I obtained the following definitions from Dictionary.com.
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ho.mo.pho.bi.a
n.
1. Fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay men.
2. Behavior based on such a feeling.
homophobe
n : a person who hates or fears homosexual people.
big.ot
n. One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.
bigot
n : a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own.
Let me make this absolutely clear, one more time, for the record. I do not hate or fear homosexuals. I care about you so much, that I'm trying to get you to see the truth about the consequences of the homosexual lifestyle, so that you'll at least be warned. I don't do this because I want to judge you or because I hate you, or whatever false accusations you want to throw my way. As a Christian and as a human being in general, I have a responsibility to tell you the truth, no matter how hard it is to swallow.
But there is hope. Read John 3:16-18 and find out what that hope is. It's pretty awesome.
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"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
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Yes there are extremists on both sides of this.
Fred Phelps and his family, for example. They're the bane of everyone's existence, and they don't have even the slightest clue about what Christianity is about. They've only succeeded in helping Satan to harden the hearts of those Christians are supposed to be reaching out to, with the Gospel. As my friend and sister in Christ (Charman) said recently, Christianity is love. It doesn't matter who you are, what your lifestyle is, or what your beliefs are. God loves you, and Christians are expected to share the truth in love.
Unfortunately, Phelps and his group have failed to do either one of those things. First of all, they're lying when they scream that God hates gay people and that homosexuals have no hope of turning their backs on their lifestyles and coming to God. Secondly, they are hardly loving. In fact, I seriously doubt any one of those people knows what love is. And it's a shame that these false Christians have succeeded in giving real Christians a bad name.
If you were to approach me and say that my beliefs are wrong, I would not fly off the handle and accuse you of hating me. Most likely, I'd either ask you to explain why you think my views are wrong (That's if you catch me on a good day), or on a bad day, I'd just roll my eyes, scoff, turn around and walk away. But I would not accuse you of hating me. That's an absurd accusation.
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I could just as easily go to a KKK Website, copy and paste all of the propaganda they use from the bible to support their cause.
And they're completely misguided. Apparently, they've never read Exodus 21:16, which states that the type of slavery that African-Americans endured was a capital offense.
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"Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death.
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I came here in the hope of having a meaningful albiet sometimes spirited conversation with people who share an opposing opinion. It has been my experience in life that while you and I probably will never agree that perhaps through dialogue you will see 1% of my point and perhaps I will see 1% of yours.
That's fine. I'm okay with that. And I am seeing some of your points. I hope you're seeing some of mine, and I really hope that you now know the difference between hating what a person does and hating that person. Just because I hate the lifestyle, doesn't mean that I hate the person. And I wish you and justforfun would see that.
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Do you deny that w/o peaceful civil disobidience black people's civil rights strides would have not happened as quickly as they did? Gay people are employing a similar tactic.
No. I don't deny that. And if I had existed back then, I would have most likely joined those African-Americans in their fight for justice. And I never said you don't have the right to protest peacefully. That right is guaranteed in the First Amendment. However, this is not a civil rights issue. This is an issue of morality. You have more rights than African-Americans did before the civil rights movement. For instance:
As far as I know, you weren't kidnapped and sold as a slave. African-Americans were.
You have the right to vote. African-Americans didn't.
You have the right to an education. For a while, African-Americans didn't.
You have the right to be educated with people of different races, creeds, what have you. And for the longest time, African-Americans were denied that right.
And even though I'm not an African-American (I'm Caucasian, of German, English, Scottish and Irish descent) and I can't understand what they went through back in the time of Dr. King and the civil rights movement, I am very much offended and angered every time a homosexual person compares the fight for gay marriage to the fight for racial equality. The fight that Dr. King and his fellow African-Americans went through was the true meaning of a battle for civil rights. The fight that homosexuals are engaging in is an issue of morality, not only because homosexual lifestyles are offensive to the Lord, but also because marriage was created by God to be a sacred joining of two human beings, male and female, for the creation of children who will hopefully be raised to love and follow God. It is also a union that symbollizes the spiritual marriage of a believer to Christ Himself. Whether you want to admit it or not, no one has the right to transform the definition of something that was obviously meant to be holy and sacred, and intended for one man and one woman for a lifetime.
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And my 'gayness' is a defining part of who I am. And when anyone tells me that I'm evil or morally misguided for being who I am -- I am compelled to argue that point.
Go ahead. But don't throw false accusations at Christians who don't agree with your beliefs.
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Ahh, but that's only if you BELIEVE that it is a "lifestyle". It's not. It's an inherent part of their nature. You think it's reasonable for them to deny it and pretend that if they don't "do it", then they aren't really gay. Sorry, but you're living in a dream world.
No. But apparently, you are.
Even if a person who has homosexual tendencies doesn't engage in same-sex relationships, that does not mean that they are not gay. It's the same with me. I'm attracted to men. So because I've vowed to stay a virgin until my wedding night, does that make me a non-heterosexual, even though I'm attracted to people of the opposite sex?
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Whether you like it or not, you are hating a major facet of that PERSON because they are gay. The silly "only if they act it out" argument is tiresome.
I'd imagine it's about as tiresome and silly as the famous "you hate me because you disagree with same-sex relationships" argument.
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He's being general. He's saying you and other Christians don't have the RIGHT to force society to bend laws to suit your religion. I totally agree.
But aren't you attempting to force society to accept same-sex marriage and other "alternative" relationships as valid? I mean, wasn't that the point in breaking the law in San Francisco and MA?
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The only proof here is that you don't understand the meaning of the word.
Yes, I do. And once again, I tell you that you refuse to acknowledge the evidence that is all around you, testifying to God's existence.
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Nobody's asking you to change. I don't have anything against people believing in their religion.
Just one problem: I don't believe in religion. I believe in God, who created me to have fellowship with Him, and who sent His and and only Son (Jesus Christ) to die for all of us and to save us. What I have is a relationship with God. It is not a "religion."
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Religion has absolutely no place in civil or criminal law. Period.
And yet ironically, our laws were modelled after the Ten Commandments. Bummer for you, huh?
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On the other hand I do know gays who "hate" Christians just because they are Christian.
Can you give us some examples and maybe even tell us about some of your experiences?
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Ah, and here we have the basis for a lack of understanding. First gays are no more evil than any human being. Second no one is saying you are morally misguided for who you are. We believe that any sexual union outside of a heterosexual monogamous marriage is immoral and it an activity that God will judge.
Exactly. I concur.
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However, we are getting off topic again.
I don't think so. After all, this topic is partially about homosexuality and the Christian view on it.
_________________
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A website dedicated to exposing the ACLU's persecution of Christians, and the Westboro cult's blatant lies.
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Membership by invitation only. Email me if you are a Christian who's interested in joining.
~*~*~*~
In the solitude I cry, "Lord, what have I done?
There's so many things that I could have done differently."
Yet in the quiet, I'm still reaching out for You,
hoping, praying that You'll see me through...
("You See Me Through," L. Falke and R. Lounsbury, 2004)