God would have to exist for him to forgive your sins, which he doesn't. Even then, I'm pretty sure he is more concerned with the people in the Middle East wanting to killl those who defy Islam than some girl who sleeps with other girls.

very true, i also think that god would be more concerned with drug addicts, alcoholics, and of course the war istead of to girls being together.

Right now, if God were to exist, the last thing on his mind would be homosexuality. **** California for Prop 8.

fu for being judgemental.

honestly i can leave the christianity out of this comment because it doesn't have anything to do with religion, but i ask you this OP. where is the place for gays and lesbians in the evolutionary aspect of human beings? no gay or lesbian could possibly pass on their "gay" or "lesbian" genes so therefore no one could of possibly evolved to like the same sex. So you have mutant genes in you that make you prefer this which thankfully wont be passed on because you shan't be procreating thank Allah.

In any environment, when a species has overpopulated, the offspring of animals will be born homosexual. It has been proven multiple times in multiple types of animals. There just is not a higher form of life on Earth than us that can do experiments on us. That we'll know the results of, of course.

Right. Stop loving the person you love, Mamma said no. That's a very good advice from a very open-minded person, I can tell.

#116. I love what you said. Not all Christians are gay haters. Any Christian that is obviously doesn't understand what it means to love you're neighbor as yourself, or to not judge others.

YAY. thank you sooo much. so many people stereotype christians for being straight narrowminded idiots or something and that being gay is a sin and we should hate them..etc...blah...lies. but we're not..most of us. and what you said is what i've been trying to say for so long. ^_^ thankyoutankyouthankyou :]

I find it great that you're not a gay-basher, and if Christianity is your thing, props to ya. I have a few things I've always been curious about faith and Christianity, perhaps you can enlighten me. How can you or any other Christian promote the Bible as pure truth based on the fact that you think people wrote this stuff as the "Word of God." Who's to say Satan didn't influence these people to write the "Good Book"? Also, why would God send His son to take on all our sins, when he could simply absolve them through his omnipotence? Why are there "sins" in the first place? Why does He punish us if we don't bend to His wishing, when He is the one who gave us free-will in the first place? Sounds like a bully to me. "Here's some ice cream I left out. Now you can put the ice cream back in the fridge and be on your way, or you can leave it there and I'll punch you." Not trying to start anything, I've just always asked these questions and no one (Christian or not) has given me a good answer. You seemed very thorough and exacting in your description, so I thought I'd ask.

SHAMELESS RESPONSE TO TROLL a) Prove it. b) He can't hate anybody because he doesn't exist. If you disagree, then PROVE IT. c) Leviticus also says homosexuality is wrong. So either the rules in Leviticus still apply today (which includes both Stoning gays, and shaving being forbidden) or Leviticus doesn't (meaning you can shave... but also that homosexuality isn't bad). Either the Bible is WRONG or you have to accept ALL OF IT from love thy neighbor to the talking snake. d) I agree, however pointless that statement is e) By typing that comment you had to stop worshiping your god for a few minutes to focus on worldly things. If you truly believe this then GTFO. f) So God, in order to forgive you, has to father himself to sacrifice himself to himself so he can then revive himself so others can write a book about it? If your God wants to forgive us then there are a million better ways to do it (ways that make sense are preferred). Also, if Jesus will forgive you that means you can run around killing people and having all the gay sex you want, and then just pray for forgiveness at the end of the day, which also doesn't make sense. g) It's not "speaking the truth" because it isn't the truth. If you don't agree, then PROVE IT. "Assertions made without evidence can be rejected without evidence" -Christopher Hitchens (I think...) h) Your new testament says women should wear a veil, and can't speak in church, and should be completely subjective to their husbands (MOST of this is in 1 Corinthians I believe, but Paul also repeats this in other places if I remember right). It also says that faith must be accompanied by works (james 2:17), which contradicts your earlier statements. The Bible for the most part is a load of bullshit from start to finish. TO YOUR LAST PARAGRAPH: I bash Christianity because I think its funny and because Christianity honestly deserves to be bashed. You're not being helpful because everything you're saying are just mere assertions of your strongly held beliefs, and are completely useless. So what is Christianity? Well, Christians can't even decide what Christianity is. There are so many different sects and interpretations. I have no respect for your beliefs because they don't deserve respect (and keep in mind, it isn't "hate" when somebody calls you on your bullshit).

fab-tabulous!!!

