This is in response to another blog: http://www.danoah.com/2011/11/im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html
Quotes from the article are in "" and my comments *.
The first half of the article I agree with. The outcast should not be shunned but loved. Jesus ate with sinners and loved them dearly.
The greatest spiritual leaders in history have all preached love for others as the basis for all happiness.
*False Christianity teaches true happiness is found in Jesus Christ.
“So if this is the founding directive of all the major religions… why is it that sometimes the most “Christlike” people are they who have no religion at all?”
Don’t get me wrong. I know a lot of incredible Christians, too. I know some incredible Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus and Jews. I know a lot of amazing people, devout in their various religions, who truly love the people around them.
*The basis for life is not solely love everyone for the sake of themselves. What then is our definition? Is love then only to accept someone as they are? Then leave them where they are?
In truth, having a religion doesn’t make a person love or not love others. It doesn’t make a person accept or not accept others. It doesn’t make a person befriend or not befriend others.
*true, a religion. But not all who claim Christ are his.
I’m not here to say homosexuality is a sin or isn’t a sin. To be honest, I don’t give a rip. I don’t care. I’m not here to debate whether or not it’s natural or genetic. Again, I… don’t… care. Those debates hold no encumbrance for me.
*I get this, but as a Christian God wants to set us free from sin. Thus we love others that they might find life with Jesus.
There are things we all do or believe that other people consider “sinful.” There are things we all do or believe that other people consider “wrong.” There are things we all do or believe that other people would be disgusted or angered by.
*True others consider some things sin. And the scripture claims we are all sinner, But the Christians must repent for sin breaks our fellowship with God. There is a right and wrong. Christ came to set us free from sin. And yes this lack of love and hate is sin.
I promise you it doesn’t matter what you believe, how strongly you live your beliefs, or how true your beliefs are. Somebody else, somewhere, thinks you are in the wrong
Yet, we expect and want love anyway. We expect and want understanding. We expect and want tolerance. We expect and want humanity. We expect and want respect for our beliefs, even from those who don’t believe the same things we do. Even from those who think we’re wrong, unwise, or incorrect.
We expect all of that from the people who disagree with us and who disagree with our lifestyles and beliefs because, let’s be honest, nothing we do is actually bad enough to be worthy of disgust, anger, hatred, or cold-shouldering. Right? None of the ways in which we live our lives would warrant such behavior. Right? None of our beliefs are worthy of ugly disdain from others
*what is tolerance or acceptance? I will love someone yet have to tell him or her the truth because Jesus desires for us to be freed from sin and truly live. Truth is not relative. This argument seems to be based upon the belief that there is not absolute truth. Yet this claim is an absolute claim, which is contradictory. We can’t all be right. Yet I want to score all of this with the fact that we should love one another. Yet it seems you believe we must define love with tolerance. Yet love is not tolerance. And what is tolerance
We shouldn’t choose who we will love and who we won’t.
True. I agree that we should love all.
Just some thought I had. I agree with the hate that is shown by many religious people. Any person who claims to follow Jesus yet does not love is Not a Christian, This is found in the book of 1 John. Many people who claim it are not of God. But my question is, how do you define love? Because I have friends whom I love yet I still must tell the truth to. For Jesus came in the form of man to die for our sins and be raise again. That if we believe in Him we might have life in God, not just eternal life but true life now which is not bound to sin.
With love
Joshua
judge not lest ye be judged.
ReplyDeletethat's where i'll leave it . if christians go out of their way to condemn a gay person or try to change who they are, i have a problems with that. leave the judging of their sins up to God.
also i am not convinced that homosexuality is a sin. can you give me one reason why being gay is morally wrong besides the fact that it is written in the Bible? how does it harm anything? don't tell me because it's not natural. a lot of things we do are not "natural."
1. Paragraphs man. That being said good stuff. However I encourage you to dig deeper theologically and philosophically so that you can better plot your arguments. Good surface info, but you need to go deeper.
ReplyDelete2. @morgank So do we base what is right or wrong merely on whether or not something is harmed? No one is talking about condemnation. How do we deem what is morally wrong? What is Good? What is Evil? More importantly what is Intrinsically Good?(Meaning what is Good in and of itself). You should think about these things before throwing out what you think is morally right or wrong.
@ Morgan K. It's not me judging. I believe what is in the word or God. I love them, I have friend who are homosexuals. But must speak the truth to then. For Homosexuality is and improper use of sexuality which God has given for a husband and a wife. Jesus wants to give life, this is found in Romans 1, also 1 cor. 6:9-10, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous[a] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,[b] 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."
ReplyDeleteand 1 tim 1:10.
Do you want social reason for its wrongness, or the effects physically?
@ The Red Rabbi
ReplyDeleteYeah these were just surface arguments to lead others into thinking. Right now I'm working on a research paper for my class, but also got more material just hard to decide what to put on here.
@rabbi In general, I think moral right and wrong is about harm, to an extent i am a consequentialist. as far as Biblical commands go. to me, it's justifiable to say to not to drink alcohol, because it harms the body and in many cases can take over your life. extramarital sex is harmful because of the negative consequences of stds, pregnancies, not to mention emotional damage. stealing is harmful, killing is obviously harmful. i can understand why God would want us to stay away from these behaviors, for our own protection... but how does homosexuality harm anyone?
ReplyDeletebut you are right, no one was condemning anyone. i did exaggerate.
Your belief in the word of God comes from a book written by MEN... translated hundreds of times from many languages... if you can find anything in the Original books in the original languange that condemns homosexuality I would be more apt to agree with you. However I do not condemn you for your belief, I just can't share that the bible is the word of God because I know Man is fallable and is mistaken often. I know our human errors and judgments influence everything written and told....
ReplyDelete@hope,
ReplyDeleteThere is many defenses that I could give you for why I believe that the bible is divinely inspired. One basic one is that there are tons of prophecies in the old Testament which come true. Most of theses are about Jesus.
The bible claims it is divinely inspired(i know this wont satisfy you face value).
I more or less can prove it's accuracy, yet it being direct revelation from God will have to be through your belief that the God of the bible is real. This comes through belief that Jesus came in the form of a man to die for us on a cross and raise from the dead that we might be made right with God.
If you would like to dialogue about this we can do it on facebook or by email at tgrjosh25@yahoo.com
Thank you for being honest, open, and truthful in love....
ReplyDeletewww.wayfarersquest-rsctt.blogspot.com
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