Why do many Christians condemn homosexuality yet ignore the many other things the Bible "condemns"?

Question

According to what I have heard (I'm sorry, I don't own a Bible, please don't berate me for that), the Bible also condemns people for things like touching bed sheets after copulation or menstration, among some other things that even Christians seem to ignore (I think putting thieves to death is another). Could someone clarify this distinction for me?

Answer 1

Commandments regarding touching bed sheets & the like are found in the Law of Moses. Jesus, Peter and Paul all said that the law of Moses does not directly apply to Christians under the New Testament.

It is a little confusing, because parts of the Old Testament are incorporated into the NT by reference. What I mean by "incorporation by reference" is that Jesus or one of the Apostles will sometimes use a term (like "sexual immorality") without explaining the meaning. Jesus will simply toss out terms like this like he takes it for granted that his audience will understand what he means without further explanation. Since Jesus was a Jew talking to other Jews, it stands to reason that the definitions of these terms should be found in the Jewish scriptures (I.E. : the Old Testament). The OT is used as a guide to interpet the New Testament by giving definitions of terms.

In many places, Jesus or the Apostles expressly mentioned parts of the Law of Moses (like keeping kosher) and said that this particular section no longer applied under the New Testament. There are other places where parts of the Old Testament are expressly mentioned in the New Testament as still being in force.

So, when Jesus or Paul siad that a certain part of the Bible no longer applies to us Christians, we assume that it does not.

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Mark 7:14-23 (NIV)
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NIV)
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

See also Acts chapter 15 and Galatians chapter 5.

Answer 2

There are many Old Testament Laws and rituals. The mistake the Jews made was looking to the letter of the word and not the heart. The rules dealing with things such as menstruation, leprosy, and other such things were instituted because God was very concerned with his people's health (incidently, these rules have been found to be the best concerning cleanliness). Especially at that time when men's knowledge was limited in the area of sterilization and things of that nature. As for rules concerning the consequences of stealing, adultery, ect; God has very strong feeling towards things that we often take lightly. Not because he is a tyrant, but because these things when left unchecked will lead, and have led to, a panic stricken or anxious society. God also says that homosexuality is wrong. He created male and female to love him, love each other, procreate and produce children. When God calls something an abomination he doesn't mean it like we do. We hate what we don't understand, or what we have been trained to hate. God hates what is destructive for people. The practice of homosexuality has adverse affects on the mind and body. It has and continues to degrad societies small and great.

A Christian should not condemn anyone. We know that we are no better that anyone else. The only difference is that we've accepted God's answer to our bad nature. However a Christian should speak the truth in love, not forgetting that we too are human.

Answer 3

Good question. Homosexuality didn't make the 10 commandments. But lying, stealing, killing, adultery, etc did.

People tend to condemn vices that they don't have. If you're breaking any of the 10 commandments, you're probably just as bad or worse than being a homosexual.

The Bible does say "Judge not lest you be judged". Christians should remember that and not be so judgemental.

Answer 4

The Bible doesn't condemn you for touching bedsheets. I think we ignore some of the things that the Bible condemns like bad music and whatnot, but in a large scope of things, we have a pretty good indication of what the Bible condemns and this is one of the biggest things going on right now.

Answer 5

People who "ignore" parts of what is delineated in the Bible to be sin are STILL sinning themselves, not because they partake, but because they DENY what is written! Therefore, they can't be called Christians in the first place. They'd rather try to take things out of the Word of God that they feel justified in, put it in a box and call it "God's Word", when all they've really done is create their own personal religion. Religion is MAN'S view of God, therefore it's easy for a person to justify what's right and wrong in the Bible. But the Scripture says that we are all going to give an account of "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" meaning that we don't have the right to add to or take away from what God's Word says is correct. There are many different INTERPRETATIONS out there that are perfectly correct for the message being taught and lessons learned, but they must remain in CONTEXT, not allegorized and extrapolated into some sort of religious "mumbo-jumbo dogma" that's been watered down with theory and allegory.

Answer 6

Because even as christians we are an imperfect people, and we cannot stop menstration or copulation.

You are wrong when you say we condemn homosexuality, we dont like it but we accept that these individuals are imperfect, and we pray for them. Homosexuals can be homosexual, there is nothing wrong with that, but having homosexual sex is wrong, as are gay marriges, These are the things we condemn.

So go ahead and be gay, just dont have sex or try to get married
thats all we're saying

Answer 7

needless to say, you haven't any longer have been given a correct information of what Christians have faith. it somewhat is all nicely and robust which you comprehend it somewhat is being an abomination... something worth of loathing and disgust, that's what maximum folk regard it as being. you be conscious of, the "yuck" ingredient. Homosexuals tend to treat this reaction as hatred or bigotry, which of direction it is not. the recent testomony additionally states that that's named being a sin and that those to do those issues won't inherit heaven. to procure costs in numerous the solutions for that already. The dichotomy exists in utility, the two under compliance with the old testomony regulation or that of grace... there is none in regards to the undeniable fact that the two evaluate it to be am offensive act and a sin. Like many non-non secular human beings, Christians additionally evaluate those activities to be a sexual perversion, similar to pedophilia and bestiality. As such are nonetheless seen unlawful under secular sodomy rules, etc. and should no longer qualify for particular privileges, rights and/or rules to permit human beings to take part in them.

Answer 8

we don't ignore the other things, it's just that homosexuals are pushing themselves and their lifestyles into the public arena, and we feel we have a right to disapprove and vote against what we believe is a perverted life style. You really need to get a Bible, some of the things are not condemnations, they are rules for living.

Answer 9

hi im an agnostic who does have a bible

basically in christian mythology the homosexual thing is still fair game cause they show in romans 1 and 1 corinthians chapter 6 a whole bunch of anti gay stuff,

but apparently the jesus said dont throw the stone at the adulterous and that he "came to fulfill the law"

so, you are trying to reason with a beast of a mythology and all the christians are going to now ralley around and tell you,

well you need to read your bible its in romans 1 or its in 1 corinthians 6
and they are all going to say well that was the old testement its different

its pick and choose

they suck they are hypocrites they are in a cult

i got some saltee pole for them

Answer 10

They hand-wave away somethings, saying that "jesus overturned that" even though jesus is directly quoted in the bible more than once saying that he was not overturning a single law.



PS: the cut & paste rant above has got to be one of the most uniformed things I've read in a long time!
Homosexuals as a 'sub-species'????
that poster clearly doesn't know evolution from algebra.