Posted on 02/02/2002 6:32:51 AM PST by Khepera
Christianity and Homosexuality
The homosexuals and lesbians have gained considerable political and social momentum in America. They have "come out" as the term goes, left their closets, and are knocking on the doors of your homes. Through the TV, Radio, Newspapers, and Magazines, they are preaching their doctrine of tolerance, equality, justice, and love. They do not want to be perceived as abnormal or dangerous. They want acceptance and they want you to welcome them with open, loving arms, approving of what they do.
In the California State senate, several bills have been recently introduced by the pro homosexual politicians to ensure that the practice of homosexuality is a right protected by California law. Included in these bills are statements affecting employers, renters, and schools. Even churches would be required to hire a quota of homosexuals with "sensitivity" training courses to be "strongly urged" in various work places. There is even legislation that would make the state pick up the tab for the defense of homosexuality in lawsuits, while requiring the non homosexual side to pay out of his/her pocket.
The Christian church has not stood idle. When it has spoken out against this political immorality, the cry of "separation of church and state" is shouted at the "religious bigots." But when the homosexual community uses political power to control the church, no such cry of bigotry is heard. After all, it isn't politically correct to side with Christians.
What does the Bible say?
The Bible, as God's word, reveals God's moral character and it shapes the moral character of the Christian. There have been those who have used the Bible to support homosexuality, taken verses out of context and reading into them scenarios that are not there. Quite simply, the Bible condemns homosexuality as a sin. Let's look at what it says.
Lev. 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination"
Lev. 20:13, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them"
1 Cor. 6:9-10, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Rom. 1:26-28, "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper."
With such clear statements against homosexuality, it is difficult to see how different groups can say the Bible supports homosexuality. It doesn't. But when a group wants acceptance and the Bible is the Christians' handbook on morality, the homosexual agenda must try to make the Bible agree with its agenda. But it doesn't work.
Unlike other sins, this sexual sin has a severe judgment administered by God Himself. This judgment is simple: They are given over to their passions. That means that their hearts are allowed to be hardened by their sins. As a result, they can no longer see the error of what they are doing. Without an awareness of their sinfulness, there will be no repentance. Without repentance, there will be no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there is no salvation.
Should homosexuals be allowed to marry one another?
In this politically correct climate that relinquishes morality to the relativistic whims of society, stating that homosexuals should not marry is becoming unpopular. Should a woman be allowed to marry another woman? Should a man be allowed to marry another man? Should they be given legal protection and special rights to practice their homosexuality? No. No. No.
The Bible, of course, condemns homosexuality. It takes no leap of logic to discern that homosexual marriage is also condemned. But our society does not rely on the Bible for its moral truth. Instead, it relies more on a humanistic and relativistic moral base upon which it builds its ethics.
Homosexuality is not natural. The male and female bodies are obviously designed to couple. The natural design is apparent. It is not natural to couple male with male and female with female. In fact, if such couplings occurred in the animal world as a predominant practice, species would quickly become extinct. Nevertheless, some argue that homosexuality is natural since it occurs in the animal world. But this is problematic. In nature we see animals eating their prey alive. We see savagery, cruelty, and extreme brutality. Yet, we do not condone such behavior in our own society. Proponents of the natural order as a basis for homosexuality should not pick-and-choose the situations that best fit their agendas. They should be consistent and not compare us to animals. We are not animals. We are made in God's image.
Political protection of a sexual practice is ludicrous. I do not believe it is proper to pass laws stating that homosexuals have 'rights.' What about pedophilia or bestiality? These are sexual practices. Should they also be protected by law? If homosexuality is protected by law, why not those as well?
Of course, these brief paragraphs can in no way exhaust the issue of homosexuality's moral equity. But, the family is the basis of our culture. It is the most basic unit. Destroy it and you destroy society.
What should be the Christian's Response to the Homosexual?
Just because someone is a homosexual does not mean that we cannot love him (or her) or pray for him (her). Homosexuality is a sin and like any other sin, it needs to be dealt with in the only way possible. It needs to be laid at the cross, repented of, and never done again.
As a Christian, you should pray for the salvation of the homosexual the same you would any other person in sin. You should treat them with the same dignity as a person made in the image of God, that you would any other person. However, this does not mean that you are to approve of their sin. Don't compromise your witness for a politically correct opinion that is shaped by guilt and fear.
Why should people be forbidden from getting high? And if they should, are you also campaigning to make their most popular drug, alcohol, illegal? Or is it just the drugs used by people you don't like that should be criminalized?
What about prescription drugs? Their only non-medical use would also be to get high--should we make them illegal? FedGov is trying -- doctors are afraid to prescribe "too much" pain medication to their patients for fear that NannyGov (who did not spend 6+ years in medical school and has no business dictating scientific policy to them) will yank their licenses.
Soap, glue, correction fluid all have purposes other than getting high
So then, you would agree that criminalizing snack foods and shampoo is a silly waste of our tax dollars?
To "repent" means to "change direction" as in "turn from your wicked ways." The Bible makes clear that the unrighteous will not see the Kingdom of Heaven. Grace is for believers who do not "practice" sin. Nobody is sinless, but if you are a Thief, Murderer, prostitute, homosexual, and etc., and you indulge in this as a lifestyle, then you are "practicing sin."
How did they "know" this?
Heterosexual males preying on young girls are twisted and need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law (and much worse; I can't say it here because "NO profanity... or violence in posts")
However, is there a North American Man Girl Love Association? Or are there programs fully supported by departments of education and schools where heterosexual adults are allowed to come in and teach children about filthy, perverted sexual practices, like the homosexuals did at Fistgate?
