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Jesus gives us a pass and forgiveness when we confess our sins and are willing to turn away from them. That's the difference that you refuse to acknowledge. Do you really believe repentance is not part of Christianity? Did God continue to bless Israel when they fell into sin and away from him? No, they were punished and often led into a awful existence of slavery by their enemies. But when they repented and turned back to him, they were blessed again. Look what God says here:
""Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" declares the Sovereign Lord. "Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?... Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die... Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?""
Ezekiel 18:23-31
Wow, you must belong to some newfangled New Age hybrid church. Jesus most certainly revered the Bible over everything else. You can see this here:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. "
John 1:1
The word of God is above all things. Now Jesus did have issues with the Pharisees because they had taken the law into ridiculous extreme legalism. Again, you don't know anything about my personal spiritual walk to make any claim that I don't know Jesus.
First, I no longer go to church because people with your kind of beliefs fill so many of them. I remain a student of the scriptures in my declining years.
The verse you quote doesn't mean anything you think it does. Professional biblical textual critic Daniel McClellan has debunked the popular Sunday School teaching of the majority of evangelical churches with regard to it.
Second, people who are born of God and have had a life changing road to Damascus experience recognize one another. Sorry, but I don't know who you are.
The apocryphal story of the woman caught in adultery illustrates Jesus put the well-being of a sinner ahead of scripture. The Pharisees were right. The Bible calls for her to be stoned to death. But Jesus had a different response. You do not. You aren't like Jesus at all.
You base your entire argument on scripture in John 8 that was not even found in the early Greek manuscripts and didn't appear until Codex Bezae of the late 4th or early 5th century. And even then you leave out a most important concept of repentance by totally ignoring Christ's instruction to the woman to "go, and sin no more" and claim that He really didn't mean it and that basically she could go out and just keep on sinning and forget about repenting of sin altogether.
Now, take a look at another example of a woman who in this case was not caught in the act of adultery but was not properly married yet living with a man
Just 4 chapters back in the Book of John is the story about the Samaritan woman at the well.
Christ asked her to go call her husband and come here.
John 4:17-18
The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
Christ would tell it like it is. He didn't pull punches when it came to sin.
You once tried to claim that Christ healed a Roman centurion's male servant who according to your speculation (and inaccurate speculation, I might add) was his homosexual lover.
If that Roman soldier came to Christ and what you are trying to claim is correct that he had a homosexual servant lover then based on how Christ dealt with this woman in John 4 He would have told the Roman soldier to go call your wife and come hither and if the soldier told him his wife was back in Rome or he had no wife Christ would have told him -- you have no wife and one you are living with now is not your wife but a male "sodomite" lover.
Christ does not play around with sin. He had to give His life for all of our sins and it wasn't as easy as you try to make it appear.
Sodomites and lesbians today do not repent of their sin of homosexuality and they need to repent of this capital crime to have any true relationship with God the Father.
I appreciate all the other comments on this thread that have pointed out this need of repentance.
God will not and has never tolerated sin.
When you sin you are cut off from God.
Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
If you are a true Christian you have to go to your high priest Jesus Christ AFTER REPENTING and ask for forgiveness to be reconciled back to God the Father!
It's time we got all of this straight (a tragic pun intended).
tthttf
Yes, the story of the woman caught in adultery is apocryphal. It was obviously added following the original writing. However numerous textual critics, including quite liberal ones, see it as not only representative of Jesus in His dealings with people in general, they believe it came from a separate oral tradition and was added by someone who felt it was an important addition to the scriptures.
In this single case, I agree.
God does NOT tolerate sin. I agree. I just don't understand why you and the others who claim to be Christian keep sinning in the fashion you are doing.
Sadly, those separated from God by their sin won't be showing up in Heaven but whatever it takes to get you through the day.
oh, if you only knew...
I asked someone else this in another post...when you die and show up in heaven, and see all the people you thought surely would not be there, will be be disappointed?
I grew up in a very loving Catholic family, and even when I became an atheist (which I am not anymore), I didn't know why Christianity has such a bad rap. Well, I have learned why, by reading this forum. No wonder so many are leaving organized religion behind, and looking for love, compassion and acceptance elsewhere.
First, I no longer go to church because people with your kind of beliefs fill so many of them. I remain a student of the scriptures in my declining years.
The verse you quote doesn't mean anything you think it does. Professional biblical textual critic Daniel McClellan has debunked the popular Sunday School teaching of the majority of evangelical churches with regard to it.
Second, people who are born of God and have had a life changing road to Damascus experience recognize one another. Sorry, but I don't know who you are.
