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Not all Christians hate or act hatefully towards homosexuals. When they do, it is not really for either of these reasons. Pure hate is rarely a motive for most anything, and intolerance is a byproduct of reasons rather than a reason itself.
Those Christians who hate homosexuals usually, in my experience, do so (a) because they never learned to think for themselves and take their religion on faith and against reason; and/or (b) because they have their own insecurities that are confronted by the existence of people with certain identities such as homosexuality.
A lot of people in this society think that just because we say that homosexuality is wrong. They consider it as "hate" and they say we are "hating" for what they do. We don't hate gay people. It's the sin that they are in that we don't like. Christ doesn't like sin but He still loves the sinner. That's what Christians are doing except for Westboro who are showing a poor example.
If you think that homosexuality is wrong (and you do admit to hating it as you labeled it a sin), then you're a homophobe, and there's no way your going to get away from that.
I don't care if people think I'm a homophobe. If you think I'm a homophobe then really you're calling God a homophobe because he says that homosexuality is wrong. It's the truth that homosexuality is wrong. I'm going here with what God laid down.
God does not exist so why are you bending down for some dictator that you think is God but it's just a loser that made up a fairy tale to explain to his slaves.
So what if the Christian God is a homophobe? If god exists he must be incredibly evil so him being homophobic wouldn't surprise me.
If God says homosexuality is wrong then he should have made people immune to homosexual desires. LGBT people can not help the way they are and many wish that they could change but they can't.
So what if the Christian God is a homophobe? If god exists he must be incredibly evil so him being homophobic wouldn't surprise me.
God isn't a homophobe and He isn't evil. You people assume He is evil just by what He did in the Old Testament.
If God says homosexuality is wrong then he should have made people immune to homosexual desires. LGBT people can not help the way they are and many wish that they could change but they can't.
People can change. With God anything is possible, I know people who used to be homosexuals but they aren't to this day. If those ex homosexuals can do it then part of the LGBT people can as well.
God sends people to tell them about how homosexuality is wrong but people reject that because they think that what they are doing is right and after many attempts God just lets them over to their sinful desires. People chose to become homosexual. It has nothing to do with genetics because they can control themselves.
Then why is he strongly repelled by homosexuality?
He isn't evil
If he wasn't evil or at least wasn't selfish and apathetic towards the suffering of others he wouldn't let some many people go through hell.
People can change. With God anything is possible, I know people who used to be homosexuals but they aren't to this day. If those ex homosexuals can do it then part of the LGBT people can as well.
A leopard can never change its spots. You are what you are and there is no point in trying to hide that. People who used to be homosexuals still are, the only difference is they are suppressing there sexuality and that is not healthy, you can not change who you are attracted to. This is what is bad about the Abrahamic Religions they encourage the suppressing and bottling up of emotions which isn't good.
Then why is he strongly repelled by homosexuality?
It isn't natural at all. He designed that male and female are to be together. Not homosexuals.
If he wasn't evil or at least wasn't selfish and apathetic towards the suffering of others he wouldn't let some many people go through hell.
It's not God's fault they went to hell. It was those people who didn't believe in God, they sent themselves to Hell for not accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The evidence is laid out that He exists. It's all up to whether they will accept Him. That's those people's loss for not accepting.
A leopard can never change its spots. You are what you are and there is no point in trying to hide that. People who used to be homosexuals still are, the only difference is they are suppressing there sexuality and that is not healthy, you can not change who you are attracted to. This is what is bad about the Abrahamic Religions they encourage the suppressing and bottling up of emotions which isn't good.
Those people who once were homosexual, aren't homosexuals. They've changed. If they can change then other people can change. Who said anything about us suppressing and bottling up emotions?
Someone who is phobic is afraid. The accurate term here would be heterosexist or bigot, and these do apply; here's why:
By saying that someone else's identity is wrong you are not disagreeing with their choices, but with who they are as a person. You are saying it is wrong to exist. Much as saying it is wrong to be black, saying it is wrong to be gay is bigoted.
Someone who is phobic is afraid. The accurate term here would be heterosexist or bigot, and these do apply; here's why:
Not really. "Pobic" doesn't exclusively mean "afraid". It can also mean "repelled by", "disliking", many other things.
By saying that someone else's identity is wrong you are not disagreeing with their choices, but with who they are as a person. You are saying it is wrong to exist.
Not really. Christianity also considers many other normal human behaviors to be sinful.
Not really. "Pobic" doesn't exclusively mean "afraid". It can also mean "repelled by", "disliking", many other things.
I recognize that there is a trend away from the technical application of the term, but I still use it in its classic medical sense. My primary reasoning is that the suffix is a medical term for a form of mental health disorder, and conflating it with bigotry is innately problematic to me.
Going with your definition, I would say most Christians who dislike homosexuality fit "homophobic" to the letter. Thanks for that.
Not really. Christianity also considers many other normal human behaviors to be sinful.
Sure, but it rarely pursues them with such intense and disproportionate passion. I have seen far less energy, money, and effort put forth into opposing people who practice the death penalty or lethal self defense ("thou shalt not kill"?), use the lord's name in vain ("thou shalt not use my name in vain"), work on sabbath ("remember the sabbath day and keep it holy"), commit adultery ("thou shalt not commit adultery"... do we need to go into the stats on heterosexual relationships, really? perhaps Christians should take a look at their opposite sex partnerships before criticizing others), or get jealous ("thou shalt not covet")... which are all far more explicitly laid out in the Ten Commandments. That isn't even getting into mixed fibers and shellfish. In fact, not only is there less energy exerted towards these sins but the same Christians who have such impassioned responses to homosexuals commit them on a regular basis.
