Banned from Debates/Discussions/Chat for being Pro-Gay

[rainbowchristianqld]

Yeah, Let's compare a Christian (that all they've done is - not be able to "choose" who they fall in love with) to all sorts of hard hearted, lustful, hurtful and mean people. (sorry bout the sarcasm there).

you answerred

There is no comparison, all sin is equal.

Okay, perhaps "compare" is the wrong word, maybe "Relate" is a better word. I just find it strange that someone can put love (and comitting acts of love) in the same boat as someone angry or adulterous (Though I'm not saying that there aren't angry and adulterous gay people). They go Hand in Hand as much with gay people as they do straight people.

 

[rainbowchristianqld]

I doubt that...were you out of the closet then? I imagine there was one or two others still hunkered in the back.

Yes i was in the Closet to my parents up until I was about 21 years old.
You're right though, I just rememberred that one of me and my sisters closest friends in our area is a Lesbian. Don't know of any queer blokes from my school/villiage though (it only had a population of about 100). I moved away from there before I could find out about any others.

I found the "Closetted life" quite difficult... (even though my parents never really said anything "against" gay people).
I can't even imagine how I would have coped had I grown up in Religious or Christian household... I do know a LOT of gay people that did grow up in that situation, both in and out of the Closet with varying results.

 

[Mike182]

Yes i was in the Closet to my parents up until I was about 21 years old.
You're right though, I just rememberred that one of me and my sisters closest friends in our area is a Lesbian. Don't know of any queer blokes from my school/villiage though (it only had a population of about 100). I moved away from there before I could find out about any others.

I found the "Closetted life" quite difficult... (even though my parents never really said anything "against" gay people).
I can't even imagine how I would have coped had I grown up in Religious or Christian household... I do know a LOT of gay people that did grow up in that situation, both in and out of the Closet with varying results.

hmmmmm

im very pro-gay - no denying that one

but i think the way you go about supporting people may figure into this

i dont know how you went about supporting people on these other web sites - but i will say that just by reding your last post i could understand moderators getting a little bit shirty about the usage of the word "queer" - i find it slightly offensive, but i dont mind when its not used in an insulting context

i think that if you charge onto a web forum shouting to the high hills that you wil condemn anyone who speeks badly or negatively of homosexuality - you will never get a good response

although saying that - ive been on a few forums that chucked me off for using the word homosexual so, i agree that it is hard to support that particular view on some web sites - but here at religous forum people are so open and friendly and layed back - you cant go wrong :jam:

like i said, i dont know how you went about approaching these other web forums, so ignore me if im talking out of my backside ok

God Bless

 

[rainbowchristianqld]

hmmmmm

im very pro-gay - no denying that one

but i think the way you go about supporting people may figure into this

i dont know how you went about supporting people on these other web sites - but i will say that just by reding your last post i could understand moderators getting a little bit shirty about the usage of the word "queer" - i find it slightly offensive, but i dont mind when its not used in an insulting context

i think that if you charge onto a web forum shouting to the high hills that you wil condemn anyone who speeks badly or negatively of homosexuality - you will never get a good response

although saying that - ive been on a few forums that chucked me off for using the word homosexual so, i agree that it is hard to support that particular view on some web sites - but here at religous forum people are so open and friendly and layed back - you cant go wrong :jam:

like i said, i dont know how you went about approaching these other web forums, so ignore me if im talking out of my backside ok

God Bless

God Bless you too

This is the first forum I've used the word "Queer". Very sorry if it offended you. It's almost a term of endeerment in London and seems to be fairly freely spoken without offence (and then when someone tries to cause offence by yelling it at someone, most people just laugh now). Or maybe it's just me... All the other "Names" don't effect me at all any more.

What I've done in other forums/chat rooms etc.. Is basically just state the Bible verses that "Condone" gay love, share my experiences with others etc... (I think they try to offend me more than I unintentionally offend them)... Lost count of the times that I've heard the words "Isn't that an Oxymoron?" I guess one thing that kinda "Hurts" me inside sometimes is when someone tells me that I'm not aloud to be a Christian and still live my "Chosen" lifestyle.

 

[Mike182]

God Bless you too

This is the first forum I've used the word "Queer". Very sorry if it offended you. It's almost a term of endeerment in London and seems to be fairly freely spoken without offence (and then when someone tries to cause offence by yelling it at someone, most people just laugh now). Or maybe it's just me... All the other "Names" don't effect me at all any more.

