posted
I am doing a research paper for my English class concerning religion in the lives of gays and lesbians. The reason I'm posting this is because I want some input from people who think people can be gay and religious or otherwise. I'd post it on the officer lounge area, but the language may become heated here.
------------------ "Life's a bitch, then you die" -USS Luzon, Vanderbuilt Class starship
posted
Whether you regard the gay lifestyle a sin (and I consider a promiscuous lifestyle, regardless of the partners' sexes, to be sinful, i.e.: damaging to the participants and/or others) there is a lot going on in everyone's life. I know of people who thought their "big sin" was a foul mouth, but that wasn't what they wound up dealing with first. In most cases, it was the way they dealt with other people, learning to treat them with love and respect.
That's the acid test of any religion: how does it lead you to treat others, and how do you expect them to treat you. Even an athiest can be a doormat or a self-centered contol freak. Neither is good, religion or not.
I happen to believe an earnest desire to have a relationship with God will lead you to a better understanding of your own worth and that of others. If all you want is a lever to get others to bend to your will, or if you let others use it to hit you over the head and bend you to their will, then it's bad whether you're strait, gay, bi, or unclassifiable.
1. I personally know three glb's (gay, lesbian, or bisexual) not counting any people I know who I DON'T know are g,l, or b.
2. They're all pretty much as monogamous as I am. Moreso, in fact. One of them has had TWO relationships, and considers that a big deal.
I disbelieve in all this baloney rhetoric about the 'gay lifestyle.' There's no more a 'gay lifestyle' than there is a 'people who use PC's lifestyle.' Oh, there's always people, within ANY community, who band together in what they believe their 'type' is SUPPOSED to be like, who follow oter people's lead.. but that happens everywhere.
As to whether there's room for religion in the 'gay lifestyle,' I agree: why not?
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
posted
We've had gay priests, parishoners, and popes. I would think that that would settle the matter right there.
Now, that doesn't mean that religious gays don't often have problems dealing with what is sometimes seen as conflicts between their nature and their religion; witness that Mormon kid I heard about on one of the news channels recently who killed himself because he couldn't reconcile his problems. However, many of us probably have conflicts between what we believe (or more often, what we're told to believe) and what we sometimes do, whether or not we wish to or not. It isn't easy to reconcile being what you are with living under a mindset that condemns being what you are.
Of course, we're being unfair if we confine out idea of 'religion' solely to wester Judeo-Christian thought. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about other religions to know their viewpoints.
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
posted
Yes, I think there is.... in fact, I did a paper similar to this just last fall.....
A lot of "religious people" disagree with me, but I truly do think that you can be gay and still not "go to hell"
However, if it's going to come down to quoting the scripture or anything, I've heard it battled VERY well either way.... I don't think you're going to find any easy answers here... just lots of personal opinion.....
~LOA
PS~ if this helps at all, I have a VERY openly gay friend who goes to my Christian College with me... he went to HS with me, and we even went to church together for a while... he's very religious, and gay at the same time... I don't see a problem with it, and there's no doubt in my mind that if the end were to come today, he'd be heaven bound.
------------------ "Warfare is the greatest affair of state, the basis of life and death, the Tao to survivial or extinction. It must be thoroughly pondered and analyzed."
"...attaining one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the pinnacle of excellence. Subjugating the enemy's army without fighting is the true pinnacle of excellence."
posted
Not to burst the bubbles for you guys, but the bible clearly states that homosexuality is, for a lack of a better word, "hated" by God. I'm not an expert in the bible, but I'd say being gay is consider a sin, and for gay people who want to go to heavn in the same time, well...lady luck is not on your side! But don't get me wrong, I totally thinks that gay people should be treated like normal human beings.
BTW, do you know that blood is consider to be an holy item that contain our soul? So this means a REAL christian are not suppose to donate or recieve blood in any case of emergency, so he'll probably die on the operation table if an accident does occur. But hey, God works in "mysterious ways"!
And for all of you out there having active sex life before marriage, you're chance of going to heaven probably just decrease by like 99%!
------------------ Okey, okey, here's my question:
If you are an immortal, do you "rot" simply because of the nuclear decay of the Carbon-14 particles inside your body?
posted
Well, I'm all for pointing out the fallacies in belief systems, but, at least in Christianity, sins don't preclude going to heaven.
That doesn't mean I agree that the notion of love between two men (the Bible never mentions lesbians) is somehow evil or wrong. But I do think it's important to fully understand the beliefs of others before attempting to pick them apart.
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