Quote:
Originally posted by livi
I feel very sorry for those youngsters that is raised in a religious environment, that discovers that they are homosexual. They are in all aspects normal human beings, unavoidably 'afflicted' with a different sex orientation. An orientation that according to the church make them and their activities abnormal, morally wrong and generally less worthy. For gay people that truly believe in God and all that, it must be a disaster to be looked upon like a outcast because of something that does not hurt anybody else and they can not be blamed for in the first place.
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Livi, this is where your understanding of Christianity if flawed (although your understanding of many Christians may not be). Specifically, Yes, homosexual activity does make a person less worthy, as did a lot of things that I did in high school and college. The very fundimental, underlying and bedrock concept of Christianity is that none of us is worth as a result of our actions. None (excepting Jesus). So we're all in the same boat. But if homosexuals want the Church to say it's OK -- that won't happen. Not just because of the story of Sodom, but more specifically because of the passages in Leviticus. The Church can not say that homosexuality is OK any more then it can say that murder, fraud, extortion, the love of money or countless other sins are OK.
What it does say though is that if you admit that your actions are wrong, if you genuinely repent and feel sorry about your actions, and try to turn over a new leaf, that God can forgive you. They reason that an omniputant being can forgive a mortal, is because that omniputant being became human, and forgave us for all of the abuse that we heaped upon him. Short of repeating one of the creeds -- whole old fashioned, formal language might turn you off -- that's the best way that I can describe it.
As far as Christians that act as you described. They are unfortunately common. Jesus made some pretty clear points and critisism in the story of the "Good Samaritan". Just about everyone knows the story....
- Man gets set-up by robbers and is beaten up and left for dead.
- First a priest (an analogy for the pinacle of believers) comes by, sees the man and walks by avoiding the beaten man.
- Next a Levite (one of the Chosen Tribe who were to be holier then the rest) comes by and does the same thing.
- Finally a Samaritan (the antithesis of the ancient Hebrews, perceived of as being born to a heritical group, unclean, never seen at the temple, etc. etc.) stops and helps the beaten man. He sets him up in a hotel, pays for his car.
Jesus then makes the point that it was the Samaritan who acted as he should have, not the priest or the Levite. So please, don't judge all Christians by what you see on TV, waving their hands and swaying, or by Michael Jackson who thanks God for making Thriller the top selling albums. While the Bible says that God is happy that Michael refers to him in public, it doesn't make Michael Jackson a good Christian, if even a Christian at all. There are examples in the Bible of demons acknowledging God. While you may or may not believe in deamons or God, my point is that even the core text of Christianity admits that saying "Thank God" does not a Christian make.