If the Bible says "Love they neighbor as thyself." and "Judge not lest ye be judged", why are so many

Question

evangelicals wasting their time beating up on homosexuals instead of reaching out in love and tolerance as Christ taught us to do?

Answer 1

Disagreeing is not beating up. They do reach out in love.

Answer 2

I'm not an "evangelical", but don't lump them all together and judge them as a whole. Only a few are homophobic radicals. The great majority would do as you suggest. Their "judgment" is based on a strict interpretation of scripture on the subject of male-female relationships. Those who would "beat up" homosexuals have some real problems, are breaking the law, and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. But, leave the vast majority of evangelicals be. They are good people.

Answer 3

it's not a matter of "beating up on homosexuals". It's a matter that God said one man one woman(Genesis 2:22-24, Matthew 19:4-6) and God has put it in our hearts to reach out in truth. Truth sometimes is a hard, bitter pill to swallow. If you've ever read Deuteronomy 28 and the curses of God for disobedience then people >might< understand their dilemma in this life, and as evangelicals it's our job to reach out with the cold, hard, bitter truth.
1 Corinthians 6: 9-10
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, 10 nor theives, nor covetous,nor drunkanrd , nor revilers, nor exto
rtioners will inherit the kingdom of God.( >Everyone< falls into one catagory or another, and it's our job having "been there" to reach out in truth).

It's God being tolerant of us, not vice-versa.
Habakkuk 1:13
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
So therefore, when we reach out in truth, we also reach out in love as Jesus told us to do. However, things haven't changed much in the past three thousand years or so, and the world is still pointing fingers at Christians, blaming them for everybody elses problems when all we're doing is reaching out in truth and love.

Answer 4

You're giving poor interpretations of those verses. "Love they neighbor as thyself" simply means that we are to help our neighbor if they need help even if we don't get along with that neighbor. It doesn't mean we are to agree with their immoral acts or lifestyles. "love" in that verse is an ACTION verb not a FEELING type of term. If you think that we are supposed to love everybody with the same feeling that you love your parents or children or spouse then would you say we should have that feeling towards white racists and Nazi's.
"Judge not lest ye be judged" means we're not to have a judgemental spirit where we judge everything both good and bad. But we are to judge(meaning discern) evil. We all make judgements everyday and we can't live without doing that. Anytime you buy a TV(or anything for that matter) and you look at several TV's and decide on one over others, you have just made a judgement. The judge not statement is found in Mathew 7:1. In mathew 7:15(the same chapter). jesus says "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves". In that one sentence you have to 'judge' between false prophets and true prophets. Was Jesus contradicting himself in the same chapter? I don't think so. The problem is with your interpretation.

Answer 5

I don't believe many evangelicals are "beating up" homosexuals. There is a difference in Westborough Baptist Church protesting Michael Shepard's funeral, which 99% of Christians think is terrible (the protests), and trying to make marriage between a man and a woman. without revealing how I feel about the issue, I think many people see Republicans and Conservatives as homophobic, when instead they are simply trying to preserve tradition. Judge as you will their stances on the issues.

Answer 6

People often taking this verse out of context. Judging in this context is judging hearts and motives. To' judge' the right way means to discern. Knowing what is right and what is wrong. And by it means using the right standard from God.
I don't hate homosexual, but I don't agree with their lifestyle. I saw so many evangelicals trying to reached them with love. But that doesn't mean that we have to accept what they believe or being tolerant with their life style.

Answer 7

Great question! I have a good friend who actually does tolerate and love homosexuals, and even thinks that they should be allowed to form civil unions (but not marriage). If more Christians were like him I'd have much less problem with Christianity.

(Personally, I think the Government should only perform civil unions, and extend them without prejudice to all couples)

Answer 8

Sometimes Christians can appear to beat up on people who sin. Well we all sin even Christians. Being a homosexual and doing drugs is all the same in God's eyes, so is lying, cheating etc.., etc.. Well, when we commit a sin we are always quick to come to God and say "Oh forgive us, have mercy." Yes God will always forgive us, and he always shows mercy towards us, but sometimes his compassion may not come in the form we would like it to. Sometimes love hurts. Sometimes you have to be tough on people in order for them to listen. You can't always hug your child after they've continually done wrong. Sometimes they have to be grounded in order to see that what they are doing shouldn't happen again. So although sometimes the actions of Christians may be harsh: because being a homosexual is no worse than lying. Love hurts, and sometimes everything is not going to be in sugar form....sometimes it will be bitter. Its not a waste of time, it just appears that way because it brings sin out of its comfort zone. Just my opinion, maybe not the answer you were looking for,but it makes sense. God Bless You.

Answer 9

While I do not condone judegment of others or "beating up on" others, Christians have a responsability to speak from the word of God - the Bible - aganist things that are in direct violation of what that says,

Answer 10

You are to love your neighbors as you love yourself. That means other Christian neighbors. Love is to be concerned for them. I am concerned about homosexuals - I pray for their salvation. They do live in sin, but all of us do. One sin is no worse than another one. We are to love all Christian neighbors and not judge them. Judging is God's department.

Answer 11

There does seem to be lots of preachers who never read the New Testament. They act like Jesus never existed. I don't get it other than to ignore their manipulations. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, not the Prince of Ignorance, but you would not know that by listening to these hypocritical manipulators on TV Sundays.
God save us!