| Machiavellian said: I will say that saying you are a Christian means nothing today. Many claim to be Christian but how many actually try to live the life. I saw one interview that asked a Christian if Jesus Christ would condemn LGBTQ people the way that the current hard right does today. The woman said no he would not then said he would be wrong. Now I want that part to sink in. You have Christian saying that the LGBTQ lifestyle condemns them to hell, but you would be very hard press to actually find that in the bible. While being gay can be argued as a sin, there are a hell of a lot of sins in the bible and from my understanding GOD did not distinguish between any of them. Without having confess that Jesus is your lord and savior, you matter how good you believe you are you would still go to hell. Meaning there is no person who has walked this earth that is without sin besides Jesus Christ. Anyway, It's really not worth trying to debate people who say they are Christian but act as if they are without sin or that anyone who does not believe as they do is consigned to hell. The Bible has been used to commit a lot of sin in the name of the Lord and it's still done today. They will walk with the Bible but have never opened it more than to take some line of scripture and twist it to their own purpose. |
The Bible is not subtle in its view of gay people; especially of gay men. All mentions of gay men and lesbians in the Bible are extremely negative, with some passages equating same-sex intimacy to murder, for example, and accordingly prescribing execution for gay men. Lesbians are less often discussed in the Bible because women had no freedom to speak of back then anyway, so intimacy between women seemed to be less of a societal worry...although once you get to the New Testament, the apostle Paul noticeably expands the Bible's critique of gay relationships to explicitly include lesbianism once he finds himself in more open societies. Let's not kid ourselves. I know because growing up I was made to memorize and recite most of these passages to one of my Sunday school teachers as part of my punishment after my parents discovered that I had a girlfriend.
Now are there gay people who jump through hoops to retain a sense of Christianity? Of course there are. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg would be an obvious example. The Human Rights Campaign has even authored this very creative re-imagining of the Biblical view of homosexuality for the benefit of those who wish to play that game for the sake of positive memories and friendships or just a sincere need to believe in a higher power or other positive connections they may have to the church, but as I think you'll observe, their re-imagining of the intent behind the passages on gay people feels like more than a small reach just in general.
I mean people can believe what they want to believe and not many today will choose to actually support executing people for being gay despite their ostensible dedication to a strict reading of Biblical scripture because they have more of a conscience than their God does. Some do support it though and many of those who do are Biblical literalists. Or literalists of other mainstream faiths for that matter. For the most part, religion and gay people don't go well together. That's the truth. Gay people tend to have to either subscribe to less common faith persuasions like Wicca or embrace a salad bar approach to their faith to find acceptance within a religious framework. Personally, I've given up on that and count myself an atheist these days.
Last edited by Jaicee - on 27 August 2023
