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I don't get this whole business. Who someone is sleeping with is no one else's business. So why would it even come up if a gay person, a bi person, a heterosexual person etc went to any church? Are they going to proclaim their sexual preference up there on the alter so that everyone knows? No matter what a church says their policies are or are not, the people in it are individuals who go by their own moral compass. You can't change that, it's their personal preference.
A lot of us have had all manner of "different" sexual experiences in our early years. I'm not gong to tell people in a church about the hooker I picked up in Reno, the woman I slept w/ that was my best friend's wife, or that crazy night in a New Orleans bar at 3 AM when I was in that restroom w/ someone who sure looked like a woman! Who knew?
Am I going to go to Ace Hardware for a saw and say I want everyone in the store to know that I'm gay just to see if they will sell me that saw? Trust me, they could care less. Why is a church any different? If anything, a church is a place where you keep your business in your pocket.
These "different" examples are all made up of course (probably), but you and I know that people do these things, and more, 24/7. None of it has any bearing about attending a church. If I were gay, I would have enough sense to not go around proclaiming it in a Southern Baptist church for sure, but why would I need to reveal it to anyone at any time?
There is no reason to do it.
I can tell you at my Southern Baptist mega-church, we do not inquire about such things, but before joining, you will find out we believe in traditional marriage as the only proper sexual relationship. That being said, we care more about your relationship to God and seek to encourage and assist you in that regard.
I can tell you at my Southern Baptist mega-church, we do not inquire about such things, but before joining, you will find out we believe in traditional marriage as the only proper sexual relationship. That being said, we care more about your relationship to God and seek to encourage and assist you in that regard.
Exactly. And I'd guess that the vast majority of churches in America would do the same. We don't CARE what the sexuality is of the person that comes into our churches are...until they tell us.
If a man comes into church and introduces himself, his wife, and then his girlfriend.....I'd have an issue with that. If a man comes in and introduces himself, and his husband, I'd have an issue with that.
I find it difficult to invite my gay relatives to a church where they are referred to as an abomination. I find it difficult to go to a church that regards me as a second -class citizen.
I don't get this whole business. Who someone is sleeping with is no one else's business. So why would it even come up if a gay person, a bi person, a heterosexual person etc went to any church? Are they going to proclaim their sexual preference up there on the alter so that everyone knows? No matter what a church says their policies are or are not, the people in it are individuals who go by their own moral compass. You can't change that, it's their personal preference.
A lot of us have had all manner of "different" sexual experiences in our early years. I'm not gong to tell people in a church about the hooker I picked up in Reno, the woman I slept w/ that was my best friend's wife, or that crazy night in a New Orleans bar at 3 AM when I was in that restroom w/ someone who sure looked like a woman! Who knew?
Am I going to go to Ace Hardware for a saw and say I want everyone in the store to know that I'm gay just to see if they will sell me that saw? Trust me, they could care less. Why is a church any different? If anything, a church is a place where you keep your business in your pocket.
These "different" examples are all made up of course (probably), but you and I know that people do these things, and more, 24/7. None of it has any bearing about attending a church. If I were gay, I would have enough sense to not go around proclaiming it in a Southern Baptist church for sure, but why would I need to reveal it to anyone at any time?
There is no reason to do it.
<For both the humor and the commonsense approach to the topic.
Exactly. If a man comes into church and introduces himself, his wife, and then his girlfriend.....I'd have an issue with that.
Yes, that scenario might rightly raise eyebrows. But then, that's unlikely to happen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BaptistFundie
If a man comes in and introduces himself, and his husband, I'd have an issue with that.
This might happen. So, what's the issue here? Do you personally disapprove, or do you disapprove because you believe that 'God' disapproves? Which one is it?
I find it difficult to invite my gay relatives to a church where they are referred to as an abomination. I find it difficult to go to a church that regards me as a second -class citizen.
The Jesus of the Bible would not refer to your gay relatives as 'abominations' and nor would He regard anyone as 'second-class citizens'. And Jesus is the one who counts!
Yes, that scenario might rightly raise eyebrows. But then, that's unlikely to happen.
This might happen. So, what's the issue here? Do you personally disapprove, or do you disapprove because you believe that 'God' disapproves? Which one is it?
Why do YOU have an issue with one and not the other? Do you personally disapprove, or do you disapprove because you think someone else might?
Do you believe a church is wrong for daring to follow what the Bible says?
I don't get this whole business. Who someone is sleeping with is no one else's business. So why would it even come up if a gay person, a bi person, a heterosexual person etc went to any church? Are they going to proclaim their sexual preference up there on the alter so that everyone knows? No matter what a church says their policies are or are not, the people in it are individuals who go by their own moral compass. You can't change that, it's their personal preference.
A lot of us have had all manner of "different" sexual experiences in our early years. I'm not gong to tell people in a church about the hooker I picked up in Reno, the woman I slept w/ that was my best friend's wife, or that crazy night in a New Orleans bar at 3 AM when I was in that restroom w/ someone who sure looked like a woman! Who knew?
Am I going to go to Ace Hardware for a saw and say I want everyone in the store to know that I'm gay just to see if they will sell me that saw? Trust me, they could care less. Why is a church any different? If anything, a church is a place where you keep your business in your pocket.
These "different" examples are all made up of course (probably), but you and I know that people do these things, and more, 24/7. None of it has any bearing about attending a church. If I were gay, I would have enough sense to not go around proclaiming it in a Southern Baptist church for sure, but why would I need to reveal it to anyone at any time?
There is no reason to do it.
Well, if a gay couple comes to church together, or wants to get married in a church, it's not going to be a secret. In some churches, people are going to try to get them to "stop sinning", or in the horror of a case that started the long-running thread in Christianity, the young man's parents and church learned he was gay and forced him to go to conversion therapy or risk being cut off by his family and shunned by his church. He tried, twice, to "convert" out of being gay, and when he couldn't do it, his family and church made good on their threat.
In other churches, they will be accepted as they are. The OP wants one of those churches to attend for her family.
It doesn't even have to be the gay person but those who love them as they are. I met an old lady at an event a few years ago who had moved to the area and started attending a church of the same denomination of the one she used to go to. The pastor's sermon was going off about wicked gay people were and how they were all going to hell. She told me, "I've known since he was a toddler that my youngest son was gay. He was different from my other sons, and I love him as he is. My son is not an abomination, and my son is not going to hell. I got up and walked out of that church in the middle of that sermon, and then I came to this one instead."
The distaste for sexuality that is different from the majority is purely human, and that is demonstrated in the ancient tribal biblical laws that the humans in fundamentalist (Bible literalist) churches use to hide behind their own distastes. All you can do is find a church that has matured beyond that point and follows Jesus's teachings of loving one's neighbors instead. And if you are feeling benevolent enough, pray for the fundamentalists that they may grow and mature in their Christian love and their eyes be opened.
Yes, because many churches twist the Bible to meet their own beliefs.
I agree...and they pick and choose what in the bible they want to follow...and that is a main reason that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of denominations.
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<For both the humor and the commonsense approach to the topic. 
