How do homophobic Christians justify their judgment of others?

Question

I have answered many questions on here about homosexuals asked by Christians who think that being gay is wrong. In my answers, I include the following quotes from the Bible:

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." -Matthew 7:1-2

"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
-Matthew 9:19

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." -Matthew 7:15

And yet none of these supposed Christians have responded to what I have said. Do Jesus' teachings only apply to things that don't creep you out? Homosexuals are regular human beings who happen to be attracted to members of their own sex. Aside from that fact, they are the same as everyone else. They do no one any harm. How do Christians justify ignoring Jesus' words and preaching hatred?

I suggest that anyone doing so is one of the false prophets.

Please base your answers in the Bible, not in the teachings of your local priest, who is human and therefore fallible.

The question is not why you think it is wrong. The question is why you feel you have the right to judge someone for who they are, when Jesus clearly instructed you not to.

I am not a religious person. But it confuses me how people who define themselves as Christians defy the words of their savior, all in his name. It is hypocritical.

I used the word "homophobic" because it was the only way to fit my question in the space allotted. I meant to refer specifically to those Christians who preach hatred against homosexuals, rather than the love they are supposed to be embracing. And I don't think it's possible to take "Judge not lest ye be judged" and "Love thy neighbor as thyself" out of context. Also, the old testament was supposed to be overriden by the new one, and quotes from the old are still trumped by what Jesus taught. I am not trying to start an argument; I am looking for intelligent and rational answers based in logic.

"Leviticus" can be translated to "Laws of the Tribe of Levy." In other words, if you are not a member of the Jewish tribe of Levy, the laws listed in there do not apply to you. I think it is safe to say that most homosexuals are not descended from that tribe.

Most of the quotes I have seen are from this book of the Bible. I am not impressed, and I am not ignorant - if you are reading the Bible in English, there are many mistranslations. Even the third commmandment is commonly mistranslated as "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain." This is a mistranslation: the correct translation is "Thou shalt not swear falsely by the name of the Lord." Such mistranslations are everywhere.

Answer 1

The homophobic Christians you refer to, like many modern Christians, have not read the Bible or looked into ancient history of the region. They do not, remotely follow the teachings of Christ.

If people bothered to read the Bible, and to study the history of it for context they might learn a few interesting things about their faith.

Homosexuals are barely mentioned, and abortion is not mentioned at all (the Exodus thing doesn't count, they're talking about hitting a pregnant woman in open combat... sorry, that's not even remotely the same).

The Devil is barely mentioned, and not at all during Christ's ministry. In fact, much of what most people know about the Devil is actually from 'Paradise Lost' and not the Bible. Given Jesus' utter lack of concern about the Devil he might be surprised to see how modern Christians view the Devil as a constant influence and the source of sin. Sorry folks, but if you sin, you're the source of that sin. Trying to pass it off on the Devil is actually another sin.

The final few books of the Bible are called 'the Apocryphal books' and were considered by the early Christians to be a sort of inspirational fiction. Sadly these books are now taken much too seriously and it is from them that many of the more modern, more hateful bits of Christian doctrine originate.

'The Passion' is a play that was meant to stick it to the Jews and it is far from the actual descriptions of Christ's execution in the Bible.

A shockingly over-looked lesson of the Bible repeated through out, though best summed up in the book of Job, is that you live for god, not the other way around. I hear numerous accounts of Christians praying for an end to their money problems. God doesn't care about your earthly sufferings. If he did he'd stop them. Rather he is only interested in you're being a good person regardless of those struggles, and he's only going to reward you in the afterlife. This life is trivial and meaningless to him. Not to mention praying for money is extremely blasphemous.

Finally, to anyone of any level of intelligence one aspect of the Bible must be inordinately clear. That is, that Jesus *commanded* his followers to be kind (especially to sinners, the poor and the sick), to always choose peace over violence, to be humble, and to not be greedy. That's pretty much the whole of Christ's message. So, if you're a follower of Jesus, even if you believe he was as passionately against homosexuality and abortion as you are, you're missing his message if you're wasting time persecuting homsexuals and picketing abortion clinics. Christ *ordered* you to spend that time helping people, not hating them, judging them, and telling them what to do.

