Post by Rev. Jim Cunningham on Nov 19, 2008 4:55:10 GMT -5
From: Manager Rev. Jim (Original Message) Sent: 9/23/2008 11:41 PM
Why do people assume that if you're gay,
you can't believe in God?
Hi brothers & sisters,
Recently I was chosen as Best Answer with five out of five stars for my reply to question above on Yahoo! Answers. I'd like to share it with you, below.
Love in Christ,
Rev. Jim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The question was:
Why do people assume that if you're gay, you can't believe in God? I mean, yes, there are obvious reasons. But I don't see the reason why so many homosexuals have to be atheist. (First off, let me make something clear. I'm all for believing in what you want and I show no prejudice towards anyone.) People should be smart enough to realize that the Bible was written by who? Oh yeah, by MAN. Not by God. And oh yeah, what is that little thing that mankind is filled with? Oh yeah, FLAWS. People, lie, cheat, steal, and other unfortunate things which I don't need to list. People aren't perfect. And can be biased. Why doesn't anyone realize that the Bible isn't perfect? And that you can't take EVERY single word or detail in it seriously? And anyways, look at some of those hardcore religious people. You really get to know them and they're just a bunch of hypocrites, who just use things to their advantage. Anyways, yeah. I'm all for being whatever religion you want. I won't judge a person over their religion ever. Again, I'm putting that out there so no one can say that I'm sort of taking only 1 side. People are entitled their own opinion.
-Nicole
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My answer:
Since most people falsely believe that the Bible condemns homosexuals, they think that it is impossible to be gay and believe in God. Unfortunately what has happened in the gay community is that gays have basically said, "Fine, if I'm going to hell for being gay like all the religious people say, then I don't want anything to do with God."
They don't understand that this is a ridiculous premise. They've made the mistake of letting people speak for God, instead of letting God speak for Himself as He has done clearly in His Scriptures. Had those gay people who reject God actually looked at the Scriptures, they would see that God most certainly is not against them for being homosexual.
But it should be understood that there are a great many homosexuals who have not listened to the lies about homosexuality and have found that they have a place in God and in the Body of Christ. They have seen that the Scriptures do not condemn them for their homosexual identity, and they have a wonderful relationship with the Lord.
Gays and lesbians should NEVER push the Lord away merely because of what flawed and biased human beings say. Even Moses himself was forbidden to enter the Promised Land because of his errors. But the biggest mistake that is made is rejecting the Scriptures as flawed merely because biased Pharisees choose to use it against us! God's Word is true. In fact, the Lord Himself stated, "I magnify My Word above all My name," (Psalm 138:2). The answers are there in His Word, and any honest person with a sincere heart who truly wants to know their Creator will see that it is not His Word that is flawed, nor were the prophets who wrote down His Word as He dictated it to them - but it is, rather, the people who pick and choose things from those perfect Scriptures and preach them with warped views.
There are four main places in Scripture which anti-gay theologians use against us: the story of Sodom, Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20, and Romans 1. But anyone who candidly reads these passages without bias can clearly see that no reference to homosexuals is made whatsoever. What the bigots DON'T tell gays - or anyone else for that matter - is that TWICE in Scripture it is clearly written specifically why Sodom was destroyed, and it says nothing about homosexuals (Ezekiel 16:49-50/Jude 1:7). What they don't tell you is that the Scriptures also flat out tell you that the men of Sodom had WIVES (Genesis 14) - which means they were straight! What they don't tell you is that Leviticus 18 & 20 and Romans 1 speaks of perverted straight men who, in their lust, leave women to be with men against their nature. What these bigots incorrectly presume is that all homosexuals are actually heterosexuals who pervert themselves to mate with the same gender. That is NOT true, but they do not understand this. They cannot see, because of their blindness to the Truth, that there are heterosexuals and homosexuals and that God in these verses is commanding His people (those who love and desire to obey Him) not to forsake their nature and not to pervert themselves by doing that which is unnatural for them - straight men laying with men and gay men laying with women (both of which happens constantly). In fact, reference is made repeatedly to the comparrison of these actions to the fallen angels which "left their first estate" (that is, left their nature) to mate with human women in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:1-4). God doesn't want interspecies mating and He doesn't want us to leave our own natures to mate with that which is not natural for us - again, straight men with men and gay men with women. And if gays and lesbians could understand the point the Lord is trying to make they wouldn't be so dang hardheaded and wouldn't condemn their own selves by rejecting God and His Word in favor of believing the bigots in the church who most certainly will stand in judgment for every gay man and every lesbian woman who was lost due to their false teachings.
