Comments on: Homophobic or Biblical?

By: The Conversation: Rules For Being A Gay Christian (Response) (Creating Culture)

The Conversation: Rules For Being A Gay Christian (Response) (Creating Culture) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:05:39 +0000

[...] at least, it is a stretch for Christians to treat homosexuality as anything other than a sin. The danger I see in most Christian’s approach to homosexuality is that it become the sexual sin instead of a [...]

By: Randy

Randy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:50:18 +0000

I've seen leaders who fell into adultry sort of benched for a while and put through a recovery program. This poor bro is probably what they would call collateral damage. It'll reenforce the wrong lessons–to dissemble, to hide. Hopefully he won't be driven into the arms of some fellowship that “affirms people in their gender preference”. What a dillema. One side tells him to come out and the other side tells him to get out.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:50:18 +0000

By: Sam Mahlstadt

Sam Mahlstadt — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:28:13 +0000

First off, how great that we have a Stephen, Steven and Steve.
Steve, when Jesus made the comment about the sin occurring at time of thought rather than action, he was speaking to a group who claimed superiority by their devout observance of the law. The great thing about Jesus is that he makes the point that it is about the heart, not how good we are. And we are all in need of grace, because none of us are good enough on our own. The same point can be made to someone who is struggling against sin – it is a matter of the heart – it isn't about obeying rules or doing the right thing all the time, but receiving the gift of grace in our brokenness.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:43:37 +0000

No, because Jesus said if you do it in your heart, it's already a sin. Not that I believe either is a sin, or that sin is a valid concept in general, but for the sake of argument…

Liking the name theme in here, btw.

By: Sam Mahlstadt

Sam Mahlstadt — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:14:18 +0000

Steven, I love how you put that. You can't persecute someone politically and then turn around and say that you love them religiously. Jesus becomes an afterthought, or worse yet, a justification to act un-Christ-like.
Stephen, I would say the “tempted by” vs “acting upon differentiation is huge. I believe that the “acting upon” is what takes a struggle and turns it into a sin. Make sense?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:21:19 +0000

So, what does “struggling” mean? Does that solely mean (a church leader is) “tempted by” or does that imply “acting upon?” If your answer is the latter especially, does the same view hold true for you for someone “struggling” with molesting children (especially as it applies to church leadership)?

By: Steven

Steven — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:49:27 +0000

I just realized what I was trying to say above:

You can't persecute someone politically, then turn around and tell them you love them religiously...

Not to the point that they will believe you.

By: Steven

Steven — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:33:03 +0000

Yes, I agree that mainstream Christianity is more homophobic than Biblical because of the way that political Christians make banning gay people from having the same rights as everyone else in society issue #1.

You can find political Christians protesting at state capitals and trying to ban gay people from various legal rights all over the country.

I dont remember Jesus going around trying to pass laws against people or trying to take away their legal rights.

Sure, Jesus told the prostitute "go and sin no more." But he DID NOT tell all of his followers to organize and pass laws against her.

The way that Christians TREAT homosexuality shows that personal bias is involved. Personal discomfort, personal ignorance (not understanding), and personal judgement. I believe that same personal bias is also why they interpret the Bible the way they do.