Posted on 05/22/2012 5:45:32 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
Are conservative Christians hypocritical and selective when it comes to the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality? With all that the Bible condemns, why the focus on gay sex and same-sex marriage?
Given the heated nature of our current debates, it’s a question conservative Christians have learned to expect. “Look,” we are told, “the Bible condemns eating shellfish, wearing mixed fabrics and any number of other things. Why do you ignore those things and insist that the Bible must be obeyed when it comes to sex?”
(Excerpt) Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com ...
There is no such thing as "same-sex" marriage. Two men living together are friends. Two women living together are friends. It is biologically not possible for them to be spouses. Only male and female genitalia are biologically made for union. Male/male or female/female union is defined only by sexual perversion.
I thought that everybody knew that! What has happened to our schools and common sense?
Any believer is rightly infuriated by circumstances and atitudes which make those things easier to practice and minimize the incentive to repentance.
Fixed it. True then, true now.
Wrong. The Psalms were written just like any other scripture; for our instruction, teaching and reproof so that we are equip. The purpose of the contrast of the "wicked" verses the "righteous" in Psalms is so that we understand our nature.
Christians do themselves (and God) a grave disservice in not realizing there are forces that wish nothing more then to destroy the people of God. In every instance of scripture, whenever people of faith compromised their belief, it led to their ruin. There is a great deal to be said about loving others, but we are commanded to love God first-with all our hearts, souls, and minds. I sometimes believe that in our post-modern society with it's emphasis on pandering to everyone, we have simply forgotten this FIRST commandment.
You should read it to the end. It takes these typical misnomers and shreds them.
there is such a thing as righteous anger against sin. You can even be angry at the person, anger is a real emotion, too - God can be angry with us, but still love us. Yes, I’m angry at the folks who twist Truth - still doesn’t make me a bigot or hater as claimed by those “tolerant” ones.....
Yeah, not sure he was mad at God. Hard to be mad at anyone you don’t believe exists, I would think.
Another one confusing the separation between the New and Old Covenants:
From Acts 11 - 4 Starting from the beginning, Peter told them the whole story: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. 6 I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds. 7 Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’
8 “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
9 “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ 10 This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.
If folks are going to use the Bible to "back" their hypotheses, they need to understand there is a marked difference beteen the Old and New Covenants - much of that which was disallowed in the Old has been allowed in the New.
Just as the requirement to circumsize and perform other rituals/rites was disolved with the Blood of the Cross. We focus on the Commandments and forget that Jesus gave us the Greatest Commandment:
From Matthew 22 - 34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Or, from Mark 12 - 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[e] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[f] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Or Romans 13 - 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
And one must also understand that while Jesus walked the earth, He and all were still under the Old Covenant and were not living under the Grace which makes those who are saved sinless saints in God's eyes, despite our inability to think sinful thoughts or commit sinful acts.
So much to consider in the words of Jesus Christ in Mark 6:11 when He said, “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”
It was a warning, and look what places He picks as His point of comparison. At that point one is left to consider what terrible thing those cities did that put them in the eternal crosshairs. And spoken by the Christ Himself (for them that favor the red letter words).
I agree. That, BTW, is what "social justice" really means ... a "just" society is one which is ordered so as to encourage folks to do right. The communists have completely misrepresented the term. So yes, it is right and just to be infuriated by the social injustices which inhibit folks from repentance. And it is right and just to be infuriated by the public practice of so many evils.
Yet we are commanded to love our enemies, etc.
By that I believe we are, at minimum, to desire their repentance even as we combat the evil that they do.
Yes. We must strongly oppose the evil being normalized...at the same time we must pray and work to help show those lost souls the Gospel.
Imagine what good Charles Colson accomplished....all because someone witnessed to him.
Right now the real life “Roe” of Roe v. Wade (I forgot her name) is a Christian and helping turn people’s hearts around.
Think about the testimony of the man with legions of demons! Christ saved him, and even though Jesus was later asked to leave the region THAT MAN was still there, in his right mind, to testify about how the Galilean saved him.
Jesus did not embrace evil behavior, he opposed it—but he also showed love to those caught up in that sin.
So yes, to answer your question I believe that Peter's vision had as a secondary purpose the setting aside of the OT dietary laws. Put another way, I believe the church is bound to the behavioral codes published by the Jerusalm Council, i.e. abstaining from idol worship, meat with blood in it (activities that may cause other believers to stumble or break fellowship) and from all forms of fornication and sexual immorality.
Yes. We must strongly oppose the evil being normalized...at the same time we must pray and work to help show those lost souls the Gospel.
Imagine what good Charles Colson accomplished....all because someone witnessed to him.
Right now the real life “Roe” of Roe v. Wade (I forgot her name) is a Christian and helping turn people’s hearts around.
Think about the testimony of the man with legions of demons! Christ saved him, and even though Jesus was later asked to leave the region THAT MAN was still there, in his right mind, to testify about how the Galilean saved him.
Jesus did not embrace evil behavior, he opposed it—but he also showed love to those caught up in that sin.
I believe the first Chapter of Romans indicate that this spread of homosexuality in our culture is a judgement from G-d because we no longer acknowledge Him as Creator.
(Righteous) Anger is an emotion of outrage that some evil continues to exist.
Hate is a desire for evil to befall someone or some thing.
I am angry with the evil 0bama continues to commit, and with him personally for committing it.
I DO NOT hate 0bama. I DO NOT desire that he be condemned to Hell. God forbid it! I desire, rather, that he repent of his myriad, manifest, and public sins ... that he be converted to Christ ... that he accept the salvation offered him from The Cross ... that he work to promote Christ in this world and enjoy Heaven in the next.
“Leftists don’t really care about homosexuals. They care about destroying Christianity and Christian culture. They’re simply mad at God for existing and seek His death.”
Very true MrB. The left is determined to destroy traditional America and all of the values that stem from Christianity. Homosexuality is a tool, a club in their arsenal. That’s all it is for the left, a weapon of moral destruction. ...Castro’s daughter is coming to lecture us on gay rights, and the left welcomes her, ignoring the fact her father imprisoned homosexuals in concentration camps.
When Lot was bargaining with God about trying to spare Sodom and Gamorrah [sp?] if he could find a certain number of good men and consequently did not, is that not a warning to us all about this sin being like a disease that will eventually infect the thinking and practice of entire populations?!
Her real name is Norma McCorvey ... and her repentance, conversion, and proclaiming of the Gospel is a true testament to the power of loving one's enemies. Our Lord brought her to conversion through His servants who simply loved their enemy.
Hate the sin, love the sinner.
On this point, if you read Romans 1 carefully, it appears that homosexuality isn't being punished as much as God is using homosexuality as the punishment for earlier rebellion. God allowed sinners to be turned over to an even worse sin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.