Answer 2

This is a topic that both offends and saddens me. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, Christians are the ones who make me sad. I myself am a desciple of Christ and I love Him with all that I am. Homosexuality is deffinately a hot topic and unfortunately people don't want to take the time to get to know those who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual because it's different and it scares them. So what is the easy way out, extrasize those who are homosexuals and make them outcasts. The church (whether it's Christian, Catholic, Judaism, Islam, etc) have been those to judge the quickest and use God's love and law as a weapon instead of a tool for acceptance and understanding. This is what is so deeply disturbing to me. Jesus Christ came to this earth with something completely radical, Love. Pure, simple, unconditional, and powerful love. There is also what is moral and not moral. As a Christian, I believe that homosexuality is not as God intended. But that does NOT mean that homosexuals are outside God's Love and Grace. Not by a long shot. You can be a Christian and still be gay. It's just a matter of celebacy. Just like those with an STD or certain people in the church are called to celebacy. It's a hard topic, and I don't have all the answers. The only thing that I know is I have to love every single person, no matter what their status is in life, because they are God's precious child and no one is outside of God's love and no one should be outside of my love because I am called to a life of being Christ-like. I hope this answered your question and sorry if i wrote you an essay, I'm a little sensitive on the subject.

Answer 3

All Christians whom I know hate the act of homosexuality and love those who engage in homosexuality in the same way that we love people who commit adultery, murder, and any other sin. We despise their actions while fervently praying and working for their redemption through Christ Jesus. In this way, we are not judging the person, we are loving our neighbors, and we are not falsely prophesying but instead trying to help others turn toward the Truth through our Lord Jesus.

It is all too easy for those who have no true understanding of the Bible and its teachings (which are the teachings of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit) to select quotations from the Bible to support teachings that are non-biblical. Satan did this to Jesus when he tempted Him. This is also what He warned about with false prophets. Ergo, I would say that you are engaging in false prophecy. May God bless and keep you.

Answer 4

Christians are allowed to judge, using the proper judgment, which is the clear teaching of the bible.

"and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you"

No problem. Proper judgment. Homosexuality, along with many other things, is sin. So you are right, except for the fact they are sinning, homosexuals are regular human beings...

Pointing out sin that will keep the person from heaven is not preaching hatred, it's the most loving thing you can do. I'm sorry if that particular sin happens to be your favorite, it's still sin, and will separate you from the love of God. Repent, before it's too late.

Answer 5

When one who knows nothing about Christianity picks a few random quotes and flings them around it is meaningless. Perhaps when you have a greater familiarity with the matter you will be able to come to more solid conclusions.

The problem with homosexuality are the results of this lifestyle. I live in San Francisco, CA, when 1/4 of the gays here have an incurable disease that ruins their lives, spreading a great deal of pain. But that is not enough, their out of control and irresponsible sexual activity has also brought into this city an incurable form of gonorrhea an d a new form of chlamydiae that can cause the glands to explode. This, combined with hate expressed commonly towards those who are not like them with verbal derision such as 'breeder' and 'fish' are enough to show that this is not a positive lifestyle in general. A few exceptions don't refute the rule.

Your term 'homophobia' is ignorant. it means 'fear of something like oneself.' A correct word based on the Greek would be 'kneidophobia.'

If you were more tolerant of those who disagree with you, perhaps they would be of you too. You have to give to get.

Answer 6

I am no Christian. I don't have a God. But I do study the Bible, and I am a fully paid up member of Homophobic Pride.

These excerpts may help:

Romans 1:24-27 - "Therefore God, in keeping with the desires of their hearts, gave them up to uncleanliness, that their bodies might be dishonoured among them, even those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and venerated and rendered sacred service to the creation rather than the One who created, who is blessed forever, Amen. That is why God gave them up to disgraceful sexual appetites, for both their females changed the natural use of themselves in to one contrary to nature, and likewise even the males left the natural use of the female and became violently inflamed in their lust toward one another, males with males, working what is obscene and receiving in themselves the full recompense, which was due for their error."

Leviticus 18:22 - "And you must not lie down with a male the same as you lie down with a woman. It is a detestable thing."

Your highly selective quotes are taken entirely and probably quite deliberately out of context, but there is nothing unusual in that. It often happens that those who who never bother to research the subject are the quickest to misrepresent it. The fact is that the Bible is absolutely, 100% crystal clear about the issue of homosexuality, and declares it to be wrong, unnatural and detestable. And all the disingenuous twisting in the world won't alter that.