I'm not an expert and i don't have all the answers. I know you may not want to but watch this video. It should answer your disagreement on God existing and creating everything.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=688111496234161611

136, I was stating my beliefs, not trying to tell you to believe it. It can not be proven, hence the term faith. Anything taken on faith does not have to be proven. Besides, why should I prove God exists without asking you to prove life arose on this earth spontaneously? Without going back in time to that moment, you really can't can you? You can replicate what you think were the conditions and perform an experiment to see if it works, but that still doesn't prove that's what happened. I don't have to prove my belief because I take it on faith, and I don't force you to take it on faith, that's your decision. Also, yes the Bible does say all those things, but once again you are missing the historical context. Paul wrote that as a letter to the Corinthians, and in that day and age the male figure was still the head of the household and so women were expected to submit to their husbands. Also, Paul previously mentions that God has gifted women with the capacity to prophesy and pray in public, so what he means when he says women should remain silent in the churches is that they should avoid interfering chatter or the promotion of false teaching. Also, during that time period the women who were Christians actually experienced less discrimination in their religious practices than Jewish women or women in Greco-Roman religious rituals (basically forced to prostitute themselves). So while we may think of it as backwards today, women of that time actually experienced much more equality in Christianity than in any other religion. But the point is, this piece of the Bible, still regarded as truth, was written to a specific group of people in a specific time period. The point that Paul is making is what matters. Women were asked to wear veils because in a church setting the focus was supposed to be on God, and let's face it, guys are always going to look at a beautiful woman given the chance, even in church. Now to answer your response about faith and works. What I said was not contradicting to what the Bible says, and here is why: the Bible says faith and works go together: with faith comes works. What I was saying is you can not get to heaven by works alone, without the faith. When you truly have faith in Jesus Christ, the works come along with that: it's a package deal. Therefore what James is saying is that you can not have faith without works. If you say you have faith and yet don't show it in your actions, your faith is dead. I'm all over the place in my response, but now I'll go back to your point e. Actually, I was typing that to demonstrate my faith to others, so hopefully I was doing it for God, so you are wrong on that point. And as I said before, everyone sins, which you agreed with. This includes me, obviously. The point I was trying to make is that yea there are rules, but nobody is perfect and nobody can live up to them, so Jesus died for our sins, which brings me to your next point. No, people can not just go around murdering people and having sex and getting drunk and all and then pray for forgiveness and live eternal life.... I agree, if that was how it worked, it would be pretty stupid. God isn't stupid, He's actually all-knowing, so unless you did all that stuff and then decided to change your ways and pray for forgiveness, asking Him to forgive you isn't really going to work. You have to really mean it, and God knows if you do or not... you can't lie to Him. Finally - For God so loved the world, He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16. That's why He sent Jesus. Because the only thing that could take away our sins was innocent blood, and because we have to make the effort to reconcile ourselves to God - He won't do it for us. Why? Read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. It explains it perfectly, much better than I ever could. Finally, as to your last paragraph, I just have no words. I feel sorry for you, and I hope you can eventually become a little more tolerant and make some Christian friends - you might find some pretty cool people.

I agree with #116 I think homosexuality is a sin, but I also think that many Christians and non-Christians alike are guilty of another sin called HATRED. I don't hate homosexuals, I love them just as God loves ALL of us. God doesn't hate homosexuals and neither should anyone else. Truth be told, if my brother ever came out (which I think he could someday soon) I would still love him just the same. I wouldn't hate him as many others would. It's people who claim hate is okay in the name of God that give us Christians a bad name. God doesn't hate and neither should we.