What I've done in other forums/chat rooms etc.. Is basically just state the Bible verses that "Condone" gay love, share my experiences with others etc... (I think they try to offend me more than I unintentionally offend them)... Lost count of the times that I've heard the words "Isn't that an Oxymoron?" I guess one thing that kinda "Hurts" me inside sometimes is when someone tells me that I'm not aloud to be a Christian and still live my "Chosen" lifestyle.

agreed - it can be hard to walk that lifestyle and have other christians say you have to choose - ive had that ultimatem on several occasions

i find that some people take the bible out of context to condemn homosexuality though - plus i dont trust modern translations of scripture - give me a few years to learn ancient languages and i can give a better understanding of pauls writtings to the romans and the corinthians

god bless

 

[CaptainXeroid]

...This is the first forum I've used the word "Queer". Very sorry if it offended you...

Another issue that came up in our discussion was how the terminology has changed for people who are attracted to members of the same sex: homosexual - queer - gay - alternate lifestyle; and that some of the terms are fine with some people yet offensive to others. I don't think most people are trying to offend anyone, but there seems to be this human nature to classify people.

One question our choir director posed was this. When someone says 'tell me about yourself', most people talk about their work, education, hobbies, and other interests. Shouldn't our private lives, including to whom we're attracted, remain private? Choir practice starts back Aug 3, and he also says we'd better be ready to learn some new music.

 

[Steve]

Hi rainbowchristianqld

I hope this dosnt come out the wrong way.

Do you belive that its ok for someone to continue sinning without repenting? For example if i continually felt like committing adultery and therefor continually gave into that desire do you think Jesus would approve? Would i be able to claim that i was born with these desires and therefore its ok for me to indulge in them even though adultery is an offence to God.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? Romans 2:4
​

Instead i should repent and ask God for help, and for the Holy Spirit so sanctify me. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians he even mentions that some of them had once been homosexuals as well as many other things, but that they had been washed, sanctified and justified they were no longer those things.

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

​

It was for all sinners that Christ was crucified as im sure you would agree however repentance, turning away from that which the bible makes clear is wrong is part of receiving forgiveness. I dont pretend to know what its like to have the particular struggle that you have but i have had my share of issues. I certainly dont claim to be sinless but i try not to sin, part of that is acknowledging what the bible does and dosnt deem to be wrong in Gods eyes.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 1:8 - 2:4


If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31

​

I am not your judge but i know that there is one, i honestly dont want to offend you or anyone else for that matter, i suppose im just trying to live and speak what i belive.

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. James 19-20
​

 

[rainbowchristianqld]

I hope this dosnt come out the wrong way.



Do you belive that its ok for someone to continue sinning without repenting? For example if i continually felt like committing adultery and therefor continually gave into that desire do you think Jesus would approve? Would i be able to claim that i was born with these desires and therefore its ok for me to indulge in them even though adultery is an offence to God.

Thanx mate, I think it came out the way you intended, so it's all good.

I do beleive we need to repent from our sins, but the Jesus in my life (i'm pretty sure he's the same that's in yours) doesn't see my "Orientation" as a sin. I know when I'm doing something sinful, but having feelings of attraction, love or soulfelt connection isn't one of them.

God Bless

 

[Mike182]

Hi rainbowchristianqld

I hope this dosnt come out the wrong way.

you are sincere in your post - i respect that

Do you belive that its ok for someone to continue sinning without repenting? For example if i continually felt like committing adultery and therefor continually gave into that desire do you think Jesus would approve? Would i be able to claim that i was born with these desires and therefore its ok for me to indulge in them even though adultery is an offence to God.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? Romans 2:4
​

Instead i should repent and ask God for help, and for the Holy Spirit so sanctify me. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians he even mentions that some of them had once been homosexuals as well as many other things, but that they had been washed, sanctified and justified they were no longer those things.

agreed

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

​

did you read this in the bible? which translation did you use?

