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.
If the vitriolic bile that is spewing from the keyboards of you and other purported "Christians" in this thread isn't worthy of mockery and derision, then the end can't come soon enough.
I will tell you this. The one unpardonable sin is to reject the power of the Holy Spirit. It is real and to deny the Holy Spirit those will never be forgiven.
Matthew 12:31 Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”
The unpardonable sin is the sin of rejection. The unpardonable sin is defined as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because when Christ was on earth, the religious leaders were attributing his miracles to demonic powers when in fact they were the product of the Holy Spirit working in the life of Christ (Matt. 12:12-32). This demonstrated a heart that had become so hard that it precluded repentance because Christ’s words and works were a clear evidence of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Him as the Anointed One, the Messiah of the Old Testament. To reject Christ and claim His works were from Satan was a clear evidence of both unbelief and an unrepentant heart. That’s why it was considered unpardonable.
The one sin that is unforgivable is unbelief or rejection of Christ. Note in the passage quoted below that the convicting work of the Spirit is related to giving demonstrable proof that it is the sin of rejection that is the issue.
8 And He (the HolySpirit), when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged (John 16:8-11).
I'd like to hear other's thoughts on this as well.
In the years after Boswell's book was published his research and conclusions have been seriously questioned by historians who have no dog in the controversy over gay rights. He seems to have been almost cavalier in equating brotherhood ceremonies as "gay marriages," and other parts of the book seem to torture a limited amount of historical data into "proof" when much of it is basically not understood.
I began to read his book sympathetically, and became convinced as I read it that his enthusiasm was running away with him, and put it away. He did write credible history, but this book shouldn't be on that list I don't think.
Speaking for myself, in considering same-sex marriage rights in our times, I really do not give a fart what Christians were doing in 100 A.D.
If the vitriolic bile that is spewing from the keyboards of you and other purported "Christians" in this thread isn't worthy of mockery and derision, then the end can't come soon enough.
The "vitriolic bile" you are referring to comes straight from God's Word, The Bible. You will be judged for every idle word.
You guys have been preaching "the end is nigh" for 2000 years. Time to s*** or get off the pot.
"There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.' For this they willingly are ignorant..."
My god says homosexuals are fine just the way they are. And my god is better than your god.
You have created your god in the form of accepting homosexuality. God says have no other God's before me... Homosexuality has become your idol. God loves you more than you can fathom. No, homosexuality cannot stop the Love of God.
Romans 8:38-39
New International Version (NIV)
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the the love of God. Nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God knows all. God says homosexuality is a lust spirit that ensnares those who entertain it.
Satan comes to kill , steal and destroy God's creation. God came to seek and save his creation through the power of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross. God loves all. No sin is too strong to break the bonds of that which ensnares them. Homosexuality is a lust spirit for the same sex. It can be broken through the power of God through Jesus Christ.
Does religious zealotry cause insanity or is it insanity that causes religious zealotry?
The "vitriolic bile" you are referring to comes straight from God's Word, The Bible. You will be judged for every idle word.
No, the vitriolic bile is coming from people who claim to believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ, yet at the same time speak and act in direct opposition to those teachings.
Let's get something straight before you decide to judge me from a Christian point of view. I was raised Mormon, and left the church for reasons that don't really concern you. I have studied the three 'major' religions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. After studying these three, I've come to one simple and not really all that startling conclusion: People who base their lives on books that were written by men who lived thousands of years ago have enough issues in their own lives and souls that they don't really need to be concerned with anyone else's morality.
In my personal life, I have many friends who are in loving, committed same-sex relationships. On the other hand, I have many heterosexual friends who are working on their 3rd, 4th, or 5th marriage. For that matter, my own first marriage didn't work out, mainly due to the fact that we listened to the pressure from so-called "Christians" about needing to be married. Over all, my homosexual friends come far closer to living by the teachings of Christ than any of my hetero friends do, and if you don't see the hypocrisy in that fact then you are blinded by your own inability to think outside of the box of the church.
I'm agnostic for a very simple reason, which is that every single religion is an interpretation by men of the words of other men who claimed to speak for the deity of their choice. While I tend to believe in a higher being, that higher being is far different from the judgmental and hypocritical God that you espouse so vociferously. The status of my soul and the souls of others who have chosen to be agnostic is not your concern, nor is your judgement anything that the vast majority of us would be concerned about.
For the matter of the OP, the early Christian church was a den of corruption created by power-hungry men (you notice the women's point of view was left out, even though it was written) who had found the newest, greatest thing for subduing the masses: They targeted the eternal soul at a time when people still believed that thunder caused milk to sour and that the sickness of livestock was caused by witches in control of evil spirits. The early church incorporated pagan beliefs in order to broaden their power-base (you do know that December 25th has absolutely nothing to do with the birthday of Christ, don't you?), and persecuted anyone who didn't profess their faith in the Christian God to such an extent that in today's world early Christian priests would have been considered sociopaths and placed in confinement, if not executed.
Did the church run brothels? Yes, historically they did. Did they perform gay marriages? I'm not sure, but there was definitely some sort of ceremony that closely resembled marriage and was performed between two men. Does any of that make one iota of difference in how people should behave today? Nope. Unless, of course, you believe in the mythology of the 4 horsemen, in which case you probably need to be more worried about your state of mental health than about the moral health of those around you.
I'd like to hear other's thoughts on this as well.
I'm wondering, is the gay marriage argument about religion now.
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.
