Originally posted by Icefalcon:
I do not believe that the bible can be taken literally,
word for word. Therefore, its intepretation is up to the reader. As
nobody thinks the same way, whenever anyone quotes the bible to me,
I listen, but I do not comment.
I do not believe homosexuality itself is wrong. It, too is a kind
of love, and caring for others.
It is hard to agree on what sin is, so I shall not comment on that.
However, when I think about it carefully, I feel that it is wrong
to [b]deliberately harm yourself or others. (Note that I'm
not saying everything else is right.) Now, I do not believe
homosexuals are harmful, or will do anything wrong to me. They
can't even have children, therefore, they will always be in the
minority. Therefore, they do not bother me, and I do not bother
them, or go out of my way to bother them.
Why do I defend them? Well, I'm not too sure myself. I'm straight,
in case anyone's wondering. 
Maybe I just feel
that it's wrong to bother people who have done nothing wrong to us,
except that they're different.
I have heard that homosexuals "undermine society's moral fabric".
Well, I feel that there is nothing to undermine.
All immorality springs from ourselves. Nobody can make you change
your mind about anything, as long as you are strong enough not to
give in to peer pressure. No one can make me gay, because I prefer
ladies, and no one can make me smoke or take drugs because I know
that they will harm me and people around me. In fact, smokers cause
more harm to people around them than gays, I don't hear anyone
reacting the same way to smokers.
However, all this is my own, personal views, which I have come to,
after careful thought, and thinking things out. I have no bible to
quote from, but I hope I have presented my views in a logical,
reasonable fashion.
I conclude by saying that homosexuals should be left alone. They do
not harm the society.[/b]
of course the bible cannot be taken out of context. where u just
simply grab a sentence and make a point. but i'd like to quote this
whole paragraph
God's Wrath Against Mankind
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the
godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their
wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them,
because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of
the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine
nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor
gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their
foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise,
they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for
images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and
reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their
hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with
one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and
worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is
forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their
women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same
way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were
inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts
with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for
their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the
knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what
ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of
wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy,
murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers,
God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of
doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless,
faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's
righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they
not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those
who practice them.
you say everyone interprets the bible differently, you tell me what
does this whole chapter says, according to your
interpretation?
i'm not taking out of context cause this whole paragraph shows us
how God sees it, remembering that He hates sin, not the sinner, and
longs to set things right.
smoking is wrong, i do not know about other churches, but my pastor
preaches against smoking as well, not just about this impending
issue.
like i said, ignoring them, merely just accepting them isn't the
complete answer. in every one of us, there is a conscience given by
God, we already know what is right and wrong, but we still choose
to do wrong, due to our sinful nature of course, but use that
conscience to think, if your child is gay, would u feel happy about
it? ignore your child? or show your child, whom you love, what is
wrong? this is how God sees them. as well as us, since we are all
sinners.
and in a way, i agree, acceptence is important. but it cannot be
confused and lead them to believe they are alright. 
what is sin? sin is simply anything that falls short from God's
perfectness. from a small lie, to rape and murder, is sin. even
anger, hatred and unforgiveness is murder.
