nbcrusader
Blue Crack Addict
All (okay, most) Churches welcome sinners - because we all are sinners and there is no hierarchy of sin. Most don't go on and tell you that it is not sin.
LivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:It differs church to church. The church I grew up in traditionally believes that homosexuality is a sin. More specifically, a sin due to original sin because it doesn't involve a choice by the person. Everyone is allowed and welcomed in church because it is not the right of humankind to judge one "sin" in comparison with another. Now I only speak for my church here, but we would be more than willing to welcome and accept homosexuals into the church family. My church would never marry homosexuals and does not encourage or support homoseuxality, but they don't encourage or support drinking, prostitution, etc, etc. I think the threat that homosexuality poses to the church is because unlike other behavior the chuch classifies as "sinful", homosexuality cannot and should not be changed. Gamblers and drinkers can get help, they can and should change, but you can't make a homosexual straight. I think the church really struggles with this obvious difference from other sins.
I didn't mean to try to use it as an excuse for homosexuals not to marry, but I've heard people try, that's why I asked. I'm not interested in comparisons with flawed heterosexual marriages. I just want to know if there have been any studies done on the subject (kids raised by homosexuals).
The timing could not be worse. Marriage is in crisis, as everyone knows: High rates of divorce and illegitimacy have eroded marriage norms and created millions of fatherless children, whole neighborhoods where lifelong marriage is no longer customary, driving up poverty, crime, teen pregnancy, welfare dependency, drug abuse, and mental and physical health problems. And yet, amid the broader negative trends, recent signs point to a modest but significant recovery.
Bishop Gilbert A. Thompson Sr., pastor of the New Covenant Christian Church in the Boston area, said "homosexuality is a choice [and that] to say there is such a thing as a gay Christian is saying there's an honest thief."
ILuvLarryMullen said:They are not more likely to become gay
Originally posted by ILuvLarryMullen
(though females are more likely to "experiment" in adolescence [this may be because they don't have the same fear of rejection from their parents for this type of behavior])
Moonlit_Angel said:Dude...that bishop should get to know a few homosexual Christians. They do exist.
Angela
najeena said:I don't think there IS a good reason. Gay marriage is as inevitable as interracial marriage was, and just as sure to offend. But we can't live in the past, people. If you don't like it, don't watch.
Oh yeah, gay people make GREAT parents. They are very aware of their responsibilies to their kids and their communities. It's the people who don't or won't accept them that cause problems.
martha said:So, I was gone for the weekend.
Didn't anyone come up with a better anti-gay marriage reason than the "Won't somebody please think of the children?" reason?
najeena said:It's the people who don't or won't accept them that cause problems.
FizzingWhizzbees said:
the "well kids brought up by gay parents would probably be bullied" argument.
martha said:Which is a failure on the part of the parents of the bullies, who are more than likely straight by the way.
martha said:Dread, I didn't know you were a switch-hitter!
bonosloveslave said:I presented a non-religious argument, that was deemed not valid
FizzingWhizzbees said:
....I suspect that many of those who oppose gay marriage do so out of nothing more than homophobia.