Lord knows why the Pope truly hates gays! The debate over homosexuality and religion has been a heated discussion for some time now. The issue of homosexuality has split churches like the Episcopal Church while at the same time uniting others such as the Metropolitan Community Church, with a predominantly gay membership.
Does God condemn gays? Is homosexuality a sin? Or is being gay truly "insidious" in the eyes of God, as the late Pope John Paul II described in his book "Memory and Identity"?
Homosexuality Is a Sin!
The late John Paul II and therefore the Vatican's stance on gays is clear: homosexuality is a sin and gay marriage "attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man." In the late Pope's philosophical work on the nature of good and evil, "Memory and Identity," gay marriages are considered an integral part of "a new ideology of evil" plaguing our world today.
After all, the Bible itself sites passages condemning homosexual activity:
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination" (Lev 18:22).
"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall be put to death: their blood is upon them" (Lev 20:13).
"God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error" (Rom 1:26-27).
"Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers - none of these will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:9-10).
The condemnation of the law applies for those "who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers" ( 1 Tim 1:9-10).
God Loves Gays Too!
Many religious supporters disagree that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God, including those that fought for the inauguration of the Episcopal Church's first Openly Gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson, a decision that divided the church but promoted a more progressive religious community.
Some religious scholars believe that the intent of references to homosexuality in the Bible may not relate to same-sex relations at all. Walter Wink, Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary describes in his presentation on Homosexuality and the Bible:
"Some passages that have been advanced as pertinent to the issue of homosexuality are, in fact, irrelevant. One is the attempted gang rape in Sodom (Gen. 19:1-29), since that was a case of ostensibly heterosexual males intent on humiliating strangers by treating them "like women," thus demasculinizing them. (This is also the case in a similar account in Judges 19-21.) Their brutal behavior has nothing to do with the problem of whether genuine love expressed between consenting adults of the same sex is legitimate or not. Likewise Deut. 23:17-18 must be pruned from the list, since it most likely refers to a heterosexual prostitute involved in Canaanite fertility rites that have infiltrated Jewish worship; the King James Version inaccurately labeled him a 'sodomite.'"
The Verdict!
In the end only the Lord can tell us which side the scale should tip. Until then the controversy over gays and religion will continue. Share you opinion here!
Does God condemn gays? Is homosexuality a sin? Or is being gay truly "insidious" in the eyes of God, as the late Pope John Paul II described in his book "Memory and Identity"?
Homosexuality Is a Sin!
The late John Paul II and therefore the Vatican's stance on gays is clear: homosexuality is a sin and gay marriage "attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man." In the late Pope's philosophical work on the nature of good and evil, "Memory and Identity," gay marriages are considered an integral part of "a new ideology of evil" plaguing our world today.
After all, the Bible itself sites passages condemning homosexual activity:
"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman: it is an abomination" (Lev 18:22).
"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall be put to death: their blood is upon them" (Lev 20:13).
"God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error" (Rom 1:26-27).
"Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers - none of these will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6:9-10).
The condemnation of the law applies for those "who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers" ( 1 Tim 1:9-10).
God Loves Gays Too!
Many religious supporters disagree that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God, including those that fought for the inauguration of the Episcopal Church's first Openly Gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson, a decision that divided the church but promoted a more progressive religious community.
Some religious scholars believe that the intent of references to homosexuality in the Bible may not relate to same-sex relations at all. Walter Wink, Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary describes in his presentation on Homosexuality and the Bible:
"Some passages that have been advanced as pertinent to the issue of homosexuality are, in fact, irrelevant. One is the attempted gang rape in Sodom (Gen. 19:1-29), since that was a case of ostensibly heterosexual males intent on humiliating strangers by treating them "like women," thus demasculinizing them. (This is also the case in a similar account in Judges 19-21.) Their brutal behavior has nothing to do with the problem of whether genuine love expressed between consenting adults of the same sex is legitimate or not. Likewise Deut. 23:17-18 must be pruned from the list, since it most likely refers to a heterosexual prostitute involved in Canaanite fertility rites that have infiltrated Jewish worship; the King James Version inaccurately labeled him a 'sodomite.'"
The Verdict!
In the end only the Lord can tell us which side the scale should tip. Until then the controversy over gays and religion will continue. Share you opinion here!
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