Pride Houston creates rainbow crosswalk for LGBTQ community in Montrose (West: law, baptist)

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by curbur

Yea, well fair enough, but me and my fiancé are Christians though. He went to seminary school in fact. Now I know some will say practicing homosexuals can't be Christian, but I'd have to tell them to read again. Also, your point about murder is right, but the clothing of more than one material is very much a real sin and mentioned only one less rind than homosexuality is mentioned.. food for thought.

This might be just a personal thing for me, but I am of the belief that if you're going to believe something, go all the way. Don't half it. I just think that people want so bad for things to fit their own personal tastes and sometimes you just have to be by the book, doctinaire. I am not defending Christians per se, but that if the book says homosexuality is wrong and that's been the understanding since time immemorial, why go against it because of prevailing attitudes. There are certain things which can evolve but this one topic is fairly cut and dry. I guess I am just all about being real, even if it offends my sensibilities.

I had this same debate with a Muslim friend of mine who said that they were Muslim but didn't pray, has never gone and doesn't care to ever visit Mecca in their lifetime, doesn't go to Mosque. They just identify as a Muslim culturally. They were so offended that I said that they weren't Muslim. People just like to identify with things they know culturally without going all the way to be devoted. I feel the same about liberal Christians.

[curbur]

It's not because of a prevailing attitude, it's just that my entire life I've only been attracted to men. Trust me, I've tried to go against my biology before, but it just doesn't work. I don't think because of that or my actions that you get to tell me I'm not a christian or not as devout as you. There's actually an entire story in the Bible dedicated to denouncing that sort of misguided pride, but you seem to be proud of the fact you feel that way. Furthermore, it's not to say you have to condone it, but to try and not allow people to live the life they want to lead in a way that doesn't harm anyone else, that line of thinking goes against the principles the Jesus spoke of, not to mention it goes against the principles in which this nation was founded. I'm sure you don't have the same level of fervor in regards to satanic wedding ceremonies (yes they exist), and yes that was an intentional canard to annoy you :].

[jerbear30]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

This might be just a personal thing for me, but I am of the belief that if you're going to believe something, go all the way. Don't half it. I just think that people want so bad for things to fit their own personal tastes and sometimes you just have to be by the book, doctinaire. I am not defending Christians per se, but that if the book says homosexuality is wrong and that's been the understanding since time immemorial, why go against it because of prevailing attitudes. There are certain things which can evolve but this one topic is fairly cut and dry. I guess I am just all about being real, even if it offends my sensibilities.

I had this same debate with a Muslim friend of mine who said that they were Muslim but didn't pray, has never gone and doesn't care to ever visit Mecca in their lifetime, doesn't go to Mosque. They just identify as a Muslim culturally. They were so offended that I said that they weren't Muslim. People just like to identify with things they know culturally without going all the way to be devoted. I feel the same about liberal Christians.

The problem with your argument is that first you have to distinguish between the whole bible and then the doctrine of Christ. I think that in order to "be a Christian" one has to mostly follow the teachings of Christ. There is no doubt that Christ has some things to say about the old testament, but much of what he says is original in nature. Moreover, Christ is contradictory--his parables tend to support moderate or conservative views, but then one must consider the nature of the parable, which is to tell a truth by way of a fiction, so you can't always trust that the parables be taken literally. On the other hand, many of Christ's actions were pretty politically radical. There is a liberal case to be made for Christ as well as a conservative case, and most of the best biblical scholars will tell you there's no easy solution to this problem for members of contemporary society. Christ's doctrine certainly gives liberals things to think about that challenge the conventional "liberal" mentality, but it does the same for conservatives. The biggest danger for Christians is to believe that Christ's teachings correspond perfectly with their beliefs, but that is more true for conservatives than for liberals, and Christ never said anything against being gay.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by curbur

It's not because of a prevailing attitude, it's just that my entire life I've only been attracted to men. Trust me, I've tried to go against my biology before, but it just doesn't work. I don't think because of that or my actions that you get to tell me I'm not a christian or not as devout as you. There's actually an entire story in the Bible dedicated to denouncing that sort of misguided pride, but you seem to be proud of the fact you feel that way. Furthermore, it's not to say you have to condone it, but to try and not allow people to live the life they want to lead in a way that doesn't harm anyone else, that line of thinking goes against the principles the Jesus spoke of, not to mention it goes against the principles in which this nation was founded. I'm sure you don't have the same level of fervor in regards to satanic wedding ceremonies (yes they exist), and yes that was an intentional canard to annoy you :].

