Homosexuality *is* a choice.

[talisman]

People wonder why it is so hard to take religion seriously. The people who practice it can never even agree on it.

[Roscoe]

In reading this thread, it kinda helps me that I don't believe in any religion...

[Sean88gt]

People wonder why it is so hard to take religion seriously. The people who practice it can never even agree on it.

Everything is open to debate, why should beliefs be any different?

[talisman]

Everything is open to debate, why should beliefs be any different?

Except to those who profess belief, it isn't open to debate; it is literally written in stone. Even if someone of the same faith has a different interpretation.

[racrguy]

That does seem to happen all too often. Pastors that think homosexuals should just be fenced off so they all eventually die off ignore the realities of the situation as well as the message Christ delivered to us all. Frankly the pastor that said that should have been canned.. but he wasn't.

If the woman from his congregation that was interviewed is an indicator of the intelligence level of the rest of them, I can see why he wasn't fired.

[Sean88gt]

Except to those who profess belief, it isn't open to debate; it is literally written in stone. Even if someone of the same faith has a different interpretation.

Yes and no. There are separate parts of the bible. In speaking to that, if people still live according to the old testament, they should convert to Judaism.

[Treasure Chest]

Everything is open to debate, why should beliefs be any different?

Because so many look at it as gospel truth rather than debatable principle.

[Mach1]

So recent explosions in the gay population over the last couple decades isn't due to birth defects but due to it being crammed down our throats in every TV show and movie? You mean kids are impressionable?

Maybe it's because they are not as scared to come out of the closet nowadays?
I think quite a few homo's are born that way.

[ELVIS]

Christ hung out with pimps, drug dealers, tax collectors and the scourge of society.

ELVIS : So muthafuckin' christlike!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111

god bless.

[Sean88gt]

ELVIS : So muthafuckin' christlike!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111

god bless.

E-five! Who blew tithe at a strip club? Me. I deducted it as an outreach.

[ELVIS]

E-five! Who blew tithe at a strip club? Me. I deducted it as an outreach.

that dudes name was tithe? BOOSH!!!!!!

god bless.

[bcoop]

that dudes name was tithe? BOOSH!!!!!!

god bless.

[Sean88gt]

LMFAO! Nicely done.

[Baba Ganoush]

So it's a sin, so what. So are a shit on of other activities. Just remind the homo's that if they were the majority, our species would cease to exist. Then offer them a bible. Otherwise, turn off the god and remember religion created priests.......

[Strychnine]

We're in the age of the megachurch, the bible doesn't matter as much as the branding, the pump up, the feel good messages, the cultures that are manufactured and so forth, they find hot button issues to rally support and ignore the love of Christ that it should be about.

Christ hung out with pimps, drug dealers, tax collectors and the scourge of society? You need to be the elite to lead one of these churches, dress, drive, live the part of a baller, because people need to look up to these figures (or whatever it is that they need to tell themselves). Gays, are just an issue that these preachers can circle around, grow hatred, increase giving and pad their pockets - they don't give a rat's ass about anyone in their "flock"....well, other than the top line givers.

Not that i identify with catholicism specifically anymore, but here are some words from the Pope recently on the legalism and how it sucks.

Not all Christians are assholes.

Don’t Create Sacrament of ‘Pastoral Customs,’ Pope Preaches

The Pope reminds Christians to open the door to the ‘holy people of God, a simple people, who want to get closer to Jesus.’


VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned that some Christians establish the eighth sacrament “of pastoral customs” when they insist on protocol instead of seeking to meet spiritual needs.

He made his remarks during his May 25 homily on the Gospel reading from Mark 10 in which the disciples rebuked people who were bringing children to Jesus.

“I remember once, coming out of the city of Salta, on the patronal feast, there was a humble lady who asked for a priest’s blessing,” Pope Francis recalled in the chapel of St. Martha’s House.
“The priest said, ‘All right, but you were at the Mass’ and explained the whole theology of blessing in the Church. 'You did well.'

‘Ah, thank you father; yes father,’ said the woman. When the priest had gone, the woman turned to another priest: ‘Give me your blessing!’
“All these words did not register with her,” the Pope underscored, “because she had another necessity: the need to be touched by the Lord. That is the faith that we always look for; this is the faith that brings the Holy Spirit. We must facilitate it, make it grow, help it grow.”

He also pointed to the story of the blind man of Jericho, who was rebuked by the disciples because he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
“The Gospel says that they didn’t want him to shout, but he wanted to shout more. Why? Because he had faith in Jesus! The Holy Spirit had put faith in his heart. And they said, ‘No, you cannot do this! You don’t shout to the Lord. Protocol does not allow it.’”

Pope Francis also used a more modern example by describing an encounter of a young couple with a parish secretary.
“‘Good morning, the two of us — boyfriend and girlfriend — we want to get married,’” the couple says.
“And instead of saying, ‘That’s great!’ [the secretary says], ‘Oh, well, have a seat. If you want the Mass, it costs a lot ...’ Instead of receiving a good welcome — ‘It is a good thing to get married!’ —they get this response: ‘Do you have the certificate of baptism? All right ... ’ And they find a closed door,” the Pope said.

He described the situation as one where a “Christian has the ability to open a door, thanking God for this fact of a new marriage,” but, instead, the secretary controlled the faith when it was possible to have facilitated the couples’ faith.
“There is always a temptation,” he said, “to try and take possession of the Lord.”

Before finishing his homily, Pope Francis painted one final scenario, that of a single mother who wants to have her child baptized.

“Think about a single mother who goes to church, in the parish, and to the secretary she says: ‘I want my child baptized.’
“And then this Christian says: ‘No, you cannot because you’re not married!’
“But look: This girl who had the courage to carry her pregnancy and not to return her son to the sender. What is it? A closed door! This is not zeal! It is far from the Lord! It does not open doors!"
“And so, when we are on this street, (when) we have this attitude, we do not do good to people, the people of God. But Jesus instituted the seven sacraments, (and) with this attitude, we are establishing the eighth: the sacrament of pastoral customs!” he warned.

The Pope noted, “Jesus is indignant when he sees these things” because those who suffer are “his faithful people, the people that he loves so much.”

He concluded his homily by asking everyone to think about “the holy people of God, a simple people, who want to get closer to Jesus, and we think of so many Christians of goodwill who are wrong, and who, instead of opening a door, they close the door of goodwill. ... So we ask the Lord that all those who come to the Church find the doors open … to meet this love of Jesus. We ask this grace.”

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/dont-create-sacrament-of-pastoral-customs-pope-preaches/#ixzz2UjRxhLHT