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Quote: from tkster at 7:52 am on June 10, 2008

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Cute, but this topic isn't about whether the Bible is God's Word. People like myself certainly don't think so, but that is not pertinent to this topic now is it? This topic is about whether Christianity and Homosexuality are compatible and Sean is presenting not only Biblical passages to support his assertions in their context, but also historical figures within Christianity.

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Surely the validity of the bible comes into question when it comes to addressing whether homosexuality and Christianity are compatible. By validity I refer to what extent we can perceive the bible being God's word, and how subject it is to bias at the time.

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That is not the question of the validity, but rather on the assumption of authority.  This topic, as made clear in the OP, assumes that the Bible has authority regardless of what people like myself think, so in order to pertain to the topic at hand, Sean is looking for people to address how he is wrong utilizing this authority and the authority of the church fathers.

If you state that you do not think there is authority in the Bible or that it is in question, that will only be pertinent to a topic of such nature.  That, however, is not relevant to the this topic.

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Counter argument on this basis does hold weight, because I don't recall the OP making any assumptions about how the bible can be interpreted, and Christianity is based on teachings in the bible. As far as I am aware, the Catholic Church and various denominations (the Uniting Church, for example), generally take the bible to be written by man and to be more or less a guide.

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Interesting, but ...

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In fact, I have shown overwhelmingly the total continuity of thought from the creation of the world (or at least the creation of the Jewish mythos regarding the creation of the world...should that be your belief about Genesis) up into the recent past where we have suddenly disregarded what has been persistent practice for new contortionist methods of understanding scripture.  The Bible does speak out against homosexuality and the history of both Jews and Christians confirms what it says and how it should be understood.  For a Christian, every indicator is that it is a sin to be a homosexual.

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It is quite clear in the context of Sean's words that he is dealing with Christians who accept the authority of the Bible; if people don't, I highly doubt Sean would even call them Christians, but regardless they wouldn't be the ones he is addressing.

I'd love to see someone refute his statements by what he is clearly asking for: the church fathers or the Holy Bible.  It's amazing how people keep using words like "most Christians" or cite denominations today, but none of you have presented evidence that he's asking for.

If you want to start a topic questioning the authority of the Bible (I've done so in the past countless times), that is fine, but it is not pertinent to this topic.  This topic is assuming the Bible has authority.

tk

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"Argentum qui amat, cum argento numquam satiabitur." ~ Solomon