God bless you & Be Ready for the Lord is Coming sooner Than you Think…

Thankyou for your reply,You are right my point that the Bibles main message was to love thy neighbour- of course the main message IS God and Jesus love for us ALL of us, and the ultimate sacrifices made for our sins, but shouldn’t we use Jesus’s unconditional love for us as an example? He didn’t Judge, he just loved us.

You very cleverly brought up the fact that if we pick and choose what commandments we like, there will be chaos- But the Ten Commandments are our basic rules for living in a civilized society- I think we can safely say that they get the thumbs up from everyione. (they don’t mention homosexuality though do they?)

My point is that the scriptures while being a fantastic spiritual guide, do contradict and are perhaps sometimes outdated-( shellfish, polycotton blend?)- do YOU wear a polycotton blend, because I really hope you follow the word of God to the letter, and don’t commit such a sin!! Are you telling me that you think slavery is a good thing, because Jesus and God don’t seem to mind that it went on.

I know these are petty point scoring, but what makes me sad it the fact that mortal men arrogantly claims to know Gods great plan for every person, and feels the need to Judge so harshly. I know that you wouldn’t be physically violent towards another person, but the interpretation of the teachings you preach does trigger violence in others.

In my ‘weak’ argument about my friends character, you were saying they were sinners, even though they were ethical and kind- which puzzels me- they are either sinners, or they are not- being kind and ethical to me means that they are decent people with good hearts, to call them sinners seems so silly- God made them did he not? God loves them, does he not?, and looking at them, I actually have to say they seem to be blessed by God-They are amazing people, spiritually healthy,Physically happy and healthy, loving families, steady income,many many dear friends. I’m not sure that It is your place to judge them when God obviously thinks they are worthy of his love. And as I said before It is up to him and him alone to judge gay people- when they finally meet him. It really is no one elses business.

I just think there are so many more issues that need our attention and prayers- women and children being abused all over the world, the poverty, the rapes, the murders,the sad shape of our environment, corporate greed (what does the bible say about greed eh? There is more condemnation in the Good book about greed than homosexuality). It just seems to me that condemming someone for who they love seems so petty and mean.

Just to end on an amusing note about interpretations of the scriptures, what if Celibate was missread, and it was actually Celebrate!!

God is love

AW

Why? I can’t figure out how in the world anyone can take the Koine Greek word “pais” (that means “boy”) and extrapolate out from that word a meaning of “my gay lover.”

I don’t get it.

Maybe I wasted all that money in tuition, books, and the like when I could have just made it up as I went along.

Honestly, the word for boy in this context shows that this slave was young. Yes, young children were slaves too. To express the importance in this Matthew passage, the centurion was showing his care for this young boy; nowhere can anyone pull from this passage that this was the centurion’s lover.

That is, unless, one wants to misuse the Word of God for personal or cultural reasons.

If God’s Word is to remain God’s Word, God has to remain at the center, not some human idea as to what God would think or do in these modern times. God’s church cannot be a church if we go around making things up, no matter how good it will make us feel.

God’s word condemns sin – all sin. It does not sugarcoat sin just to make us feel good or less bad when we break his Law. To do things – anything – against God’s own and infallible word is sin. We can’t change God’s definition of sin to make us feel “less sinful.” If we do, the the blessedness that comes from and shines from the Gospel is worthless.

AW: “I don’t think everything in the Good Book should be applied in the world we live in today.”

Me: If that is true, do we throw out the 5th Commandment, “You shall not murder” or the 7th Commandment, “You shall not steal” because they shouldn’t be applied in the world we live in today? Those are just two examples. They may be extreme examples, but they are valid examples.

AW: “They should recognize that the Bible was not written by God himself, but by the people who worshipped him, and they were bound to be imperfect beings(because who is perfect but God himself) which means they were a product of their culture and times, and they were also bound to make a few ‘human mistakes’.”

Me: I will concede on your point, partially. Yes, men are the ones who actually put the words of the Bible on paper, but it was God, through the Holy Spirit, who told them what to write. “All Scripture is God-breathed.” God is the ultimate author of the Bible, with books attributed to men.

AW: “The main message of the Bible was Gods desire to love our neighbour. Hatered and judgement of your fellow brothers and sisters is NOT a Christian act.”

Me: Is that THE main message of the Bible? I guess Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, for the sins of the entire world, is only a secondary message. Love your neighbor, or sins forgiven: I think I’ll take the latter as the message of the Bible.

AW: “Most of the gay people I know are extremely spiritual, caring, honest, kind and ethical people- in fact some of my closest friends who are gay are more ‘Christian spirited’ than many Christians from my Church…”

Me: Did I call into question their character? I did not say that they are not “spiritual, caring, honest, kind and ethical people.” What I am saying is that they are living in an open sin which is condemned by God. Does it mean that they are any less honest or kind? Of course not! That would be the same as saying that someone who has brown hair isn’t as spiritual as someone with black hair. That’s a very weak argument set up.

AW: “My religion is kindness, how about you?”

Me: My religion is one that accepts Scripture as the Word of God. I speak the truth in love, just as Scripture says. Where sin is apparent, it needs to be pointed out, in love. We should not go on sinning just because it may be accepted by the world’s views. If that is the case, then we don’t need God, because everything will be left up to the individual to determine if the Word of God applies to today or not.

I look forward to discussing this with you more if you so desire.

+ Rev. Tucher +

I find it funny, and actually quite hypocritical that you say that that this group is twisting the scriptures for their own benefit, when most Christians interperet the Bible in their own way anyway.

I don’t think everything in the Good Book should be applied in the world we live in today.

So called Christians use quotes from the Bible as a weapon, and will quote certain passages, especially in the Book of Leviticus- but they ignore passages that tell them not to judge.

They forget to take the ‘log’ out of their own eyes before they remove the ’speck’ from their brothers. They forget to judge, lest ye not be judged.

There are contradictions found within the Bible. As referred to the above, Book of Leviticus that contains texts that prohibit a man lying with another man, however that same book tells us that trimming our hair, being in contact with a woman during her period, eating shellfish and even wearing clothing of two different kinds of thread (say polyester/cotton blend) is sinful. It also tells us that slavery is acceptable.

These sins written within the same book are never questioned among so called Christians who at the same time will do whatever they can to ensure that two men and two women don’t form a loving relationship with each other.

They should recognize that the Bible was not written by God himself, but by the people who worshipped him, and they were bound to be imperfect beings(because who is perfect but God himself) which means they were a product of their culture and times, and they were also bound to make a few ‘human mistakes’.

The main message of the Bible was Gods desire to love our neighbour. Hatered and judgement of your fellow brothers and sisters is NOT a Christian act.

Anyway if we are going to dismiss the Centurions love for his servant/slave, what about David and Daniel’s love, or Ruth and Naomi’s ‘cleaving’?

God is omnipotent- He made each and every one of us (are you saying he made a mistake?). It is up to him and him alone to judge gay people. Most of the gay people I know are extremely spiritual, caring, honest, kind and ethical people- in fact some of my closest friends who are gay are more ‘Christian spirited’ than many Christians from my Church (not that Its my place to judge any of them)

My religion is kindness, how about you?

AW xx

I never new there was more than one way to pronounce “Mollala.” A fact I’m sure the residents of Mollala, Oregon will be glad to know.

Centurion and Luke