On a personal level I find homosexuality to be revolting. However, as long as it only happens between consenting adults and they have enough common decency to keep it off the streets so as not to frighten the horses I fail to see why anybody can really gripe about it.

Answer 7

First of all I am a Christian and I am not homophobic. I treat them just as well as I treat the next person. I love on them because of the simple fact that we are all God's children and he created us all in his image. However, just because I don't display hatred towards them does not mean that I agree with their lifestyle, which I don't. Homosexuality is still in fact a sin against God and I don't care how much people try to justify, it is still wrong. Now if you think that I am homophobic just because I believe all that is in the Bible, then you can do just that. You know it's funny how people try to use the Word of God against the people of God. All those scriptures you just quoted are very in fact true and that is why I don't judge people who are homosexual. I leave that up to God. Here's a scripture for you.

1 Corinthians 6:9
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites

Answer 8

There have been many people who have grieved the Holy Spirity by using the Bible to defend hatred. A true believe is characterized by love. We are to love everyone. We are to love lyers, murderers, adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, and theives. If we want to be like Jesus, we need to hate the sin and love the sinner.

One thing that I love about Jesus is that when he walked into a place, he didn't head for the most popular lovable people. He headed toward the unlovely people. People that others sometimes despised or were grossed out by. Jesus wants us to show love to homosexuals, but he also wants us to speak the TRUTH IN LOVE.

Answer 9

It would be unloving to encourage someone in sin. It would be unloving to not warn someone of danger. Sin separates us from God. Homosexuality is clearly sin as noted in the Old and New Testament. We are to love the one who commits the sin and warn them of their folly.

How is it not a righteous and loving act to warn someone that what they are doing is likely to not only bring about early an painful death on this earth (due to disease that is rampant in the homosexual community) but will also separate them from the love of God eternally?

Take a serious look at survival rates among practicing homosexuals and then try convincing anyone that homosexuals are not hurting anyone. They are killing themselves and their partners. And that is only the physical side of things. The spiritual implications are even more tragic.

By the way, you need to understand a bit about context. The bible also tells us to "judge with righteous judgement".

Answer 10

The suffix phobic means to be afraid. I do not know of anyone who is afraid of homosexuals. The word "homophobic" is an invented word of pop culture. If you watch TV these days it seems that it's sheik to be a homosexual. As a Christian I believe that the lifestyle is a sin and that God made it clear in His Word. But I do not fear those who live in the homosexual lifestyle. I have several acquaintances who are homosexual, and we agree to disagree. I do not hate them, I do not fear them. But it seems that according to today's standards if a person disagrees with what homosexuals believe in, then that person is to be chided, made fun of, called names, pointed at, and can be the target of a vast amount of anger. If I disagree with the homosexual lifestyle I am not intolerant, I am excersising my free will to think for myself. If you disagree with what I believe in, does that make you intolerant? Usually, it's the ones who point the finger of judgement are the worst judges of all.

Also, about judgement, we can weigh things against what the Bible says. If the Bible says that something is a sin, and I tell you that what you are doing is a sin, I am not judging you, I am simply telling you what the Bible says.

Answer 11

GOD defines homosexuality as a sin, just like stealing and telling a lie and gossiping. God hates all sin, that is what makes it sin. Anyone who tells you that ONE particular sin is ok contradicts God and is a real “False Prophet” (someone who claims to speak for God but contradicts what God has said). So the short answer is that ALL sin is sin, hated by God and in need of repentance and forgiveness, which Jesus Christ has freely provided through his Death and Resurrection from the dead.

The longer answer is that it is possible for some people to so harden their hearts and minds against the call of God, that he will grant their wish and remove his hand of restraining grace (undeserved favor) and allow them to wallow ever deeper into the sins they crave. Such people are allowed to become progressively more depraved, their inner voice of goodness stilled. There are lists of sins provided in the Bible (which contrast to corresponding lists of virtues associated with a closer friendship with God) that are indicative of someone being given over to sin and hatred of God. Witchcraft and Homosexuality both make the list of depravity. It is impossible for any person, Christian or not, to rightly judge another person – that power and right belongs to God alone. So the true test of Christian “fruit” (You will know a tree by its fruit; a good tree will bear good fruit and a bad tree will bear bad fruit) is to show God’s love toward all sinners – saved and unsaved, homosexual and heterosexual – and to hate all sin, just as God does and Jesus did when he both confronted sin and forgave it.