-Rev. Jim Cunningham
King James Bible Ministries
www.GayChristianSurvivors.com
Why do people assume that if you're gay,
you can't believe in God?
Hi brothers & sisters,
Recently I was chosen as Best Answer with five out of five stars for my reply to question above on Yahoo! Answers. I'd like to share it with you, below.
Love in Christ,
Rev. Jim
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The question was:
Why do people assume that if you're gay, you can't believe in God? I mean, yes, there are obvious reasons. But I don't see the reason why so many homosexuals have to be atheist. (First off, let me make something clear. I'm all for believing in what you want and I show no prejudice towards anyone.) People should be smart enough to realize that the Bible was written by who? Oh yeah, by MAN. Not by God. And oh yeah, what is that little thing that mankind is filled with? Oh yeah, FLAWS. People, lie, cheat, steal, and other unfortunate things which I don't need to list. People aren't perfect. And can be biased. Why doesn't anyone realize that the Bible isn't perfect? And that you can't take EVERY single word or detail in it seriously? And anyways, look at some of those hardcore religious people. You really get to know them and they're just a bunch of hypocrites, who just use things to their advantage. Anyways, yeah. I'm all for being whatever religion you want. I won't judge a person over their religion ever. Again, I'm putting that out there so no one can say that I'm sort of taking only 1 side. People are entitled their own opinion.
-Nicole
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My answer:
Since most people falsely believe that the Bible condemns homosexuals, they think that it is impossible to be gay and believe in God. Unfortunately what has happened in the gay community is that gays have basically said, "Fine, if I'm going to hell for being gay like all the religious people say, then I don't want anything to do with God."
They don't understand that this is a ridiculous premise. They've made the mistake of letting people speak for God, instead of letting God speak for Himself as He has done clearly in His Scriptures. Had those gay people who reject God actually looked at the Scriptures, they would see that God most certainly is not against them for being homosexual.
But it should be understood that there are a great many homosexuals who have not listened to the lies about homosexuality and have found that they have a place in God and in the Body of Christ. They have seen that the Scriptures do not condemn them for their homosexual identity, and they have a wonderful relationship with the Lord.
Gays and lesbians should NEVER push the Lord away merely because of what flawed and biased human beings say. Even Moses himself was forbidden to enter the Promised Land because of his errors. But the biggest mistake that is made is rejecting the Scriptures as flawed merely because biased Pharisees choose to use it against us! God's Word is true. In fact, the Lord Himself stated, "I magnify My Word above all My name," (Psalm 138:2). The answers are there in His Word, and any honest person with a sincere heart who truly wants to know their Creator will see that it is not His Word that is flawed, nor were the prophets who wrote down His Word as He dictated it to them - but it is, rather, the people who pick and choose things from those perfect Scriptures and preach them with warped views.
There are four main places in Scripture which anti-gay theologians use against us: the story of Sodom, Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20, and Romans 1. But anyone who candidly reads these passages without bias can clearly see that no reference to homosexuals is made whatsoever. What the bigots DON'T tell gays - or anyone else for that matter - is that TWICE in Scripture it is clearly written specifically why Sodom was destroyed, and it says nothing about homosexuals (Ezekiel 16:49-50/Jude 1:7). What they don't tell you is that the Scriptures also flat out tell you that the men of Sodom had WIVES (Genesis 14) - which means they were straight! What they don't tell you is that Leviticus 18 & 20 and Romans 1 speaks of perverted straight men who, in their lust, leave women to be with men against their nature. What these bigots incorrectly presume is that all homosexuals are actually heterosexuals who pervert themselves to mate with the same gender. That is NOT true, but they do not understand this. They cannot see, because of their blindness to the Truth, that there are heterosexuals and homosexuals and that God in these verses is commanding His people (those who love and desire to obey Him) not to forsake their nature and not to pervert themselves by doing that which is unnatural for them - straight men laying with men and gay men laying with women (both of which happens constantly). In fact, reference is made repeatedly to the comparrison of these actions to the fallen angels which "left their first estate" (that is, left their nature) to mate with human women in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:1-4). God doesn't want interspecies mating and He doesn't want us to leave our own natures to mate with that which is not natural for us - again, straight men with men and gay men with women. And if gays and lesbians could understand the point the Lord is trying to make they wouldn't be so dang hardheaded and wouldn't condemn their own selves by rejecting God and His Word in favor of believing the bigots in the church who most certainly will stand in judgment for every gay man and every lesbian woman who was lost due to their false teachings.
-Rev. Jim Cunningham
King James Bible Ministries
www.GayChristianSurvivors.com