Adstar,
First off, appreciate your response. It made me think. I like people who are rational and have reasoning behind their claims. I am emotional at times, so I will try my best to respond rationally as well, please forgive me if I step over the line. here goes:
So you're saying it's not that bad then? Because if they are all equally bad, then homosexuality is not worse than any other sin.
No matter what the varying damage/hurt that happens in this life that stems from sin. In the end all unforgiven sin has the same eternal result. So while stealing a pen from a workplace and murdering a bystander on the street have far different effects on the community and individuals. On an eternal level stealing a pen from work will end it eternal separation from God if it is unforgiven, same with murdering another human being.
So yes all sin is equally bad in the eternal scheme of things if unforgiven.
And no different sins have varyingly different impacts upon people in this life.
I agree that's how governments work. So since that's the case, why even bother fighting for Christian morals in law? You're saying it's a lost cause. Is it just to say "we fought" so our conscience is clean?
Personally do not "fight" to make the laws of God the laws of the state. But if the state is wise and wants to run a state that produces good outcomes it will seek to mimic the laws of God and make similar laws part of its laws.
What i do is reveal sin no matter what the laws of the state are. I stand on what God has revealed to me through the scriptures no matter what. If the state decides in the future that my message is "hate speech" i will take what ever penalty the state enforces upon me even if that become the death penalty. If the homosexual justification movement thinks that establishing their views as laws of the state will silence people who believe God they are deluding themselves. Irrespective of the laws of state Christian will stand up for the teachings of God.
So what that Society puts approval stamps on it?
Jews don't eat pork, but pork is legal to eat. Pork is approved in socieity. Jews are not protesting to make pork meat illegal.
I don't mind if Jews stand on the street corner and declare pork to be unclean. I don't mind if they buy air time on TV networks and have promotional adds stating as such.
Remember your talking with me now. I have already stated that i do not care what the state decides on the laws it establishes. I do not talk for those who are seeking to pressurise the enactment of laws or the rescinding of laws.
Are Christians so easily influenced by socieity? So in order to keep this sin away from Christians, we must ban it in socieity? Are Christians really that weak? Can't we be more like the Jews with pork? Have a firm establishment of this is what we believe and keep it.
We Christians are a out going Faith. That means sharing our message is part of our faith. We are called upon to give a message that reveals sin and reveals the One who is offering atonement for that sin and eternal life. Now if we are faced with a society that is going down the path of redefining sins as not being sins, we are dealing with a society that is out to undermine one of the steps we believe is important in others coming to accept the atonement of the Messiah Jesus. People must believe they have a problem before they will embrace the solution. What the homosexual justification movement is doing is seeking to remove from the minds of people the reality of the sin of homosexuality. Therefore seeking to remove homosexuals from the atonement of the Messiah Jesus.
I don't make these statements as a way of defending/protecting Christians. Christians believe God so they do not need protecting. I state these things because i want to see non-Christians convicted of their sins and saved through the Atonement of the Messiah Jesus.
Everyone knows Jews don't eat pork. Didn't need a law to make everyone aware this is what Jews beleive.
Well we know that some who claim to be Christian and some Organizations that claim to be Christians are part of the homosexual justification movement. So things are not so clear to the wider community, That's another resion Christians must speak out on this issue.
Are you saying when society says it's ok means Christians says it's ok?
Some do. Some stand with Scriptures, some twist scripture or deny scripture to fit in with the state.
So Christians rely on law status to tell the population what we beleive in? Why can't we just tell the population ourselves?
We do.
Since all sin are bad ...and they are all equal... then the sin of homosexuals equals sin of lying. Have you ever lied?
Yes i have lied. But thankfully i acknowledge that lying is sin and i trust in the salvation of the Messiah Jesus. But a homosexual convinced by the homosexual justification movement that his homosexual lifestyle is good will never acknowledge it as sin and will never have the salvation of the Messiah Jesus.
if yes, doesn't that make you same as homosexuals in the eyes of God?
Then how can one homosexual say to another "you're sinning!"
Of course a homosexual can say to me when i have lied "you are sinning". And i would acknowledge my lie as such.
The "gay community" already thinks their lifestyle is good. Christians have always said homosexuality is bad. A change in law would change this?
No. i know there are homosexuals who are not at peace with their lifestyle. I know there are homosexuals who realise there is something wrong. There are however some who are on the borderline, who are uncertain, or not yet firmly decided on the matter. If is for them that we give the message, not to condemn but to Save them. We do not reveal sin to condemn. We reveal sin to reveal to the sinner their problem and we reveal to them the solution thought Jesus.
I haven't met any gay person who thought their lifestyle is a sin and seeks forgiveness. Don't think a change of law would change that thinking.
I have talked to homosexuals and others who have come to the realisation that what they have done is sin. To those who are set in their conviction that they are not sinners nothing i can say will change them. But i know some are open to conviction.
Doesn't the bible says do not judge one another? I think the point of what Jesus's message is love, not condem. In other words, focus on your own sins, quit picking on others. ...because you are just like them!
You see it as picking on them. I see it as totally different. I see it as giving warning and showing them to way to safety. What you see as Judging i see as Warning. I do not throw people in prison for sins; i do not condemn people to eternity apart from God. What i do is give warning. And yes i am a sinner just like them and i have gone through a process of being convicted of my sin, not a pleasant experience but a necessary one. And i am thankful i was taken through that process because i am saved now through the Atonement of the Messiah Jesus.
When one realize one's just as bad as a murder, one stop condeming the murder's sin.
One then does not start preaching that Murder is good. And that is what the homosexual justification movement is doing in regard to the homosexual lifestyle.
Jesus said just by having hate in your heart, you have committed murder. Jesus said just by lusting, you have committed adultery. We are just like the homosexuals. How can we turn to them and say "you're bad" when we are just as bad?
Because they are Bad... Just because i am Bad does not make their badness Good.
This is why we are saved by grace. Grace is only given to the undeserved.
Yeah but grace must be Accepted... And a person who has been convinced they are not in sin will not accept grace they have been lead to believe they do not need.
If you deserve it, it's no longer grace. Our sins are forgiven, so how can we turn around and critisize other's sins?
We reveal sin to move sinners to come to seek grace. We do not say "Ohhh what you are engaged in is ok. Don't listen to them hate monger Christians".
Like Jesus said about the one who owes money and had his debt forgiven. But later turns around and make someone who owes him money pay.
You have got things totally wrong. So wrong. I am glad to be forgiven my debt and want to see homosexuals forgiven their debt. But if they do not recognise they are in debt they will never seek to have it forgiven.
My point is, a Christian's main focus on eliminating sin should be on their own sin and no one else's.
Well i am a Christian. And it is not my main focus to eliminate sin. I am a sinner and will be until the day i die. So attempting to become sinless to me is a act of foolish vanity, it will never happen. But resisting sin and believing sin is sin are good things.
In this case, quit picking on the gays and let them be. We can only try to convince them our believes, forcing them is not the way. It's not what Jesus would want us to do.
Where am i forcing gays? I am forcing no one. I give a message for others to consider. That’s not forcing anything.
Like the saying "you have to quit smoking first before you fight 2nd hand smoke"
I know a smokers who understand that their smoking is bad for them and bad for their children. You don't have to give up smoking to know it is bad.
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All Praise The Ancient Of Days[/FONT]