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Bible and Sexuality
16/F/Christian
What does the bible say about homosexuality and being sent to H*ll? It just doesn't seem fair that all gays and lesbians can't go to Heaven, especially because God loves EVERYONE. Some people are just born that way and can't help it.
And what about people that are in such an isolated community, that they've never been exposed to God's word or people that don't know Christianity exists? What about them?
And in the old testament, doesn't it say crazy things like, it's okay to rape a woman as long as you marry her afterwards? And if someone hits you, you can chop off their hand, or something like that. That's just...crazy!
Why would God tell someone to put that in the Bible?
What are your thoughts on this? Can someone please clear up the rumors I've heard? Thankyou! Maybe you can recommend some scriptures, too? Thanks, again!
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God love everyone,but there are also the devil's children who worship him and God doesnt love them.this is why this world would never come at peace!.. He created adam & eve..FOr a male and Female to be together. People are not born gay at all, they just turn gay after watching and seeing that its ok from other gay people. thats a big rumor!
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Bible and Sexuality
The problem with the Bible is that it has been changed and things have been omitted over the years by various rulers, churches, etc.
I don't believe that you will go to Hell because you are homosexual, although I don't agree with it and don't understand it.
We were put on this earth to "procreate" and that requires male and female. The spirits waiting in heaven or wherever, need a physical body to inhabit.
Homosexuality seems to go against that laws of nature on earth, however, the spirit world does not necessarily have gender. The Bible says there is no marriage in heaven, which supports this theory.
Please remember that there are many books that did not make it into the Bible and just because it is not in the Bible, does not mean it didn't happen or is not allowed.
You are still a child of God and I don't believe that homosexuality is a sin in itself.
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i wouldnt worry about it... there is no proof of a god... unless you call the bible proof!!! in 4000 yrs from now they will probablly find acomic book collection and call Iron man god... enjoy your life and keep your faith in a god... but dont believe what some one wrote in a book 2000 yrs ago.... look in the book of job and read about sodom and gommorah.... the townsman wanted to do it to the angels and the town paid for it...then read jeremiah 10 and celebrate christmas with all the other christians...
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I'm going to answer from a different perspective: I'm an atheist who recently read the Bible front to back out of sheer interest. It seems like the homosexuality thing has been pretty much covered, so I'll skip over that.
The Old Testament in particular is interesting. Incest was allowed, for instance. Weird.
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Oh, and God was serious about the whole "honoring thy parents" thing:
Deuteronomy 21:18-21
18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19 his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20 They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." 21 Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
The Bible was written a long time ago, and whether it was inspired by the word of God or not, it was written by men. It is very contextual in nature. Sexuality was shameful at this time. For instance, women were considered to be unclean while they were menstruating. Any man who spoke with a menstruating woman was also considered to be unclean. That would make things pretty awkward now, wouldn't it?
What was right for people then is not necessarily right now. It was fully condoned to own slaves then, and even beat them.
My personal opinion, and I'm not a Christian, so feel free to like it or lump it, is that the Bible is more a set of general guidelines as opposed to a strict rulebook set down by God.
For instance, I believe that you should be good to others. I believe in charity, forgiveness, loyalty. I don't believe in stealing, or harming others, or dishonesty. Those are all important lessons that people can take from the Bible.
When you start following the details, it is easy to miss the big picture. The main message of the Bible, which you seem to understand, is love. Love others, love God, love yourself. Many of these little details are turned into a message of hate when put in the wrong hands.
I know this is a really long, rambling answer. Basically, what I'm trying to say is not to take everything the Bible says literally. It was influenced by God, but written by men who were influenced by the time they live in. It has been edited over time (did you know there are parts that have been excluded?).
I'm an atheist. I also do volunteer work, help others, and am generally (if I may say so myself) a pretty decent person. I try to live a good life and make others happy. Am I going to hell for my efforts if my beliefs are proven wrong? My Christian fiance and friends don't think so. Fundamentalists do, though.
Keep studying the Bible, and keep being a good Christian! The world needs more logical, tolerant religious folks like you :)
Bonus scripture, because it's super-cool:
23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. 25 And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there returned to Samaria.
