Typical conservative Christian claims.. Easily refuted.
Dreams wrote:Of course it does! God sees homosexuality as an abomination!
Why do you think He destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah?
Inhospitality and discourtesy to guests. Ezekiel 16:48-9 "As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy." It's commonly agreed upon by numerous theologians (David Bartlett, Reuven Kimelman,..) that it wasn't necessarily homosexuality that caused the extermination of the Sodomites, it was sexual subjugation and disrespect to visitors.
Ever notice the enormous emphasis the Bible's authors put on hospitality? Great enough that a seemingly prudent man like Lot felt compelled to offer his virgin daughters to get gang-raped in place of two strangers? It largely stems from the fact that God's people were once refugees and exiles themselves. Appropriately, it became a sort of a de facto moral imperative for those who are well-off to provide support and protection to visitors--an institution that the inhabitants of these cities refused to observe.
You claim that punishing homosexuality is the central motif of this story. In Jeremiah 23:14, the sins of Jerusalem are compared to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah: "But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a more shocking thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from wickedness; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah." Notice how homosexuality isn't even mentioned. Does it really make sense then, to make a comparison (In Ezekiel, I forgot which verse, an analogous equivalence between Jerusalem and S&G was denoted), when the whole foundation of one side is completely irrelevant to the other?
And how do you explain the lack of mention of homosexuality in any of the future allusions to Sodom in the Bible? (Romans 9:29, Isaiah 3:9, Luke 17:29, Peter 2:6, etc.)
Dreams wrote:God commands Israel: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination." (Lev 18:22)
"If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them." (Lev 20:13)
Lol, "Abomination."
"And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination unto you," - The Bible
Hahaha, let's stone everyone who eats lobster and catfish~ ;d
Or: "A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God." - Deuteronomy 22:5
"That you shall say, Your servants' trade has been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians." - Genesis 46:34
See where I'm getting at?
What's funny is that a lot of these laws are Mosaic laws from the Old Testament, which you seem to venerate as an inerrant mandate for your ethical standings. My advice is to try to understand that the Bible is not inerrable. The people who wrote it did so as applicable to their historical backgrounds and cultures. Most of it wasn't meant to be taken literally.
Dreams wrote:Paul says in the New Testament: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor 6:9)
Do you realize that Paul was a human being capable of error? Many of his writings are widely considered pseudepigraphical (falsely credited to him). It's exemplified by how he seems so misogynistic in one scripture and egalitarian in the next: "...the women must keep silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak out, but must place themselves in submission, as the oral law also says." (1 Cor 14:34) as opposed to: "Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah. Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female" (Galatians 3:27-8).
So no. Paul is probably one of the least reliable sources in the Bible.
Dreams wrote:Our country was founded by Christians, and 54 out of 55 of the writers of the Constitution were Christians (the 55th was a Deist). You want to see something interesting? Do you know your
state's constitution? In the Preamble of every state constitution, thanks is given to God.
What's your point?
Dreams wrote:I know we are in a dark time, where the fear of God does not exist. But there is one truth about the afterlife - heaven, hell, and God. And He is who He is, not who you want Him to be; that's why He gave us the gospel, so we could know Him. The only redeeming chance we have is to trust in Jesus and turn ourselves away from sin. Flame me all you want, be as stubborn as you want, make fun of me for sounding like some Bible-thumper, I don't care. Just get out the Bible and read it some time. Don't wait until you die to figure out that heaven and hell are real, and you're going to the wrong place.
I'm not here to flame or make fun of you. I'm actually a Christian who has read the Bible several times (and still do sometimes). I'm just confused as to why so-called Christians take this stance and inevitably fall into moral ambivalence. The only other reason (besides bigotry) I see why they would have such a skewed perspective is because they have a cursory, superficial understanding of God's Word.
Besides, on what other issue could you find Mormons criticizing the morality of other people's marriages?
