From: rlc1028@zeus.tamu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.homosexuality
Subject: Re: What the Bible says about Homosexuality
Date: 7 Jan 1993 09:57 CST
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: zeus.tamu.edu

In article <1993Jan6.182440.2385@ucbeh.san.uc.edu>, cho@ucbeh.san.uc.edu writes...
|In article <6JAN199316195558@zeus.tamu.edu>, rlc1028@zeus.tamu.edu writes:

|is genetic, if that's what you mean.  I just feel that like in the times of the
|Pharoah in Egypt, after about 10 plagues, from fairly harmless ones, to very
|severe ones, that God finally turned his back on those people because of their
|refusal to even try to listen or understand.  I still feel that God loves us,
|even though all of us 'foul up' consistently.  But maybe God gave up on those
|people since they completely had closed their minds to him.  Just my opinion.

	[Sarcasm is "off" at your request, Pamela]

	If G-d exists, I can't imagine that he would give up on anyone,
especially if it meant letting go of them so that even more sin could 
abound.  People are supposed to abandon G-d, not the other way around.

	As it is, I think that the passages you quoted were simply
St. Paul's personal ideas.


|What do you mean by 'amongst y'selves'?  If you don't want to talk, it's your
|choice.

	It's an expression.  It means, "discuss".


|  Actually, I'm grateful someone finally answered my post...it's the
|fifth one I written and I guess it takes a quote from the Bible to get someone
|to reply! :-)

	Glad to be of service.

|> 	 _____________________________________________________________
|> 	|                THE 23rd PSALM, REVISITED                    |
|> 	|-------------------------------------------------------------|
|> 	|                 The Lord is my shepherd,                    | 
|> 	|                I shall not want anything                    |
|> 	|                  (for I am but a sheep,                     |
|> 	|               and, sheep are not too bright).               |
|> 	|             He leadeth me beside the shearers,              |
|> 	|           and maketh me lie down beside the axe             |
|> 	|              where he cutteth off my head                   |
|> 	|            to selleth my body along the market              |
|> 	|                    for a hefty sum.                         |
|> 	|              Sheep trust their Shepherds.                   |
|> 	|          "Slaves, obey your Masters." - St. Paul            |
|> 	|_____________________________________________________________|
| 
| 
|Is that how you see people who worship God?  Dumb sheep being led off to the
|slaughter?  

	No.  Sheep are not too bright.  I've always laughed when people
call G-d their shepherd.  It's a bad analogy, since the shepherd guards
the sheep, cultivates their trust, only for the purpose to controling
them so that they can be slaughtered when they reach maturity, or so that
their wool can be taken from them.  Either way, the shepherd is simply
using the sheep.  

	Hasn't this ever occured to you or others you know?  It was 
obvious to me.  

	I'm not saying that G-d uses people like that.  But I am saying
that to call the L-rd your shepherd is a bad analogy.


|I worship God, but I don't feel like I'm dumb or being led off a
|cliff to my doom or anything.  It doesn't mean you are a robot or anything. 

	Sheep are not robots.  They're simply inferior creatures which
are being used, shorn, and eaten, by the shepherd and whomever he chooses
to sell them off to.


|It's a matter of trying to live a 'right' life, whatever that may mean.  And no
|one says that's easy, either.  I'm trying to find the answers for myself.

	Oh, I agree about the religious life.  G-d's simply not my 
Shepherd.


|I think the role of a Christian has to be compassion...and when there is such a
|debate such as whether homosexuality is moral or immoral, legal or illegal, you
|have to drawn the line somewhere for yourself.  It does NOT mean you should
|'hate all gays' or that bullshit.

	I agree.


|Just because my old college pals are now gay
|doesn't mean I now despise them for their choice...I am disappointed, and I
|don't go along with their choice...and yes, that also makes me feel sad.  But
|they still are my friends.  Being friends with people IMHO doesn't necessarily
|mean you believe in everything they do.

	Correct.  Incidentally, do you really think they chose to be Gay?
Or did they simply choose to /do/ Gay things.

	I don't think that Gays choose to be gay.  But they choose to
get involved in gay relationships.  You can be Gay simply because you're
attracted to someone of you own gender.   And I don't think you have much
choice about that.


|It's strange, but before I read all these posts on homosexuality, I was
|actually more 'accepting' about it...but now, I feel that 'acceptance' of
|homosexuality (the act, not the person) is crossing the line.  Am I the only
|one who feels this way?  Can someone talk to me without the sarcasm?

	Yes.

	What changed your mind?  It seems to be a religious issue, and
not very many of the posts have been religious.  Remember also that there
are lots of issues that have been discussed here: discrimination, 
affirmative action, education, social tolerance, and others.  You may
agree with some and not others.  They don't have to be lumped all together.

	And of course, there is a difference between accepting something
as "good" or "bad", and just tolerating it.          ^^^^^^^^^
                             ^^^^^^^^^^

Gadson S.
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.elections,alt.politics.libertarian,talk.politics.misc