[sperry]

I had a big old reply typed up to 100%'s post, but I decided not to post it because it was too long winded.

But I will post a little of my thoughts in response to Highdesert.

First, I was raised Catholic, and while it was a long time ago that I did any Bible study, I'm not totally ignorant of the concepts therein. The primary reason I stepped back from the church was my inability to overlook the contradictions that come up from religion's supposed message to love one another, and the reality of persecution and outright murder that occurs in the name of god.

As far as being the "primary moderator"... IMO that has no bearing on my right to say what I believe. I let everyone else here say what they want as long as it doesn't come to personal attacks. If you feel personally attacked because I pointed out that gays get their rights stepped on by people who hide behind the Bible to justify their prejudice, that's more on you than I because my statement was never directed to you personally. I will apologize for being a crass with my joke, as I honestly did not intend to imply that god hates gays (ironically, the joke there that you missed is the absurdity of god hating gays). I could have phrased it better to more correctly make my point.

As far as the rest, all I'll point out is that the Bible is a collection of documents that can't all possibly be the literal word of god. The individual documents that make up the Bible were never even initially considered the word of god when they were written. Not until 100's of years later after much circulation and eventual acceptance by the general population and religious leaders were they were canonized as god's word. If they are literally the word of god, then god is one confused and contradictory guy that wants people on earth to argue over the nuances of how he thinks we should live. If god actually wrote the Bible, it would be clear as day to anyone and everyone. But it's not, it's the writings of a bunch of people inspired god over about 1600 years, then edited and translated a bunch of times. To take it literally is, IMO, to miss a whole lot of what's cool about the Bible, and that's all the perspective and history about the people that wrote it and the times that they lived in.

And finally, take a step back and consider your statement about hating the sin and not the sinner if perhaps being gay isn't a choice. In fact, just replace "homosexual" with "black" and see just how silly the rest of the modern world sees religious folks that act like they're morally superior by being willing to accept gays as long as they stop their gay behavior. You wouldn't suggest accepting and forgiving black people as soon as they started being white would you? Of course not, since the idea is nonsensical.