Granted, but you said that the government should criminalise it. Evidently, this calls for its forceful prohibition and a penalty in case the prohibition is disrespected. It is impossible to do this without force.
Yes,
the government should use force when necessary, in order to maintain justice.
The passage applied to Israel, at that particular point in time. It does not apply to modern governments. We no longer live under the Old Testament Law, do we?
Yes it does, and yes, we do. It is true that some laws do not apply to us now, because we live outside the land. There are a lot of commands that begin with "When ye come into the land which I shall give you...". Those are not applicable, because we are not in the land.
The quoted verse is a prayer, not a parliamentary petition. We are never biblically encouraged to use the Government to impose God's standard of morality over everyone. You are taking that verse far beyond what Jesus meant with it.
It's a prayer, not a petition? Dude, what in the world do you think prayer is? No, I'm not, His intention is made very clear in Revelation. He is coming to the Earth, to smite the nations and rule them with an iron rod. So your statement is a complete fallacy, and nothing more than your personal ideas and opinions.
How do you want homosexuality to be illegal without judges to punish homosexuals?
When did I say there should not be judges in place to judge the unrighteous?
Not at all. God has not called for earthly governments to implement his standards of morality. As I explained earlier, the fact that it is illegal by godly standards does not mean that it should be illegal by human standards. Much in the same way that two different countries can have different laws, so can our countries have laws which differ from God's laws.
Once again, you continue to champion nothing but opinions.
Amos 5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
1 Kings 16:2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins;
3 Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
These are but two examples. You can find scores more in books of the prophets and kings. God wants everyone to keep His law, and uphold the integrity of His name, and that includes figures of authority.
In that case, my argument remains (because you did not answer it adequately), which I will copy and paste here for convenience: ‘As you know, there have been times in which being a Christian was illegal, because another religion was in power and held absolute authority over the others and did not respect their right to freely exist. Freedom of religion was an excellent achievement of the last few centuries — without it, either you would be lucky enough to have your religion in power, or you would see yourself prohibited from worshipping. This would be utter nonsense, and I would expect that you would agree with me on this. I am dismayed to see that you appear to want to impose Christianity as an official religion, which would doubtlessly oppress other religions.’
With respect, that's huge block of text, full of nothing but your personal opinions, with no scriptural support. If the faith was declared as an official religion, then those who were not interested would be free to leave the country.
Matthew 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity....43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
I am also a follower of God, but I believe that those who are not followers of God have the right to live in my country; and I believe that Christianity should not be imposed officially on my country, because that would demonstrate a lot of disrespect towards non-Christians, who also have the right to live in my country without being disrespected.
Dude, your opinion doesn't amount to a hill of beans. Neither does mine. If you or I ever become God of a universe somewhere, then perhaps our opinion will mean something then.
Regarding the ‘Satanists’, no, I do not prefer being ruled by Satanists; rather, I prefer being ruled by anyone who, regardless of his religion, will not impose it over me. So long as my politicians agree on promoting freedom of religion, I do not care whether they are Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Mormon, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, agnostic, deist or atheist, because I can rest assured that they will not impose their religion over me. As a matter of fact, I would much rather being ruled by a tolerant Muslim than by an intolerant Christian (like you).
Your personal preferences have been noted.
They didn't have email, but we do now! Problem solved! We can still be their friends. Incidentally, of course, the Jewish Law no longer applies to us, so you cannot use such verses.
On the contrary, the New Testament declares that the Jewish Law is no longer binding (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:23-25; Ephesians 2:15).
It does apply to us, as any believer has been grafted onto the original vine, in place of old branches which have been cut off. And the New Testament does not declare the law to be dead, contrary to popular belief:
Matthew 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? 17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 18 He saith unto him, Which? Christ said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Luke 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? 27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (See verse above)
1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Galations 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 2:25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Ro 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? (The law does not require that converts be circumcised - My note.)
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
But in addition to all of that, the Son of God told us what would happen on judgement day, so at the end of the day, this verse is king:
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Those that are sent away, did not know Christ, and were workers of iniquity. Iniquity is sin, and sin is the violation of the law:
1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1 John 3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
Granted, but neither actually forbids hanging out occasionally with such people. The emphasis is on avoiding the sinful things which they do (which includes not being with them when they are doing it), but nothing prohibits us from being together with sinful people when they are not sinning.
Dude, your going back and forth. You say "granted", but then go back to your original argument of "but all it's saying is that we shouldn't do the evil things they do". In any case, you are not correct. Both verses state no such limitations. They state that they do not sit with the wicked.
Period.
Psalms 26:5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
Jeremiah 15:17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.
Actually, I think you are taking it beyond its scope. Paul is emphasising that we must avoid associating with sinful people so that we do not have to compromise our holiness — but not always will hanging out with non-Christians haemorrhage our holiness.
That's not what he said. He said don't be yoked with these people, and that light has no communion with darkness. And communion is defined as:
2842. koinwnia koinonia, koy-nohn-ee'-ah
Search for 2842 in KJV
from 2844; partnership, i.e. (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction:--(to) communicate(-ation), communion, (contri-)distribution, fellowship.
So, if you claim to be light, then you have no business socially engaging or fellowshipping with darkness. Which is corroborated by all the other verses that I've already listed.
Indeed, we have been over this. Allow me, therefore, to copy-paste my response to that interesting analogy: ‘However, it is likely that the type of fellowship mentioned there is not the same thing as normal friendship. Perhaps it somehow refers to fellowship specifically within the church — that is, the kind of fellowship we enjoy in church, as opposed to other kinds. It does not seem very reasonable to me that God would prohibit us from being friends with non-Christians; no passage is ever that clear. Surely, we may be (and are) warned against such friends and are advised to be wise in choosing friends, but this is no actual hindrance to being friends with non-Christians. I have a few who have often helped me when I needed them, when it would be, for one reason or another, more difficult to talk to church members. However, I do admit that I obviously favour friendship within the church.’
More of your opinion, again. I've just demonstrated that the verses are that clear, you just continue to offer up your opinion on what they say, rather than abiding by exactly what they say.
Again, circular reasoning. God says, ‘Love me and your neighbours.’ According to you, ‘to love’ means ‘to obey God's commandments’. But God's commandments are ‘Love me and your neighbours.’ This is the fallacy of circular reasoning.
I fail to see the objection. Unless you would like to argue that scriptures is incorrect, and false.
God's commandments are
summed up by "love Me and your neighbors". You can find most of the commandments listed in the Old Testament. Which by fulfilling, you will be loving God and loving your neighbor.