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I wouldn't put the passing down of sinful habits on God, but a result of the fall. Different people have different issues of sin that they deal with... greed, violence, power, lust, homosexuality...
That's not to say God doesn't love them, because He does. In love, He sent His Son for everybody.
Since the Bible never speaks of homosexuality--not once in any of its sixty-six books, you are creating man-made laws by tying it to greed, violence, power, and lust. And you, yourself do not stand against "power," as you suggested on another thread that members of the black church in Georgia should have been carrying weapons (human power) in a "temple" dedicated to God in order to prevent their murder by a white racist.
And you really don't believe your own message of about "original sin," unless you are like the Catholic Church of 500 years ago that believed young children died as "lost" unless they were baptized. Instead you've created a fictionalized story, not found in the Word of God, about "age of accountability." Age of accountability is not just sheer fiction it is an outright LIE to protect the god you have created in your own mind from looking like a monster.
I believe the Word of God when in Jeremiah 31:29, Ezekiel 18:2, and Job 21:19 it says the sins of the father shall NOT be visited on the sons (I guess daughters are exempt). Even the earlier verses that speak of sons suffering from the father's sins (Exodus 20: 5-6; 34:6-7; and Numbers 14:18) are ambiguous enough and hint enough that it wasn't just the father's sins, but the sons were as sinful as well.
Deuteronomy 5:9b says "I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me." Yet Deuteronomy 24:16 states clearly "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin." Both perspectives in the same book showing that one simply must have a measuring stick for determining the applicablity of every verse of Scripture. Mine is Jesus Christ--and visiting sins of the father on the sons simply doesn't fit in with the picture of Jesus in the gospels. Yours tends to be whatever verse supports your dogma.
Not only that, there are texts that describe God's punishment as owing to both the sins of the fathers and the sins of the children. For example, in Isaiah 65:6b-7 God says, "I will even repay into their bosom, both their own iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers together." (my emphasis)
With these kinds of mixed up viewpoints you have once again shown the ability to selectively believe the worst about people--and God--primarily because your measuring stick isn't Jesus the Christ.
If you ever reach the point when everything--including yourself--is measured against Jesus, you will find yourself a much more loving and forgiving and accepting individual. But I suspect your own internal fears and your desire to "fit in" with those like minded folks in your church will prevent you from breaking the spiritual chains you have placed upon yourself.
By this logic, God produces axe murderers.
There is no responsibility on the person to
behave righteously, and no influence of corruption
or demonic temptation in your heretical position.
Sin is an action. When did you decide to be "straight?" At 12, 14, 16? You DIDN'T? Why would you think a five year old who shows interest in things thought to be of the opposite sex is any different from you?
Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy said about being gay--
Quote:
I definitely knew something from an early age, and I didn’t necessarily know that that’s what it was and that I was gay, but I knew that I was different to the other boys and that I had this attraction,”
I can tell you why you think your situation is different and "normal." You have a prejudice that you cannot step away from. So you search the Scripture, not for life, but for self-justification of your own sin.
The heresy of fundamentalism lies in its ability to create fictionalized stories to make the Word of God fit their own prejudices.
What is sin, is failing to love one's neighbor as oneself. Is an axe murderer loving their neighbor?
How is a man loving another man NOT loving his neighbor as himself? Or a woman with a woman?
Further, evil things have bad results on others. I can show you a list longer than my arm of how many bad results to others have resulted from your own fundamentalist views. But you would be hard-pressed to find a single scenario in which a faithful man/man relationship harmed anyone except those already ensconced in prejudice--then it is their PRIDE that suffers. And pride comes before a fall.
Probably the worst phrase ever uttered by a Christian is "Love The Sinner, Hate The Sin." As if any of us were free of sin. This is nothing more than self-congratulatory pietism.
Christ tells us to pay attention to the log in our own eye rather than the mote in someone else's.
Sin is an action. When did you decide to be "straight?" At 12, 14, 16? You DIDN'T? Why would you think a five year old who shows interest in things thought to be of the opposite sex is any different from you?
I can tell you why you think your situation is different and "normal." You have a prejudice that you cannot step away from. So you search the Scripture, not for life, but for self-justification of your own sin.