The disproportionate attention to homosexuality in the conservative Christian agenda and the relatively exaggerated response of individual Christians to homosexuals relative to other sinners (oh, I'm sorry, that's everyone isn't it?), indicates that religion is nothing more than a thin guise for prejudice and hatred and an attempt to lend same said an air of divine legitimacy.
My primary reasoning is that the suffix is a medical term for a form of mental health disorder, and conflating it with bigotry is innately problematic to me.
Well, -phobia as a technical term has also been used to describe things other than irrational fears (for example; hydrophobic molecules), so I don't see any problem with the term
Sure, but it rarely pursues them with such intense and disproportionate passion.
That does stem from bigotry.
Yes. Do you?
I do, and going with that definition, I still wouldn't consider them homophobic solely for finding it sinful.
Well, -phobia as a technical term has also been used to describe things other than irrational fears (for example; hydrophobic molecules), so I don't see any problem with the term.
A valid point, but I think the most common association of the term is with the medical terminology. At any rate the connection is fairly commonly made, enough so that I still find it problematic from a mental health advocacy standpoint. I think that the other terms I suggested are at least equally accurate and less potentially objectionable.
That does stem from bigotry & I do, and going with that definition, I still wouldn't consider them homophobic solely for finding it sinful.
However, it is exceptionally rare that anti-gay Christians actually "solely" find it sinful. In literally ever encounter I have had with an anti-gay Christian (and that is not an inconsiderable number), the perspective is precisely what I descried in my last post which you have agreed constitutes bigotry. That anti-gay Christians pick out homosexuality as a particular sin with such consistency and intention, when everyone is ultimately a sinner, makes the very observation almost innately bigoted. Anti-gay Christians don't think homosexuality is a sin; they dislike homosexuality and use the idea of sin to justify their prejudice.
Agreed, but I dislike the term homophobia. People who hate and discriminate against homosexuals aren't usually phobic of homosexuals. They are bigots though.
God created people for a reason to populate the earth. God gave people over to their sinful nature that means even homosexuality because they didn't want to repent.
"Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another." Romans 1:24
Gay people do not choose to have desires for the same sex. You can not change if you are gay, you can not choose. If you where LGBT you would understand, if I could not be attracted to guys and only girls I would, I never asked to be Bi. If God exists it is his fault for letting people have same sex desires they don't want.
Your comment doesn't even make any sense at all. You say that they desire as much as I want to be with a women and then you say I didn't choose my desire? Sounds a bit contradictory there.
No it doesn't work like that. If you are completely straight then you only ever could be attracted to the opposite sex so it wouldn't be a choice. It is exactly the same with Gays only being capable of being attracted to women.
Jewish dietary regulations were discarded by Jesus directly. Paul and Peter decided gentile believers do not live under all the laws and regulations of the old testament. When was the last time you saw a Christian give a burnt offering?
However, sexual regulations were never discarded. They are necessary for a functioning community; unlike the dietary rules.
Tolerance is a virtue for a man without convictions.
To be tolerant of, or in most cases encouraging of, sinful lifestyles and gross distortion of sex and gender would be a disservice to those who fall into those sins. If that is bad enough to ensure you are going to hell, no one should get there and say "why didn't anyone tell me I was wrong, my family and my pastor just mept telling me how great it was"
Where does it say that we should hate all homosexuals? Also that verse you pulled out it was the law for the state of Israel and now Christians don't have to follow it because we are under a new covenant. That's like saying other foreign countries should follow the Constitution even though it's only for the United States.
Where does it say that we should hate all homosexuals?
Leviticus 2013
"'If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."
See it not only says to execute gays but to hate them as detestable means worthy of hate.
God doesn't encourage people to kill them. That verse you quoted was for the state of Israel and they were basically laws. Does that mean that Christians should follow it? No because it isn't for Christians. That's like saying that other foreign countries should follow the Constitution when clearly they have their own laws. We are under a new covenant so we don't have to follow those laws.
The Mosaic Law became irrelevant when Jesus came to Earth. he reshaped the laws so that we would not have to follow the old ones. As Christians, we should disagree with homosexualitiy, but never hate the homosexual. that is how Christians should act, but unfortunatley, that is not how most do now days.
Well, in all fairness, Deuteronomy and Leviticus are way over-the-top. They are like the "evil" books of the Bible. Many Christians play those off as simply Ancient Jewish social laws, not necessarily laws from God. Ancient societies had laws like that... Babylon and Egypt are good examples, and the Jews lived in both of those areas for a pretty significant amount of time.
Christians often point out Romans 1:26-32 to support their homophobia.
Yes they are freaks of nature who (in my opinion) deserve to die. We humans were created to marry the opposite sex. why do you think women have holes (vagina's) were a mans penis can fit perfectly inside. and gays are like malfunctioned humans. they are like a computer virus. we have to eliminate it before it corrupts the world. if people were meant to be gay (aka worthless) then would we not be designed to accommodate people being faggoty freaks? answer me that faggoty freak supporters.