why "normal" people dont like gay people?

It has mostly to do with religion, I mean just look in the so-called holy books of the three abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and you will start to understand. Most of the people in the world hate us for nothing more than being attracted to who we are and a few lines in some ancient book with dubious credentials.

 

I don't think it's entirely the fault of religion. People use these books to justify their own personal predjudices. If people listened to everything the bible said (especially the book of leviticus, where many fanatics point to as their source of "proof" for the condemnation of homosexuality) then people who hated gays would also not wear mixed-fiber/synthetic clothing and argue that selling your wife and daughters into slavery is completely moral and justified.

I think the main reason is the natural human fear of the different and unknown. While many are able to get over this fear and be accepting, others who have greater trouble with it hide amongst the finest points of their religion to justify their fear and hate.

 

There's also the biological equation of male + female = baby. Gay people obviously don't fit into that, and so we are cast off as abnormal and aberrant.

 

There's also the fact that we're "just different" from them.

I think that kind of ties in with suburbs_of_sodom's statement about the fear of the unknown.

 

I think its a much bigger thing than all this.

I think that there are some people that are so obsessed with their religeon that they could never see it any other way. To these people I really feel sorry.
There are many extremely religious people who are more accepting of gays than anyone Ive ever met. I don't understand this, because how can they believe one part and not another?? But Its better than hating us, so good for them.
I think that most of the hating comes from not knowing that there can be LOVE between 2 guys. How could they know what someone elses love feels like? So I can see how I could easily follow the crowd and say that it was bad if I was straight.. sadly

Lastly, I think that many people who hate us have simply said it one time or agreed with someone who did. Now they are simply stuck with it. You know how hard it is to say "yes, you are right, and I agree with you" if you have been dead-set against it.

This could be the reason that some parents take so long to come around?

Maybe im naive, thats just how I think it is. Not that I think its right.

 

I think that some normal do not have any problems with gay people, well, it depends
They may hate us because they may see some gay guys doing crazy things or something
But all I want to say is do not look at an individual and throw the whole blanket on the entire community.

 

From the people that I know personally who are homophobic, I have to agree with tired_of_lying. People tend to agree with a majority. At the same time, some people just seem uncomfortable with the notion that someone of the same sex may be looking at them in a sexual way...(if they are straight, that is).

 

I think it has to do a lot with the religion thing...but in all fairness what exactly is considered normal? Being an LGBT person myself I think the way I live my life and who I am attracted to is "normal" whatever that may be. So who is allowed to say what normal is?

 

As a person of Abrahamic faith and a fairly religious person myself, I can say that it's not about believing "one part and not another" when it comes to the Bible. Quite the opposite -- it's about believing all of it and believing that it belongs in a place and in a context. I, as a Christian by faith and Roman Catholic in practice, find that the majority of the "Old Testament" is to give a historical background for the Messianic prophecy fulfilled by Jesus (whose given name was much closer to Joshua, which is how I often refer to Him). Within this context, the laws of the Jewish people are recorded as part of their story -- what some "fundamentalist" (and others) Christians do not want to acknowledge is that Christ himself said the He came to stop people from abusing the letter of the law and that He came to show people that the true path is to follow the spirit of the law. The spirit of those laws (Love thy God, love thy neighbor, and lastly love thy self) is really the basis for all of Joshua's teachings and frankly is the basic idea behind the Mosaic law if you want to simplify it about as far as it can go. Thus, the enumerations of Leviticus/Numbers/etc. are not relevant for Christians (and we don't follow them anyway -- how many Christians eat cheeseburgers, wear poly-cotton blends, and neglect to offer burnt animal offerings to repent for sins?!). Thus, as long as we respect our God, respect other people, and respect ourselves, we are on the right path according to Christ -- and that can include liking cock, sucking cock, and riding cock even if we have a cock of our own, as long as we love and respect ourselves and our partners rather than using and abusing ourselves and each other.

Amen?

Amen!

 

Is it necessary to list all of them? Im blushing

 

It was for dramatic effect -- sorry to make you blush. You've gotta admit that it sounded more impressive that way, though. ^_^

 

Blamblazer, I have always been interested in hearing an intelligent Christian's take on this one section of the bible: “For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”-Matthew 5:18-19 RSV.

This was spoken by Jesus (Joshua, I'm impressed that you are aware of that) and indicates that the Old Testament laws are still to be followed by Jesus' followers. I really don't know your take on the Bible, I don't know if you believe that it is not meant to be taken literally and believe that it was written by men. However, I think it is impossible to follow the Bible and not 'pick and choose' what to believe. It really is poorly compiled and the editors should be shot for their poor work.

Course, every religion has this problem. But then again, every religion teaches respect, peace and love.

 

Amen to that:eusa_pray Though I'm not a Christian...
Yes, every religion has problems. And this is a one of them. Hopefully, it'll change.

I hope...

