Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shilberu, now you're talking another matter. Have you ever been dying? You ever had someone close to you die? How about this- something ever happen to you that you wish didn't, that changed you for the rest of your life? I've had all of the above, and to know (or believe, you realist you) that there is such a thing as God out there is a really reassuring thought. To know that the thing that created everything in existence is behind my back be I lesbian or straight, a great feeling. Now, however, you're debating straight religion as opposed to the correlation of homosexuality and religion. Also- there's a reason "faith, hope and love" are put together. Through faith, we get hope, and through hope, we get love. Well, some of us anyway. Now who are we to take away someone's hope that they get through faith? After all, I say we all deserve happiness in our lives in one way or another, don't you? Besides, most religious people are pretty social, so they also enjoy people. Most religious people I know also go mountain biking, so they enjoy the Earth as well.

I'm not saying you have to convert to a religion, evangelism is not my deal. I'm merely asking you soften your views. After all, a lot of good can come out of religion. A lot of bad, of course, but a lot of good too. Like everything else, it's a double edged sword. I say judge a person for a person though, 'cause belief has got nothing to do with it. :3 You'll miss out on some great people otherwise, which would be a shame.

I personally don't need faith to be happy, so this stuff is all Greek to me sweatdrop .And no, I've never been in any of those situations, but even if I was, I'm pretty sure I'd still think the same. Besides, if there was a god, I wouldn't be an aspie crying .

Who wouldn't? (no pun intended) whee

That's a bit of BS- The Problem of Evil as a philosophical argument never addressed free will, consequences for human actions, relies on claims about divinity that fits only 1 specific god and not others, and still assumes that a desire to act trumps making the choice not to act for other motivations.

There are arguments saying that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality. So I dunno. I don't think religion is a valid basis for an argument like this though.

I'm a Christian, I read the Bible, and I find that Christians, non-Christians, gays, straights, and nearly everyone that talks about the Bible and its relationship to homosexuality doesn't fully understand what they're talking about. In fact, hardly anyone does! I have one friend who SWEARS it says that the Bible says it's a sin to eat cooked food and we're supposed to eat everything raw. I have another who believes it says people who commit suicide immediately go to Hell. And other who believe that the Catholic tradition of not eating red meat on Fridays during Lent is found somewhere in the Bible. There's a LOT of misconceptions. I believe the Bible is God inspired, not just man-made btw.

My biggest pet peeve is the people who say something like this thinking they're all smart:
The Bible says that man shall not lie with man as with women? Well it also says not to eat shrimp, touch dead pig skin, wear clothing made out of two different materials, etc. Therefore, all Christians are hypocrites because they do not observe these laws! They think they're all smart, but these crazy laws are almost all exclusively in Leviticus. Leviticus is one of the, if not most, boring books of the Bible. Because of this people don't bother to read it or think twice about its meaning. The reality of the matter is that laws recorded in Leviticus, if they're not restated outside of the old law (i.e. if they're included in the New Testament) are not binding to practicing Christians today because Christ "fulfilled the law." Christ said that the scriptures (Our "Old Testament" today) point to him. The Laws (including Leviticus) and the Prophets (prophetical books such as Isaiah) are all summed up by the second greatest commandment: love thy neighbor as thyself. The first greatest commandment being to love God. Paul reaffirmed Jesus' teachings by telling us that the law (this includes Leviticus) was meant to show us our need for a Savior. The Jews referred to this Savior as the Messiah and believed in him before Jesus. IN ADDITION to this: The particular verse in Leviticus was made for a particular purpose, for a particular group of people, and for a particular moment in time. Israel was among the pagan nations and, if you know the history of Israel, they weren't the most faithful bunch of people. Because God did not want the Israels to worship the false pagan gods, and because he knew what an unfaithful bunch of people they were, he condemned many specific pagan practices, rituals, and customs through the Law. Same-sex intercourse between men was a way to honor one or more of their gods. These silly laws were designed to keep his chosen people from being tempted to bow down before other gods. If you know Israel's history it's almost humorous as to why such importance was given to making sure they weren't tempted. They were a REALLY unfaithful people. xD When Moses was gone getting the ten commandments (among a bunch of other commandments dictating exactly how certain things were to be done (such as how priests should be dressed)), Israel made a golden cow to worship. They called it their god. LOL worthy in my opinion. (:

There's a lot of affirming scripture for homosexuals and a lot of scripture used against us as well. I believe the bible doesn't condemn homosexuality at all. It doesn't condemn homosexual sex or marriage either, but it never affirms it either. It's all up to how you interpret it and what you believe God is telling you. There's lots of interesting research to be done about the subject. I'd recommend all gay Christians to research the homosexuality debate themselves and read the Bible as well. Most people who preach for and/or against homosexuality seldom know what they're talking about. Or they can be sophists and lie and/or leave certain facts out to fool you. Both pro and anti-gay advocates are experts at leaving details out. Deciding to read the Bible myself was the best decision I've ever made. Well after accepting Jesus of course. (: <3 There's a WHOLE LOT more out there than just the little Leviticus verse here. The most interesting are the issues and troubles you encounter while reading the Bible for yourself - the verses you've never seen used to defend or condemn homosexuality before. Then you can even start looking at the original Greek and Hebrew words for describing certain things. You'll love it, I guarantee!

TL;DR: People don't know squat. Read the Bible for yourself instead of just believing what they're saying because they're just saying what someone said to them, and THEY're just saying what someone said to THEM. Hardly anyone actually researches homosexuality in depth. You should be the smart one to do so.

http://www.gaychristian.net/
http://www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org/ (Take entries with a grain of salt. Sometimes they leave out things. I'm pretty positive David wasn't gay.)

Carry your research out and see the truth for yourself. There's a lot to be learned and websites like this only scratch the surface.

<3

I personaly believe that religion is a beautifull, sacred thing. And, although there is sooo much to love and worship here on Earth, beliefs in a/many dieties makes it so much more beautifull. Anyways many religions are Earth/ reallity based anyhow.