/sarcasm

At any rate, I suppose we should all be grateful that Jesus wasn’t troubled by contracts and legal agreements when He chose to mingle with lepers, prostitutes and other unsavory types as part of his ministry.

So are you a Christian or a Jew? Who do you follow?
You know what else it says in Leviticus:
“Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Leviticus 19:27

18And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.
9For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. (Leviticus 20:9)

27: Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Leviticus 19:27

More hits from the Old Testament:
“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of the town. They shall say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death…” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)

“Remember the Sabbath(Saturday)day, to keep it holy” Exodus 20:8

1 Samuel 18:3: Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
18:4: And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

1 Samuel 18:21: Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall now be my son-in-law.”

2 Samuel 1:26: I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathon: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

So do you have a beard? Have you ever had sex with someone during a menstrual cycle, do you stone your children when they are rebellious or when they curse at you?

If not then you need to get over the lie with man as he lie with woman verse.

As I said, people pick and chose what they agree with out of the New Testament and then somehow attribute that to Christianity when in fact the rules in Leviticus were written for Moses and the Jews, not Christians; Jesus brought the law for the Christians as seen here:

15: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; Ephesians 2:15

3: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. II Corinthians 3:3

4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Romans 10:4

Proverbs 30:5-6 “Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”
Again if we look at the context it says “Every word of God”, do not add to His words.
The Bible refers to its writings as Scripture 1 Cor. 4:6 “that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.”
Paul was reiterating what has been said in Deuteronomy and Proverbs. To go beyond what Scripture says means one is motivated by pride, the same character trait that made the Devil fall into sin.
Jesus and the apostles all concurred, “The entirety of Your word is truth” (Psalms 119: 160).
The importance of God’s word held in this respect is clear by saying in Psalm 138:2 “You have magnified Your word above all Your name” As Christians we do not add to the Bible new chapters because it is considered the word of God. If we do, it is no longer Gods word but mans word.
John, There are also still miracles and prophets that are sent from God. Just because you have not seen them that does not make them not exists. I have seen them first hand. Done to me and others I know. Open your Eyes. I guess 1 Corinthians 2:14 sums it up the most. “For the natural man is not able to take in the things of the Spirit of God: for they seem foolish to him, and he is not able to have knowledge of them, because such knowledge comes only through the Spirit.”

Back your supports with scripture. I would like to see them.

All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work . (2 Timothy 3:16,17)

The word “inspired” (theopneustos) in the original Greek language literally means “God-breathed”. When the Bible claims to be inspired, we understand therefore, that it came from the mouth of God. It is God-breathed, inspired.

But a skeptic will say, “Everyone knows the Bible was written by men! The book of 1 Corinthians, for example, was written by a man named Paul. After all, the very first verse bears his name as the author.” In reply to this we answer: “Yes, 1 Corinthians was written by Paul. Notice however, what Paul said in chapter 14, verse 37: “the things I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.” Paul knew the source of his writings and understood that he was like a pen in the hand of Almighty God. We must not view the Bible as the word of Paul, Peter, or Jeremiah, but rather, as the message God revealed through these men just as it is written in Jeremiah 1:9,

Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “behold, I have put my words in your mouth”.

The Bible writers were not like news reporters giving their personal interpretation of events they eye-witnessed, but were divinely guided as 2 Peter 1:20-21 says,

“Above all, you must understand that no prophesy of scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

God and man worked together in writing the scriptures. However, in this work, God is the author who dictated the message, and man is the writing instrument. Men were guided or inspired to write the exact message God wanted recorded in the Bible.
“We constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God’s message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
John you should of known this since your a “Christian”…its in the Bible.

My main concern is with people taking the Bible as being the be-all and end-all to everything: The Bible, as it is, was written by man. God did not put stylus to papyrus or scroll and write the Old Testament OR the New Testament.

Being that the most oft used translation of the Bible (the KJV) is less than, oh 600 years old, how do you account for all the rest of the time?

Has God had nothing of substance to say since the time of the original Disciples deaths? Why were no further miracles, prophets, or decrees from God written after the original Disciples died? You would think, after all, that God is still speaking, and therefore the “Bible” as it were would be a continually growing document. The world is far different today than it was 2000 years ago. I’m sure God would have something to say about that as well.

After all, God is God, but the God of the Old Testament (God of War and of Vengeance) is a far cry from the God of the New Testament (God of Love and Forgiveness). Times change, people change, God may remain the same, but God also changes — as is evidenced by His change in “scripture.”

Yes, I’m a Christian. Yes, I worship the Lord. But I also know better than to try to judge man myself; for I’m not sure I’d want the most Holy to judge me as harshly as some of you are judging your fellow man.

I find all of this both morally wrong and personally offensive.

That pretty much sums up his sermon for me.

I was going to be silent about my “status” as an “ex-gay” because I didn’t really feel it was necessary. My life is lived in many arenas and this one issue doesn’t have to be the single approach I take in life.

However, Joshua and KnightWriter miss the boat and the above one sentence shows me how.

Who cares if you are offended? Who cares if your offensive? The gospel will offend but if you are looking for ways to fight back to vindicate being offended…you missed the selfless sacrifice of love that underlies the gospel completely.

Jesus was the most offensive to the religious hypocrites who placed stumbling blocks in front of people so that they were led to believe that they weren’t good enough to come to God freely. I don’t think He would have kicked an innocent kid out of receiving instruction from Himself or His servants. Now this child will go through life being told a lie that *they* aren’t good enough for the Christians because of the circumstances they were raised in.

I was not raised in the church and the first place I felt accepted, identity and community was within the gay identified community. I care for those ladies who would identify as Lesbian and that this latest flare up in the culture war will lead to furthering closed hearts to the liberating call of Christ.

Joshua and KnightWriter, I would have scoffed, mocked and verbally let you two have it back in the day. Now that I know Christ and am exhorted by scripture to recognize you as brothers in Christ I call you to repent for your hard hearts toward the gay identified community. What you say about sin and scripture and all of that may have some grains of truth, but like the Pharisees, it becomes something other than the truth when you exhibit no mercy and choose to hold on to offense rather than sacrifice for the gay community.

Compelling talking points that preach to the choir is nothing but a wall of sound that reaches the ears of the scoffing and closes the door to true love that makes a real difference.

The Great Commission is not the great gay mission. Don’t let a social issue supercede the eternal gospel.

Now remember, I am an “ex-gay”, it’s not like I am considered a great friend of the “gay” community. Most have heard only a caricature of what “ex-gay” means. Even so, I find your words worthy of a sharpening retort.

In Him,
Randy
PS. I put gay and ex-gay in quotes because I see folks as more than that and I personally hate labels. If that is offensive to you I apologize but see it as a matter of being honest with how I view those terms.