Why are Christians such homophobes?

Why are Christians obsessed with who complete strangers have sex with, when Jesus never once mentioned homosexuality? It wasn't even on your god's top ten list of sins. In fact, there are more references in the Bible prohibiting the eating of meat than there are prohibiting homosexuality.

With that said, I challenge any Christian to give a rational argument against civil rights for gays in the form of marriage, adoption, and military service.

 

Nothing like a good generalization huh? I'm a Christian and i am far from obsessed with who a complete stranger has sex with. I am female and love men but i also love women. What's not to love? How about you dump the blanket statements and come back with something a little more specific. Also, good luck finding Christians here that are worried about homosexuality. From the bit i've read there are some true Jesus lovin' hippies around here and all they do is love others.

peace
barefootnikki

that said... i would "guess" that like most religions some groups of people like to twist things to fit their own prejudices so they can feel that God is on their side.

 

I believe that in the chapter Levictus something along the lines of "Do not lie in bed with a man as you would a woman" is written. So I suppose this is the root.



As for rational arguments from Christians against gay marriage, their 'rational' argument is "Its wrong in the eyes of god". So they believe that is reason enough for gay marriage to be against the law.



To that I say, -We must preserve the seperation of church and state-



And as far as this generalizing goes, I think it is fair to generalize that orthodox christians are anti-gay. These days there is much more unorthodoxy in Christianity than there used to be though so "Christians are homophobes" is unfair.

 

Its hardly the few verses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that condemn homosexuality. If you read the Book of Romans, there is quite alot to say - not just against homosexual action, but even the thought or inclination of homosexuality.

Thus, Christians are absolutely right when they say that the Bible condemns homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments and therefore should be frowned upon as a moral wrong.

However - is it a moral wrong? How can they justify this in an intellectual way instead of just ranting off sleep-stimulating verses from the scriptures?

I contend that there is no wrong with homosexuality - and thus the Bible is incorrect, and bigoted.

Not that we can really condemn them - the writers at that time were simply products of their society in that particular way. Can't expect humans to rise above all of their society's incorrect views - as we can only be human.

But that's just my own two cents.

- JL

 

I am going to get shot down in flames here. But I am a great believer in a balanced argument and showing the facts as they are. The Bible clearly states that homosexuality is wrong and is a sin. Genesis 19 states this nicely. If anybody knows the story of Sodom and Gomorrah will know what happened.

Guess what happened to those two cities.

Call me old fasioned but the Bible also states that sex outside the context of marrage is also a sin. All sin carries the same weight in God's eyes. But the Bible also states that we must love the sinner but hate the sin. Sex is inbuilt in to us. But we do not have to act on these desires. The trouble with homosexuality it is about self worship. It is written all over the Bible that you should not worship anything else other than God. But if you love the lord but are homosexually inclined you are probably better of giving your services to the Lord. Celebacy is are hard thing to do sometimes.
Matt

 

What would you have a homosexual do? Deny the truth and be celibate their entire life? "You don't have to act on desires" is one of the dumbest arguments Christians come up with when it comes to homosexuality.

How is it about self-worship? Heterosexuals act on their desires without being condemned by the Christian world, so why should homosexuals be any different?

 

Well I am a great believer that it should very well be condemed. It is society trying to mold the church. A few years ago it was condemed. I know of a case where the church had to disipline a couple of people. Guess what it was. Adultery! Basically one girl I knew was sleeping with this married man. She confessed this to the minister and that set of a chain of events that led to a meeting being held. Lots of discussions with the parties involved.
Matt

 

I think one of the biggest problems with the views on Christians is that there are so many people out there that say they are Christian but have never sat down & thought anything out. I am a Christian & am not speaking against Christianity, but I have seen a lot of people who will scream at you about a religious topic, but they don't really even know what they are saying... these same people might or might not even go to church or read the Bible, but they know they are 'supposed to' be angry about it....

So many Christians will speak loudly against homosexuality and ignore many other things... One time Will & Grace was about to come on the tv & the person that was in the room with me got angry & changed the channel quickly saying he wasn't going to watch that 'fag'... I said that you can't be so upset about that when you are just going to watch another show where heterosexuals are having sex with everyone & that is supposed to be the same... but most Christians will not get into a heated debate about those things.

I think we get a lot of that because the older generations were raised in a society where it was much more socially unacceptable... and so the older members of the churches or the pastors pass it down that it is horribly wrong & you should be angry about it too.... & most people never get past that.

But in the end, Christians should not judge people outside of the church. If someone is not Christian, it does not matter if they are sinning because they have no reason not to. And we do not always know the heart of people that are in the church. A pastor could be cheating on his wife, but on the outside he looks fine & holy. It is up to God to convict someone of a sin & if they do change it should be for that reason & not because someone screamed them into submission.

