Hippie and Antiochan,
It truly does hurt me to see how much this monster called religion has hurt innocent people. This monster is not what Jesus intended for his church to be,and I think he would be sorely disappointed in the tragedy and misery it has purveyed on so many people throughout history, even through today. It is prejudicial, judgmental, narrowminded, ungracious, unmerciful, unrepentant, and most of all, unChristlike,
It is not the church of God. It is the church of people and of man-made religion that has made a god out of their own lust for power and money. God is not there. If he were, it would be very different. If the church has to stand before God someday and answer for what it has done, it would stand collectively guilty for turning away thousands of gays and lesbians who desperately wanted God, but were told it wasn't possible for God to love a fag. It would stand guilty for turning away black people because they just couldn't have a black person sitting in an all white church. That wouldn't be right. It would stand guilty for closing its doors to all divorced women and drug addicts trying to quit for the tenth time. The church is a poor excuse for Christ's representative on earth.
There are a few congregations out there who are NOT these types of churches and all I can say is, go find one. Most of all, don't depend on anyone else's interpretation of God or the Bible for your feelings on the subject. It is your relationship to God, you have to work it out for yourself.