133, I'd be happy to answer your questions, thank you for asking! The Bible wasn't written all at once. In fact, each book was written after a certain time period in Israelite history. Every Israelite was taught to memorize the scripture, the inspired Word of God, by heart, as much as had been written up until that point. Therefore these things that people were writing about actually happened during their lifetime. Much of the accounts of the Old Testament can be verified archaeologically - I am currently an archaeology major at Washington University in St. Louis, and archaeology has been my passion since I was little. I have taken several archaeology course, including a course on archaeology scams, which basically teaches you to be cynical about stuff you read on the internet or even in scientific journals - in case you are wondering what my credentials are to be talking about this stuff. Anyway, up until the time of Jesus, every Jewish person memorized the whole scripture, which we know today as the Old Testament. Jesus was Jewish, and frequently used scripture to illustrate His teachings. Since we believe Jesus is the Son of God, and since He referred to scripture, this leads us to believe that scripture truly is the Word of God. Everything that follows in the New Testament is a result of Jesus' life and His request that the disciples 'go and spread the good news'. So, to answer your question, we take it on faith that the Bible is the Word of God. What most people don't understand is that the Bible is not a rulebook. It is, in fact, a collection of historic documents, ancient laws, songs (psalms), poems and proverbs, letters, etc. The Bible explains the faith. It explains how from the very beginning, when sin first entered the world through Adam and Eve (again I am stating all of this as historic fact because I believe it to be such - it does not mean I expect you to believe it as well), God set everything in motion for the coming of Jesus. Why did He wait so long for it? We have no idea. Only He knows. But the Bible tells all of that history - a lot of it is pure historical fact, whether you are Christian or not, and has been proved through archaeological evidence and non-biblical documents (such as the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem and exile of the Israelites). As for your other questions, they are all pretty much together, and I'm so glad you asked. C.S. Lewis illustrates it beautifully in The Screwtape Letters (an awesome book if you are a Christian, have questions about Christianity, or even just want to read a novel in an interesting format). I'm not sure I can do as well as he does in the book, but I'll try. Basically, God doesn't want us to be just mindless beings who He can bend to His own will. He wants us to follow His will of our own accord. In this way we are companions to Him - we are actually in a relationship with Him and He treats us as His children. Otherwise, we would be more like His pets. This is why He sent Jesus as opposed to just taking away our sins - so that in order to be forgiven and reconcile ourselves with God, we have to submit ourselves to Jesus and let Him carry our burdens. Submission to God sounds really bad in our culture today, because most people like to believe they are their own boss and don't want to submit to anybody. But honestly, it feels so much better knowing someone else, and God for that matter, is looking after everything so you don't have to. So while it may sound like God is a bully, He's actually more like a father, which is why many people call Him Father when praying. He looks after you, takes care of you, provides you with what you need, disciplines you when you go astray, and ultimately helps lead you on the path to success (i.e. eternal life), provided you let Him. And unlike human fathers, God is perfect. He is a just and good God, so He doesn't punish without a reason. Again, all of this is theological talk, and I state it as fact because it is what I believe. Finally, I haven't answered your question as to why there is sin. Good question. The Bible doesn't actually explain where angels came from. It is assumed that they are somewhat lesser beings than God, but much more powerful than humans. At one point, for whatever reason, one of the angels, Lucifer, decided to rebel against God (we assume the angels are given free will as well). He gathered with him a following, which was put down because, well, God is all-powerful so of course He won. Lucifer and the rest of his following were banished from heaven, as punishment. Lucifer, or Satan, decided to invade God's newly created world as a serpent, and because Adam and Eve were given free will, they were able to be persuaded by the serpent to sin against God, and from that time sin entered the world. The Bible doesn't really explain this a whole lot, so most of the beginning part is theological conjecture (sort of like Dante's Divine Comedy). This is the story that I myself have pieced together, though to be honest it still has some holes, and I won't really know until I stand face to face with God. So to answer your question, we know why there is sin in the world (it entered Adam and Eve through Satan disguised as a serpent), but we don't know why there is evil in existence in the first place. Thank you for your questions! I hope I've helped to shed a little light on some of them. If you have any more, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best.

