Quote:
Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice
Do you take that scripture to mean literal physical appearance?
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Of course I don't. But I'm not the one that claims the Bible is the literal word of god.
My point is that if people who staunchly defend the Bible as proof that homosexuality is wrong because the Bible is the literal word of god are willing to say that man was not literally created in the image of god even though that's what the Bible says, then perhaps those people using the Bible as an excuse to come down on homosexuality are actually stretching the validity of the Bible on the subject in order to foster their own attitudes about gays.
To put it another way... Bible literalists seem willing to recognize metaphor in the Bible all over the place, except where it conflicts with what they already believe. Never have I met or heard of someone that said "you know, I was okay with gays, but then I read that god says gays are sinners and now I think they should all stop being gay". Those that use the Bible as their "reason" for being anti-gay were likely anti-gay before they studied the Bible, or they were simply taught to believe it was bad from their parents at a young age, in which case they've never really even thought critically about it for themselves.
And another thought... if homosexuality is a "disease" how is it also a sin (since I've heard both claims from the anti-gay crowd)? Doesn't sinning imply willful action? Doesn't a disease imply something out of the person's control? If being fat were a sin, would a person with a thyroid disorder be a sinner because of their disorder? I'm just trying to understand the supposed similarity between someone that's gay and someone that's a thief.
Also, as I'm phrasing most of this as questions to Joel, I just want to explicitly point out that I'm not suggesting Joel is "anti-gay" or that he subscribes fully or even partially to the hypotheticals I'm mentioning. I'm actually very grateful to the relatively good natured and positive discussion going on here on what's really a pretty touchy subject. Also, I don't really expect anyone to change their minds over this discussion either way since virtually everyone has their own well formed opinions about this sort of stuff... but, as Rob mentioned, I do find value in the discussion as far as it triggering my own introspection.