abednadired:

fullbelliedzenkaipower:

stephnrice:

glassmountain:

stfuconservatives:

nextyearsgirl:

This is an enormous chain and I’m sorry, but I need to say this:

The laws in the Old Testament were set forth by god as the rules the Hebrews needed to follow in order to be righteous, to atone for the sin of Adam and Eve and to be able to get into Heaven. That is also why they were required to make sacrifices, because it was part of the appeasement for Original Sin.

According to Christian theology, when Jesus came from Heaven, it was for the express purpose of sacrificing himself on the cross so that our sins may be forgiven. His sacrifice was supposed to be the ultimate act that would free us from the former laws and regulations and allow us to enter Heaven by acting in his image. That is why he said “it is finished” when he died on the cross. That is why Christians don’t have to circumcise their sons (god’s covenant with Jacob), that is why they don’t have to perform animal sacrifice, or grow out their forelocks, or follow any of the other laws of Leviticus.

When you quote Leviticus as god’s law and say they are rules we must follow because they are what god or Jesus wants us to do, what you are really saying, as a Christian, is that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was invalid. He died in vain because you believe we are still beholden to the old laws. That is what you, a self-professed good Christian, are saying to your god and his son, that their plan for your salvation wasn’t good enough for you.

So maybe actually read the thing before you start quoting it, because the implications of your actions go a lot deeper than you think.

/An atheist who understands Christian theology better than Bible-thumpers do.

^

(mic drop)

boom

whoa.

FINALLY. Someone that gets it!

Hi I’m a Christian who understands this too. =]

Just so long as the implication isn’t made that Christ’s fulfillment of Old Testament law does not absolve us of morality. Yes, our sins are forgiven because Christ BECAME sin for us, but the danger here is that far too many people would argue that Christ’s sacrifice and subsequent atonement of sin would effectively give us license to not only sin, but also to condone the sins of others without acknowledging them as sin. Sin, before forgiven, is still sin. This is why those who do not call upon the name of Jesus for salvation are damned, because unforgiven sin is present in their lives. Sin, no matter how small we perceive it to be, is disobedience to God and separates us from Him, and it MUST be forgiven, which was the purpose of Jesus.

This is why Jesus didn’t spend a lot of time talking about specific sins. He didn’t specifically address rape or murder, either…two sins that many of us would consider the two biggest and most unforgivable sins. He didn’t come to give us a morality list; He came to free us from a list because now we have a flesh and blood MODEL for morality. So we shouldn’t get the idea that just because Jesus DIDN’T talk about a certain sin that it is in fact not sin or is unimportant/something God doesn’t care about. God is not any more offended by homosexuality than by lying; to God, any sin that is unforgiven is offensive to Him, and causes separation.

I haven’t talked about this much because it’s an issue that none of us will ever see eye-to-eye on, but there’s been a lot of talk lately about the issue of gay marriage lately, and many of you have been asking me my opinion. Although I was under the impression that I’d made my opinion clear, it would appear not to be so, so here it goes.

WARNING: BEFORE READING…THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS POST ARE CONTROVERSIAL AND WILL LIKELY OFFEND YOU, SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION. You have been warned. You all wanted to hear what I thought, so if it’s not exactly the politically-correct stance that you were wanting to hear, just remember, you asked for it. Any complaints, specifically including the terms “bigoted,” “ignorant,” or “intolerant,” can be directed to that little trash can icon on your desktop/Dock.

I’m apathetic towards gay marriage, really. I say go ahead and legalize it. That’s right. I honestly couldn’t care less if gay marriage was legalized. It won’t destroy the sanctity of marriage…at least not any more than our society has already destroyed it. Unfortunately, far too many people don’t take marriage seriously anymore (as evidenced by the current divorce rate of 53.2% among first-time marriages), and we have ourselves to blame for that. The legal right for homosexual couples to marry wouldn’t really do heterosexual marriage any more damage than heterosexual couples have already done.

But that’s not the reason I don’t care about gay marriage. I’m apathetic because I don’t actually believe that gay marriage really exists. As most of you know, I am a Christian. That in itself would generally lead people to believe that I’m vehemently opposed to same-sex unions of any type. But as far as marriage is concerned, since I believe that I believe in the God who initially invented, ordained, and defined marriage, I believe that according to what we know about God from His Word, He does not recognize homosexual marriage. And why should He? He could if He wanted to, but our declarations of marriage are not binding to a sovereign God who is without beginning or end, who created all that is in existence with a word, and would be very within His power and rights to eliminate in the same manner. I can’t imagine that the same God who deems homosexuality as sin would recognize or bless a union based on said sin. So we could legalize gay marriage all we want, but if God doesn’t recognize it as marriage, then it’s not legitimate, as far as a doctrinal standpoint is concerned. Heck, I’d even be audacious enough to say that God doesn’t recognize a good portion of HETEROSEXUAL marriages performed, because He knows our hearts and knows that these people can’t possibly love each other unconditionally. (I’d better be careful…I’m edging a little too close to the predestination argument here…that’s a whole different post.)

Now, many of you are probably saying “Wait a minute, who are you to say that homosexuality is sin? You’re born into homosexuality, it’s not a choice, so how could it be sin?” Bear in mind, it is still debatable whether or not homosexuality is genetic, inherited, etc. What I know is this…regardless of one’s predisposition, we are all still ultimately responsible for any choices we make. We’ve all been endowed with the gift of free will. Perhaps we can’t control the thoughts we have, but we can control our reactions. We can control our responses. We can control how we act on those thoughts, and we’re responsible for any decisions we make.

That said, it’s time that the church also stops focusing on the sin of homosexuality as somehow a greater sin than other sins. We as humans tend to grade sin. Little white lies are not as bad as murder, etc. However, we know that God doesn’t grade sin. Sin is sin as far as God is concerned, because regardless of what it is, it is disobedience to a God who demands holiness, it separates us from Him, and it must be forgiven. As far as God is concerned, homosexuality is no greater an offense than someone lying about why they were late to work. Regardless the offense, it must be forgiven. It’s not my place to judge or condemn; nobody will stand accountable to me at the end of their lives. It’s time to let God deal with sin again, instead of assuming that it’s our job.

Now, I’m not naive enough to think that all of my readers are Christians. As a matter of fact I know that they’re not. If you’re reading this and you don’t believe in the existence of God, absolute morality, etc., then nothing I say will mean anything to you, so disregard it. This post is specifically to challenge Christians, but also to merely answer a question about my personal views, which may not be 100% accurate, but the best I’ve been able to come up with. 

I leave you with this: I have gay friends. They know where I stand, and they respect my position even if they don’t agree with it. Keep that in mind before you slap the “homophobe” label on me.

Probably one of my favorite parts of the movie, haha

freebroccoli:

A just society is one where:

• You get to keep what you earn
• You aren’t punished for non-violent crimes
• You are held responsible for any damage you cause

I agree with 2/3 of these. But not being punished for non-violent crimes? So if I’m swimming at the YMCA and someone leaves their wallet in their pants pocket in their locker, and I open the locker and abscond with the wallet, I can get away with that?

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

YES, PLEASE!