Gah, sorry for the extremely long wait, I never had an email for when you replied to this topic, sorry
I haven't even ate lobster...besides what is law and what is sin are two different things.
Well, In the King James version, Leviticus 11:10 clearly says that shellfish are an abomination unto you, and homosexuality is also described as an abomination. You can't pick and choose which parts of the Bible you want to respect and other which you don't.
As for homosexuality in the NT, I assume it's 1 Corinthians 6?
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Therefore, homosexuals who are washed in the body of Christ are fine, no? Again, homosexuality is not a worse sin than any other here, such as drunkenness and greediness. If people campaign against homosexuality, they should also campaign against alcoholism. We don't see that. We see people who pick and choose what they want in the bible to support their homophobia or their distaste of LGBTQ people.
It's not okay to be racist. It's not okay to be all like "Gays go to hell no matter what, they're not human, blah blah blah." because gays need to be loved too. They need to be loved with a Christ-like love. Okay, being gay is not THE ULTIMATE sin. But it shouldn't be encouraged, that's for sure.
Do you think telling people that it's okay not hating themselves and being who they are is encouraging?
Have you ever thought it's never been approved of because it's wrong?
Have you ever thought for the longest time people were making the exact same argument for slavery?
There is nothing to show that homosexuality is wrong, except in holy books. Homosexuality is natural.
List of animals displaying homosexual behavior - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Umm...no? Sexual immorality (having sex outside of marriage, adultery, and yes, homosexuality) is sin. Period. We need to flee from it. Period.
You forgot to mention sex for the pleasure of the flesh. And if it's not for making babies (sex with protection, condoms, etc) then what is it for? Sex for the flesh is a sin, which is why the Vatican is so darn opposed to condom use, even though condoms would decrease dramatically the number of people dying of AIDS around the world (especially Africa), and dramatically reduce the amount of unwanted teen pregnancies (thus the amount of abortions) and of sexual disease spread (such as chlamydia, which infects something like 50% of the US population).
Any sexual behavior outside of procreation is a sin. There is no avoiding that.
Yeah, well, the Nazis were nutso. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out.
How do you think extremist/literalist/far left wing christians sound to the rest of the world?
And those things are very wrong. That is what you call blowing things out of proportion. No one should hate ANYONE like that. I don't agree with the gay lifestyle, I don't support it, I don't like it. But that doesn't mean I hate them. And it DEFINITELY doesn't mean I'm gonna go saying, "Gays need to be put in death camps." No! That's just straight-up wrong! And they need to put their heads back on straight. Man I couldn't imagine saying something like that to anyone...
I agree, it's completely wrong. However, your Bible supports such behavior when people want to use it that way, and condemns it when people want to use it the other way. The ONLY way those people can express their feelings without sounding like the homophobic bigots they truly are is through the Bible. These people are RESPECTED and ACCEPTED by their congregations. Such behavior is threatening the lives of LGBTQ people, and it is unacceptable. If christians don't want others pointing the flaws of extremists like them, christians should be the first ones to tell those pastors to shut the heck up.
You can't imagine saying that to anyone. That's perfectly fine with me. Just remember, the Bible allows you to do just that. Some people take it that the Bible demands you to do that. Just because you disagree in no way means they are entirely wrong, just that your morality is different from theirs.
See...I'd ask God about that one. I know I'm a Christian, I have the Truth in me. And I know that that Muslim would not be speaking truth. I know that with you being non-Christian and not believing in God, for you Christianity more than likely falls under the same category as Bhuddism and Hinduism and Islam. It's all religion. No difference between those religions. Religion is religion. But honestly, Christianity is way different. I wish I could explain everything about Christianity a lot better. But unfortunately, I can't.
"See...I'd ask Allah about that one. I know I'm a Muslim, I have the Truth in me. And I know that that Christians would not be speaking truth. I know that with you being non-Muslim and not believing in Allah, for you Islam more than likely falls under the same category as Bhuddism and Hinduism. It's all religion. No difference between those religions. Religion is religion. But honestly, Islam is way different. I wish I could explain everything about Islam a lot better. But unfortunately, I can't.
I'm not saying that gays are eternally doomed. Surely their lifestyle won't get them any closer to the Kingdom of Allah, but I'm not sure it'd make them totally doomed."
Do notice you are making zero arguments here. I can flip it around just like that and it makes just as much sense. Muslims have just as much faith and are just as truth-seeking as you are.
I don't say that all religions are identical, they are very different. I'm saying they're all equal when it comes to their religious statements and the amount of evidence to support them. A christian Law holds as much importance in my eyes as a muslim Fatwa. I'm also saying all religions are equal when it comes to morality (Jainism being the exception), and that no religion has moral authority over any other religion (again, except the Jains). People are good, people are bad, people are christian, muslim, hindu, people are not religious. There is no strong correlation factor between religiosity and morality, as one neither precludes nor is necessary for the other.
I'm honestly simply saying that it's sin.
That's fine by me, if that is the full extent you go to.
And it shouldn't be supported.
Ok, you don't like it, you don't support it. You cannot say that non-religious folk should not support homosexuality for non-religious LGBTQ people.
The Old Testament is still valid.
So no pork, shellfish, and mixed fibers garment?
Along with the New Testament. I've been on the receiving end of "This is sin and you need to stop it." plenty of times. And with God's help, I will overcome my sins. I will let Jesus be Lord over all of my life. Because honestly, me running my own life isn't going so hot. Not saying that life is all easy and nothing goes wrong when I let Jesus be Lord over my life, but it's easier to overcome what life throws at you. Because it's not our strength, but His. And His strength is perfect.
Seeing as that is your personal opinion, I have nothing against that. I don't agree with you on everything of course but so long as what you post above is limited to yourself, there is no problem with that. However, the thing with sin needing to stop is that for some people, it's literally part of their nature (homosexuality, kleptomania
Kleptomania) and telling them to stop is like telling them to stop being right-handed. One needs to recognize that.
Yes, Jesus did call us to love one another. But do you know what the Bible says is love? It's not a romantic love. But a Christ-like love.
1 Corinthians 13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The Excellence of Love
13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
And see, THAT'S the love the Bible commands us to have. Now you can cherry-pick it, highlight what you want out of it...but the Scripture still stands. That's the kind of love Jesus wants us to have between one another.
I don't even need to cherry pick, I merely need to interpret it to suit my needs like you interpret it to suit yours. I'll just say that while nothing in here is sexual in nature, LGBTQ people also do not only love themselves in a sexual way. They truly deeply love each other, from the heart, not from the genitals, and these verses apply just as much to them as to anyone else.
Though I do agree...Jesus would feel extremely disappointed in us. And He does. And I'm definitely not excluding myself outta this one. Because I know for a fact I'm not perfect. And just because I'm saying that doing A or B is a sin, and shouldn't be supported, doesn't mean I'm holier than them.
I didn't mean to take it that way. I thought you were more of an anti-gay person, but I see I was mistaken. I still stand by what I said though, in that Jesus would be sad to see all the misdirected hate and lack of understanding and acceptance directed at LGBTQ people.
Again, sorry for the VERY late reply