Tolerant Christians and Homosexuality (i.e. homosexuality is a sin like any other)?

Question

The bible, both OT and NT, obviously does not like homosexuality. Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10, the list goes on. Modern, tolerant christians say, well, it's a sin, but no different from any other sin. They should just, you know, fight it like I do against my sins.

Do you hear what you are asking? A man and a woman in love having sex outside marriage would also be sin, but they can solve this by getting married. A man and man couple or woman and woman couple are also sinning, but they can NEVER be redeemed. No marriage for them!

So in essence you are asking them to spend their lives alone pining for love, or, I don't know, pretend they like the opposite sex and get married there (in all probability making two people very unhappy in the long run). Does this sound tolerant? It sounds cruel to me.

Mark: did you just say "drug homosexuals so they feel straight"? Would you mind if I drugged you so you stopped believing in God? If you are serious you are very sad. You better be quoting that Simpsons episode with mr. Smithers and being all ironic.

GuanYu: so you have nothing against homosexuals getting married?

people are seriously equating killing and stealing with homosexuality. Look, killing and stealing leave a victim, it is detrimental to society. Homosexuality doesn't. How unclear is this? Are all gay people murderers?

GuanYu and others who said: celibacy for gays, so you condemn them to a life of solitude. It this the time to bring out the altar boy jokes, and the REASON why these jokes are so ubiquitous and the scandals so frequent?

GuanYu: "a homosexual can choose to stop being gay"... I am sorry, I thought you were a bright enough kid but now you have left the path of sanity. Please, research this statement and why it is so incredibly stupid.

GuanYu: your rhetoric is painful to watch. please, stop talking. All you are doing is making it worse.

GuanYu: reading and quoting a single (christian) website is NOT research. Any research should consider all sides of the argument. Otherwise, you are merely confirming your biased opinion. This is why it is painful. Please do not fall back on the bashing argument or I will have to seriously examine the christian tendency to fall into a persecution complex.

Answer 1

omg, are these people reading their own answers???
Scientifically PROVEN because "just look at Rosie"?!?!?
Hormone injections????
Have people lost their minds or do you just need a freakin science class??

Have any of you actually spoken to someone who is homosexual before? Have you ever heard one of them say it's a choice?? It's no more a choice than you being heterosexual.. you didn't wake up one day and say, "I think I'll choose to be attracted to the opposite sex now."

There are many species in nature that are homosexual.. do they have a choice? I'm just not believing what I'm reading here.

I'd type more, but I don't see the point. If you don't get it, you don't get it. No wonder our country is such a mess.

Answer 2

God asks us to follow the model of sex with only one other person of the opposite sex.

Is practicing homosexuality a sin? It can be argued both ways, but remember that every human who ever lived sinned. Those alive today sin daily - even those who would look down on someone because of their lifestyle. Yes, the christians are sinning everyday.

God will have the final say. The "sin" of homosexuality is no different than the "sin" of cutting your hair. It is man who puts a gradient on sin.

I think, if you can get through life and the "worst "thing you've done as a follower of God is to be a homosexual, you will be a lot better off than the multitudes Jesus will reject - the multitudes who think they're doing Jesus' work, while Jesus doesn't know who they are.

Answer 3

First of all Marriage is an institution created by God as a gift to man to avoid fornication. Christians go before God and vow they will love and cherish each other forever. Why? To receive God's blessing. Now if a homosexual couple wants to get married, do you think God is going to bless them? What is the point? The whole idea of homosexuality is something repulsive to God. Carefull, I meant the Idea, not the people. The people can always be redeemed by showing repentance and not doing something that is vile in God's eyes again and again. However God tells us not lean on our own understanding, and that to Fight sin on our own is useless. We need Him to help us. So we pray, we put his Kingdom first, and God will help.

Answer 4

Woops, this post ended up being longer than I planned. Oh well.

Wow you hit a button didn't you.

Okay, before I step into the tiger pit here let me define what I mean when I say 'sin.' To sin is to go against God's intent for our lives. Like a parent He wants what is best for us even if we think He's being mean. So when something is called a sin it means that the activity deviates from what was intended. Everyone sins and all sins take us away from God. Gay people are not special in this way.

Now here is where I'm going to get myself in trouble. PERSONALLY, yes, I think that homosexuality is against God's plan. But all that means is that I myself am not going engage in homosexual behavior (which makes me very lucky I was born heterosexual). So as we all sin, and all sins take us away from what God has planned, homosexuality is no more a big deal than my tendency to lie outrageously to strangers (I don't know why I do it, I just do!) at least in terms of 'sin.' In terms of seriousness I think it ranks on par with premarital sex in that, ehhhhhhh, probably not what was meant to be . . . . . but it doesn't do much damage.

(HOWEVER, all sins can be forgiven. Even if you allow that homosexuality is a sin it doesn't mean that gay people can't be redeemed. And being a sinner doesn't mean that you are a pervert, a degenerate, a deviant, or evil. As I said before, we are all sinners.)

