kiwimac said:
Blessed-One
Tell me, What respect were my fellow-Christians showing to the Bishop they forced to stand down? What compassion were they showing him? And why is it inappropriate for me and not for them also?
Kiwimac
Hi Kiwimac, I was really interested in your quote that you have at the bottom of your posts and it made me laugh(if I was interpreting it right) as it is contradictory to your views on this issue. I took it as meaning that God is not some sort of social club but a pointer to the right kind of life. Is that right? if so then we should all acknowledge that the church is the people of God. It is not a building and it is certainly not a social club. However we may know this, many do not see it that way and to society, the 'church' is just one more organisation that has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the twentyfirst century.
Homosexuals bashing the church about discrimination and the like may seem fair and up to date with todays lifestyles, but it is entirely innapropriate. The church is not an association or club like the golf clubs where for years women barraged for rights to attendance. It is not a school where afro-americans worked so hard to get rights to along with white people. (I must say I had to laugh at the poster who said that years from now christians would see homophobia as over rated-those people used the bible to prove their point and once they found their point no matter how obscure they clung to it-had they looked further they would have realised that we are all one in christ Jesus, all races and all sexes). The church is a people of God whose beliefs lie within the new testament. Those beliefs for the majority of christians say that homosexuality is a sin, not a special sin, just an other sin which has become part of imperfect nature. And like all sin it has to be offered up to God.
If you don't belief that homosexuality is a sin, then how can you ask forgiveness and if you have not asked, recieved forgiveness and repented then how can a person be saved? There are many who claim that all the verses pertaining to homosexuality are out of context and are mis-interpreted. If this is true, and homosexuality is not wrong, just like Paul talks about in Romans, that eating certain meat is not wrong, then that person who is of stronger faith should not be flaunting this in front of those with weaker faith. Because if that person causes a weaker brother or sister to lose faith their punishment will me terrible indeed. Also if they cause a person to commit a homosexual act by this reasoning when the person's conscience is against it, they have caused that person to sin. Romans ch 14. You will say when you read this, that if homosexuality is okey then other christians should not look down apon them and this would be correct and is correct for it is for God to judge.
However to the point of the gay bishop(I thought i'd never get there). He has not said sorry for his gay relationship, which means he believes it is okey. Presuming(and I do mean that)that homosexuality is not an actual sin, many christians believe it is wrong. This would come under Paul's description of weaker brothers and sisters. This means that the bishop should not flaunt the fact that he has openly gay relationships and neither should he attempt to persuade a person who is gay but has a conscience about it to go against his conscience and have a gay relationship. These two things would cause weaker brothers and sisters to lose faith and for others to sin against their conscience(which Romans says is essentially sinning against God and would be condemned for not acting in faith before God).
See wot a bloomin mess i'm in now, i've got myself well confused. In short I think its a good thing that he stepped down. It does not mean that Jesus Christ and his church hate gay people, but believing something is wrong does not mean that you hate the people who do it. Love the sinner hate the sin. I think a lot of people have forgotton that. We all think murder is wrong, yet God welcomes those who repent, and many of our beloved bible characters were murderers such as Moses and Paul. If we say that murder is wrong are we bigotted and predjudiced against murderers. Are we saying that Jesus or the church do not love them as ones desired to come and receive salvation(more likely we would be bashed for thinking murder is okey cause we love the sinner and hate the sin, how hypocritical. Jesus was slandered for the same thing).
Before I finish this post I just want to say that if anyone starts on me for comparing murder with homosexuality, then don't bother. I know they are not the same thing. I am simply comparing one christian belief of sin with another, so relax.
Also I apologise in advance for anyone offended by my post(or just bored cause its sooooooooo long) but I think I covered everything I wanted to say and even acknowledged that homosexuality may not be a sin(although in my conscience it is). Its so confusing now cause scholars like to prod and poke everything and if a belief is not to their liking they do their best to prove that its a misquote, so that we don't know what's what anymore. I think Romans is a really good chapter though for insight into how we should be in the chuch, gay or straight.
Top Cat
and go nail some burning crosses on his lawn! 
