The orientation question!

[ChildoftheProphets]

Every variation in organisms is ultimately due to genetic mutation. Blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes, tall, short, curly hair, straight hair, dark skin, light skin, etc...

Nothing more, nothing less.

Yep. I absolutely agree.

 

[miss fortune]

I don't know... we're overpopulated globally so maybe if half the population was same sex oriented only it would solve some serious problems

 

[ChildoftheProphets]

I don't know... we're overpopulated globally so maybe if half the population was same sex oriented only it would solve some serious problems

Kill ourselves, save the planet?

http://www.typologycentral.com/foru...ors/26939-save-environment-kill-yourself.html

 

[gromit]

Anyways, I know there are people who think it is specifically bad and I wanted to know why.

I found this essay to be really thought-provoking, especially if you scroll down about two-thirds of the way to where it talks about the "red" family and the "blue" family. It really illuminated a lot of the ideological conflicts for me.

Personally, I'm fairly liberal-leaning, and would see eye-to-eye with the second group on larger-scale social and political issues (i.e. gay marriage), though I actually relate a lot to the first group in terms of an inherent and fierce loyalty to my own kindred and community.

 

[cafe]

My religion teaches that it's bad, but it's really not something I get worked up about like check-cashing businesses designed to rip off poor people or televangelists bilking little old ladies out of their social security checks.

My best understanding for why it is considered bad is that it is sort of like telling God that you don't care that he made man and woman to be together, that you are going to do it your way and he can like it or lump it.

I consider it kind of a 'besetting sin' kind of thing, to put it in religious terms. In other terms, I consider it something you can have a genetic predisposition for that can make it hard if not impossible to be otherwise. It seems kind of unreasonable and unrealistic to expect someone to live celibate for a lifetime because they got a bad roll of the dice. OTOH, life is filled with tragic stuff like that.

What I know is that it's really not my business to go around telling other people how to live, especially when it's not something I've ever had to struggle with and can't hope to understand. I have enough sin in my own life to work on without chucking rocks at people who aren't really hurting anyone else.

I also deeply value religious freedom and civil rights, and for that reason, I believe we ought recognize legal domestic partnerships for both homosexual and heterosexual couples and let churches decide how they want to define marriage as a religious institution.

 

[Katsuni]

My best understanding for why it is considered bad is that it is sort of like telling God that you don't care that he made man and woman to be together, that you are going to do it your way and he can like it or lump it.

An interesting story is one of david praying in the window despite that he was told flat out not to do so or he'd be killed for it. He did it anyway, because he believed his love for god meant he was willing to endure hardship, ridicule, and even death, for that love.

Would it not make sense that being born with a significant preferance towards being gay would be merely a test of oneself? Why do we automatically assume that it's a "test" with the goal of avoiding love so that yeu can instead pursue lust (give up on someone yeu care about because it's a "sin" and instead marry someone just so yeu can have sex?), when the reverse makes more sense?

What I know is that it's really not my business to go around telling other people how to live, especially when it's not something I've ever had to struggle with and can't hope to understand. I have enough sin in my own life to work on without chucking rocks at people who aren't really hurting anyone else.

If only everyone else could do this... I don't see why people feel the need to force other people to live their lives as THEY want them to live such. It's not yeur life, go away. Badgering me isn't going to make yeur own problems go away, it's just a temporary distraction at best.

I suppose some people just can't see things from different perspectives at all, or just don't care to even try. It always has to be *THEIR* way, without even considering alternatives. If we really could just accept that we've got enough problems on our own that we don't need to be heaping our problems onto other people arbitrarily, we'd probably get along alot better as a whole, and I'm relatively sure the whole purpose of most religions these days is to do just that.

I also deeply value religious freedom and civil rights, and for that reason, I believe we ought recognize legal domestic partnerships for both homosexual and heterosexual couples and let churches decide how they want to define marriage as a religious institution.

Yeu gets a shiny gold star sticker. Wear it with pride!

 

[Totenkindly]

disagree, though, that Judaism and Christianity have anything against sex for pleasure or love. God says in Genesis that it's "not good for man to be alone," and Paul the apostle says to the Corinthians that those who "burn with passion" should get married as soon as possible, lest they be consumed by adulterous thoughts and behavior.

I agree; there's lots of various parts of the Bible that promote sex positively (even the Song of Solomon), along with all the negativity crap that gets touted as well and become synonymous with the Victorians.

With this issue, I think it's more one of control; is it really anyone's business to judge others by a purely abstracted standard in a private area of their lives? I mean, there are behaviors that directly violate another person in an obvious psychological or tangible way (lying, cheating, adultery, etc.) In this issue, there is no tangible evidence that anyone is being violated, nor that het relationships are "more moral" per se. It's a total disconnected standard that is elevated to the level of behavior that can be experienced directly as bad (as per the examples above) and has no apparent "victim" -- unless one assumes the homosexual him or herself to be the victim of their own behavior, which is an argument of opinion, not evidence.

 

[simulatedworld]

With this issue, I think it's more one of control; is it really anyone's business to judge others by a purely abstracted standard in a private area of their lives?

Amen to that!

 

[ChildoftheProphets]

With this issue, I think it's more one of control; is it really anyone's business to judge others by a purely abstracted standard in a private area of their lives?

Ha, that's another reason one of my favorite passages comes from that same letter to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 5 - Passage

Edit: Especially the part where Paul says, "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?"