It was for all sinners that Christ was crucified as im sure you would agree however repentance, turning away from that which the bible makes clear is wrong is part of receiving forgiveness. I dont pretend to know what its like to have the particular struggle that you have but i have had my share of issues. I certainly dont claim to be sinless but i try not to sin, part of that is acknowledging what the bible does and dosnt deem to be wrong in Gods eyes.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 1:8 - 2:4


If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31

​

I am not your judge but i know that there is one, i honestly dont want to offend you or anyone else for that matter, i suppose im just trying to live and speak what i belive.

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. James 19-20
​

yes i agree


im not going to argue over the verses in romans because this is not a debate over biblical teaching on homosexuality (i will happily debate them if they are used) - so can we keep that out of this thread please

we are in fact discussing if someone should be blocked form a forum for holding a pro-gay view

 

[geordie]

i dont like the gay sort, that do the limp wrist thing! all the rest are okay. They act more girly than normal women do

 

[rainbowchristianqld]

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

As long as we're on the subject of "Using (or abusing) verses", let's point out that it states "Homosexual Offenders". In your eyes, what is a "Homosexual Offender"? Then, In your eyes, what is a "Heterosexual Offender" ? Would you agree that it someone who does something "offensive" e.g. rape? Most gay people I know, are not homosexual offenders (the same goes for my heterosexual friends)... So why this verse is used in most homosexual related threads is beyond me....

It's just stating offenders. At the beginning - it seems (from this translation) that the heterosexual sexual offenses are first, then (so the homosexual people around don't think they're outside those laws, because they're not hetero), they added "Homosexual Offenders". As if to say "As above, but to homosexuals as well".

I know this is a fairly simple view, and things were far from simple in the time this was written.
The term "Homosexual" didn't come around till hundreds of years later... so it is easy to say that the translater had a hand in how it was to come across (especially when you look at the other translations). Thus, this is quite a grey area.

 

[Mister Emu]

it is easy to say that the translater had a hand in how it was to come across

How true, like the difference between the earlier posted version and the KJV.

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11

I just find it strange that someone can put love (and comitting acts of love) in the same boat as someone... adulterous

If the adulterers are in love does that make it ok?

 

[CMIYC]

I personally think that Christianity has abused the bible to the most intolerable level.

Christians have taken what was once riches and turn it into a comedy show, through orientating far too much around love, and forgotten what is right and riches.



There are several reasons why homosexuality should not be accepted into Christianity.

First: it is orientated around sexuality and there is more to life then sexuality. Yes, sexuality is very important part, if it is used for the purpose it was intended for. But to use your sexuality for entertainment without intent to reproduce, is a direct insult against god. Jesus is not all about love. Out of love he gave his life and that was not for someone to keep sinning. In a homosexual relationship this is exactly the opposite to repentance of a sin, it is a continuous sin.

 

[James the Persian]

Thanx mate, I think it came out the way you intended, so it's all good.

I do beleive we need to repent from our sins, but the Jesus in my life (i'm pretty sure he's the same that's in yours) doesn't see my "Orientation" as a sin. I know when I'm doing something sinful, but having feelings of attraction, love or soulfelt connection isn't one of them.

God Bless

I quite agree with you. Your 'orientation' is no sin - it's a temptation. I have a tendency to become easily angered. This in itself is no sin. If I go around hurting people because I believe that my passion is natural and normal and therefore somehow good, I would become a profligate sinner. I don't do this, but with Christ's help, have battled my passions for several years - and I repent every time I fall.

My cross (anger) is no different (in principle) than your cross of homosexuality. If you battle with it and try not to sin and sincerely repent when you fall then you are a perfectly good Christian. If, however, you deliberately indulge your passion or, worse yet, insincerely repent when you have no intention of changing your behaviour, then you are no Christian at all. Of course, if you genuinely do not understand homosexual acts to be a sin (but even if they were not expressly condemned how could they not be, given that all sex outside of marriage is sin?) then your position is not so bad, but to wilfully engage in something you know to be a sin is to exclude yourself from Christianity.

If you really think that Scriptures are twisted to condemn homosexual sex (and not homosexual orientation - I agree that some twist them for that purpose) then I hope that you can produce some examples of those passages you claim condone homosexuality and can counter the arguments of those of us who believe Holy Scripture (and in my case, at least, Holy Tradition) condemns acts of homosexual sex.

I would note that Christ didn't just accept all as he found them and while He most certainly accepted and forgave sinners, He also told them to go and sin no more.

