The Good Book and Gay Marriage

for all those who dont believe that the bible discusses homosexuality they dont know thier bible
1st corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 10 and 11 and romans chapter 1 all of it in 1st corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 10 and 11 paul writes do not be decieved for there are certian people who will not enter heaven and those people are idolaterers adulterers sexually immoral prostitutes homosexual offenders haters warmongers liars cheaters murderers
and this is what some of you where but you have turnedaway from you wicked ways been sanctified and redeemed by jesus christ and are saved

and also read romans ch 1 and the story of soddom and gamorrah so yes the bible calls homosexuality a sin there are those who say well im chemically or biologically gay well to them i say you can choos wrather or not you can give into that say NO!! to the flesh i know men who are formerly gay and are saying NO!! to thier fleshly desires every day with great sucess sure its heard but its more blessed to stapm out the sin in your life than not to you can only do that with the help of christ jesus you cant do it under your own power and to the person who says jesus would embrace homosexuals who are unrepentant and refuse to turn from thier homosexuality if jesus where to embrace homosexuals he would have chastised paul he never did chastise paul thbible also says man shall not lye down with another man
so read your bibles folkes
i am a constitutionalist conservative born again evangelical christian i dont condemn the homosexual but i do condemn the sin not the sinner

and dear friend if you are gay its never too late to surrender you life to jesus he is the cure for you need to be curred of your sin just like you i am a sinner as well one who has been saved by gods grace i deserve hell but i have read the book of rules and discovered that i dont have to go there and if you surrender your life complettely and authentically to him you wont go thier either if you do surrender to christ then over time there will be evidence of that change that should take hold of your life some of these changes are that you no longer live the gay or lesbian lifestyle and other sins that are in your life will abbate as well my friend you dont become perfect you will still slip up i do that every day but you will then see your sin as discusting and repent and ask jesus to forgive you and cleans you and he will just by asking firends the bible says the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life so if you are living the gay / lesbian lifestyle or any other sinfull lifestyle stop before you get sick with aids and hiv if you havent allready become sick with such and if you have become sick with aids or hiv as a result of living the gay or lesbian lifestyle you are allready proving the bible to be correct in the statement that the wages of sin is death however its not to late for you to recieve the gift of god which is an eternity in heaven

For those of us who are not Christians, this is entire discussion is offensive.

The bible is not relevant to our lives, and we want no part of it in our secular laws. I resent the intrusion of Christians in my life and in my face. This is not a theocracy - and if you want one, take a walk through the Middle East, or Tibet, and let me know how it's working there.

Preach whatever you wish in the confines of your homes and your churches.

Don't like homosexuals? Don't date one. Don't marry one.

Just mind your own business, and keep your bible to yourself.

Religion is a choice. Religion is protected in this society, although it is a choice. So I don't care how I got to be gay. I deserve equal rights under the 14th Amendment.

One clarification, if I may: It is erroneous to say that the Bible "condones" or approves of slavery. The Hebrew word eved, which we mistakenly translate "slave," really just means "worker." It comes from the Hebrew root avad for "work." Many Jewish translations more accurately render eved as "bond-servant." The fact is, in the ancient Near East such "bond-servants" were usually almost always either (a) captured prisoners of war or, alternatively, (b) what we would today call indentured servants who either sold themselves or were sold by their parents into service for a fixed period of time. The Bible, in fact, sets strict limits for this type of "slavery" ("If you buy a Hebrew slave, he may serve for no more than six years," says Exodus 21. "Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom".) This was a time, remember, without prisons or social welfare institutions. Slavery or bond-service was considered an act of mercy for captured prisoners of war since the alternative was usually mass slaughter. People routinely "sold" their service to masters as a way of escaping starvation.

HOWEVER, what we understand as slavery in the strict sense -- which is the kidnapping of innocent people to be used as forced labor -- the Bible unilaterally condemns. "If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die," says Deuteronomy 21: 7. "You must purge the evil from among you."

As is so often true with NEWSWEEK, the discussion of slavery in the Bible in Ms. Miller's article was so off-hand as to appear ignorant. She rarely cited Biblical texts and seemed almost entirely ignorant of the 30 years of scholarship on the various exegetical issues having to do with homosexuality in the Bible. It is typical of NEWSWEEK's arrogance that it assigns someone for a cover story on the Bible and homosexuality whose sole qualification is a B.A. degree in English... who has no formal training whatsoever in Biblical languages or scholarship... and who can barely disguise her own contempt for the very religious tradition she is allegedly examining.