The apocryphal story of the woman caught in adultery illustrates Jesus put the well-being of a sinner ahead of scripture. The Pharisees were right. The Bible calls for her to be stoned to death. But Jesus had a different response. You do not. You aren't like Jesus at all.
And you have accused of being or likened me to a Pharisee, a self-righteous, Biblical illiterate, viper and now suggest are accusing me of not even being a Christian.
Have I every attacked you with any personal attacks as you have me?
No.
The mods say that I should not answer personal attacks.
When you can't take the Bible and win the argument, you start attacking the messenger instead of the message.
I have not read every post in this thread nor in any of the other threads. I do have a general idea of who believes what and why. I am a very simplistic person. So my question to the OP and any others, is:
Hypothetical: I am a believer in God, who sent His son to die for my sins. I am gay. I am only attracted to women. Not to men. Men make me want to throw up. Because of what the Bible says, I must control my attraction to women and therefore never enter a loving, physical relationship unless I'm willing to be in a "fake" one with a man, where every time we have sex, I want to throw up. I must choose between the lesser of the two evils, so to speak. I have prayed to be in God's will, but alas, men still make me want to throw up and I am now 35. What am I to do?
And you have accused of being or likened me to a Pharisee, a self-righteous, Biblical illiterate, viper and now suggest are accusing me of not even being a Christian.
Have I every attacked you with any personal attacks as you have me?
No.
The mods say that I should not answer personal attacks.
When you can't take the Bible and win the argument, you start attacking the messenger instead of the message.
Please re-evaluate your tactics and repent.
tthttf
But God called me to point my finger at false Christians---those who do not follow Jesus--those who adore scripture more than Jesus Himself.
Why should I not continue to point my finger at what my religion considers as false and evil. It's what YOU are doing with homosexuals. I believe my mission to be as holy or perhaps holier than yours!
With what judgment you mete, it shall be meted unto you. Please re-evaluate your tactics and repent.
And you have accused of being or likened me to a Pharisee, a self-righteous, Biblical illiterate, viper and now suggest are accusing me of not even being a Christian.
Have I every attacked you with any personal attacks as you have me?
No.
The mods say that I should not answer personal attacks.
When you can't take the Bible and win the argument, you start attacking the messenger instead of the message.
Please re-evaluate your tactics and repent.
tthttf
He's not the only one who thinks that. Your actions speak louder than words. The comments you have posted on here draw a very clear picture of what you really are.
I have not read every post in this thread nor in any of the other threads. I do have a general idea of who believes what and why. I am a very simplistic person. So my question to the OP and any others, is:
Hypothetical: I am a believer in God, who sent His son to die for my sins. I am gay. I am only attracted to women. Not to men. Men make me want to throw up. Because of what the Bible says, I must control my attraction to women and therefore never enter a loving, physical relationship unless I'm willing to be in a "fake" one with a man, where every time we have sex, I want to throw up. I must choose between the lesser of the two evils, so to speak. I have prayed to be in God's will, but alas, men still make me want to throw up and I am now 35. What am I to do?
They have an answer for everything, they will tell you just to pray it away.
I asked someone else this in another post...when you die and show up in heaven, and see all the people you thought surely would not be there, will be be disappointed?
I grew up in a very loving Catholic family, and even when I became an atheist (which I am not anymore), I didn't know why Christianity has such a bad rap. Well, I have learned why, by reading this forum. No wonder so many are leaving organized religion behind, and looking for love, compassion and acceptance elsewhere.
And this is the great failing of most churches. The doctrines of men that in no way represent the examples Jesus gave us have become so important that these people have put blinders on their eyes. They are not sharing the GOOD NEWS as the church of my youth did, instead they are pointing fingers and finding fault. Look how many threads are started, primarily by people I believe are seeking to find self-justification for how they mistreat others.
1) They refuse to acknowledge that the Christian community has caused great emotional distress and personal pain for the GLBT community, regardless of that is the conclusion of the American Psychology Association.
2) They don't understand that they have in a sense committed many of the murders and beatings that have occurred because the idiots who took those actions believed they would be thought of as doing God's work.
3) They act in many ways as the religious zealots of the Taliban--the ends justify the means. If they can keep civil rights and acceptance from the GBLT community they will be doing a "service" to God.
4) If what they condemn is seen as totally evil in the eyes of God, then they themselves are seen as blessed and righteous.
The nation is failing not because of a lack of freedom of religion, but because of the inconsiderate who are practicing it to the detriment of their fellow human beings.
Such Christ like actions!
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