Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I hope Osteen doesn't start receiving death threats from the homofascists for expressing his opinion they way they did to Miss USA California a while back. People are entitled to their opinion, there are many who do not approve of gay marriage, that doesn't make them 'homophobic' (a proggie invented word designed to shut down honest discussion of issues).
If I were a Christian, I wouldn't support Christian gay marriage. Of course I would oppose Muslim marriage, Jewish marriage, agnostic marriage, and atheist marriage also.
If a Christian preacher doesn't want to marry two men, or two women, or whatever, thats fine with me. But the state has set marriage as a non religious act by its acceptance of marriage as authentic social contract between consenting grown adults, and as such, they have no right to tell anyone they can't marry any other consenting adult.
This is why I think the state should drop the name "marriage" from all of their books, period. The state shouldn't marry anyone, just offer civil union contracts to consenting adults.
Anytime any religious text is held up as the definitive standard of human behavior it's being argued the God behind that text is better than all the others.
Welcome to the position of a western religion. I have studied many different religions and their positions. Some can accept others and often meld between them (voodoo practitioners who have modified Christianity to fit their mold as an example). Buddhism deals with a position of life, not that of a singular focus or entity as an authority and it goes on an on.
Christianity is one to which believes of a singular entity as the one true God and power over all. You may disagree, but what you seem to object to is their belief. What you demand of one who is a Christian is for them to forfeit their belief and accept all other faiths as correct. One can not be Christian and believe that another system is correct. To do so defies their own system due to the makeup of their belief.
This you need to understand and you can respect that those who are Christian can not condone the systems of other beliefs as correct without denying their own. This is the nature and conflict of man, to which systems of belief can not always coexist in the harmony you desire.
You seem to suggest that we should all accept every other belief as just as correct as any other, but doing so causes a system of belief to conflict with itself. You can liken their goals between each other as many Buddhist respect certain goals of Christianity and many Christians respect certain goals of Buddhists, but in the end not all beliefs can achieve such as to do so denies that belief of its purpose.
You seem to have a disgust with Christianity and its designations of behavior to what is accepted and what is not. I understand this, but if you are to demand conformity and deny ones faith, then you have become the very thing you accuse those of Christianity of. That is, you demand all conform to your view and serve your ideology.
This is what I say to homophobic bigots that try to control what is on TV and news stands: If you don't like it, change the channel, don't buy it. I'm not buying his bigoted beliefs. Therefore, if I see him on TV, I will surely be changing the channel. His mindset will die with the older generation anyway!
This is what I say to homophobic bigots that try to control what is on TV and news stands: If you don't like it, change the channel, don't buy it. I'm not buying his bigoted beliefs. Therefore, if I see him on TV, I will surely be changing the channel. His mindset will die with the older generation anyway!
His mindset will only die when people stop reading the Bible.
His mindset will only die when people stop reading the Bible.
Which is why sometime in the future someone will come up with the idea that banning them and killing those who might promote it will be better for society.
There will come a day when those who object to Christianity will execute them and lament at the good they are doing for society.
At no time in the history of this nation has homosexuality been so accepted, even celebrated. But I suspect (but have no empirical evidence to back this up) that the incidence of teen suicides among homosexuals is higher than it's ever been. Given the weakening hold of Christian belief on the issue of homosexuality on public opinion one would expect the reverse would be true. It is unlikely, therefore, that teens are killing themselves because of Christian beliefs. More likely it is the lifestyle itself tht is killing them.
No disrespect to your beliefs or your faith intended at all here: suicide (whether among gay individuals or not) is a really complex phenomenon. One of the risk factors for suicide is feeling marginalized (which one could argue some gay youth do). Religious belief can be a protective factor for some suicidal folks but lack of religious belief is not a risk factor. I'm not sure what you mean by "the lifestyle itself that is killing them", but would be happy to share what I know about risk/protective factors if you expand on your statement a bit.
And that won't happen, GOD's people are strong in this country. Thank goodness!!!
Again, no disrespect to your beliefs and your faith, but there are plenty of people in this country who believe in God and understand that faith is belief in that which cannot be proven (hence the whole miracle of faith). Saying something you believe to be true is the truth or the facts period actually undermines the entire point of having faith. Faith is faith and not verifiable fact and that's part of the beauty of faith.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
People are entitled to their opinion, there are many who do not approve of gay marriage, that doesn't make them 'homophobic' (a proggie invented word designed to shut down honest discussion of issues).
.