Way to write a ******* essay. Can't you make your point concisely?

160 First of all, belief without evidence is stupid (I don't care who this offends, harsh truths are always harsh), and that's what faith is. The Muslims have faith that they will get the best seat in heaven if they suicide bomb, the people in Jonestown believed on faith that they would go to heaven after committing mass suicide, and I could go on with plenty of other examples. The only thing faith is good for is to keep you from questioning your religious doctrine. I do not have to prove that abiogenesis can happen before asking you to prove god. If abiogenesis is impossible that does not mean the Judeo-Christian god is the correct explanation, and if it did happen then that does not prove there is no God (it's a logical fallacy called a false dichotomy). Look at your hypocrisy though. You expect Abiogenesis to be proven and still think its ok to just go on believing in your god without evidence. Abiogenesis does have a substantial amount of evidence from experiments that quickly created complex organic molecules as early as the 1920s, to findings of vast amounts of organic molecules in space, to experiments as recent as this year that found a way RNA strand could form under the conditions of the early earth. It can't be "proven", however, for the same reason that the theory of gravity can't be "proven", instead of saying "prove it" in my previous comment I should have said "give me evidence". If Paul's writings, along with other parts of the Bible, are irrelevant today. Why don't we just ignore all those parts of the Bible in their entirety? If Leviticus was wrong about shaving, and Paul was wrong on his treatment of women, why should we trust either on homosexuality? Homosexuality hasn't caused the collapse of civilization, it hasn't caused an increase in natural disasters, and it hasn't turned any country completely gay and prevented new children from being born. Don't give me the "cultural context" line of crap. Slavery wasn't correct in the 1800s regardless of their culture, animal sacrifice wasn't correct during all those thousands of years regardless of their culture, and the holocaust wasn't correct regardless of their culture. Telling women that they should shut up, completely cover their body (because it's their fault men are looking at them, right?), and be completely subjective to their husbands is wrong regardless of culture. In the same light, homosexuality isn't wrong just because the culture of the time says its wrong. My last paragraph may have been over the top. I do have Christian friends, and although I am outspoken about things like this I'm nowhere near as confrontational as I am with strangers (mainly because society gives undeserved respect to religious belief). Some are cool people, but just because "cool people" are adherents to a certain religion doesn't mean the religion is correct. I do stand by the statement that not even Christians know what Christianity is because of their many sects. Do you have to go to confession to relieve your sins? Catholics say yes, others say no. Is Jesus literally god in the flesh or is he really just god's son? Well, it depends on who you ask. Do we have free will or is everything we do already predicted by god? Calvinists say determinism and most others say we have free will. Of course us infidels don't know what Christianity is, it keeps changing depending on which "Christian" we talk to.

you see the things is, you're taking one book of the bible and looking at it by itself. You have to see that the entire Bible and see what's it is looking at. Sure there may be a lot of different sects and separations in the church but it doesn't mean that Christians cannot define Christianity, it just means that we've come to the conclusion that some of the things (such as predestination and free will) are not going to contradict your salvation, as long as you have Jesus as your Savior. BUT in respects to homosexuality (where this whole argument started), you must be turning away and repenting from all sin as a result as becoming a Christian

194, I've typed up a response. I've decided not to share it. I refuse to argue with you until you have done three things: a) Reread my original two arguments b) Read the Bible c) Revise your argument Then send me an email at [email protected], and we'll continue the argument in private if you wish to do so.

yep yep.

Awww, how sweet of such a god to have the power to do everything at once, and yet not do a damn thing to help out this planet. Such a kind, loving magical space wizard, isn't he? BTW, **** you for condoning homosexuality based on the most bullshit of reasons, the Damn Bible.

#136 Much of the bible isn't meant to be literal, such as the talking snake. There wasn't actually a talking snake, that is just how the writers try to get their message across, through interpretation. You aren't supposed to take everything that is written word for word, you have to find the deeper meaning of the stories, not just the literal.