 

I could not agree more.

 

Adultery is NOT the same thing as homosexual sex or heterosexual sex, and you know it. Adultery is immoral because it actually HARMS someone. Sex, whether gay or straight, harms no one.

 

However, the Bible condems them both as a sin. I wouldn't say that sex doesn't harm anyone. Sex plays on both your physical and emotional needs. That's why God says that each man would have his own wife. Of course, not many people take that to heart in this day and age and that's why we have all of the sexual issues that we do.

 

All the sexual issues that we do? Like what? I, for one, think it's great that society has progressed beyond the Puritan view of sex. Any "sexual issues" that our society has have probably existed for ages, but people are just now starting to talk about them.

 

I think the point Barefoot_Surfer was trying to make is that the churches should not speak so loudly & angrily against certain topics while they ignore other issues.... The story that he told happened to involve adultery, but I can only assume that if the members of his church had been unmarried teens having sex that he would have told thatstory instead. I do not think that he was trying to compare adultery & homosexual sex... the topics are very different as abbadabba said.

As far as 'sexual issues'... I do think that it is good that we are able to talk about more things now & that yes, they have gone on a long time behind closed doors. But I think that it is sad that as much knowledge as we have now, people are still going to think that nothing bad can happen to them, it is always going to be someone else. And so a lot of time nothing is discussed until there is already a problem (sorry to speak so vaguely!)

(By the way Epiphany, I love those fairy wings!)

 

So father-less children, teen pregnancies, and an outbreak of sexual disease is progress? This goes back to God cursing Babylon, and Sodom and Gomorrah for their sexually immorality. I'm glad the Puritans viewed sex the way they did. Of Course, nowadays, wearing a big red letter on your chest would be the, "cool", thing to do. "How many red A's can you get sewn on?". But back to the point, God said that homosexuality was wrong, and that is why us Christians are against the notion.

 

Fatherless children is not a sexual problem.

Teen pregnancies - On the decline for several decades now.

Outbreak of sexual disease - Also on the decline since the birth of modern medicine. We just happen to live in an age with one very terrible new STD, which could have just as easily sprang up during any point in human history. Every other STD is declining thanks to us sinful, devil-worshipping atheists who actually take the time to educate kids and third-world foreigners about sex...which you Christians tend to be opposed to.

Then I don't suppose we have anything else to say to each other since you disagree with my opinion that freedom is a good thing. However, I'll finish disproving your argument for the sake of others reading this thread.

How arrogant of you to assume that you know what God is thinking. Doesn't the Bible also say to fix your OWN life before you go condemning others? Of course, people like yourself ignore any parts of the Bible that don't suit you. Is your own life so completely sinless that you consider yourself better than homosexuals?

 

Um, the scriptures about homosexually and it's punishment were clearly pointed out, so how did I assume anything? Your question simply asked why are Christians, "homophobic", I answered by telling you that in the Bible, God says that homosexuality is a sin. Because it's a sin, Christians oppose it. No one said anything about being blameless. You asked a specific question, you got a specific answer. It's amusing how people assume that Christians believe they are perfect. Did I not agree with the one in an earlier post who said, "Love the sinner hate the sin"?

 

Perhaps it's the way it is becaus the church is a voluntary institution. People aren't legally required to go to church--thank God--and so the church has to recruit (i.e., evangelize, proselytize) to get people in the door.

If people have sex and reproduce, they're likely to send their children to church. Then those people grow up and send their children to church. If people have gay sex or lesbian sex, no future church-goers result.

 

Hehe... That makes me think of natural selection SageDreamer

I think that this question is not so simple... even if Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin does not mean that they should be afraid of them, as 'homophopic' would imply ~ or so angry towards them.

 

Indeed homophobic is not the same as disagreeing with homosexuality, it is being either afraid or pissed off by it. So technically a true christian (of which there are very few nowdays) would not be homophobic persay, but more inclined not to perform any homosexual deboncles themselves.

 

This again i see....Epiphany,I totaly back you up on this and everything you said.If the people that do believe in the word of God studies the bible they would already know this.And those who have no clue that just wanna put the word down so to speak they would also know the answer to these questions.And Abbadaba why is it always something like this dealing with homosexuals and not other debates?? if you think christians only care about this issue and not others you have no clue the christian coalition of america deal with all types of negativity from different TV shows to the people running for all types of office.Not trying to get you upset by writing this but you must know most of us christians are not the way you percieve us to be.But you are entitled to your opinion and im not going to hold that against you ...