Disclaimer: These are all my own, personal thoughts. I do believe that they were given to me by God but I acknowledge that I may be wrong in some areas and will gracefully accept that IF IT IS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION IN A RESPECTFUL WAY. I do not claim to be a prophet or a preacher or some fancy, famous, decorated scholar—I’m just a 21-year-old Christian with a passing interest in sociology, psychology, and apologetics. I do not think I am holier-than-thou and I do not think any sin is greater than another. All sin is equal; I do not think I am better than you. I don’t know how else I can put that so, please, you have already begun seeing my side; if you find it offensive there is a back button, most likely in the top left corner of your screen—please use it because I will not be changing my opinion no matter how many curse words and insults you throw at me. I acknowledge that I stink at arguing my points so, if you find anything unclear, please feel free to ask for clarification as long as you do so respectfully.
WHY HOMOSEXUALITY BOTH IS AND IS NOT A SIN
“Attraction is not a sin!”
You’re absolutely right. Attraction, in and of itself, is not a sin. Wait—what? Yep, you’re right. Why? Because we, as humans, have the ability to be attracted to either gender to some degree. Think about it; you have friends, right? People you talk to, people you get along with—you find them attractive in some way; perhaps not physically but mentally/emotionally/etcetera, if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be friends. Chances are you have at least one friend—or someone you just get along with—from both genders. We are designed to be attracted to people; we are very social creatures but if we weren’t attracted, we probably wouldn’t give them the time of day (just think of that resident annoyance in your life). Attraction is not just physical—but, of course, you know this I’m sure. Now, we’ve established attraction is not a sin. It is what you do about that attraction that determines whether or not it is a sin.
“What you do? What does that mean?”
Let’s look at that a little further, shall we? “It is what you do about that attraction that determines whether or not it is a sin.” This means that it does not become a sin until you decide to act on it. The moment you decide to pursue that relationship that becomes a sin. Why? Because typically that relationship is pursued with the intent of becoming physical at some point. In cases of heterosexuality, it only becomes a sin if the intent to become physical comes before marriage (yes, this includes during the engagement but that is a whole other animal we are not going to get into today). In the case of homosexuality, it does not matter whether or not this intent is before or after marriage, it is still a sin.
“That’s not fair! Why is it still a sin even if I’m doing it ‘right’?!”
This is a question that comes up a lot and Christians need to be able to answer if they’re going to argue it. I could say “because the Bible says so” and give a list of verses; I could say “because God says so” and leave it at that, but do these explain why? No, not really. So, why? Because it is outside of God’s intent. God has a plan for each of us, most of whom he has included and set apart a specific person for the intent of us to be in a strong, loving, Godly relationship with. Anything outside of that plan is sinful because it is not of God, no matter how good it seems.
“Well, why should I care about God’s intent?”
You may or may not be a Christian, I don’t know, that’s between you and God. There is one thing I do know for sure; anything God has planned for us is 100 times better than we could ever even imagine. Being a Christian is not about blindly agreeing with everything God says and following like good little sheep. We can say “alright, God, I don’t get this, I don’t like this,” as long as we add after, “but I’m going to trust You because I know that what You have for me is better.” That’s what faith is, that’s what being a Christian is. So before you yell and scream at us Christians for being stupid, blindly following, being bigoted, being intolerant; remember that not all of us totally agree with everything God says. I, personally, would be perfectly fine with homosexual relationships if I were not a Christian and didn’t know that God has something better planned for everyone. I just want everyone to live their life to the fullest extent in the happiest way possible; that’s why I want people to find God and turn from their sinful ways—whatever they may be—and follow the better path God has in store for them, because I know it will be so amazing. So, no, I don’t see a reason for it to be a sin; but, yes, it is a sin, and there’s nothing I can do about that but say, “I’m going to trust You, God, because I know You have something so much better and it’s just going to be totally awesome.”
But it's also true that you cannot control attraction, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because the people were participating in homosexual activities. Note that the verse you quoted states "men who practice homosexuality". Lust is wrong no matter who you are lusting after so that is irrelevant. I don't think you understood what I said, I know that homosexual activities are wrong and fantasizing about performing said activities is also wrong just as it would be wrong to kill someone or fantasize about killing someone. There are two definitions of homosexuality--simply being attracted to the same gender which you cannot do anything about and participating in homosexual activities which you can do something about. One is entirely subconscious and the other is a conscious action. You cannot stop yourself from being attracted to someone, it is not possible. I'm really not sure how I can make this any clearer but if you're still confused, please let me know.
