What are you thinking RIGHT NOW?

[Shadowfax]

I believe with alot of Christians it's 'Hate the sin, not the sinner'. Doesn't mean they actually hate the person who is homosexual/transgender etc.

Gah, his work are being complete douche bags again. I hope they freaking sort his rota out, we've only been asking them to do so for the last six months.

[Squeely]

Problem with hating the sin comes in when Christians donate to anti-LGBT organizations, who make it harder for LGBT people themselves to have rights. Everyone deserves rights here on Earth. Let God do the judging.

[Regulus]

[quote="Squeely"]I feel the same way. It's baffling that a lot of Christians choose to hate, after Jesus imparted so many morals about loving thy neighbor and whatnot. The Bible doesn't really say much about homosexuality - the passage about "man shall not lie with man" is widely speculated to be more about the dangers of sharing stuff than it is about homosexuality (bearing in mind, the Bible was written before vaccines existed, so there was a pretty big disease threat).[/quote]

That's because Christianity, like any religion, is actually not about God, Jesus, or the Bible at all. That's all ignored most of the time, because to most people, their religion provides them with a medium through which they can feel better. That's what it is--not a guideline to live your life, but instead something like a big cuddly teddy bear to say, "it's okay, don't worry about it."

There are, of course, guidelines... and I'd say that these are like the side salad of religion, not the main dish. However, most people pick and choose which of those they believe and follow, and follow them only when it is convenient to do so. That's not the primary function of religion, so many don't think much about what's going on.

[KopsTheTerminator]

@Squeely Exactly. I like Christ, whether he was fictional or not (evidence is a bit vague but hey I'm no historian) the morals he was trying to teach are still relevant to this day, but really they can be summed up as "be nice and not a judgemental douchenugget" lol. All this hate and shunning of different people is just contradictory of that message and even denying humanity the free will God supposedly decided to give it.

@Shadowfax I'm aware, but considering homosexuality a sin is still a bit dubious to me at best considering all the various interpretations and translations over the course of centuries we've had of the Bible... it's just not clear and people's interpretations of these supposed anti-homosexuality verses can change depending who you ask. -shrug-

[Gemini]

[quote="Kops"]I sincerely cannot imagine the Christian god, whose son hung out with all the outcasts society had shunned, caring about what LGBT do in any way, shape, or form.

But hey, that's just silly old me.[/quote]

TBH I was actually thinking this just this morning. Like, if I were God I'm pretty sure I'd be worried about more important things than what combinations of [censored] and/or [censored] my creations were getting up to down there, LOL.

Again maybe that's just me but it seems so trivial even from a human perspective that I can't imagine why any higher sentience would really care unless they're really irrational.

[Si-Amber]

God isn't against the LGBT, the church is.

[Squeely]

God's sittin up on his throne in Heaven with a rainbow flag like "I really don't care that much about what people do, and don't understand why my followers care so much. I just want them to repent."

[Carl]

[quote="Shadowfax"]I believe with alot of Christians it's 'Hate the sin, not the sinner'. Doesn't mean they actually hate the person who is homosexual/transgender etc.[/quote]
I don't know about elsewhere, but here people try to use that as a sort of get out of jail free card. For instance, they will talk about how people like myself should never get rights, or should have them taken away, or how we're disgusting abominations, how we're lustful freaks who don't love, etc. and then they expect you to forgive them for saying all of those things because, "darling, I don't hate you, I just hate your terrible sin." They say it because they don't respect who a person is and they think that it justifies ignorance and backwards thinking. Maybe people mean it differently elsewhere, but here, that's just something they say to try to save face, so they can be a total jerk and still look like a good guy. It also does kind of undermine people, whether it's intentional or not, when a part of who they are that can't be changed is referred to as a sin anyway.

I do know there are open-minded loving Christians who don't care—as it should be. Those folks are cool. They get that if it's no longer a sin to wear clothes of mixed fabric, other silly (and vague) sins should not be considered such anymore either. In fact, from my understanding there's plenty of them. But not so much in these parts. So yeah, it's still not cool, even if they have rationalized it that way to themselves.

[Si-Amber]

The God I believe in wants the organised religions of the world to STFU and stop preaching hate in his name. My God loves all good-hearted people regardless of their sexuality, gender identity or anything else.

[Squeely]

My mom views being LGBT a sin, but it's along the same lines as lying, stealing, etc. which we all do. Every last person is a sinner, every person should repent, heteronormative Christian or otherwise. Which is a fair way of looking at things in my opinion. Especially since my mom will always call out people who judge me but live in sin themselves. Such as my father, who's been on the anti-gay train for decades, but he has lived at his girlfriend's. Having relations with someone outside of marriage is considered sin as well. And my mom will fully admit that she, too, is a sinner. I appreciate how level-headed my mom is.