<p>I am SICK of Christians who think homosexuality is a choice and preach that Jesus cannot love gays. It is WRONG and intolerant! Sexuality is NOT a choice. I am just plain sick of the religious right saying things like that. It's intolerant and wrong. I am not saying all Christians think this way, but the majority of them do. Christianity is about loving your neighbor and not judging others, and I personally believe in celebrating our sexuality...ugh, I am sick of it! Some people are so backwards. God I hope they get some sense. </p>
<p>Besides there are other things this country needs to be focusing on...like unemployment, illegal immigrants, poverty, an alternative to oil, global warming, and getting out of Iraq. It's sad that some people in this country are so obsessed with who somebody else is sleeping with. It's plain intolerant and wrong.</p>
<p>I think it all comes down to the fact that organized religion is about controlling people, not liberating them. And one way to succeed in this is by controlling/suppressing people's sexuality, because sexuality is so a part of the human condition that sexual freedom might mean that people will start thinking for themselves. Just think about how is still somewhat tabboo for women to be overtly sexual, becuase if women were, they might start thinking for themselves and stop relying on men, thus society has devised the double standard (slut, whore...)</p>
<p>Christianity teaches that homosexual acts are sinful, not homosexuality itself. If you experience homosexual desires, aside from prayer, there is little you can do about it. But you can choose not to act on them.</p>
<p>No Christian can say, without sinning themselves, that Jesus does not love gays. Jesus loves everyone. Does Jesus condone everything? No. But that does not mean that Jesus does not love everyone. Jesus does not condone the fact that I fight with my family, but I am sure that He still loves me. </p>
<p>The question, then, is not whether Jesus loves us, but is this: Do we love Jesus enough to follow His teaching?</p>
<p>RIGHT! There are millions of people living on SLAVE WAGES! The minimum wage in this country is sickening, I mean, after taxes and SS it's like $5. How can you expect somebody to pay their bills on that?</p>
<p>I honestly think the Establishment uses issues such as gay marriage and abortion to divert attention away from urgent issues and to avoid discontent among the proletariat classes...because that is the very ground the Establishment stands on...and without it, they would fall.</p>
<p>Fides- Please, please do not feed me any of that crap. Sure, you have your opinion, I have mine. You have your truth, I have mine. And, btw, I believe in God, but my God is a loving one, who is not the cause of this world's problems.</p>
<p>So, I'm a troll because you realize you have no defense of why you think the way you do? </p>
<p>See, I don't mind a diversity of opinions, in fact, that is what strengthens my sense of self. But what I cannot stand is people who blindly listen to what everyone else tells them...especially their religion and have no real foundation for their beliefs except the Bible. Now, I won't discredit the Bible, it does lend a lot of people in this world strenghth, but it becomes a bad thing when it starts to control people</p>
<p>So does the doctrine of Godless secular liberalism that most people in the West today seem to follow. You appreciate "diversity" of beliefs, just so long as they don't contradict whatever the hell you believe. If it does, it must be immediately silenced and aggressively stamped-out. </p>
<p>Let me kindly correct you. "Godless secual liberalism" is dominating the West? Hmmm, let me think about this, so THAT'S why Bush is president? (thank God not for long). Let me also tell you that I am not "Godless." Although, I'm sorry that that is the only defense you come up with for people who do subscribe to that born-again crap, shoving your beliefs down everyone's throats. I sincerely believe in a loving God, who is tolerant and not the cause of the evils in this world. </p>
<p>Well, as for my beliefs, I WILL try to stamp out intolerane, racism, bigotry, misogyny...and I will never stand for those things, and the point of this thread was to say that that is what a lot of Christians have been propagating, INTOLERANCE, and I do not believe that is what Jesus meant. In fact, I think God gave us the gift of sexuality so we could cherish it, not suppress it. I do think there are ways people abuse sexuality, but not by being homosexual. People abuse sexuality by giving it away too easily or making an object of it. </p>
<p>And, by the way, you spelled "hypocrisy" wrong.</p>
<p>And BTW, I'm not a "born-again" or a fundamentalist. I don't defend them, either. But I will always support their right to believe what they do.</p>
<p>"I honestly think the Establishment uses issues such as gay marriage and abortion to divert attention away from urgent issues and to avoid discontent among the proletariat classes...because that is the very ground the Establishment stands on...and without it, they would fall."</p>
<p>AMEN!!! Rock on, Bendrum! I agree completely! (See some of my posts in which I said the same thing.)</p>
<p>^ Ah, thank you, a voice of reason, FI-na-LLY! </p>
<p>Have you ever read Zinn?</p>
<p>Btw, Fides, I am not attacking anybody's right to believe in what they want...isn't that the beauty of this country? All I am doing is voicing my beliefs.</p>
<p>Technically, the bible does say homosexualism is a sin (won't list all the places in the Bible it says this, google it yourself, if you really care.), but it never says Jesus can't love them. In fact many Christians befriend gays in hopes of converting them to christianity.Jesus loves everyone, it's just gays are expected to become straight if they become "real"Chrisitans. Not saying I agree or not just stating the facts(at least what people in my church believe). Don't get mad at me if you disagree,I'm saying what other people think, not what I think.</p>
<p>I think another problem, and dangerous problem, is that modern Christians have to see everything in black and white...this has been further strengthened, IMO, by the Middle East conflict that is imbued with a religious tint. </p>
<p>I think what a lot of Christians ignore is the gray-ness of life. The imbetweens, and it is almost an insult to life's complexity and ARROGANT to believe that as a human being you can understand everything, every detail of life, as good or bad, Christian or non-Christian, secular or religious...there is a lot of grey, and that is the beauty of life. </p>
<p>An example of modern Christians doing this is the stem cell issue, that the doctrine of sanctity of life must apply to everything, when, sometimes, there are things that as human beings we have a responsibility to do when it leads to the greater good of the people.</p>
<p>This is yet another thread on religion that makes claims about all Christians or religion in general.</p>
<p>People, there are BIG differences among Christians and among people who are religious.</p>
<p>The views of most people associated with United Church of Christ ARE NOT the same as the views of most Southern Baptists. The groups' official positions are not the same.</p>
<p>The Union of Reform Judaism (the largest association of Jews in America) ordains gay men and lesbians and allows rabbis to perform same sex marriage. The same is not true for orthodox Judaism.</p>
<p>Please try to avoid broad claims about these matters. They don't take account of the real complexity that's out there.</p>
<p>Homosexuality is a sin because God/Bible/Jesus say it's a sin. Is there a logical, rational reason for it? Or is it because they simply SAID it's a sin? If so, that's not a very compelling argument.</p>
<p>The original post specifically stated that he was talking about ONLY those who " [I am SICK of Christians who] think homosexuality is a choice and preach that Jesus cannot love gays."</p>
<p>NOT a blanket statement. I dont see "all" or "most" or "the majority" as qualifiers now do i?</p>