Comments on: Are Christians killing gay kids? Yes, absolutely.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:39:30 +0000

Re #31: No, I do not think so. I wonder how you concluded from my sentence that this were the case.

By: Joel

Joel — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:27:37 +0000

“Instead I would say: “Jesus, if you exist, why did you allow so many cruel things to happen in your name, such as slavery and homophobia?”

Are you kidding?
You think you went through more than Jesus, Paul, Peter and the other disciples? I don’t think so.

By: MYSELF

MYSELF — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:42:06 +0000

Thank the mercy of heaven that getting into heaven does not entail a spelling test eh? I’ll just attribute it to writing to fast in haste born either from anger or just from trying furiously to prove a point.

By: Noel

Noel — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 08:54:09 +0000

God does not help those who do not come to Him. And coming close to God is not just mere asking God to perform miracles on demand, who are you? To know God and truely accept him as the Creator you truely have to surrender your heart completely. Meaning you have to have a clean heart, pure and holy, no SIN. And realize God as real, believe in him, with reverence. Only then you will truely accept that God is real and he is the mastermind behind the marvels of this Infinite Universe and all that is in it.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:33:59 +0000

For the sake of comprehensiveness regarding the topic of this thread and because this might be useful for future reference, I am adding three links here.

1. This is a blog of a straight evangelical Christian who clearly sees homosexuality as a sin, but (at least) has understood the amount of pain and suffering that Christians bring upon their gay neighbours. The entire blog is worth reading (if only all Christians were like her – the world would be a better, more human place), but I have linked a comment that is particularly insightful regarding the question of how Christians treat gays.

http://moremusingson.blogspot.com/2010/06/now-were-talking.html

2. This text is a bit older (from 2000), a pretty famous letter of a gay son to a newspaper in Vermont. Apart from the individual case it addresses, it gives a pretty good insight into that climate characterised by Christian intolerance in which gay people often grow up, from which many suffer, and which contributes to gay teenagers’ suicides.

http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/000504.html

3. This is a link to a website by an organisation that promotes religious tolerance and, as far as I can see, sincerely aims at an unbiased point of view. The page I am linking shows that these Christian “therapies” simply do not work. In fact, they harm most people.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_exod1.htm

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:42:17 +0000

Regarding “born again”: would you say that the people addressed in Hebrews 3:12 had never been born again? If so, why are they called brothers?
Which biblical support can you offer for your “if you were you never lost it” theory?

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:41:18 +0000

Regarding these “many former homosexuals” that you claim you know, I am sceptical. There are only very few documented cases of former homosexuals and many documented cases of people who got into trouble with these “therapies”. It might be possible for some people to have their sexual orientation changed or to suppress it, but I would assume these people had a certain amount of bisexuality in the first instance. In any case, I do not wish my experience to anybody.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:40:45 +0000

I never said you hated me. All I said is that seeing sexual orientation as a lifestyle or choice is one of the seeds out of which homophobia grows.

By: Boz

Boz — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:57:29 +0000

Joe

You are entitled to your opinion. If you believe the fact that I must accept your lifestyle or I somehow hate you then you are really the problem, not me. You are free to live as you please and believe as you please. I played in the satellite tennis tour for a number of years with a partner who was gay so don’t even try that lame line.

Contrary to your story, I know of many former homosexuals who now live joy-filled heterosexual lifestyle. Therefore if this is an innate trait, why do so many leave it? Why are there so many stories out there of those who overcome it?

I do not doubt you truly believe your were a Christian. As Jesus stated, you must be born again and if you were you never lost it. Once again, your case is not my call.

I wish you well

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:23:50 +0000

Boz, as long as people like you do not understand that homosexuality (in contrast to believing in Jesus) is neither a lifestyle nor a choice, cruelty in the name of Jesus will continue to exist. Try to learn from this, if you can.

(I was trying 2 years to “get rid of” my sexual orientation with the help of Jesus, and it did not do me any good. In the end it turned out to be much easier and reasonable not to believe in Jesus anymore. Because the latter is matter of choice.)

Regarding the question of whether I was a real Christian, I can just repeat that, obviously, Hebrews 3:12 talks of a situation in which there are some brothers (i.e. real Christians) who are in danger of “falling away”, so these things are addressed in the bible.

Apart from this: During all these years as a Christian, there were so many non-Christians who made fun of my faith at that time. If there is something that I do not need now then it is Christians who, retrospectively, do not show any respect for my (former) Christian faith. Thank you very much!