Antigay message from former minister and my response.

I would reply:

"People use the name of God to defile, plunder, pillage, and rape. His Truth is nothing more than what Man wants His Truth to be. This has been seen in the bloody trails of history that Christianity and the like has left for us to see. Even to this day, many use His Words for their selfish gains. You are Man as well. What makes you qualified to teach us His Word? How do we know you are not twisting God's Words for your own selfish gains?"

 

Don't let one close minded person ruin what you believe. If you believe God loves you and wants you to be happy (which I believe He does) then just wash your hands of that church and find one who will love you for who you are. My advice is to basically interview leaders from different churches and tell them about yourself and listen about them. Don't denounce your religion based on a few bad apples.

 

His argument presupposes God's existence. You cannot base the denial of rights to a group of people on something that may or may not be real.

I personally have faith, but that is personal to me, I would never enforce it upon anybody and I most certainly would not use it as the basis for discrimination.

 

People in the church always put words into Gods mouth. The Westburo Church is a prime example. Don't let these people make religion look bad.

 

Yeah, I ended up being forced from my old church for the same reasons. If you still like going to church though I highly suggest you try finding a GLBT ran one. Our minister is openly gay and actually preaches love and practical messages from the Bible. Don't let some "holier than thou" assclown turn you off from religion though. Here's how I feel when I hear people like that "preacher" talk.

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." - Mahatma Gandhi

 

Ugh, Christians (no offense)... So much idiocy.

 

We're not all idiots :icon_sad:

 

So true, but you can so understand where he's coming from.

 

I'm gonna try to avoid a big debate on a site as tolerant is this, so I'll leave it at this: while you are not all idiots, you are all most likely wrong, and many Christians are idiotic bigots. Lots of Christians are very smart - the smartest guy I know is Christian (although he uses it as a sort of insurance to get into heaven if there is a god). That said, there are some awful morals in the bible and that can make even the most intelligent people idiots.

 

I used to be a christian up until I started questioning everything which the bible itself encourages you to do. I started looking elsewhere for answers and I found that the religions themselves (all of them) are man made. I don't mean to shake up your beliefs or anything but the point I'm trying to get to is that marriages are not from god just because the bible says so.

God never told anyone to have a minister say a few words to marry people. It's not natural. It's something people made up and that they choose to do so it's not right to say that god made marriage for men and women only when the institution of marriage is man made anyway.

You'll find all kinds of justifications in the bible about why gay marriage is not okay but that's only because so much of the bible is man-made dogma to begin with. The bible and christian religion are man's feeble attempt at understanding god. They failed and are still failing miserably though.

The good thing is that your own heart is pretty easy to understand whereas the bible isn't. When your heart sings at the thought of being with a woman or marrying a woman then that means the god in you agrees with you! All you need is your own heart. Most religious people do not listen to their hearts. They listen instead to old, outdated words written thousands of years ago by men who didn't listen to their hearts either.

 

My minister has actually said that you shouldn't listen to your heart and that you should only listen to what the Bible says. That, some other things the other members of the church have said, and some of the things they have done are just some of the reasons why I haven't regularly attended for the past few years.

I also thank you need a combination of what you truly believe and what the scripture says, but I personally think what you believe trumps what ever a book says because a book can have errors, but your heart can't.