A response to a particular comment from Dwindling in Unbelief

Dear Readers,


Here is a comment from Steve Wells blog post on "praying the gay away" on from his Dwindling in Unbelief blog, granted there were many homophobic comments on there that are sickening to read, I have posted them on anther post for you to read, here is an interesting one that I am commenting on:






Hizzlebomb said...
Wow... It's amazing to see how angry people can become over something like this.
 I'm a God fearing Christian and I found this interpretation of the verses funnny! Of COURSE that's not the way they're supposed to be interpreted, but I thought it was entertaining to read. OP(Steve) obviously has a sense of humor, and I for one, believe that God isn't austere 100% of the time. I think He has a sense of humor and I think He would chuckle to see this interpretation of His book :)
 To those Christians who post here condemning everyone, you should be ashamed of yourselves... If I weren't feeling lazy, I would quote you a scripture about beams and motes... Just because someone believes differently than you doesn't mean you should condemn them. I happen to believe that homosexuality is a sin also, but that doesn't mean I go around telling gays that they are damned... What good does that do anyone? Jesus said, "Love one another". Are you saying those things because you love these people? Or because you love yourself? Consider it.
 To asherf, Raz is right, there are plenty of ugly things done in nature that aren't ok, like incest, animals being eaten alive, etc. If I'm not mistaken, Black Widow females often eat their male counterparts after mating, which is why they are called black widows. So by your argument, it's ok for all females to be cannibals of their children's fathers? Hmmmm... Also, what would happen if our entire species turned homosexual? If you truly believe in science and evolution, you must also believe that a species would never knowingly engage in a behavior that would be detrimental to itself? And yet, if our entire species became homosexual, we would become extinct in a single generation. Just something to think about.
 Personally I don't condemn gays, or anyone for that matter. I think everyone should be loved for who they are. That doesn't mean that people can't or shouldn't change, but I don't think hate is something God would condone among His children.
 TLDR; everyone stop hating on each other ;)




Well Hizzlebomb, where is your proof that homosexual behavior is "detrimental" to the human species. Being gay isn't a choice, having gay sex is a choice but it is a choice that isn't harming anyone. Gay sex is not detrimental to the human race. No it isn't okay for all females to eat the fathers of their children. You don't seem to understand harm factors. Gay sex isn't hurting anyone. If you don't want to have gay sex, then don't. You have NO RIGHT to tell other people who are not hurting others, what to do, when the said action of gay sex is between consenting adults. I think your mistaken in your belief, Hizzlebomb that homosexuality is a "sin". The entire planet wouldn't and isn't going to become gay. It is never going to happen. Even if it were a choice because a persons can't force themselves to love someone. Incest is harmful as is cannibalism, but what harm does gay sex or non-marital sex do? This is something that religious people don't take into consideration: the harm factor. I laugh at all the fundamentalist Christians who commented on Steve Well's blog post on the "Pray the Gay Away" thing. I don't know where Jesus told his followers and fellow Jews that he preached to that they were no longer bound by Torah law. Do you honestly think that a devout apocalyptic rabbi would teach something so heretical, by saying that Jews no longer have to follow Torah law at that specific time period? It doesn't make sense  Homosexual feelings are not "intrinsically disordered" nor should gays be required to live a life of "chastity" or "celibacy". Celibacy isn't natural or normal, if your not an person who identifies as an asexual. Many fundamentalist religions demand that homosexuals live a life without ever having gay sex, although I don't think Yahweh ever told the Jews that sexually repressed gays would get into the world to come. I also don't think that Yahweh  told Jesus to tell the people of Israel that repressed gay people would get into Yahweh's Kingdom either.




Try getting unmarried heterosexual couples to stop having sex. I'm a married, heterosexual woman and I know for a fact that that will never work. Unmarried heterosexual couples have been having sex , are having sex and are still going to have sex, regardless of what is written in the Bible, the Quran or any other religious texts. That's not going to change. Same-sex couples are still going to date each other and keep having sex with each other and that isn't going to change. Gay people don't need to "change" nor can they "change and they don't need a spot in your homophobic heaven or earthly paradise. I'm not trying to mean, but who would want to spend an eternity with a bunch of bigots? I wouldn't. I find it rude of Christians to insist that atheists hate their god. I hate your god, just as much as you hate the Easter Bunny or Luke Skywalker. I have no hate for your god, I just don't believe that he exists due to lack of convincing evidence.  I don't much care for the way, Yahweh is portrayed in the Bible and wouldn't worship such a deity as I think he is quite corrupt. I believe that if the Bible were to be taken literally that not only should we kill gay people, but we should also sell our daughters into slavery, as well as execute disobedient children and those who worship deities other than Yahweh. That is what is commanded in the Torah and I don't believe Yahweh commanded to Jews to stop such behavior, as abhorrent as it may be. I remember Jesus is quoted as saying that he did not come to rid the world of Jewish law or the sayings of the Prophets but to fulfill them and that not one word of the Torah shall pass away until the Kingdom of Yahweh has been finally established.