The heresy of fundamentalism lies in its ability to create fictionalized stories to make the Word of God fit their own prejudices.
What is sin, is failing to love one's neighbor as oneself. Is an axe murderer loving their neighbor?
How is a man loving another man NOT loving his neighbor as himself? Or a woman with a woman?
Further, evil things have bad results on others. I can show you a list longer than my arm of how many bad results to others have resulted from your own fundamentalist views. But you would be hard-pressed to find a single scenario in which a faithful man/man relationship harmed anyone except those already ensconced in prejudice--then it is their PRIDE that suffers. And pride comes before a fall.
Love is never bad (bolded above), but, in your opinion, what does God think about two men (or two women) having sexual relations? Sincere question.
Probably the worst phrase ever uttered by a Christian is "Love The Sinner, Hate The Sin." As if any of us were free of sin. This is nothing more than self-congratulatory pietism.
Christ tells us to pay attention to the log in our own eye rather than the mote in someone else's.
You can go back to Genesis 1 with God's command to fill the earth, which is done ONE way.
I am not denying relationship is important. You however, are denying the importance of reproduction and filling the earth.
I am not denying the importance, but I DO recognize that that commandment has been fulfilled, and that reproduction is only a PART of human relationships.
It seems clear that you wish to make it all-important only to support YOUR prejudices, and NOT because of what the Bible actually says.
By this logic, God produces axe murderers.
There is no responsibility on the person to
behave righteously, and no influence of corruption
or demonic temptation in your heretical position.
and you can't tell the difference in spite of all the data and the touchstone of HARM to another person.
Nevermind, you LIKE having your head buried in the sand.
Love is never bad (bolded above), but, in your opinion, what does God think about two men (or two women) having sexual relations? Sincere question.
I don't think there is any real indication of what God thinks on the issue. From my standpoint it would fall under what Paul said about nothing being unlawful to him but some things being harmful. If it is not harmful (at least compared to other such relations) and it is in the context of a relationship, I'd say that God would be happy about it. Sex is about FAR more than reproduction in humans.
Love is never bad (bolded above), but, in your opinion, what does God think about two men (or two women) having sexual relations? Sincere question.
If it is not a case of "temple prostitution" which is the sense in which Paul was writing to Roman Christians and accusing them of (Romans 2:1), then those sexual relations are no different from your own.
Context is everything, jimmie, and until you are able to step into the shoes of not only the authors but the readers of Paul's letters, you can't even come close to grasping what any of it means in English.
Try reading Christian author Garry Willis' book, What Jesus Meant. Garry is a professor of history Emeritus at Northwestern University and an expert in koine Greek.
Right now your view of God is limited to the biases of English translations, none of which can be considered "good." A few are less awful than the others. But right now you've never truly gotten a sense of what Scripture is all about. I was brought up in that same SBC line of thinking that has entangled you.
I don't think there is any real indication of what God thinks on the issue. From my standpoint it would fall under what Paul said about nothing being unlawful to him but some things being harmful. If it is not harmful (at least compared to other such relations) and it is in the context of a relationship, I'd say that God would be happy about it. Sex is about FAR more than reproduction in humans.
Yes it is. It fulfills God's observation that "It is not good that man should be alone." I certainly would never encourage any homosexual to marry the opposite sex for that very reason. No matter how much they might "like" the other person, they would still be living a lonely, lonely life--and subjecting their partner to the same things.
jimmie, like many others, probably believes homosexuality to be a "lifestyle" and that one morning or another each of them woke up and said, "Hey, I want to live a life where I will be despised by most religious people. I may be rejected by my own family. I can be fired from a job in over half the states in America simply for being homosexual, and I am looking forward to the real possibility that someone encouraged by the religious persecution against me will make an attempt to bash my head in."
The stupidity of that kind of thinking is a hallmark of fundamentalism and its need to feel superior to one group or another. Targets in the past have been blacks and women. Still fairly prominent against homosexuals--and now, with encouragement from a certain presidential candidate--apparently Middle East immigrants as well.
There will always be another group to be afraid of--because that is the basis of most fundamentalism--fear, followed by inability to empathize with anyone different from their own very real "lifestyle."
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