Topic : 06/06 "I'm Gay, OK?"

Biology was never one of my stronger subjects either but I do remember something about needing only a sperm and an egg to procreate and now GOD has given us the technology and know-how that couples CAN have babies without sexual procreation. There are as many gays who CAN procreate as there are straights who can. Not with each other...but uh...there are lots of straights who can't procreate with each other, is it also a sin for THEM to take surrogates?   

Bravo! Well Written!  I am straight and I agree.  Sexual orientation is who we are, not what we choose.  When we look into the mirror each day, we need to be true to ourselves, and love ourselves exactly the way God made us.  We are different AND equal. 

We must all learn to accept and respect all people, regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation.  We can only hope that one day homophobia will be as socially unacceptable as racial discrimination is today. 

Yes, I'm acountable to God. Not to you, not to Jesus. It's between He and I.  

Being as we're doing the crusty book literally... I'm a woman who doesn't lie with a man...according to the crusty book, I'm okay then right?  

Women are REALLY screwed when it comes to clothing then. I wear blue jeans, t-shirts and occasionally a baseball hat (but I don't wear it backwards, there should be some redemption in that, shouldn't there?). Is that men's clothing? Because back when the crusty book was being written (by mortals), men wore floor length open garments that one might call a dress now...so, if I wear a dress...is that men's clothing or women's? How about in countries where men still wear "dresses" I'm from Scotland and we'll remember monks, too. Oooh, nuns wear loose open floor length garments...are they sinning? Or are we just talking about men who shop at Victoria's Secret?   

Right now I'm in pyjamas. They're flannel pants and an RVD t-shirts, is that women's clothing or men's? 

I'm soooo confused! Please, do tell.  

The Christian life is all about yielding our will to the will of Jesus.  When we are saved Jesus wants all of us.  We are no longer our own.  First Corinthians 6:19-20 states, "What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Sirit who is in you, whom ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."  God wants us to be holy like He is holy.  See, He is not interested so much in our HAPPINESS as He is in our HOLINESS.  As a person who has been saved there should be a desire to do right.  If there isn't that desire then I would seriously wonder if I have truly been saved.  Just because we say words to a prayer doesn't mean we are saved.  There has to be a change in our heart.  Our desires should be different from what they were before.  I'm not saying that there won't be temptations or that we won't even give into those temptations but when we do we feel a godly sorrow.  Godly sorrow is the type of sorrow that brings about change not just guilt.  God's word has all the answers that we will ever need for our sin problem.  First Corinthians 10:13 tells us, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, also make the way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."  God does call homosexuality a sin.  This is good news because there is an answer for our sin problem.  The world says homosexuality cannot be overcome.  The world says you were born that way.  God calls it a sin and He has provided us with all we need to overcome sin.  This should be encouraging to all who have truly accepted Christ as Saviour and are looking to overcome this particular sin.  Again in First Corinthians 6:9-10 the apostle Paul tells us, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?  Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God"  That would be really bad news if it didn't continue into verse 11 which says, "And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."  You see, in Christ there is hope for change.  Without Christ there is no hope for change.  If a person is truly seeking after Christ and is really interested in changing sinful patterns of behavior in his/her life one must be willing to forsake everything.  Be willing to "die to yourself" DAILY in order to be holy as Christ is holy.  This reminds of a song.   

For whatever it takes to  

draw closer to you, Lord 

That's what I'll be willing to do 

For whatever it takes for my will to break 

That's what I'll be willing to do 

I'll trade sunshine for rain 

Comfort for pain  

That's what I'd be willing to do 

And this is what anyone must be willing to do to get victory over any sin in life, including homosexuality. 

yup, that's pretty well my point. the shame and bad thoughts children pick up because they are taught that it's wrong to be gay, and who they are is wrong, and their only option is to hide who they are and live a straight life to be accepted -- THAT starts the shame and the bad thoughts that lead to suicide.  

re: the study - that study is of gay men, not gay people - the incidence of abuse in lesbian relationships is so much lower than both hetero and and gay-male relationships. on top of that, abuse statistics are almost guaranteed to be higher among minorities who experience discrimmination in society. I'll look for some stats on gay people - not just gay men in the morning, cuz the stats are lower. also interesting that when minority groups gain more rights in a society, violence (and crime and abuse and substance abuse too) rates all go down in the group. gay people certainly aren't responsible for their own oppression... anyway, I'll post some stats tomorrow. 

Also, I work for several organizations - a transition house for woem and children who've experienced violence, a group that supports adults with sensory and developmental disabilities, and I also do a lot of volunteer work with queer youth and youth with gender identity issues. 

the bible also says it's immoral to eat shellfish (I am SO serious - check out leviticus 10:10). maybe you guys could give the queers a break for a bit, and go hate on all the oyster-eaters of the world for a while. 

and don't even get me started on the bible supporting slavery and violence against women. if you wanna be THAT literal with the bible, you need to not only hate the gays, but also hit your wife, buy a slave, sacrafice a bull and torment the shellfish-eating evil-doers of the world. i don't know why so many christians stop at hating the gays, when all that other stuff needs doing. 

also, if god's plan is for men to get with women and reproduce, that would mean infertile couples should not be having sex? or old couples? or couples who don't want kids right away? 

re: the last comment. do you mean that god made every person a sexual being, with a sexual self and sexual desires, not to mention sexual organs that have no function aside from pleasure - but he didn't want us to enjoy ourselves?? just wanted us to get it doen to reproduce? what an odd plan... 

 I don't know if that has been replied to or not, but it upset me (this whole thread is starting to get really upsetting) so I just wanted to jump in. saying that AIDS is spread through multiple sex partners is simple ignorance. the fastest growing population of AIDS victims is heterosexual women, firstly, and a good percentage are married. then there's the babies who are born HIV positive. and those who are raped. and those who have done nothing at all except need a blood transfusion. oh, and better not forget the babies (and I mean infant babies) who are raped throut countries all over africa in particular, because of the myth that you can cure AIDS by having sex with a virgin child. maybe with a little education and birth control, babies wouldn't be raped and infected and killed. except that would be unchristian, so we're just gonna go on letting it happen. 

and while all upset, I might as well point out the obvious fact that the planet is so overpopulated that it can't sustain us. that we are physically running out of resources on earth. and you say you're pretty sure god would just want us to have more sex for reproduction, and not bother with useless stuff like birth control?  

good. you guys can run the planet, and we'll have no water, no fuel and a whole lot of dead babies. are you serious??! 

the further from god the nation is, the more it will suffer?? the US is one of the most christian nations around. it also has one of the highest rates of violence and crime - esp gun violence. not to mention that little history (and current habit) of blowing up the rest of the world. does anyone else see a connection?? 

also, i doubt dr phil was repressing his true feelings about homosexuality. he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to judge something he doesn't know anything about. and he seems pretty content to just butt out of other people's business, unless he's invited to give his opinion. if fact, he seems like a pretty tolerant kind of guy all-round.  

as far as abortion being murder - the christians who run the country seem ok with murdering prisoners. the US is the only developed country in the world that has legal murder. ya can't pick and choose..."ohhhh murder is wrong! it's bad! you can't abort foetuses! it's wrong!! oh wait...unless we think someone's real bad, then you can kill 'em...but otherwise...so wrong! so bad!! " It's ok to murder prisoners, it's ok to blow up other countries children, but it's not ok to abort unwanted foetuses. I'm missing something. I won't even get started on pregnant children...