 

I don't know about other bible passages but I found this one in a Catholic Bible condemming gay sex:

"Therefore God Gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature instead of the Creator who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men giving up natural intercourse with women were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and recieved in their own persons the due penalty for their error." Romans 1:24-27

But since my bible is one used in catholic schools it has little boxes on the sides of some passages and gives a modern day look on what it means. The little box by this passage says,
"Some people interpret these verses to mean Paul is condemning homosexual persons. But this is a serious misinterpritation of Pauls words. ... Paul never condems people, he condems sinful behavior. The Catholic church does the same. The church teaches that homosexual orientation is not sinful, but it also states that any sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong."

Does anyone understnad that? To me it seems to contradict itself. i mean if the church doesn't hate us for being gay, then why do they ban our marriage? it seems like they are trying to keep us from acting on our orientation (as they do themselves being straight) and then saying that we are sinning. I just don't get it... :eusa_doh:

 

I think it means that as long as you're a married gay (which you can't be) sex is fine. *sarcasm*
They like to say "Love the sinner, hate the sin" when in reality, you can't do both.

 

weeelll, it's hard, but not necessarily impossible...
but anyway, all i gotta say is, i believe jesus loves me AND my girlfriend, and doesn't give a *darn* if im lesbian or not as long as i believe in 'im. personally, i think religion is just a little...messed up. i mean, it's really, really hard to always get all of your answers for every problem we have today from the bible. so, basically, i believe what i believe, and if any church is gonna tell me god doesn't love me cuz im lesbian, well, **** them. it's a good thing i have a very, VERY accepting church (now, anyway...)
*btw, im just humbly expressing my opinion here, so if anyone was offended AT ALL, please don't shoot me. thank you.*

 

Yes, the editors should be shot publicly and then hanged for f-ing it up so royally! That's a whole nother issue -- the creation of the Bible and why some texts are included but others are condemned.

No, seriously -- I think you can take the spirit of it all literrally but you have to place the Bible in its historical/social/political/linguistic context if you want to get literal. God's message will speak to the reader in the spirit of the text; however, looking at the factual text is more difficult due to translation issues and cutlural/political situation. Further I find that the smallest unit of the Bible that should really be discussed is the Chapter because verses within a chapter can so very easily seem contradictory if not taken as a whole. For example, Matthew 5:37 "'But let your statement be, "Yes, yes" or "No, no"; anything beyond these is of evil.'" So according to Joshua, speaking any words other than "yes" and "no" in pairs is evil and by posting this very text, I am damned for speaking more than "yes yes." Don't be ridiculous -- which is why the chapter is the smallest unit of debatable text in the Bible.

Now lets look at Matthew 5, which contains the Beattitudes (the New 10 Commandments) followed by the passage you mentioned. I highly recommend that you keep reading because verses 21-24 explain what He means. He says that the law is not to be abolished or pass away until all is accomplished (which He does by His resurrection) and further explains that the commandment against murder has been warped into a technical minefield by the leaders of the time. At that time, or so my priest has sources to say, the charge of murder could be weasled out of if you could prove that the death did not have the intent of murder and that's how a lot of very evil people got away litterally with murder. So, he clarifies -- even to think angrily against another person makes you guilty. So what is He saying? When I read the entire chapter as a whole, I see Joshua telling us that the law stands as written but it's not the letter of the law that stands -- it's the spirit of love of God and neighbor inherent in the law that stands (which is why even thinking evil about someone is enough to make you guilty -- even though the law only says murdering him is evil). So how does this relate to gay sex? What is the harm that led to the law? If some man is having sex with other men for the gratification of self (keep in mind that the social context is that a man will be married to a woman and that the relationship between that man and woman will be inherently mutally loving, fully of completely-gratifying shagging, and therefore righteous), then this is destructive and wrong (because it does not show love of neighbor but instead is simply using someone else to make you feel good). Thus, those men that even lust after other men are guilty -- and we must strive to be better than that -- which is why I see a loving mutally-healthy relationship between any two people to be outside the scope of the law as mentioned.

 

First, the passage talks about being consumed with passions for one another -- to me, that is where the indecency lies. Lusting after someone is not loving them -- it's thinking that you can abuse that person to make yourself feel good. Paul is telling the Romans that this is what will happen if they don't embrace the Love that God gives -- they will be defiled in body and mind by their lusts and passions.

Second, the Church is still not in line with what Christ taught us about loving one another. Where the confusion comes in is that the Church teaches that the very nature of being homosexual is not a sin. In other words -- since God created you to be homosexual, there cannot be any error or disorder in God's creation. Where the Church goes wrong in my opinion is that they say that since homosexual sex is wrong, then engaging in that behavior is a sin -- thus the homosexual person (being inherently good and ordered) should refrain from sex unless they wish to defile themselves. That's how the Church has decided to be comfortable with homosexuality -- it's still not in line with Christ's teaching even as far as they've (the Catholic Church leaders) have taught me. Someday we'll get there -- it just takes hundreds of years to get the Church to change even if it is for the better.