Now if someone disagrees with me (as I'm sure many do) that is their prerogative. It is their choice to indulge in any behavior and their responsibility to bear the consequence. If it is clear with their conscience then I am not going to bash them in the head with my view. (I only bring it up now because you asked). When it comes down to it, gay people aren't hurting anyone and they aren't forcing us to be homosexual, so why do we need to hurt them and force our views down their throat? I have enough trouble concerning myself with the beam in my own eye to get wrapped around the axle about the speck in anyone else's.

And I take a strong line against legislating morality. I wouldn't want anyone to tell me I couldn't get married because heterosexuality was a sin. So I don't want the government to tell people they can't get married because homosexuality is a sin. (And like the government is a bastion of ethical behavior and paragon of virtue to be dictating how we can live *eye roll*)

Anyway, that's the opinion of a Libertarian Christian who tries to live an ethical and tolerant life. Flame away.

Answer 5

As usual, a good, thoughtful question.

First, let´s define our terms:

1. Tolerance - Disagreeing and not sharing someone else's point of view w/o being disrespectful to that person. Tolerance by definition includes the fact that I think the other person is wrong and therefore "tolerate" their wrong ideas w/o having to share/agree with them.

2. Marriage - The legal/spiritual union of a man and a woman in commitment before God, the church and society as God intended from the beginning.

3. Sin - Anything that separates us from true fellowship w/God. This involves the sense of "falling short" of a particular mark (in this case God's "holiness" b/c He is holy).

4. Redemption - The payment of another's debt.

If we can agree on the above, then we can have a meaningful discussion.

First, a man and a woman having relations outside of marriage commit the sin of adultery. This sin is not "redeemed" by marriage. Only Christ can redeem our sins (He pays our debt to God the Father). The two adulterous parties would first have to recognize that their actions are sinful, repent (individually and as a couple) and then ask for God's forgiveness. Only then can they be forgiven. Even if their marry, their sexual contact after the marriage ceremony would be "lawful", but their contact prior to the ceremony would be "unlawful" and therefore not forgiven until they repented and received forgiveness as described above.

As for homosexual relations, their sin involves a further element of wilfully disobeying God's purpose for marriage and sexual relations: "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis). NO homosexual union can ever fulfill this mandate. This is the reason why homosexuals cannot be truly married before God. Conception is, in a sense, God's seal of blessing upon the union of a man and a woman. He begets life through that union.

As for who is being intolerant, homosexuals have decided they don't like Christian's (and God's) definition of marriage and they now want to force society to accept their definition and their practice. Does that sound tolerant to you? So, just b/c they agree with their own actions (how convenient!) that means I MUST not only, going against my own beliefs, say "OK" and furthermore grant them the rights that rightfully belong exclusively to a different union?

What's being asked of homosexuals is the same thing that is asked of couples in adulterous relationships: Recognize that your actions are sinful. Repent. Ask God for forgiveness.

May God bless you.

Answer 6

Marriage does not redeem anyone in the Christian sense. It is a sort of agreement and usually with witnesses. I think that you probably have a misconception there.

Before Moses, people used to initiate their marriage by "knowing" each other. There wasn't a priest or a church to go to. So if you are looking for a traditional answer, then I think that your answer will be more along the lines of what you are asking. But if you know how the Christian God looks at it, tradition does not always follow with that.

Answer 7

At the end of the day it doesn't really matter. The bible is a bunch of stories that was compiled by people to offer comfort and guidance to themselves and others. Anyone who refers to passages from the bible as the word of God is seriously suppressing their common sense and logic thought. All this conflict arises becuse religion refuses to evolve with the rest of the world. Christians are still taking advice from men who lived 2000 years ago and knew nothing about the very different world we live in now. Religion breeds intolerance and it's not supposed to. It's supposed to teach us how to be good people and to do the best we can with our lives, make the most of ourselves and try to help a few people along the way. It all got twisted somehow..??

Answer 8

There is only one unforgivable sin and that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Yes, homosexuality is a sin, but it is not something that you will not go to Heaven for - something you will never be redeemed for. In order to enter the gates of Heaven, there is only one requirement and that is to believe that God sent His only begotten Son to save you for your sins.

Answer 9

Wow... this exact argument is one of the main reasons I decided not to be a Christian. I had already pretty much come to the conclusion, but due to my upbringing was still vehemently searching for something that would help me believe in Christianity. This issue is one that made me decide, "Even if the God of Christianity is the one true God, F*** him. I would rather spend eternity in hell than one second in heaven with a God who has condemned my friends to hell simply because they choose to love someone he says they're not allowed to love." Assume that God is the one true God for a second. He has put me on this earth, without first asking me. Then he has made rules for me to live by, a lot of which I disagree with. And then he has condemned me to hell for eternity if I don't go along with his plan? Screw that, man... God can go to hell.

Answer 10

Hey Zim.
Homosexuality and the Bible do not make sense. I don't suggest you try to get your head around it (coming from a person who wrote their dissitation on this).
If you want to see the Bible promote homosexuality read Samuel II.
There are plenty of sects within the church that stand for homosexuality and the right to gay marriage (check out church of england for a start).
Also, most people in the western world these days do not get married, so it is not just gay men that sin, but straight couples by not marrying.