Instead of examining the (boring?) scholarship on homosexuality in the Bible, Ms. Miller turns, instead, to her friend the Jesuit priest who explains that "tolerance" is the primary value he takes from the Biblical tradition. Alas, it was precisely the Jesuits' "tolerance" of homosexual pedophilia -- their 30-year scholarly justification for looking the other way when gay activists joined the priesthood and then, later, some of them raped children -- that has resulted in the Catholic Church having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in court-ordered damage settlements. The Jesuits "tolerated" homosexual rape for literally decades -- and it was just this sin, ho

4astrongamerica, I'm tired of hateful bigots like you trying to speak for all Christians, or trying to force your religious beliefs on others through legislation.
True Bible-believing Christians know that homosexuality is NOT a sin, and it's NOT a lifestyle, alternate or otherwise.
They are human beings- not an alternate form of life.
All of the arguments against same-sex marriage are as hateful and bigoted as arguments against blacks and whites intermarring- it's an "Alternate lifestyle", its sinful, it goes against a sacred definition, it's no different then getting married to an animal, etc.
4astrongamerica, marriage is NOT a concept specific to YOU. Hindus get married, Jews get married, atheists get married, Hollywood starlets get married to rock stars and get divorced a week later. Mariage has existed long before Christianity, and in places that never heard of the Bible. You do not have the right to impose your narrow definition of marriage on everyone else.

The tradition of marriage HAS changed in definition from a man owning a woman as property to a bond of love, and there is no reason why same sex couples should not share in that same bond.

What is there to debate? The bible is clear on homosexuality see 1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Tim 1:10. Homosexuality is a sin, just as sex outside of marriage, stealing, lying, cheating, etc. The problem is that it makes perfect sense to those who are engaging in deviant behavior and they point fingers at others in an attempt to measure the behaviors. In God's eyes, all sin is equal and He makes it perfectly clear. I am a sinner, just as the next person. And, homosexuality is described without any beating around the bush as a sin. There is nothing to debate.

On the one hand this article is fascinating and kudos to Newsweek for attempting to present a "balanced" article on the topic.

On the other hand, how does Newsweek fail to acknowledge the fact that there are more than just Christians in this country and, furthermore, this issue shouldn't even BE an issue of Scripture. It's an issue whose only answer should lie in the Constitution and since the Constitution mandates seperation between Church and State, neither of these two men should have any say in who can get get married and who can't.

why must it be called a marriage? a marriage is only between a man and a woman. most people would not have a problem if it was called a GAY UNION or anything else except marriage. all legal rights can be the same for both. but homosexuals and lesbians continue to jam their deviate behavior down our throats as normal. it should never be taught in schools as acceptable or so called alternative lifestyle. then there is the issue of being born gay. nature makes misstakes all the time and many people are born with defects. being gay is not normal. if you make it legal for gays to marry then is it ok for a man to marry his own brother, sister, mother or father or pet goat? lawyers just love this sort of thing because it put loads of money into their pockets. homosexual behavior is not accepted in the bible and gay marriage will never be accepted by most churches, unless a homosexual man marries a lesbian woman. hahahahahaha.

Stating homosexuality is a choice (therefore, God can change you) is a DANGEROUSLY ignorant comment. God can do whatever He wants, it's God after all. That said, if me doing everything short of suicide (including electro shock therapy) to acquire that holy "change" to see the 'holy light' of female genitalia attraction has not worked for 1000's of gay men, 100s of which I personally know and dozens of which have sadly committed suicide - then PLEASE stop spewing religious ignorance that being gay is a choice. To think of the starving children we could have saved with the 70 million wasted bucks spent on Prop 8 - we are all damned because of this culture war... isn't this country war weary enough? Religion kills, Spirituality Saves.

The whole article is a waste of time, space and effort when you consider that:
1) The Bible being relevant in the first place requires belief in talking snakes, virgin births, and transsubstantiations, so both debaters have no foundation in reality from the start.
2) The despotism at issue is not a matter of the Bible's position on homosexuality, it's the inclusion of religion in the making of secular law.
3) Any commenter here who is not gay simply doesn't have enough information to make decisions governing gays; it is like citizens of Zimbabwe voting on laws governing Koreans in Korea.