James

 

[CMIYC]

Romans 1:24-32 NLT)So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

 

[rainbowchristianqld]

Of course, if you genuinely do not understand homosexual acts to be a sin (but even if they were not expressly condemned how could they not be, given that all sex outside of marriage is sin?) then your position is not so bad, but to wilfully engage in something you know to be a sin is to exclude yourself from Christianity.

My view is that homosexual sex within a committed (blessed) relationship, marriage
etc.. is not a sin.

The ways of "Marriage" have changed enormously also. Biblicly, marriage need only be confirmed by the blood on the sheets after the 2 had sex.

----
Deuteronomy 22:13-19
16 The girl's father will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. 17 Now he has slandered her and said, 'I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town,
----

If the girl was not a virgin (and there was no blood on the cloth), the marriage would not be final. (This happens with gay men and lesbians too on their "first time").

If you really think that Scriptures are twisted to condemn homosexual sex (and not homosexual orientation - I agree that some twist them for that purpose) then I hope that you can produce some examples of those passages you claim condone homosexuality and can counter the arguments of those of us who believe Holy Scripture (and in my case, at least, Holy Tradition) condemns acts of homosexual sex.

1 Peter 4:8
8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
(no mention of the gender of the people involved)

1 Samuel 18:1-4
1 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father's house. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

Two naked men hugging and "became one in spirit" with whom they "Loved as himself", what else could that mean?

And ofcourse "Love thy neighbour"

 

[rainbowchristianqld]

If the adulterers are in love does that make it ok?

I don't think I said that it was okay previously... So, No, It's not okay.
However a Blessed/Married relationship between 2 committed people is.

 

[James the Persian]

I'm not going into the whole marriage thing. I think it's abundantly clear from Scripture and Holy Tradition that marriage is between a man and a woman and I think you are stretching somewhat here. As to the virginity thing. This is only saying that you can't annul a marriage because you sleep with a girl and then claim she wasn't a virgin. It doesn't say that marriage to a non-virgin is invalid. If that were the case, how would you explain the marriages referred to in the New Testament of younger brothers to their deceased brothers' widows?

1 Peter 4:8
8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
(no mention of the gender of the people involved)

The word for love used here is agape in the Greek, which specifically excludes sexual love, and therefore does not support your position at all. Sexual acts are not included in the term agape but in the term eros, which clearly is not used in this passage. Agape can indeed be shared by people of the same gender, but it seems that you are allowing English's paucity of terms for love to colour your judgement here.

1 Samuel 18:1-4
1 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father's house. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

Two naked men hugging and "became one in spirit" with whom they "Loved as himself", what else could that mean?

I'm not going to go into Hebrew because I know very little about the language, but it seems to me that this could mean any number of things - brotherly love being the most rather than least likely. In actual fact, the Septuagint version (Greek pre-Christian) does not use eros in translating 'love' in 1 Samuel 18:1 either, and the KJV rendering is far closer to the Greek than the version you quoted:

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

Doesn't sound terribly physical to me, though if you omit the talk of souls I can see how you might see it as such.

In addition, in ancient cultures nudity did not necessarily have a sexual connotation (see ancient Greek athletes, for instance) and I fail to see where you read your two naked men hugging either. All I can see is that Jonathan loved Davisd so much that he gave all his possessions, even his clothes, to him. Hugging isn't even mentioned.

And of course "Love thy neighbour"

Ditto my comment on 1 Peter. It seems to me that you are grasping at straws to justify your behaviour rather than fight your passions. Much as if I were to argue from Christ's anger at the money lenders in the temple that it would be right for me to indulge my own passion. Unfortunately re-interpreting an isolated passage to mean something explicitly condemned elsewhere is not a valid approach to interpreting the Scriptures (or any other text).

James

 

[rainbowchristianqld]

I'm not going into the whole marriage thing. I think it's abundantly clear from Scripture and Holy Tradition that marriage is between a man and a woman and I think you are stretching somewhat here. As to the virginity thing. This is only saying that you can't annul a marriage because you sleep with a girl and then claim she wasn't a virgin. It doesn't say that marriage to a non-virgin is invalid. If that were the case, how would you explain the marriages referred to in the New Testament of younger brothers to their deceased brothers' widows?

I was giving it as an example of how Marriage has changed in the last several thousand years, which you've just clarified with your NT quote... yet the original marriages were just as valid as the ones today (including the homosexual ones... just another change in marriage).

