Leviticus and Homosexuality

[Drolefille]

God is faithful. If you love and obey Him, you will receive wonderful evidence of Him. Sadly, it seems that ball is always in our court. Forgiveness is there, but we have to accept it, but it requires repentance from our sins.

I loved God and prayed for faith as I was losing it. I prayed desperately and I believe truly up until that point. I found no evidence. Sitting in church on Christmas Eve, praying desperately, I found nothing.

And have found nothing since. Everyone doesn't get evidence.

 

[Sonofason]

horrid

If you say so. It is what it is. There has been slavery in the past, and there will likely be slavery in the future. And thankfully, God fearing people have some guidelines to follow with regard to slavery.

 

[dgirl1986]

If you say so. It is what it is. There has been slavery in the past, and there will likely be slavery in the future. And thankfully, God fearing people have some guidelines to follow with regard to slavery.

It occurs to me that you may lack empathy and understanding.

 

[Sonofason]

I loved God and prayed for faith as I was losing it. I prayed desperately and I believe truly up until that point. I found no evidence. Sitting in church on Christmas Eve, praying desperately, I found nothing.

And have found nothing since. Everyone doesn't get evidence.

I said, love God and obey God.

Praying for faith is not loving God. Praying for faith is not obeying God. Praying for faith means that you lack faith. God is not revealing Himself to the faithless, but the faithful.

 

[Sonofason]

It occurs to me that you may lack empathy and understanding.

Yes, that has occurred to me as well. But then I realized that I have a great deal of empathy and compassion. However, I am not going to bury the truth in empathy and compassion. I will have empathy and compassion because of the truth.

 

[Drolefille]

I said, love God and obey God.

Praying for faith is not loving God. Praying for faith is not obeying God. Praying for faith means that you lack faith. God is not revealing Himself to the faithless, but the faithful.

But I was faithful. Why wouldn't I have gotten all the evidence I needed?

Also how are you qualified to say I wasn't loving and obeying God? It's weird to find such loopholes in God's powers. You don't think the most loving and obedient believers doubt sometimes?

ETA: I mourned the loss of God as I mourned the loss of a love. I cried in church that night.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I said, love God and obey God.

Praying for faith is not loving God. Praying for faith is not obeying God. Praying for faith means that you lack faith. God is not revealing Himself to the faithless, but the faithful.

You're the last person who needs to be giving any sort of spiritual advice.

 

[Sonofason]

I loved God and prayed for faith as I was losing it. I prayed desperately and I believe truly up until that point. I found no evidence. Sitting in church on Christmas Eve, praying desperately, I found nothing.

And have found nothing since. Everyone doesn't get evidence.

I notice you are not saying anything about obedience.

Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."(John 14:15-17)

If you want evidence of God you must love and obey Him.

 

[Sonofason]

But I was faithful. Why wouldn't I have gotten all the evidence I needed?

Also how are you qualified to say I wasn't loving and obeying God? It's weird to find such loopholes in God's powers. You don't think the most loving and obedient believers doubt sometimes?

ETA: I mourned the loss of God as I mourned the loss of a love. I cried in church that night.

If you are sincere in your love for God, you would not abandon Him. If I were you, I'd spend less time here debating against God, and spend more time reading the literary works of those people who actually know Him.

 

[Sonofason]

You're the last person who needs to be giving any sort of spiritual advice.

And that's why I'm giving it. I'm the last person to give spiritual advice.

 

[Parsimony]

God is not revealing Himself to the faithless, but the faithful.

What does it mean, in your opinion, to have faith in God?

 

[Drolefille]

I notice you are not saying anything about obedience.

Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."(John 14:15-17)

If you want evidence of God you must love and obey Him.

