The Good Book and Gay Marriage

I do not know why some people would think that some other people forces them to go their way. Why do they think that someone is trying to boss them. I express my belief like you express yours and I don't expect you or anybody to join me in my faith.
Only those that seek God will find Him. It's offered to every one, but not every one will respond.
Merry Christmas.

God gave us commandments to guide our life. The more intelligence we think we have, the more difficult it will be to obey Him. My Leader is Jesus Christ. He His not just some leader, He Is the King of King. If following Him seems to some to be robotic then let it be it.

I believe if more people would study the scriptures instead of pulling out a verse here and there to try and prove their point, we would not be having this discussion. Some of the laws of the Old Testament do seem strange but each had a purpose. Some were to keep disease out of the Israelite camp, some were a form of setting yourself apart for God's service, some were because God knew we would not get enough rest!

When Jesus came, that was the end of the Old Testament law as the people knew it. (Romans 10:5-10) Now God takes it a step further and says if you think it in your heart you have done it. (Matt 5) We have it better in the fact that blood sacrifices are no longer required but Jesus knew that the Israelites would have problems giving up some of the laws such as food, Gentiles, the Sabbath. (Acts 10:9-31) (Mark 2:23-28). But you will not find where God changed his outlook on any of the sexual sins. (Matt. 15:19-20) (Mark7:21-23), etc.

The more I STUDY the bible, the more I see the proof that it is true. It is dates closer to the source than ANY book, science and archeology continue to prove it right and has never proven anything in it wrong.

Homosexuality is a sin and we are ALL sinners fighting our own fight. The only way we can overcome is with Jesus

Why are we even considering the Bible for the issue of gay marriage anyway? People need to separate legal marriage from religious marriage. I know people who are atheists and they can get married if they want. Why? Because legal marriage has nothing to do with church.

It's not that hard to grasp....is it?

Personally I think those who use the Bible as a weapon against people they don't like (such as in this case) are extremist zealots whose minds are incapable of deeper thought and whose souls are incapable of reason or conscience. They are religious robots, the same type of person who gets caught up in a cult. They don't know the spirit of God, they only know how to follow rules.

Just to add a little bit more perspective, the Bible contains well over 500 references to marriage. In every case the reference is to a heterosexual marriage, and contrary to the claims of Ms. Miller, the majority of the references are to happy, successful marriages.

Apparently no one here is capable of actually reading what the Bible says on this issue. The Bible contains no less than sixteen separate passages dealing directly with this particular sin (and several more which refer to it indirectly). They are:

Genesis 19:5, Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Deuteronomy 23:17-18, Judges 19:22, I Kings 14:24, I Kings 15:11-12, II Kings 23:7, Ezekiel 16:49-50, Hosea 9:9, Hosea 10:9, Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9, I Timothy 1:9-10, II Peter 2:6 and Jude 1:7

You cannot read these passages and conclude that God supports gay marriage.

I heard Lisa Miller talking about her article on NPR few days ago. Her interlocutor argued that allowing gay marriage would open the door for other practices, such as polygamy. Lisa Miller responded that the concern was groundless since polygamy is outdated and not really a current practice. Further, when practiced, it violates the rights of women involved. To remind the obvious, polygamy is widely practiced around the world and in many (though certainly not all) cases, the polygynous model of marriage is supported by the participating women. I invite Lisa Miller to sit on my Introduction to Anthropology class for a brush-up.

regards ,

Janina Fenigsen

Marraige, as the law of God prescribes, sybolically repesents the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church (i.e. the true believers purchased with Christ's blood). It is through this teaching which we can learn of the security the believers (i.e. God's people) have of life eternal through the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Read Romans ch. 7, Ephesians ch. 5, Matthew ch. 19, Mark ch. 10, 1Corinthians ch.7). An unnatural relationship, which is of the same gender, is not recognized by the One true God as anything but an abomination. People may call it what they want, but God has already defined marraige in the beginning, and people have been busy perverting His Word. Turn to Christ that you may truly have life! Leave off worshipping and serving the devil and worship God alone! Come unto Jesus that you may be pardoned from your transgressions! Call on the name of the Lord and be saved!

The bible does in fact mention homosexuality many times, only liars bent on using the power of the media and preying on the ignorance of others would make such a claim. Read Romans 1:21-32 for just one of many examples and interpret for yourselves what the Lord has to say on the subject.

It is amazing to me how many that consider themselves open minded will watch a discussion such as this and conclude that all who engage are hateful and fail to take into account the views of the other side. That is simply not the case. I pray that those that read these comments and watch this world-wide debate unfold will have enough discernment to see who brings hate and lies to the discussion.

It is time that common people wake up to the idea that our sexual thoughts need to be kept between us and our partners. They do not belong on every sitcom and every magazine cover in the world. They do not belong in our children???s classrooms.

I manage to keep my sexual desires to myself and function just fine throughout the day and so can you.

Opinions are one thing but using the Bible to justify homosexuality is an outright farce and your appeals to "differing interpretations" are nothing short of lies.

True journalistic integrity demands a retraction of this article as the acquiescence to the homosexual mafia that it is.

I applaud Newsweek for their courage in publishing the article on same-sex marriage.

To understand the Bible, we have to differentiate between the Old Testament and the New Testament. After Jesus' Resurrection He gave new instructions to His disciple that apply to us now. The Old Testament was mostly directed to the Jews and Greeks of the time. That's why many laws of then are no more applicable today. That's why I'm saying that to understand the Bible we have to pray to God to give us the understanding that we need to practice His instructions. But let's not forget that we will be sinner till the day that we'll be redeemed and sin will be part of our being till then. No one is without sin.

Dear Dr. Barrett Duke,
You state that there are ???many key Bible passages??? that deal directly with homosexuality. You also say that ???nowhere does the New Testament condone homosexual behavior, but it does often condemn it.??? To the best of my knowledge, there are no more than a handful of passages from Genesis to Revelation that mention homosexuality. In a book that is actually a library written and compiled over a span of hundreds of years, a half dozen or so isolated references that are open to a variety of interpretations and perspectives wouldn???t qualify as being a large body of evidence to support your position on this matter. So my first question is: what is your reason for exaggerating the Bible???s influence on this topic?
You state that ???Jesus broke down many barriers about what was to be considered clean and unclean, but he didn't declare everything clean???. What do you consider to be the guiding principle that makes some things clean as result of Jesus??? breaking down barriers but keeps other things still unclean? What would be the rationale for allowing certain types of previously forbidden food to be eaten but continuing to condemn a same-sex expression of human love that is not the majority expression but still is as heartfelt and genuine as the love between a man and a woman?
You state that ???I consider my opposition to same-sex marriage and to homosexuality in general to be an act of love toward those who are living in this lifestyle. I do not help anyone by affirming what God has condemned.??? But if you are basing what ???God has condemned??? on your own particular preferences of Biblical verses and your own interpretative preferences of those verses, then the possibility exists that you are mistaken according to the black or white perspective you have insisted on, and what you see as an act of love could actually be an instrument of pain brought against people who have done neither you nor me nor God any harm, who only wish to express love as authentically as you and I, as heterosexuals, are allowed to do in this society and who are kept from that open authenticity in the name of religion. Isn???t that an example of the legalistic thinking that you previously said ???made a real mess of things??? because it is exactly the opposite of how Jesus told us to treat each other?