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I'm sure He does. But if He believes that homosexuality is a sin, and Priestley in turn believes that it is a sin because God says so, then Priestley is still guilty of judging homosexuals despite the fact that he got the idea from someone else.

Actually, I think you'll find that sects within Christianity exist because what God says is true about certain situations is totally up to discussion.

And whether you "know" something is true or not, that doesn't change whether or not you're doing something. Hitler "knew" that he was right; that doesn't change the fact that he was systematically exterminating Jews.

You are all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Practically every post in this topic is based upon pure eisogesis, wrongly interpreting the text. People who love the Word of God should not stand for this. The Bible never says homosexuality is a sin. People claim it does to support preconceived bigotry. It is despicable for Christians to make false claims about the Bible to condemn a group of people. Christians condemning homosexuality have elevated themselves above God and made their own decisions of what is a "sin." This is hypocritical. This is heresy.







No. Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed because of homosexuality, despite what people like to say. They were destroyed because the inhabitants wanted to *rape* the angels. It was the nature of the hospitality of the cities that caused their destruction. There is no basis for claiming Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of homosexuality.

Leviticus 18 and 20 do not say homosexuality is a sin. The word "abomination" (translated from toevah/to'ebah) does not, as implied by the English translation, refer to anything inherently evil, but rather ritually unclean. A more accurate translation would simply be "taboo." These codes of cleanliness are no longer relevant. Beyond this, the homosexuality referenced in Leviticus is that of temple prostitution, a common practice amongst the pagans around the Jews at the time.

In the New Testament, there is only one actual mention of homosexual acts (Romans 1). The supposed references to homosexuality in 1 Timothy 1 and 1 Corinthians 6 are not real. The words used in those passages that are translated to homosexuality are, Pornia, Arsenokoitas and Malakoi. None of these can actually be translated into homosexuality.

Ultimately, the only reference to homosexuality in the New Testament is found in Romans 1. Even here there is no condemnation of homosexuality. Romans 1: 18-32 speaks of Gentiles who forsook God, resulting in shameful and degrading acts such as lustful living. Everyone should be able to agree lustful living is sinful. Whether it is homosexual or heterosexual is irrelevant to this. Even if one interprets the usage of "unnatural" in the strictest (and quite possibly least accurate) way, there is nothing in this passage stating homosexuality is a sin.

It is a horrendous state when so many people can be so wrong about what the Bible says. Whether by intention or mistake, Christians have helped sponsor hypocrisy and heresy in regards to homosexuality. This should not be allowed to continue.

Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. I have demonstrated the Bible did not say homosexuality is a sin. I cannot think of anything in Jesus' standard that would support humans deciding what is sin rather than God.

Did you not notice my post or are you willfully ignoring it?

I see no basis for this. It is unclear if you used the word "see" as "sees" or "saw," but neither makes any sense to me. The only time homosexual acts were condemned the homosexuality was not the reason. The Old Testament condemnations were made in regards to temple prostitution. This would be a sinful act regardless of the genders in question. It just happened homosexual temple prostitution at the time was a common practice amongst pagans in the area.

The only actual discussion of homosexuality in the New Testament did not condemn homosexuality. The people were condemned for turning away from God. This led them to numerous sinful acts, including homosexual lustful relations. However, lustful relations would have been sinful regardless of whether they were heterosexual or homosexual, and there is nothing in the passage to indicate the homosexuality itself displeased God.



There is no reason to be confused. The condemnation of bestiality in the Old Testament is no longer relevant. However, sexual relations outside of marriage are considered sinful. People cannot marry animals, so any sexual relations with animals are sinful.

And neither does Priestley. Nor you. Nor myself, for that matter. We don't "know" anything for sure, other than we think and we exist. And sure, maybe some invisible guy thinks that homosexuality is bad. But he could think it's good. Maybe only gay people go to heaven. Who knows? Nobody. So it is, indeed, up to discussion. There's no clear answer, so Priestley's condemnation of homosexual marriage is completely his own opinion and he should accept all responsibility for it, not blame it on a guy whom he chose to follow and whom, might I add, we're not even sure exists, much less agrees with Priestley.

You can't do anything without a consequence.

Marriage is a committed relationship between two consenting individuals. An animal cannot consent, therefore an animal cannot marry.

If you "don't get" what I have said, you should ask for clarification. It is silly to say "I don't understand" and walk away. Doing so effectively chooses to not understand. Willful ignorance is bad.

By your wording, it is unclear if we actually agree. You say, "Homosexual acts are in fact condemned in the Bible." I agree, with the caveat, "Heterosexual acts are in fact condemned in the Bible." The homosexuality of the acts was never condemned. The acts were condemnable regardless of the homosexuality involved.

Think of it like rape. Homosexual rape would be condemned as a sin, but it would not be condemned because of the homosexuality. There is no reason to believe homosexuality itself was ever condemned.

So no, that means we do not agree.

Edit: In fact, homosexual rape was condemned exactly like that in the events of Sodom and Gomorrah.