I wasn't trying to speak as a Christian. You can call yourself whatever you want, but the Bible talks about homosexuality being a sin. I don't know how much clearer it needs to get. Again, I am not a Christian but I like for people to have some standards and not just bend things to fit their personal feelings.

Your knee jerk reaction was to think that I was some fundamentalist Christian that gets offended by gay weddings, when that's far from the case. I just get equally annoyed when liberals think they have to lecture Christians about the tenets of their faith, things they know little about and claim to know because they think Jesus was a hippie or something.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by jerbear30

The problem with your argument is that first you have to distinguish between the whole bible and then the doctrine of Christ. I think that in order to "be a Christian" one has to mostly follow the teachings of Christ. There is no doubt that Christ has some things to say about the old testament, but much of what he says is original in nature. Moreover, Christ is contradictory--his parables tend to support moderate or conservative views, but then one must consider the nature of the parable, which is to tell a truth by way of a fiction, so you can't always trust that the parables be taken literally. On the other hand, many of Christ's actions were pretty politically radical. There is a liberal case to be made for Christ as well as a conservative case, and most of the best biblical scholars will tell you there's no easy solution to this problem for members of contemporary society. Christ's doctrine certainly gives liberals things to think about that challenge the conventional "liberal" mentality, but it does the same for conservatives. The biggest danger for Christians is to believe that Christ's teachings correspond perfectly with their beliefs, but that is more true for conservatives than for liberals, and Christ never said anything against being gay.

I can agree with some of that and that Christ was probably a bit more moderate to conservative in my opinion but that is if you had to pin down his politics at all which are hard to do because he was pretty apolitical. And did Christ have to actually say something about gays? I mean why do some of you play coy about this matter? I am sure you guys cannot be this clueless of the Bible and it's basic principles, and one of those things is that homosexuality is a sin, according to Christian tenets.

Do I believe that? No. I am not a Christian, but it's pretty clear cut and dry what most churches believe. It's not at all to say that I am against gays, but people should stop acting as though Christians being against homosexuality is new thing, or that they're being hypocritical. That's all I am trying to say.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

I wouldn't be so quick to throw stones, Dopo. Christians and people more right of center tend to donate in larger quantities than their liberal and atheist counterparts. At least last I've read.

Depends on what you count as donating. I don't count Christians donating to their Churches for non-charitable purposes as giving. Those funds are often used for building maintenance and salaries for the preacher, etc. That is not giving to the poor.

I am sure many Christians do donate to the poor though. Just not as much as is attributed to them when you count all the tithing and donating to churches.

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by nana053

Depends on what you count as donating. I don't count Christians donating to their Churches for non-charitable purposes as giving. Those funds are often used for building maintenance and salaries for the preacher, etc. That is not giving to the poor.

I am sure many Christians do donate to the poor though. Just not as much as is attributed to them when you count all the tithing and donating to churches.

Whether or not that's true, the point was that Christians do give, and that their main mission in life isn't to make life miserable for the most unfortunate (at least not intentionally).

[detachable arm]

Rainbows ... that's cute. My kids like rainbows too.

Too bad montrose really isn't much of a gayborhood / gheytto anymore. But... it makes all those vanilla white yuppies who live there think they are just a little bit more "edgy." I hope it was worth the money.

[curbur]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

but people should stop acting as though Christians being against homosexuality is new thing, or that they're being hypocritical. That's all I am trying to say.

Well it's certainly not a new thing, but it has always been hypocritical in fact.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by radiolibre99

Trust me I highly ,highly doubt you're much of Christian scholar to lecture Christians about which tenets of their faith they're not correctly following. .

This is the problem with Christians,
Instead of admitting hypocrisy when it is exposed, would rather attack the person that pointed it out

I'm not a scholar, but I'll tell you who I am
I've been a Christian my whole life, went to catholic school from 1st to 6th grade
My dad became an evangelical and started teaching me the Bible
That's when I began to wonder why in 6 years of Catholic school nobody told me to read the Bible
I read about 1/2 of the Bible when I was 14 and at 16 I was baptized again.
I go to church every weekend and right now I'm reading the New Testament again and I'm 1/2 way through it.

People claim to be Christian and have never read one book in the Bible and couldn't tell you one thing that Jesus told us to do.