baker-r@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Robert Baker) (07/18/90)
I usuallly glance at the 1st couple lines of the postings on this board but finally one caught my eye enough to get me thinking through a response...or at least some added tangents :-) mike@turing.cs.unm.edu wrote on some common christian views > 1: All homosexuals are damned. > 2: All active homosexuals are damned. > 3: All homosexuals are wrong, though not necessarily damned. > 4: All active homosexuals are wrong, though not necessarily damned. > 5: Homosexuality is an illness, like alcoholism, which is unfortunate, > but not a desirable way to live like. The "afflicted" should seek > treatment to help the condition. > 6: Homosexuality is as equally valid expression of sexuality along > with heterosexuality. All in all, I find the Bible states we are all damned so whether you are a homosexual or an air breather you are damned. So I agree with 1 and 2 > 1: All homosexuals are damned. > 2: All active homosexuals are damned. I'm a real book of Romans fan so that's were I started on looking at Biblical views on the homosexual question. In Rom 1 and 2 we read about some christians that seemed to get into some false god worship. It seems God let them go on with their unnatural passions because He values freewill more than "natural" heterosex. It also says: "although they know the ordinance of God, those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." "Worthy of death" says to me that homosexual christians are worthy of death because homosexuality is a sin BUT "worthy" means they are deserving not that they are damned. It seems that Christ's sacrafice is awesome enough to cover even a christian homosexual. Paul goes on in chapter 2 to hit judgmental christians for their attitude of passing judgment on those lesbians and homosexuals in chapter 1. "Therefore you are without excuse, every man who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." I doubt that Paul's point was that all christians in Rome were homosexual but that judging others is just as much a sin as homosexuality. So I agree with points 3 and 4 > 3: All homosexuals are wrong, though not necessarily damned. > 4: All active homosexuals are wrong, though not necessarily damned. On point 5, I don't reallly see a need to agree or disagree; so sure it may be correct in some instances. > 5: Homosexuality is an illness, like alcoholism, which is unfortunate, > but not a desirable way to live like. The "afflicted" should seek > treatment to help the condition. On point 6, I disagree. > 6: Homosexuality is as equally valid expression of sexuality along > with heterosexuality. The OT has some real negative views of the homosexual Jew in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 and others. Paul groups homosexuals with idolators, theives, the covetous, swindlers and so on...in 1 Corinthians 6. Which all says to me that homo does not equal hetero in God's eyes. My bottom line is that the homosexual that does not understand God's grace through Jesus Christ has only one problem. He needs to understand that God loves him unconditionallly and wants to have a personal loving relationship with him. The homosexual does not have to give up his homosexuality to be a christian. Although it is not inconsistent to point out that his homosexuality will change in importance as God works in his life. In my personal experience with people with sexual differences ranging from life abstenance to child molestation, their particular sexual differences are a physical sign of their emotionallly abused pasts and as God helps heal them, their external sexual practices have and will change. in Christ RnB ------------------------------------------------------------------------ disclaimer: these are just my views to date not the views of my employer