Reading Philosophy

I am, quite frankly, tired of hearing about how homo- and bisexuality is a sin. It does state that in the bible, but there is nothing they can do about it, so why doesn't the chruch let it go? I'm not bisexual, or homosexual, but neither am I religious. And i have always been open to different styles of living, ranging from religions to arts. I study religion to an extent. Doesn't the Christian religion preach acceptance? Isn't their god all-loving towards his children? Isn't all of humanity his children?

If so, and if being homosexual is a sin, then doesnt that mean homosexuals are no longer human?

To make a jump, humans are the only species that have sex for pleasure. All others have sex because they have to, they do it to keep thier race alive and thriving. When we were blessed with minds of our own, driven by thought processes more than by instinct, we got freedom of choice. Homosexuals choose to be that way, and they dont hurt anyone by being the way they are. If they were hurting people, I would definately see why it's a sin. But they aren't.

I swear, if a video game came out that had very detailed scenes of people getting chopped into tiny bits with meat cleavers, it would be met with more acceptance than one with not-very-detailed scenes of homosexual interaction.

Just another example of how amazingly screwed-up we are. But what can you do...

I'm very handy with a meat-cleaver, ~Arei Drea

Technically, dolphins have sex for pleasure.

But yeah, it bothers me that a religion that's centered around love and acceptance such as Christianity is so full of idiotic bigots who can't see past the tip of their own noses.

I'll believe in anything if you'll just believe in anything

Technically, dolphins have sex for pleasure.

Also, I'm not sure about pigs. There's no scientific hint that they have sex for pleasure, but a pig's orgasm is said to last about 30 minutes, and dammit if that wouldn't be a good reason! :-P

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

Just wanted to add a link to this 'ere post. :-)

When life hands you a lemon, that's 40% of your RDA of vitamin C taken care of.

I opened this issue up in a forum with my christian community, actually. Just the fact that we're discussing it is already something, since to even raise the possibility among evangelical christians that homosexuality is not a sin used to be out of the question. So i laid down my arguments for homosexuality including the ones raised by professor walter wink from auburn theological seminary (http://Www.Bridges-across.Org/ba/wink.Htm). However, there was a former homosexual in our community who testified to how he was "delivered" by god from his "rebellious" lifestyle. Not being gay myself, i don't know what it's like and can't claim to know that he is absolutely wrong.

I'm unsure about where to stand. On the one hand, i can see oppression and i'd like to fight it. On the other hand, i can see sincere people who have come from the other side and claim they have found the truth and christ has led them out of a "sinful" lefestyle.

It's difficult to argue rationally when i have to argue against people who know what it's like to be gay. But if i were to be honest with my own rational convictions, i really feel that homosexuality is not the sin but the culture of promiscuity that some of these "converts" have come from. And promiscuity is a sin that that oppresses both homo- and hetero-sexuals.

“To God, there is no zero. I still exist.” Scott Carey, The Incredible Shrinking Man

I'd like to start of by saying I am a Christian, anyways thats the label one could give myself. I do believe that homo- and bisexuality is a sin, however I also believe that you brought up some good points. Yes you are correct in saying that the Christian religion encourages acceptance, forgiveness, and mercy to others. However as I have become more comitted to my faith I realize that there are a large number of "fake" Christians. People who call themselves Christians but don't really live by the will of God. These are the people that I believe are causing you to be irritated with the Christian religion. I myself are as tired as you are with these kind of people. A large majority of the Christian religion are hypocrites and give the religion a bad name. I myself believe that homo and bisexuality is a sin, however I still respect them like my good friends. I don't treat them any different. And I believe that is how God would want me to. So to sum this up, yes you are correct in saying that people are wrong for judging people who are homo and bisexual, but because those people are wrong, doesn't mean that homo and bisexuality is right.

I'm bisexual. My mom is christian. I'm not--gladly so. My boyfriend and I have been together for about 5 years. Everyone, amazingly accepts him as part of the family, even my mom. She occasionally hints that he and I are going to hell if we don't "get right with god." But by this I think she means "accept God."

No offense to anyone inparticular, but fuc% that Shi7. Christians don't give a convincing argument for a happy, healthy life for themselves--or anyone else for that matter.

Heard the rhetoric. Not convinced of the logic in their argument. Homosexuality is only a "sin" because it essentially means non-procreational. That's the Calvinistic approach to life: if it's tough, painful or unpleasant, it must be "good" for the person.

The concept is couched in the language of "lifestyle." That makes it easy to think of the behaviour as a sin. Fucking little boys isn't a sin, but two grown men loving each other is. Ah, the sweet logic of The Church. The point is that if it's a choice, one might reasonably consider the action a sin, like robbery or adultry. But if we look at the behaviour as stemming from our "harware", i.e. engrained in our brain's wiring, not as a result of trauma, or bad decisions (by us or our parents), then logically we would have to say "s/he was born that way. And therefore perhaps God intended that person to be that way."

Additionally, we could also reasonably extrapolate that God, in Its infinite wisdom, decided that would be a great means of birth control. A behaviour that most humans have a terrible time pursuing.

Once Fred Neitszche declared God is Dead, f*ck became the most important word in the English languag

Also, the fact that it has now recently been shown (I dont have the studies, but I'm sure that you could easily find the) that homosexuality is as much a biological determination as a choice kinda makes discrimination against gays worse. I mean, since it's not really the preson's choice (biology determines it), discrimination here is similar to discrimination on racial grounds.

Personally, I feel homosexuals should enjoy the same rights and benefits as everyone else, including marriage and completely equal rights; at least we are moving that way, but progress needs to be made faster... too bad we have an intolerant asshoel as President (codifying marriage as "between man and woman" just seems against the American principle of equality, if you ask me)

"It was not God who created man, but man who created God." --Santa Caserio

It also seems against the doctrine of separation of church and state. A "civil union" is a legal recognition of two people's right to "be one." A marriage is a church-sanctioned activity where the church recognises two people's right to "be one."

Therefore, doesn't it seem a bit "fishy" for the President of America, the "land of the free, home of the Braves," to declare anything at all improper about marriage?

Once Fred Neitszche declared God is Dead, f*ck became the most important word in the English languag

I'm assuming your talking about Bush's efforts to pass the amendment against gay marriage. I had a quote from him somewhere that claimed that this amendment is what would make everyone happy...by everyone I guess he forgot to mention homosexuals, etc.

My boyfriend has 3 dad's...2 of which are a gay couple. They are both Christian, and attend an upscale Episcopalian church, which also allows cross-dressers and other not formally accepted groups. I am not religious, but it is good to know that they can be accepted and deserve to be if that is how they want to live. I love them and have never had a problem with them. They don't have too many problems with society giving them a hard time, just fighting the same battles that every gay couple would fight for (ie, marriage, etc). The sad part is that my boyfriend has to keep it quiet in school or else he would get shit for it...it's not cool that he has to hide his background so he doesn't have to live constantly in defense mode.

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.