophilia shouldn't be considered a sin because Jesus didn't explicitly decry it? |
Not the PP, but P.S. comparing being gay to pedophilia (and slavery!) is super homophobic. If the homophobia label wasn't warranted before (it was), it's fair game now. I'm sure even your 8-year-old could see the distinctions. |
First of all, some of you have some really twisted ideas about what "sin" is. Sin is not some all-powerful label that permanently condemns you to Hell or makes you somehow dirty. Sin is something everyone has a propensity for- its greek roots quite literally mean "missing the mark." That's what it is- missing the target, and the target is to be as much like Christ as possible. If I tell my children that I sin, or that they sin, that is not a condemnation. It is a statement of fact. We all sin, and we all have our own particular weaknesses. That does not mean that our sins themselves should be accepted or celebrated. If gay children are made to feel dirty or unloved or rejected, that is the complete and utter failure of the people around them, because all children should feel loved and accepted no matter what. That has nothing to do with Christianity, but with people's automatic fear and loathing of those who are different from them. If they did not couch that hatred in Christianity it would have been in something else, some other religion, some other philosophy. People are terrible sometimes, whether they profess to be Christian or not. I am the OP and you're making so many hateful assumptions about me and all it shows, really, is that you cannot handle the prospect of other people disagreeing with your point of view. I have tried to remain civil. I would never reject my child (or any child, or any person) on the basis of a real or perceived flaw. That really has nothing to do with this discussion, which is about the Biblical basis for why Christianity has considered homosexuality a sin for so long. You could make a better contribution if you cited the actual Bible, and not your own flawed assumptions. |
then what did Jesus mean by "sexual immorality"? Are you a Bible expert? Did you go to seminary, study theology? I confess, I didn't. But I can use simple logic to deduce what Christ meant given the context of whom He was speaking to, and considering what the OT has stated in this regard. This is part of the problem with some Christians: they don't real the Bible in its context. Just pull a passage and try to apply it. It doesn't work that way. |