The Bible does not exclude homosexuals as acceptable people.

Many people have quoted the Bible for negative agendas including the Crusades, mass genocides, the Holocaust, slavery and more. Homophobia and heterosexism is concluded in that list. Of course, the Bible speaks against homosexual behaivors in about five places of the millions of scriptures. But it also opposes other things sexually in scriptures that say: DEUTERONOMY 22:13-21 If it is discovered that a bride is not a virgin, the Bible demands that she be executed by stoning immediately. LEVITICUS 18:19 The Bible forbids a married couple from having sexual intercourse during a woman's period. If they disobey, both shall be executed. MARK 12:18-27 If a man dies childless, his widow is ordered by biblical law to have intercourse with each of his brothers in turn until she bears her deceased husband a male heir. These are spoken against, however, are acceoted in society. - Jesus says nothing about same-sex behavior at all. However, he does speak about love and compassion for each other despite your feelings of the person or their actions. A slightly more critical messgae. - The Jewish prophets are silent about homosexuality. - We miss the important messages from God listed repeatedly and continually stressed because of our focus on homosexuality. - It is not immoral because of the fact that they are incapable of having children. These people are incapable of having children as well and the Bible does not condemn them: couples who are unable to have children, couples who are too old to have children, people who are single. - The cities of Sodom and Gamora were not destroyed because of their homosexual behavior but rather because "...the sin of Sodom; she and her suburbs had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not help or encourage the poor and needy. They were arrogant and this was abominable in God's eyes." Ezekiel 16:48-49 There were homosexuals and heterosexuals alike in the town. - Leviticus 18:6 reads: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination." A similar verse occurs two chapters later, in Leviticus 20:13: "A man who sleeps with another man is an abomination and should be executed." However, Leviticus is a holiness code written 3,000 years ago. This code includes many of the outdated sexual laws we mentioned earlier, and a lot more. It also includes prohibitions against round haircuts, tattoos, working on the Sabbath, wearing garments of mixed fabrics, eating pork or shellfish, getting your fortune told, and even playing with the skin of a pig. (There goes football!) This is simply a code for preiests not a code for the general public. Also, the word abomination is not the same as in today. What about this word abomination that comes up in both passages? In Hebrew, "abominations" (TO'EBAH) are behaviors that people in a certain time and place consider tasteless or offensive. - In 1958, for the first time in history, a person translating that mysterious Greek word into English decided it meant homosexuals, even though there is, in fact, no such word in Greek or Hebrew. But that translator made the decision for all of us that placed the word homosexual in the English-language Bible for the very first time. - During the last three decades, for example, organizations representing 1.5 million U.S. health professionals (doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and educators) have stated definitively that homosexual orientation is as natural as heterosexual orientation, that sexual orientation is determined by a combination of yet unknown pre- and post-natal influences, and that it is dangerous and inappropriate to tell a homosexual that he or she could or should attempt to change his or her sexual orientation. ...Sorry for being so disorganized but as are the arguments supporting condemnation of homosexuals in the Bible. ...http://www.soulforce.org......(Homosexual) Reverend Mel White