Yeah, the thing that hacks me off the most is the radical "you must agree or you're a terrible person" mentality they seem to have nowadays. It's so frustrating because it goes exactly against the freedom of beliefs/religion and speech we have in America--even more so because we're basically letting them act that way. It's pretty dang ridiculous, if you ask me. People are so touchy and easily offended.
In conclusion
Homosexuality—the act of being attracted to someone of the same gender—is not, in and of itself, a sin. Homosexuality—the act of having relations with someone of the same gender—is a sin.
[ ai! ^.^ I have no idea how I found this, but I've read it and the first comments page; frankly, I couldn't help posting my opinions on this. :3 Please don't take it offensively - I just want to make sure it's out there.
Firstly, I totally agree with your first point - homosexuality isn't a sin. However, I serious disagree of your second point.
I understand that you believe practicing Homosexuality is a sin because God said so, but
WHY does he say so?
I cannot actually think of any decent anti-homosexuality reasons myself. In any case, I am a firm believer in freedom of sexuality, within reason. If you're female and fall in love with another female, then what's wrong with that? Is the world going to end? Probably not. Are you going to drop dead? It's unlikely. Will a random person develop, say, cancer simply because you're dating someone of the same sex? I highly doubt it. Besides, the planet's population is rising rapidly and whilst we have no serious problem right now, we will when it doubles. With deforestation, loss of farmland to housing estates and desertification, among other things, then frankly we will run out of resources at some point. Soon. If, say, 5% of the population is gay/lesbian, then that's 5% less kids every year. That's a few years left on the timer. More time to solve the dilemma. Oh, and it means that more of the poor kids in foster homes can have a family. I know how that feels, I was there once.
Besides, if the government was to make homosexuality illegal, then that is a direct breach of the Human Rights.
UN Human Rights;
Article 2 -- Freedom From Discrimination
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex or sexuality, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Putting someone in prison because they love and want to be with someone of the sex? That's just sick. And we're supposed to do this becuase of what it says in a book? There are many opinions from Christians that certain aspects of the bible are outdated. Aren't women supposed to be evil or something? Nowadays, if ANYONE said that in a commonwealth country they'd be called sexist.
Anyway - 'God is omnipotent' to quote practically every Christians I've ever brought this subject up with (I grew up in a religious family/area/school, so there's quite a few). Therefore, if he has an intent for us, then maybe it's for us to be gay?
I am actually an atheist, so the 'God's intent' thing, for me, isn't a valid reason. A good number of my friends are lesbian/gay and are currently dating a person of the same sex. What harm has it done to me? None. What harm is it doing you? None.
(Looking back at this, it looks like a full-out attack. Lol. Sorry about that. >.<)
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You make some very interesting points and bring up some good questions but I believe I touched on most of them either in the comments or in the actual article (it's not really an article I guess but you know what I mean) but I will respond to a few of them.
Why does He say so? The truth is I don't know, no one does--if they claim to they're probably lying. I just know that He does and that's enough for me and should be enough for any Christian.
Putting someone in prison for homosexuality is ridiculous, the government should not interfere in religious matters and vice-versa. As far as the Bible being outdated, anyone who has told you that is not a Christian even if they claim to be. You cannot be a Christian and not believe the Bible is the Truth, it doesn't work that way. There is no passage that says women are evil or anything like that, I suggest reading the book for yourself even if you have no intention of becoming a Christian. It's quite interesting to see the parallels from the Old and New Testaments and the perfect preservation and lack of contradictions without taking anything out of context, even from a purely historical and analytical standpoint.
His intent would not be for anyone to be gay considering He says homosexual relations are a sin although he may use someone identifying as gay as a challenge or a way for them to have a better witness to other people.
I don't expect anyone who is not a Christian to agree with or follow my beliefs but that doesn't mean that I won't call someone out on something I know is wrong because I don't want them to make a mistake. It's purely about caring about people. I am currently dealing with my younger sister's recent coming out as pansexual and she knows I am on her side even though she also knows I believe she is doing the wrong thing. We have had many discussions on the issue but I still love her and would not wish anything bad on her.