As Mary Eberstadt wrote in "Pedophilia Chic" Reconsidered - The taboo against sex with children continues to erode:
** "...For elsewhere in the public square, the defense of adult-child sex—more accurately, man-boy sex—is now out in the open. Moreover, it is on parade in a number of places—therapeutic, literary, and academic circles; mainstream publishing houses and journals and magazines and bookstores—where the mere appearance of such ideas would until recently have been not only unthinkable, but in many cases, subject to prosecution...
...Plainly, as the record even then showed, a surprising number of voices were willing to rise up on behalf of what advocates refer to as "man-boy love," or what most people call sexual abuse..."
For one thing, no sustained public challenges have arisen over other primal taboos. Even more telling, if nihilism and nihilism alone were the explanation for public attempts to legitimize sex with boy children, then we would expect the appearance of related attempts to legitimize sex with girl children; and these we manifestly do not see. Nobody, but nobody, has been allowed to make the case for girl pedophilia with the backing of any reputable institution. Publishing houses are not putting out acclaimed anthologies and works of fiction that include excerpts of men having sex with young girls. Psychologists and psychiatrists are not competing with each other to publish studies demonstrating that the sexual abuse of girls is inconsequential; or, indeed, that it ought not even be defined as "abuse."
Two examples from the last few weeks will suffice to show the double standard here. In the November 12 New York Times Book Review, a writer found it unremarkable to observe of his subject, biographer Gavin Lambert, that when "Lambert was a schoolboy of 11, a teacher initiated him [into homosexuality], and he 'felt no shame or fear, only gratitude.'" It is unimaginable that New York Times editors would allow a reviewer to describe an 11-year-old girl being sexually "initiated" by any adult (in that case, "initiation" would be called "sexual abuse"). Similarly, in mid-December the New York Times Magazine delivered a cover piece about gay teenagers in cyberspace which was so blasé about the older men who seek out boys in chat rooms that it dismissed those potential predators as mere "oldies." Again, one can only imagine the public outcry had the same magazine published a story taking the same so-what approach to online solicitation, off-line trysts, and pornography "sharing" between anonymous men and underage girls." **
While not every homosexual is a pedophile, pedophila is a significant problem in the homosexual community and adult-child sexual relations are supported and even celebrated in the homosexual community - see:
Reply #40 in the thread 'L.I.E.' Is Infomercial For North American Man-Boy Love Association
Additional information:
Reply #35 in the thread Gay/straight alliance urges support of hate-crimes bill (gag alert)
Parental Notification Laws regarding Gay & Lesbian Programs for Youths?
Homosexual students say curriculum shortchanges them
"Feminists Who Celebrate Rape"
The Overhauling of Straight America
(Bump to *Homosexual Agenda bump list)
I hear this many times from people who in turn "heard from somebody else". There are many churches who have Bible studies that research, (and very accurately) translations of the original text as well as the culture from those times. In these times it is very easy to know precisely what the Bible says...
"When you seek me with all your heart, then thats when you will fine me"...Jesus Christ
And you are practicing sin if you shop on Sunday, right? Should we make it a crime to operate a business on Sunday? Should we make it a crime for Seventh-Day Adventists to operate a business on Saturday? Should we make it a crime to take the Lord's name in vain? Where are you going to draw the line, and more interestingly, why are you going to draw the line where you do?
Taxpayer funding to all of these activities (and all other extra-constitutional programs) should be stopped. If enough people want them to exist, they'll contribute their tax dollars thys saved directly to the agencies and then no one will be paying for it who doesn't want to.
This is a problem of too much government, but the way you're suggesting to solve it is to add still more government.
But, acts like committing adultery are crimes. Adultery is a crime against one's spouse.
It's certainly a sin, and can have some horrible natural consequenses such as disease, but since one must be married to commit adultery I don't really see how it relates to homosexuals.
We may be talking at "cross purposes" here. Gods love & forgiveness is a winner. But most Christians only witness condemnation, love isn't mentioned. Who wants to try to please an angry parent that can't be pleased? And that's the picture presented most often. "You're going to Hell!" is the refrain, not "God loves you so much that he's not willing to lose you". Conviction of sin usually comes after the realisation of His great love. Am I right and we actually agree?
I hear this many times from people who in turn "heard from somebody else". There are many churches who have Bible studies that research, (and very accurately) translations of the original text as well as the culture from those times. In these times it is very easy to know precisely what the Bible says...
"When you seek me with all your heart, then thats when you will find me"...Jesus Christ
...ooops!
I don't think I saw saturday night shoppers on that list from the Apostle Paul...read your Bible. The King James version is a nice place to start.
If there is nothing animalistic about you, then I assume that you do not eat, or sleep, urinate, or deficate or even die one day. For the rest of us who still have to deal with those realities we share with the world of animals, it is a different story.
The bigger question is, is only man made in the image of God, or is the universe made in the image of God? The really big question for puritanical Christian sects is this: Does God have genitals?
Not all Christian sects are puritanical, and not all conservatives are puritanical, and not all conservatives are Christian.
It's time for Christianity to grow up about sex and stop trying to be little perfect children of God without genitalia.
You're going to tell God what's right & wrong? Good luck!!
Jesus Christ made made many references to the old testament. He supported the text as being from "His Father". If you believe that Jesus was the essence of the "Father" who dwelt among us in the flesh as I do, does that answer your question?
He has risen!
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