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Of course that you know, the stories in the Bible happened thousands of years ago. Jacob had four wives and today people only have one spouse. You may wonder why. Bear in mind that the books in the Bible report that what happened in history didn't always go according to what God had in mind for his creation.
God let's people make up their minds about many things. But some things he says are wrong. God does not approve of the homosexual lifestyle anywhere in the Bible. In fact, he makes it clear that it is sinful. When goes says that something is evil, you can't pretend it is right. Some may say, well "my god, wouldn't send a gay or lesbian to hell..." That is breaking 2 of the 10 commandments. You are creating your own God in your mind to fit your own life you would like to believe, that is idolatry and you are worshiping a different God.
God doesn't send homosexuals to hell for being a homosexual. He does this because they are living in sin. God states that two of the same gender lieing together is a sin. To look forward to everlasting life in heaven you need to change ways and live your life by God's ways, not what you think you should do.
" If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death: their blood will be on their own heads" (Leviticus 20:13)
As I stated before the books of the Bible don't always mean that this will happen. It does not mean that homosexuals will be put to death, this jsut means that they will be punished for their sins such as everybody else will be punished for their sins.
As you also stated that you said that some people were born into being gay. That is not true. God would not create a child being born gay, that is a choice made by that child. God says that this is a sin. It is true that we are born into sin but God gave us the decision to be saved by him or walk away from him. If you walk away from him though, you will be found guilty on judgement day and go to hell.
God loves all his children, whether they are straight or not, but just because he loves them, doesnt mean that they will go to Heaven. You may be confused of why people go to hell. Well if a teenager sneaks out of the House what happens when they get caught? Their parents will most likely ground them. They do this because they love us and we need to pay for our actions. Same with God. No matter how big a sin is, God will not let someone off the hook. He loves us so much that he will be a good Father and make us pay for our actions.
I hope that I have helped make things more clear.
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"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
Leviticus 20:13
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind"
1 Corinthians 6:9
Every word of the Old Testament is the word and intent of God. Jesus said:
"(18)Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
(19)Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
(20)For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 5:18-20
You must believe in the Old Testament to believe in the New Testament: Jesus said that the old laws will always apply. And if you choose to ignore one thing that Jesus said, why should you believe anything he said?
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im a christian, too. but i dont bother reading the bible. or pay attention to any of that eye for an eye shit.
yes, the homosexuality isn't fair. we had a conversation about it on sunday in my class. all i know is that men were meant to love women, and visa versa. i dont know why god won't accept certain types of love. love is love. all love is basically the same, and this is why so many people are losing their faith or switching over to an easier religion, or just dropping it completely and claiming that there is no god and that we just go into the ground when we die or that we're reincarnated. all i keep telling myself is that that other stuff just doesnt matter. all you have to do to get into heaven is to believe in god and ask jesus to come into your heart and make it his home, or being "saved".
besides, i think some of the stuff in the bible is total bullshit. think about it, this book was written over 2000 years ago. and it was in a completely different language. languages change, and so do translations. some stuff could have been unintentionally changed, and now we're all having to deal with all this other complicated christian stuff. i think god would have mercy on a gay person that believed in him, and knew that if the person couldnt help it, he might understand. you can put a straight sign on a gay person, but they're still gay. just like a person that was psychologically ill keeps trying to kill themselves, they cant help it if their sick. you'd think god would have mercy on them, too.
just trust in him and keep believing. thats what i try. life is hard and it totally sucks, but allegedly, its all worth it.
take care :)
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That is old testament. See, God changed his mind about a lot of the things he told a bunch of guys to write down then, and told new guys what to write down in the new testament.
Basically, you need to look at it like this:
ANYONE can pick and choose scripture from the bible and twist it to sound like they want it to sound.
What is most important of all is what YOU think of it. You think God is a loving sort? So do I, as I was raised to believe that.
If other people want to hate in the name of God, and worse yet, speak in the place of God in order to pass judgment in the name of God, then that's on them to answer for that in their end.
I especially like to remember that whole part about passing judgment. People tend to forget that it is God's, and ONLY God's place to pass judgment on man.
Follow your beliefs, mind, gut, and heart. You can't go wrong that way.
31/f
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