Is being gay a sin according to your religion?

[JoStories]

Non-Jewish Christians are not required to eat kosher, except as described in Acts15:20 ...but must be true to morality of the OT.. You should read Acts to follow the story but the salient piece is Acts15:13-21

When they had finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things things known from long ago.

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

Once again, Acts is Paulian dogma and not to be taken as something that Jesus may have said. Paul had his own agenda and very often it does not jive with what Christ taught. Paul was a misogynist, and had some serious issues with sex. Furthermore, he never met Christ, and thinking he did through some 'vision' is merely Christian rhetoric.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Once again, Acts is Paulian dogma and not to be taken as something that Jesus may have said. Paul had his own agenda and very often it does not jive with what Christ taught. Paul was a misogynist, and had some serious issues with sex. Furthermore, he never met Christ, and thinking he did through some 'vision' is merely Christian rhetoric.

You can lead a horse to water but you can not make it drink.....

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Oh dear....you are definitely not having a nice day Norman....

I'm fed up with you trying to dress up prejudice as something spiritual. It isn't, it's just prejudice. There is nothing "spiritual" about discriminating and judging people based on something they can't change, like gender, race or sexual orientation.

You talk about "Do unto others...", well how about actually practising that? I'm sure you wouldn't like to be discriminated against yourself, so why don't you stop discriminating against gays? That would be spiritual.

 

[SkepticThinker]

As I said..attempts to obfuscate the clarity of the condemnation as shown in the linked passages by asking if the messenger eats non kosher shellfish are beside the point...it does not matter if the messenger was an atheist scholar of scripture...the passages stand on the own....

It's not an obfuscation, rather, it speaks directly to the assertions you've made about the source(s) of your morality.
That's what you don't seem to be understanding.

 

[SkepticThinker]

He was a religious Jew and did not come to do away with the OT Law...but to supplement it as per the Sermon on the Mount.. Matthew 5:17 .

Except that he was a pretty radical guy for his time. Hanging out with prostitutes and outcasts and such. (As someone has already pointed out).

 

[SkepticThinker]

I don't do hypotheticals...this has been explained to you before... My mind only thinks when it is required to focus on something relevant...it does not think about unessential or non-relevant stuff...

Is this your way of telling us you are incapable of empathy?

 

[SkepticThinker]

You are seeing your own reflection....that is why you are forever bitter at others and the world you want to change to your liking.. But if it is love and peace you want..change begins with you, otherwise if you don't....wherever you go, and whatever you do, there is the same old bitter soul being tormented by the reflection in the spirit of oneness in which he unknowingly exists...

Not sure you should be giving lectures about displaying bitterness towards others ....

 

[MichelleB]

I don't have a religion and being gay is fine by me. What about you guys??

Personally, it wouldn't have bother me, because it's whatever makes you happy. HOWEVER, spiritually, we're not suppose to accept their actions. We sin everyday, and there are many things that you probably wouldn't even guess were a sin or abomination. For example, lying, fornication, and...even homosexuality. The Bible stated in the bible the many things that would NOT inherit God's Kingdom and homosexuality is one of them (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Even though we (the world) know it's not right, still we go along with it, because we don't want others to be mad with us, but what's more inportant....God being disappointed with us or our friends being angry at us?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

For example, lying, fornication, and...even homosexuality.

Lying is a choice whereas homosexuality is not. I can understand why actions like stealing and lying are considered to be sinful, but declaring that homosexuality is sinful is no different to saying that being black is sinful or that being female is sinful. It doesn't make sense as a moral code, particularly when lesbians seem to get a free pass.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Even though we (the world) know it's not right, still we go along with it, because we don't want others to be mad with us,

Or, rather, how about it's really none of your business what consensual sexual acts people do behind closed doors and you have absolutely no right to dictate the lives of others in such a way?
And much of the world doesn't think, know, or accept that homosexuality is wrong, and each day fewer and fewer people think so.

but what's more inportant....God being disappointed with us or our friends being angry at us?