The word for love used here is agape in the Greek, which specifically excludes sexual love, and therefore does not support your position at all. Sexual acts are not included in the term agape but in the term eros, which clearly is not used in this passage. Agape can indeed be shared by people of the same gender, but it seems that you are allowing English's paucity of terms for love to colour your judgement here.

I don't know Greek, so i'm forced to beleive you... I can quote about 20 other passages in the Bible stating "Love" without stating the genders if you want. The point is, we're called to love eachother. The fact that it says "Love eachother Deeply", that's a pretty strong love in my eyes.

Would you like me to find some "translations" of the words used for "Homosexuals" in the Bible? you'll find that they don't actually talk about "homosexual people" or "homosexual sex, in general".

I'm not going to go into Hebrew because I know very little about the language, but it seems to me that this could mean any number of things - brotherly love being the most rather than least likely. In actual fact, the Septuagint version (Greek pre-Christian) does not use eros in translating 'love' in 1 Samuel 18:1 either, and the KJV rendering is far closer to the Greek than the version you quoted:...............

Doesn't sound terribly physical to me, though if you omit the talk of souls I can see how you might see it as such.

Thank you for agreeing with me.... in your own way....

---
2 Samuel 1:26
26 I grieve for you, Jonathan; you were very dear to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful than that of women.

---

How about this one? This kind of suggests that he loved Jonathan more than he did any woman...

In addition, in ancient cultures nudity did not necessarily have a sexual connotation (see ancient Greek athletes, for instance) and I fail to see where you read your two naked men hugging either. All I can see is that Jonathan loved Davisd so much that he gave all his possessions, even his clothes, to him.

While we're on the subject of "In Ancient Cultures" or "Reading it in the context of the time", maybe you should have a look at Gen, Lev, Rom, Cor and Tim again and put them in the context of Levitical, Roman, Corinthian etc.. times.. and see how they relate to people in the 21st Century... you might not beleive it, but it - the situations of the surposed "Homosexuals" in those passages were not loving or committed, they were dirty, lustful, cult followers, prostitutes, idol worshippers, rapests, abusers of servant boys (soft ones), abusers of them selves with "Mankind" meaning they had more than 1 male partner.
The absence of committed relationships (Apart from David and Jonothan) in the Bible suggests that it was beleived (as many Christians today beleive), that Loving/comitted homosexual relationships don't exist... Either that or (just like today) there were very few... possibly less than 10% of the population who had a homosexual orientation.

 

[James the Persian]

OK. I can see that you're just not getting it. The love between two men mentioned in the Bible is always (to my knowledge) rendered using agape in Greek, not eros. This includes that from your OT examples when translated into Greek (which was done by Jews, not Christians and prior to Christ's Incarnation). The examples that you give, then, do not bolster your case at all as they specifically preclude sexual love. Adding more examples of the same won't alter this.

You do have a point with relation to the times the Scriptures were written in (homosexual acts being, generally, promiscuous and often associated with pagan cults) but I feel that you are drawing conclusions that are not warranted. I said to you from the start that homosexuality is not a sin and, as homosexual sex acts were often accepted as part of normal sexual behaviour in ancient cultures, for instance Greece and Rome, there was actually no concept of an exclusively homosexual person to condemn. It was not and is not considered sinful to be attracted to members of the same sex. I wouldn't even consider it sinful to be in love with someone of the same sex (using eros here), but this doesn't alter the fact that homosexual sex acts are explicitly condemned, as are all sex acts outside of marriage. Verses explicitly condemning sex between lesbians and gay men have already been quoted here by others and so I will not repeat them.

Finally, I'd just like to point out that I didn't agree with you at all on the quote from 1 Samuel. What I did say was that, if you used your rather poor translation of the text (that omits all mention of souls even though this is explicit in the text) then I could understand why you might think it referred to physical and not spiritual love. As, however, I think it's one of the worst renderings (what version is it from, by the way?) that I've seen, I cannot agree with your conclusions, however much I might sympathise. To be honest, it's always best to check a few versions of the text (and if possible the originals - though I can't read Hebrew at all, for me the Septuagint is the original. It's certainly older than the Masoretic Text) to see whether your favoured version is accurate or not. I'm afraid in this instance yours isn't.

James