Well, we've been waiting for Jesus to return to help bring about Yahweh's kingdom for over 2,000 years and he hasn't shown up yet. The Bible is simply wrong about homosexual feelings and sexual relationships between same-sex couples, just like the Bible is wrong about a great number of issues. Homosexual sex is NOT an abomination nor should gay people be put to death for having sex with other people of the same-gender. People should mind their own business, instead of worrying about what gay people do in bed.  I think that all of the 40,000 denominations, sects, branches, splinter-groups and movements of Christianity today have a wrong interpretation of early Christianity and Rabbi Yeshua's teachings. The Jewish Christians of the early 1st Century remained true to Jewish law, despite their belief in Jesus being the Messiah, despite the fact that Jesus' ultimate fate, being impaled on a tortures stake contradicts Jewish teachings about what is supposed to happen to the Messiah.  Christianity has largely deviated from it's Jewish origins.  Why would Jesus reject the teachings of Judaism at that time, knowing that penalties for such an act were severe? He wouldn't and I'm sure historians and Biblical scholars would agree that he didn't.  The Sadducees and the Pharisees recognized Yeshua has a heretic and he thus had to be tried by the Sanhedrin and turned over to Roman authorities occupying Palestine, especially for preaching that Yahweh would soon annihilate all the Gentiles.




Being a cultural secular Jew by choice, I can honestly say that the historical Jesus and the Biblical Jesus have very little in common. We can get an idea of who Jesus was from the Christian Bible, although the gospel authors throw in a lot of fictional events to make the story more relatable to the audience that it was written to at that specific time period. Early Christians were embarrassed by the fact that Jesus was impaled upon a stake. Jesus' miracles really aren't that special. Basically all of those same miracles were supposedly performed by the Hebrew Prophets. I doubt that even if the Bible were true, that Jesus was the Messiah, he just doesn't seem to be the likely candidate for such a position. Even if the Bible were true, it still wouldn't change the fact that many of it's prescribed beliefs and practices cause harm, such as it's views on same-sex relationships or executing false prophets. The historical Jesus was a fundamentalist, apocalyptic rabbi with some strange ideas, I feel sorry that he was crucified for simply doing what he thought was true, even if it was wrong, but I  still disagree with his views just the same.




I view Jesus as a victim of religious persecution, not a human sacrifice to save the world from their "sins". Nobody is a "sinner". Nobody is "sinful". We are all simply flawed people who make mistakes sometimes. We don't need to be "saved from sin". There is no such thing as "sin" to me. I think we  need to learn to better ourselves though, we need to and Jesus isn't going to help us with that. The historical Jesus wasn't perfect either, he did the best with what he was taught even though it was most likely wrong, it unfortunately led to him being publicly executed.  I'm a flawed person who makes mistake who is trying better herself to the fullest potential that I am capable of. It isn't easy, but is worth doing in my opinion.  I think we need to try and make the earth a heavenly paradise as best we can for future generations, whether there is a God or not. That would be the right thing to do. I think it's horrible that in the Book of John in the Christian bible it is written that people should not love the world, because who loves the world has no love for Yahweh. How messed up is that? Did not Yahweh create the universe and see it as good at one point?   How could Yahweh ever truly hate Satan? Isn't Satan still a child of Yahweh just like Jesus supposedly was? An all-loving god filled with compassion who believes in justice could not possibly be capable of hate if you ask me. The two ideas contradict each other. Is Satan not capable of finding redemption?  Seems to me like the two were pretty close at one time. Why was it okay for Paul to tell the early Christian communities that women cannot teach, preach or speak up in church, instead they must ask their husbands questions and this is largely due to the fact that the early Christians believed that Eve was created after Adam, she was created for Adam and it was Eve who was deceived by the serpent first, not Adam. How is that not sexist?




The Bible is full of contradictions and nonsensical things. Our laws are decided by the people, not deities. Christians don't universally agree on anything really, nor should they act as if they do. To do so is dishonest. Your god, Yahweh hates dishonesty, so do I. That is something that I can agree with that character on.




Sincerely,




B.W.