"I think it's time I clarify some things."
Oh goody. Be still my heart.
"First, Homosexuality is a sin. Just like adultery is a sin. Just like lying is a sin."
Hmmm...lying. Mentioned in the ten commandments. Adultery. Mentioned in the ten commandments. Homosexuality. Mentioned in a couple vague, quite possibly shoehorned, passaged. Try again.
"Second, we are all hardwired from birth to sin."
Which God made us capable of. however if we succumb to something OF HIS OWN DESIGN, he punishes us wholly disproportionate to the crime. (Hell, even murder is still a finite crime, especially if the person is just fastlaned to God's waiting arms...)
"The heart of man is inately evil. Sin is first-nature to all humans."
Maybe a person is inclined to sin, but does that really make him evil? Misguided at times, sure, but not evil.
"Third, just because I'm born a liar doesn't mean I (habitually) lie."
Somehow I doubt that. Not even a little white lie? "No, honey, that dress does not make you look fat!" Come on...
"I was born a thief, but I don't (habitually) steal."
Neither do I, because, aside from extreme circumstances, it requires a degree of malevolence, and a disregard for another's happiness and well being that I simply do not possess.
"Likewise, I was born a homosexual, but I don't engage in homosexual relations."
But why would God program only a few of us with these urges, only to condemn us for them? Does that not make him a sadist?
"Fourth, nowhere does God condemn homosexuality. He condemns those who practice sodomy. Nowhere does god condemn liars, but he condemns those who lie."
Actually, I believe he does condemn liars, even if to be a liar, you must lie.
"Fifth, what's the difference? Not much. If you lie, that makes you a liar. If you steal, that makes you a thief. If you practice sodomy, that makes you a sodomite."
First this is not a separate point, but a continuation of your previous one, so numbering is not needed. Second, you fail to see one important thing. Lying hurts people. Stealing hurts people. Who does homosexuality hurt?
"As a sum up: Stealing is a sin. We're all born in sin. Therefore, we're all thieves. Sodomy is a sin. We're all born to sin. Therefore, we're all born sodomites."
Ah, the false empathy. Please, spare me.
"The true difference is if one acts on their orientation. I've known many gay men and lesbians who have turned from their lifestyles and avoid the temptation to act on their urges."
Read: repressed. They still feel for members of the opposite sex, but they LIE to themselves, and go along with sham relationships. If God truly knows what's in our hearts, it doesn't matter whether or not we do it or not, because we're either lying to ourselves, the people we're dragging along in sham marriages, and to God himself, or we're defying a vague, arbitrary rule. I choose the route that causes less pain, thanks.
"We're not saying that homosexuals are evil, any more than all the rest of us are evil."
You might be evil, but I personally take umbrage to that. I do my best to make the world a better place. Here. Not in some potential afterlife. Can you say the same?
"But sodomy is a sin. We've been instructed by Christ to rebuke sinners, but not to judge them."
Which you seem to be doing a good job of anyways.
"Two of my friends are bisexual. One is practicing, one is not. Which one is the sinner? All three of us."
Yeah, you make the definition so all encompassing that it's impossible not to sin, and you can make everyone feel like they're bad people.
"Get it?"
Not really. Sorry. It all just sounds like justification for persecution to me, but what do I know? I'm just a godless, heathen sodomite.