So you have decided I did not obey God? And yet, I was actually quite devout, I was obedient, as any person can be. It is interesting to me that you have decided to poke holes in my story rather than believe me for who I am. I was loving, obeying and believing on faith alone - I didn't get evidence. And then my faith eventually slipped, and I didn't get evidence. And then my faith was lost and I didn't get evidence. Not everyone gets it. Either I'm incapable of finding it - which God made me, he'd know right? or it wasn't there - which mean he ignored me then.

Is doubting me what Jesus would have done? I always imagined he would have accepted my story for what it was, but also had the right words to say, or the presence to make me believe again. I mean Thomas got to touch the wounds, right?

If you are sincere in your love for God, you would not abandon Him. If I were you, I'd spend less time here debating against God, and spend more time reading the literary works of those people who actually know Him.

I didn't, he abandoned me. I didn't want to stop believing.

Thankfully you're not me. I have easily 20 years of religious education - school, church, college, self driven - and if reading a book would help me believe I think I'd have done it by now.

Why is it important to you not to believe me?

 

[Sonofason]

What does it mean, in your opinion, to have faith in God?

To believe and to trust His every Word.

The Bible is our manual with detailed instructions, but few people take the time to really study it. They are impatient. They want to do it on their own and in their own way. They may reach some level of success, but to really be proficient, they have to read the book. And I would advise them to go much further. If you want to know God, read about Him. There are people who know Him well.

A Christian is by definition a follower of Christ.
If a person is following Christ, it is because Christ is leading them.
When a person has a leader, he must do that which his leader says to do.
If you are not obeying your leader, then you are not following him.
If you are not following Christ, you are not a Christian.

 

[Sonofason]

So you have decided I did not obey God? And yet, I was actually quite devout, I was obedient, as any person can be. It is interesting to me that you have decided to poke holes in my story rather than believe me for who I am. I was loving, obeying and believing on faith alone - I didn't get evidence. And then my faith eventually slipped, and I didn't get evidence. And then my faith was lost and I didn't get evidence. Not everyone gets it. Either I'm incapable of finding it - which God made me, he'd know right? or it wasn't there - which mean he ignored me then.

Is doubting me what Jesus would have done? I always imagined he would have accepted my story for what it was, but also had the right words to say, or the presence to make me believe again. I mean Thomas got to touch the wounds, right?


I didn't, he abandoned me. I didn't want to stop believing.

Thankfully you're not me. I have easily 20 years of religious education - school, church, college, self driven - and if reading a book would help me believe I think I'd have done it by now.

Why is it important to you not to believe me?

Because God is faithful.

 

[Parsimony]

To believe and to trust His every Word.

So a person has to believe and trust in His every Word before He will reveal evidence of His existence to that person?

 

[Sonofason]

So a person has to believe and trust in His every Word before He will reveal evidence of His existence to that person?

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me."
(Proverbs 8:17)


Isaiah 58
"1Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

2Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

3Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

4Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

5Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

6Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

7Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

8Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

9Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

10And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:

11And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

12And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

13If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

14Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."

 

[Parsimony]

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

"I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me."
(Proverbs 8:17)

What kind of seeking is this, specifically? There are two possibilities I see: (1) seeking to know whether the Abrahamic God exists or not, or two (2) seeking to find reassurance of His existence when you already believe that He exists.

 

[Sonofason]

What kind of seeking is this, specifically? There are two possibilities I see: (1) seeking to know whether the Abrahamic God exists or not, or two (2) seeking to find reassurance of His existence when you already believe that He exists.

Commit your every possible waking hour to knowing God better than you do right now.

 

[Parsimony]

Commit your every possible waking hour to knowing God better than you do right now.

Is that just for believers or believers and skeptics alike?

 

[Sonofason]

Is that just for believers or believers and skeptics alike?

If you are questioning or doubting God's existence, but are uncertain with regard to His non-existence, I would suggest seeking God by the means I've suggested. If you are committed to stand opposed to God, then I can only hope that you change your mind very soon. If you already believe in God, then you know you want to know Him better already, but you just need to make the time to do that. Give God your time, an He will give you some of His time.