If you want to believe that your god is angry, that's ok. However, those who believe that the same god doesn't care or believe something entirely differently should not be expected to be adhere to your own personal religious beliefs.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Lying is a choice whereas homosexuality is not. I can understand why actions like stealing and lying are considered to be sinful, but declaring that homosexuality is sinful is no different to saying that being black is sinful or that being female is sinful. It doesn't make sense as a moral code, particularly when lesbians seem to get a free pass.

I don't think that it's lesbians getting a free pass, but rather the "lower" status that women had then. Biblically, they are not to speak in church or have a position of authority over a man. A woman on her period is unclean, as is anything she touches, including her husband if he has sex with her. It is Biblical influence afterall that lead to belief in Western society that women do not enjoy sex and cannot have an orgasm. Because women are so far beneath men, it would appear redundant to condemn lesbians just because women are condemned on so many other levels just for being female.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

I'm fed up with you trying to dress up prejudice as something spiritual. It isn't, it's just prejudice. There is nothing "spiritual" about discriminating and judging people based on something they can't change, like gender, race or sexual orientation.

You talk about "Do unto others...", well how about actually practising that? I'm sure you wouldn't like to be discriminated against yourself, so why don't you stop discriminating against gays? That would be spiritual.

Norman....you do not know me....I rarely ever come across a homosexual that I am aware of....and when that occurs...there is no discrimination...

The image of me you have in your mind is not real....it is your own reflection that you are fighting....make peace with yourself because....wherever you go,
there you are.....

.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

It's not an obfuscation, rather, it speaks directly to the assertions you've made about the source(s) of your morality.
That's what you don't seem to be understanding.

I understand perfectly but as an atheist, you do not understand what the bible has to say about this subject... Gentile Christians can eat anything, except as described in Acts15:20 .... Here are the passages that deals with the difference between Jewish obligations to the OT and gentile Christians...... Acts15:13-21

When they had finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it,
that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things things known from long ago.

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Is this your way of telling us you are incapable of empathy?

No...there is love enough to go around for all....but is this is your way of showing us an atheists complete ignorance of the changes that take place in the mind as a result of serious religious practice.... Atheists can't know the glory beyond words that reveals itself to the mind of those that love God...

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Not sure you should be giving lectures about displaying bitterness towards others ....

Oh..another one who is seeing his own reflection in the mirror of of the spirit in which he flounders.... You will sink in it unless you learn to do unto others as you like you do unto yourself... Start today...find someone you hate and treat them with kindness.... The means to an end is not different from the end...love begets love....hate begets hate...

 

[Shadow Wolf]

.I rarely ever come across a homosexual that I am aware o

The key words are very much "that I am aware of." I can promise and guarantee you that you've encountered far more than you are aware of.

No...there is love enough to go around for all....but is this is your way of showing us an atheists complete ignorance of the changes that take place in the mind as a result of serious religious practice

There are actually atheists that do meditate and that do accept these "transcended" states. But it doesn't make them less aware. It doesn't tune them out of the world around them. And they don't have this "it's wrong/not a right fit/unnatural/dangerous" mentality about homosexuality.

 

[Ben Dhyan]

There are actually atheists that do meditate and that do accept these "transcended" states. But it doesn't make them less aware. It doesn't tune them out of the world around them. And they don't have this "it's wrong/not a right fit/unnatural/dangerous" mentality about homosexuality.

I have never met one....and certainly anyone who gets upset because a long term meditator explains that their fiction hypothetical mental conceptualizations that they want taken for reality is not a healthy practice for one who seeks actual reality.......is not a soul who understands the transcended state...

 

[Ben Dhyan]

Except that he was a pretty radical guy for his time. Hanging out with prostitutes and outcasts and such. (As someone has already pointed out).

So what...even if it was true.....it doesn't change the fact that he was a religious Jew who did not have any intention to do away with the OT Law...but to supplement it as per the Sermon on the Mount.. Matthew 5:17 .

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Norman....you do not know me....I rarely ever come across a homosexual that I am aware of....and when that occurs...there is no discrimination...

So why are you spouting anti-gay rhetoric here? Why all the judgement and disapproval?

 

[Rick O'Shez]

Start today...find someone you hate and treat them with kindness.... The means to an end is not different from the end...love begets love....hate begets hate...

You should really take your own advice and abandon the prejudice and judgement.