Activists Work to Show Gays Are Not Anti-Religious
A recent poll shows many gay Americans lead robust faith lives
Of course, bigger traditions, including the Southern Baptist Convention and the Roman Catholic Church, continue to condemn homosexuality. That probably explains why, despite similarities between straights and gays on broad religious beliefs, there's still a gulf when it comes to religious behavior. The Barna survey found that 31 percent of straight Americans are likely to attend a church service, read the Bible, and pray during a typical week, compared with just 15 percent of gays. "When you fear that you will be judged or rejected, organized religion can be threatening," says Daniel Karslake, whose 2007 film For the Bible Tells Me So examines the lives of religious gay Americans.
Karslake says that gay Christians like him tend to take their faith especially seriously because they've had to wrestle with it so much. "When you're clearly condemned by Christianity," he says, "it forces you to start questioning and thinking about what you really believe." And yet the Barna survey suggests that most gays and lesbians, like Karslake, end up sticking with those beliefs.
Reader Comments
Try biblical literacy...
because that is what you are lacking. During ancient times, hospitality was very important to at least the Middle Eastern cultures and more important than family honor. While this is unacceptable and wicked to us today, the ancient peoples of Lot's time were okay with it. It should be noted that God did not approve of these things and still does not approve of them. Being righteous does not mean perfection. Noah was righteous, but he got drunk and God does not like drunkeness. Abraham was righteous, but he didn't trust God to protect him despite what God was doing and going to do for him.
God didn't choose Lot to be righteous. Lot was righteous because of his faith in God, even though it was weak.
Lot's wife was turned into salt because she looked back. Again, nothing that suggests sex. Your sources must be lacking in considering context because your arguments take selected verses out without considering those around them.
Wine was typically safer to drink than water. Does that excuse the actions of the daughters? No, but it does make sense for Lot to take wine along.
I don't need to have a degree in all of those "sciences" because nothing you are saying is scientific. You are making things up because a certain phrase gets you excited, when there is nothing to get excited about. Do you have a problem? Because you put sex into things where it clearly isn't there.
No, some Christians are old earth Creationists and believe God created the earth billions of years ago and eventually went on with the days of Creation. Others are youn earth Creationists and to them the world is only 6000 to 9000. Then there are theistic evolutionists who say God created life through evolution. In the end, it doesn't matter which is true because none of them are salvation issues for Christians. The Bible only indicates that life was not done by evolution, not what the age of the world is.
The writers of the Bible were not too concerned with how certain materials like tar were brought about. They were more interested in God's interaction with humanity. Also, who's to say that God couldn't have created the earth with fossil fuels and materials already? If He could create the universe by thought and spoken word alone, then this too would be possible for Him.
Another insulting comment improperly using my name
Drf once again shows flawed etiquette in using my first name, as if knows me. We must all use the "name" posted by commentators, to identify them, but it's rude to make his comments as if I'm the only person reading his jeremiads. He misreads the Lot incest tale & forgets Lot offered his virgin daughters to a mob for gang rape, before God "chose Lot as a righteous man," & sent him off with his wife & daughters. It is a typical dirty traveling salesman's joke. Get rid of the protective mom by "turning her to salt," *drying her out sexually," and leaving dad with the girls, after he made them take plenty of wine along to excuse the dirty deed. Drf has a tremendous gap in his reading of psychology, mythology, pathology and other sciences that can be used to analyze what Scripture writers had in mind. Creationists say Earth isn't as old as 9000 years. It took millions of years for buried fern forests of the dinosaur age to turn into petroleum. Yet the Ark was said to be caulked with tar. Bible authors were ignorant people as shown by their contradictions. Eagerness to believe their product depends on intellectual level of people of any era.
aura, stop lying...
it isn't becoming of you. Look, in Genesis 19:30-38 we find that the daughters and Lot were hiding in a cave in some nearby mountains. They notice there was no man among them. This doesn't mean they thought they were the last three people on earth. Notice, they didn't talk to God about their problem nor do we see God pointing to Lot as the solution to their problem. Also, the women were more interested in preserving their family line (verse 32) than the whole human race. The daughters are responsible for their actions. They acted out their sinful thoughts. Lot, though rather drunk and was not aware of what was happening, did have some responsibility in marrying off his daughters which he failed to do. But to say it was all Lot's fault is deceiving. Not all sin is sex related, see Acts 5:1-11.
Not all church leaders or members are sex crazy.
You and others might be millionares, but money and wealth do not provide joy or peace. Money can be inflated into being worthless. Material posessions can be destroyed or stolen. But the gift of God is eternal. Repentance does not mean you are proud of your sins. Anyone who comes before God with pride and asks for forgiveness does not understand what he is doing. It is a confession made through humility and humbleness because you are not coming before a spiritual machine that gives eternal life when you say the "magic words". You are coming before a holy God who doesn't have to do anything for you.
If you study the Torcaso v. Watkins case in 1961, you'll find that Secular Humanism is considered a religion by the Supreme Court.
You see the same things done by atheistic groups who sell merchandise to kids and adults, yet you don't consider them false. Actually, the age of fossils is rather misleading. Consider strata fossils, fossils that are in multiple layers of rock at once. If it takes hundreds of years for rock layers to form, then the organic material for the fossil to be made would have decomposed well before the fossilization process. Also, the fossil record doesn't support macro-evolution. If we were concerned about students, then we should give all of the evidence for both sides and not just support one side. After all, we want them to make well informed decisions don't we?
I believe you are alluding to Psalm 14:1. Yes, the English word is fool, but the Hebrew word for fool is also rendered as someone who is sinful or unrighteous. Hell is not a torture chamber. It is a place of punishment for those who chose not to be saved. God hates sin and His nature demands that He punish those who are sinful. He loves us, so He made a way for us not to have to face judgment. But He also gave us free will to choose His salvation or not. Those who don't are have no one to blame but themselves. You are stuck in the Middle Ages. We had a Reformation and many are living with it. Get with the program.
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