The Supreme Court And Redefining Marriage

[Adrift]

I must have misunderstood how your presence causes God's favor to rain down on me.

That's not unexpected.

[whag]

That's not unexpected.

Did you want anyone besides me to understand?

[Christianbookworm]

Did you want anyone besides me to understand?

You're still alive, right?

[whag]

You're still alive, right?

What kind of a question is that? =P

[Christianbookworm]

What kind of a question is that? =P

Nothing.

[Sea of red]

Here's the difficultly there, fm..... Christians (at least many of us) believe homosexuality is a sin. A "gay couple" has made the choice to perpetuate sin. It's more akin to anybody else who came to us and said, "I want you to accept me, but I want to continue sinning".

Even with the woman caught in adultery, Jesus didn't say, "OK, cool - continue as you were". He told her "go and sin no more".

Why focus on homosexuality so much? Why not all the violence, murder, and suffering on the Earth? There's not much advocacy by Christians on that stuff.

[Sea of red]

You're absolutely right that Christians should be known by their love (the Bible says this almost exactly), and that we often aren't. That's bad. However, this particular situation is difficult because it seems as though any opposition to SSM or homosexuality at all is defined as hateful, so that Christians literally can't say, "I disagree with your lifestyle but still love you." At least, not without being dismissed as hateful and bigoted simply by definition.

If I said that I believe Christianity should be against he law and that Christians are mentally-ill, would you take that as acceptance?

Doubt it.

[Cow Poke]

Why focus on homosexuality so much?

Ummmm... you can't open a newspaper without being hit in the face with it. Are you on another planet this week?

Why not all the violence, murder, and suffering on the Earth? There's not much advocacy by Christians on that stuff.

There's NOT!?!?! When we preach on loving our neighbor, we obviously don't want them to murder or be murdered, or be in suffering. And, perhaps you're not aware of all the "relief" organizations run by Churches and Denominations? Our Southern Baptist organization has a whole Disaster Relief section, and we're often in disaster areas before the Red Cross.

You really have no clue what you're talking about here.

[Zymologist]

If I said that I believe Christianity should be against he law and that Christians are mentally-ill, would you take that as acceptance?

Doubt it.

So you agree that Christians can't act lovingly toward homosexuals while maintaining traditional Christian beliefs? That renders most of fm93's point, as I understand it, basically inapplicable.

[Cow Poke]

Why focus on homosexuality so much?

Just out of curiosity, what other sin is there that declares "I want to REMAIN in sin, but I want to be accepted as normal"?

[Sea of red]

Ummmm... you can't open a newspaper without being hit in the face with it. Are you on another planet this week?

Try this again.

Why do Christians always focus on sexuality? WAY before we ever the gay-marriage debate we had Christians groups going around talking about homosexuality and how wrong it is -- before the gays ever got organized.

There's NOT!?!?! When we preach on loving our neighbor, we obviously don't want them to murder or be murdered, or be in suffering. And, perhaps you're not aware of all the "relief" organizations run by Churches and Denominations? Our Southern Baptist organization has a whole Disaster Relief section, and we're often in disaster areas before the Red Cross.

That's great. But where are the protests? Why is it that here in America where we have so much violence we don't see Christians mass marching in the streets?

[Cow Poke]

If I said that I believe Christianity should be against he law and that Christians are mentally-ill, would you take that as acceptance?

Doubt it.

Jesus never taught us to accept sin.

Again, even as He forgave the woman caught in adultery, His parting words were "go and sin no more".

[Sea of red]

So you agree that Christians can't act lovingly toward homosexuals while maintaining traditional Christian beliefs? That renders most of fm93's point, as I understand it, basically inapplicable.

You might believe you're acting lovingly but that's not what it actually is. You've been told that what you're doing is productive and loving, that's all.

[whag]

Nothing.

Very slick, CBW. You must be very effectual with that approach.

[Zymologist]

You might believe you're acting lovingly but that's not what it actually is. You've been told that what you're doing is productive and loving, that's all.

Then you confirmed my suspicion. Traditional Christian beliefs on this subject have been defined as unloving and hateful, so Christians can't actually be loving without compromising what they believe.