NathanATX
03-08-2006, 01:45 PM
This is from a myspace "ex-gay" group.
David OechsleWrote:
Again, simply because one "feels" like he/she is gay, is attracted to someone of the same gender, does not make this "feeling" a valid feeling. Homosexuality is a behavior. There are people who "feel" like murdering others, molesting children, having sex with animals, eating 3 cheesecakes daily while still standing in the open door of the refrigerator, using cuticle nippers to clip a baby to death, driving into a crowd of white people because they are not muslims, and so many other things. How can you say that ANY of those "feelings" is less valid than the "feeling" of being sexually attracted to another person of the same gender?
We have an instruction manual: the Bible. For those literalists: God never mentioned cuticle nippers in the Bible, so does that make it acceptable to nip a baby to death? How about half to death--just marring his appearance? Is such a thing as that mentioned in the Bible? No, but we know, through the Character of God which He has revealed in His Word, that these things, which aren't literally mentioned in the Bible, are WRONG!
Homosexuality is mentioned as wrong in both the OT and the NT. And, I, too, have been liberated. I don't have to consider what my sexual preferences are.
Nathan Responded:
If I were one to be easily offended, your first paragraph would have done the job. Equating love with murder is absurd. Trivializing sexuality down to a animalistic behavior insults both gay & straight people.
My request is that you would refrain from using such derogatory and inflammatory statements.
And just so you know, there is not a biblical word in either greek or hebrew for homosexuality.
I would assert to you that biblical writers did not have a concept of homosexuality in the context that we understand today, two people forming lifelong loving & committed relationships.
I would also assert that biblical writers who did write about homosexual behavior, wrote about it in the context of promiscuity, temple prostitution, and abandoning God. These are things that have nothing to do with my life or that of MANY gay christians that I know.
And finally, you know the verses that say "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." My question for many of you is this: You think being gay and or living life as a gay person is wrong. If you know in your heart you are still attracted to people of the same sex, but you're just not acting on it... How does God see you? If your desire for a person of the same sex is sin and you think & fantasize about it... then how does God see you?
Well, let me help you out.
I believe that God sees each and everyone of us with love & compassion. I believe that those of you who are so ashamed & guilt ridden about your sexuality simply break God's heart... with compassion for you, not anger.
Even if homosexuality was sin, which it absolutely is not, the Bible says that nothing can separate us from God. The Bible says that WHOSOEVER calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus said to have eternal life we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind & strength and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
That's it.
God loves us. We are perfect and beautiful in His eyes. Just the way He created us.
The only time we miss the mark is when we doubt that love... when we doubt the pure, simple & delightful love that God has for us.
When we're doubting that love, fear comes in. We open the door to living a life outside of the awareness of God's love. And we miss the mark more and more.
The solution isn't trying to be good enough, "straight" enough to get into heaven.
The solution is to realize you already are.
David OechsleWrote:
Again, simply because one "feels" like he/she is gay, is attracted to someone of the same gender, does not make this "feeling" a valid feeling. Homosexuality is a behavior. There are people who "feel" like murdering others, molesting children, having sex with animals, eating 3 cheesecakes daily while still standing in the open door of the refrigerator, using cuticle nippers to clip a baby to death, driving into a crowd of white people because they are not muslims, and so many other things. How can you say that ANY of those "feelings" is less valid than the "feeling" of being sexually attracted to another person of the same gender?
We have an instruction manual: the Bible. For those literalists: God never mentioned cuticle nippers in the Bible, so does that make it acceptable to nip a baby to death? How about half to death--just marring his appearance? Is such a thing as that mentioned in the Bible? No, but we know, through the Character of God which He has revealed in His Word, that these things, which aren't literally mentioned in the Bible, are WRONG!
Homosexuality is mentioned as wrong in both the OT and the NT. And, I, too, have been liberated. I don't have to consider what my sexual preferences are.
Nathan Responded:
If I were one to be easily offended, your first paragraph would have done the job. Equating love with murder is absurd. Trivializing sexuality down to a animalistic behavior insults both gay & straight people.
My request is that you would refrain from using such derogatory and inflammatory statements.
And just so you know, there is not a biblical word in either greek or hebrew for homosexuality.
I would assert to you that biblical writers did not have a concept of homosexuality in the context that we understand today, two people forming lifelong loving & committed relationships.
I would also assert that biblical writers who did write about homosexual behavior, wrote about it in the context of promiscuity, temple prostitution, and abandoning God. These are things that have nothing to do with my life or that of MANY gay christians that I know.
And finally, you know the verses that say "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." My question for many of you is this: You think being gay and or living life as a gay person is wrong. If you know in your heart you are still attracted to people of the same sex, but you're just not acting on it... How does God see you? If your desire for a person of the same sex is sin and you think & fantasize about it... then how does God see you?
Well, let me help you out.
I believe that God sees each and everyone of us with love & compassion. I believe that those of you who are so ashamed & guilt ridden about your sexuality simply break God's heart... with compassion for you, not anger.
Even if homosexuality was sin, which it absolutely is not, the Bible says that nothing can separate us from God. The Bible says that WHOSOEVER calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus said to have eternal life we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind & strength and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
That's it.
God loves us. We are perfect and beautiful in His eyes. Just the way He created us.
The only time we miss the mark is when we doubt that love... when we doubt the pure, simple & delightful love that God has for us.
When we're doubting that love, fear comes in. We open the door to living a life outside of the awareness of God's love. And we miss the mark more and more.
The solution isn't trying to be good enough, "straight" enough to get into heaven.
The solution is to realize you already are.