@Buckhannah: Sorry for your childhood misunderstandings. I was not there to hear what your parents taught you.

The bible does not teach that people will burn in hell for being exactly who they were born as. Jesus offers the way of salvation for all. Where people spend eternity is entirely up to them. Salvation is a free gift open to all. In other words, we are all offered that same free pass. Whether we accept it or not is our own choice.

@Buckhannah: Jesus taught that homosexuality was a sinful practice.

@mattbbpl: Hi Matt. This might be a debate for you. For me it is a discussion. And this does state who the false prophets are. They are the ones that are not doing the will of the Father.

@mattbbpl: There is nothing in scripture that justifies discrimination against homosexuals. The gospel message is for them as well.

@korvus: This is what we have the scriptures for my friend. It's all right there. In essence though, a person who has truly accepted Jesus Christ becomes a new creation. They are not the same person they were before. Prior to my giving my life to Christ, I was into drinking, drugs, sex, etc... My life was a mess. I gave my life to Jesus and I am a different person.

Using the analogy of fruit as Jesus did, my life now bears the fruit of a Christian. A peach tree is not striving to bear peaches. It can't help itself. It will bear peaches because it is a peach tree. It is not trying to follow the rules of a peach tree in bearing peaches. It is something that comes about naturally.

So though the Bible does show us what type fruit Christians should be bearing, it is not a matter of rules. It is more a guide of being able to identify fruit. Using the bible as a guide, we can see what kind of fruit a tree is bearing and are able to identify what kind of tree it is.

I'm sure you have heard Christians say something like. "Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship." What they mean by that is that what Christians do, is done out of a love relationship with God. E.g. We have a couple of young people living with us that had been kicked out of their house by their parents. We did not take them in because we were trying to follow religious rules. We took them in from a genuine desire to help them. A person that is religious might have done the same thing, motivated by a desire to follow their religious teachings. For us it is a matter of love, not religion.

@korvus:

Mat 7:15-23 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.“Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Hi Korvus Dangerous maybe, but this is not my claim. It is what Jesus taught. And Christianity is not about following rules. It is about following Christ.

@mattbbpl: Actually is is agreed upon by all Christians. Claiming the title Christian does not make one a Christian. A Christian is a follower of Christ. Those that claim the title but do not follow Christ are not really Christian regardless of what they are calling themselves.

It's really not a matter of impolite or not impolite. There is no your truth or my truth. There is only truth. It is what it is my friend. We are all going to have to stand before God one day and give an account. We are all sinners and cannot stand before Him in our own righteousness. This was the reason Jesus came. He was the only person ever to have lived a sinless life. God's standard is perfection and we all fall short of that. We must repent of our sins and give our lives to Jesus Christ in order to be saved. There is no sin that is exempt from this need for repentance.

So... While Christian may be accused of hate and/or bigotry against those practicing the sin of homosexuality. It is actually the opposite that is true. To exclude those that practice this sin from the gospel message would be practicing hate or bigotry on the part of a Christian. Christianity is inclusive, not exclusive. God loves all of humanity, including those practicing homosexuality. It is not His will that any should perish.

@korvus: Yes I do. It was the reason that Jesus was crucified and most of the apostles and prophets were killed. Love was the reason that Jesus went to the cross and it was love that motivated the apostles and prophets. That didn't change the fact that most people rejected their message and hated them for sharing the truth in love. The farther we move as a society away from truth, the more people who speak the truth will be hated. Another way this affects us all as I had already said.

@korvus: Homosexual marriage does not affect me at all because it does not exist. Our country abandoning truth does affect us all however. I've already mentioned some ways in which we are seeing it already. The Bible does not teach us to abandon truth. It actually teaches us to speak the truth. According to scripture those that practice the sin of homosexuality will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Neither will those that approve of those that do.

I understand your intentions are good in supporting so called "SSM". Please understand mine as well. Knowing what I know, it would not be love on my part to support, accept, condone, whatever words you might want to use, this wholesale abandonment of truth, because the consequences are dire for those that follow this deceptive ideology. I do not hate anyone. I do not think that I am better than anyone. I am not seeking to deprive anyone of any rights. I am merely going to speak the truth because eternity is at stake here. It would be hate on my part to withhold the truth from those that need to hear it.