Dave, did you even READ this post before you replied to it?

I said:
Quote:

Most people just try to live the best they know how. But not all. Others don't.




It's an observation I've made of people who claim to be Christian and aren't, not an assumption about true Christians. I never lumped you in that category, and I never made the assumption that it was to rationalize their feelings on homosexuality. In fact, I also said:
Quote:

They never go to church. They can't quote scripture.



...which, I did notice, you have been doing since page 2, and quite well.

You say:
Quote:


And in further viciousness and distortion, you make stereotypical characterizations of Christians, even as you allege that it is Christians that are the hateful ones.



Wrong again. My problem here is with people who claim to practice Christianity and don't/never do/never will, then turn around and point out it's rules onto me as it makes them appear superior to me. And depending on your faith, you should have a problem with this, too. The people I am addressing sit on an agnostic side of the fence - claiming Christianity but not practicing it in any way. Do you see what I'm saying? Saying you are Christian, and doing nothing else, does not make one Christian. In a way, it's similar to using the Lord's name in vain, or lying - don't you agree?



And it is not an untrue observation that there are a TON of more people out there who "claim" to be practicing Christian than there are people that are actually TRUE practicing Christians. These are the people I am talking about that *steal pens from work* fornicate* lie* cheat* never go to church * can't quote scripture* consume massive amounts of alcohol* abuse drugs* whatever. Then admit to others they are Christian so in case there IS a God, they won't catch the full blunt in the afterlife. Sheesh! And this, sadly, is how I see the majority of America. It may or may not be true, but that's how *i* see it from where I'm sitting.


I have four neighbors in my building alone who claim to be Christian, though I have yet to see them get out of bed in a drunken stupor on a Sunday morning to attend church, in the last four years. Is that Christian?

Tattoos and body piercings - isn't your body "a temple" you are not supposed to desecrate? Is that Christian?

Is it Christian to knowingly commit these sins again and again and just "pray them off"? I somehow doubt it.


In my previous post I am merely stating that - if true Christians must live by the Word, then there are a lot of "false" Christians. If that statement were fact, if true Christians MUST live by the Word -then myself, the majority of the people here, and possibly you as well, are included (because if we MUST live by the Word, then God most likely didn't smile on the STFU and BOOBIES graphics in reply to my original post, or the swearing in others, or the constant judging of "liberals" as you call anyone with an opinion that doesn't sit well with your outstanding Christian beliefs). And maybe that doesn't sit well with you, because that lumps us in the SAME category. Picking and choosing our sins to fit our needs. Is that not true?

Weighing sin then, is in turn the case here. While some sins are judged more severe, people tend to pick and choose which sins they will commit and which they won't. Hell, in modern society among teenagers alone, fornication is a rite-of-passage. Seriously, do the people in your neighborhood who have waited for marriage outnumber those who haven't? I seriously doubt it.

Or are you saying it's ok to commit the minor sins, often, as long you avoid the major ones?

On to the other side - if we're NOT weighing sin and it is all judged the same - then I am no more in the wrong than the actor on television that said "God Damn" on the television five minutes ago.

So, in my "liberal wrongheadedness", I will continue to believe that God loves ALL his creations who live the best (good, moral, forgiving, unjudging, FAIR) life they can, equally, despite what a few men wrote about homosexuality-men scorned by an empire. Men trying to take down Rome in writing. It was a different time, and it was unknown. I know just as many true, genuine, GOOD homosexuals as I do true, genuine, GOOD heterosexuals - and until I see an inherent EVIL or reason to be accused AS EVIL, I just won't believe God DOES see them that way. I will continue my belief that the only unforgivable sin is the taking of one's own life.