Arkansas Church Kicks Out Young Gay Man For ‘Choosing A Sinful Lifestyle’

[kiwimacahau]

Any church which picks and chooses it's members based upon a selective list of 'sins' deserves closure.

 

[Angel4Truth]

Any church which picks and chooses it's members based upon a selective list of 'sins' deserves closure.

Is someone trying to force you attend that church? Thanks though for expressing your totalitarian viewpoint.

 

[Huckleberry]

Any church which picks and chooses it's members based upon a selective list of 'sins' deserves closure.

:bang:

What sin did this church refuse anyone membership by?

 

[bybee]

Any church which picks and chooses it's members based upon a selective list of 'sins' deserves closure.

If you are not a member it is none of your business.
If you do not approve stay away.

 

[ok doser]

Any church which picks and chooses it's members based upon a selective list of 'sins' deserves closure.

the pope excommunicated members of the italian mafia last year

was he wrong?


would your church welcome as a member an unrepentant child abuser who declared his intent to continue abusing children?

 

[aikido7]

After Jesus died, his followers began re-interpreting and changing many of his teachings. His table fellowship with all the cultural cast-offs could no longer be maintained.

Christians today are all too quick to judge others and marginalize them from the rest of us.

 

[ok doser]

After Jesus died, his followers began re-interpreting and changing many of his teachings. His table fellowship with all the cultural cast-offs could no longer be maintained.

Christians today are all too quick to judge others and marginalize them from the rest of us.

was the pope wrong to excommunicate the mafia last year?

 

[aikido7]

pretty sure nobody was talking about kicking him out of the human race :kookoo:



the pope excommunicated Italian Mafia members last year

was he wrong to do so?

The trouble between Jesus’s actual teachings and the church framework that grew up after the crucifixion, is that Jesus became too difficult and too disturbing to follow.

I have seen proof of this fact all too often whenever I inject my own faith interpretation of “What Would Jesus Do?”

If the Jesus of the synoptics has any weight or credibility at all, he would probably wash the gangsters’ feet and celebrate feasts that demonstrated his open-heartedness and concern for others: even sinners and tax collectors. The poor and the homeless alike.

 

[bybee]

After Jesus died, his followers began re-interpreting and changing many of his teachings. His table fellowship with all the cultural cast-offs could no longer be maintained.

Christians today are all too quick to judge others and marginalize them from the rest of us.

It is one's behavior that separates one from another.

 

[aikido7]

It is one's behavior that separates one from another.

And everybody’s behavior is virtually the same when they are gathered together to celebrate a feast.

And what do you make of this statement from Jesus found in Matthew 5:45:

The Father makes his sun to shine on both the evil and the good and sends his rain on the just and the unjust alike.

*Some versions translate just and unjust as “righteous and unrighteous."

 

[Angel4Truth]

And everybody’s behavior is virtually the same when they are gathered together to celebrate a feast.

And what do you make of this statement from Jesus found in Matthew 5:45:

The Father makes his sun to shine on both the evil and the good and sends his rain on the just and the unjust alike.

*Some versions translate just and unjust as “righteous and unrighteous."

Context is loving your enemies, what does that have to do with trying to turn one named a brother from sin?

James 5:19 My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Removing one from membership is designed to bring them back from sin.

Keep denying His word though.

 

[kiwimacahau]

1: IF homosexuality is a sin it is no worse than adultery, fornication, gluttony etc, where are those people in that church?
2: Homosexuality is not CHOSEN.
3: Churches that pick and choose which of their members they will punish while ignoring the others who are equally sinful deserve closure.

 

[genuineoriginal]

According to Shakespeare …, according to Homer …, according to Confucious …, wisdom has been passed down through the ages, routinely, using these kinds of mythical stories. There is no logical reason for me or anyone else to take this story or any of the others of this type, literally.

Shakespeare wrote plays and was not trying to portray actual historical events, but the Bible does portray actual historical events.
Homer was a Greek who wrote down legends of events that happened 200-400 years before he was born, most of the Bible was written by the people that lived through the events depicted.
Confucius was a single man who taught about his personal ideals over a period of 50 years, the Bible is written by 40 men that taught God's word over a period of 3000 years.
If you are a Christian, there is no logical reason for to refuse to accept the Bible as authoratitive.

Paul, like you, seems to have taken it upon himself to be the overlord of everyone else's beliefs and behaviors. And yet he had no more right or ability to make that presumption than me or you or anyone else. So I reject his presumption, as any reasonable person would.

No, you reject Paul's teachings as any UREASONABLE person would.

It was also written by Christians, which makes it quite error-prone.

You are making the claim that the basis for Christianity is errors?
Are you a moron?

They are far more modern Americans than they are two thousand year old Jews. So why are you insisting that they should think and behave like two thousand year old Jews?

There have been Christians for 2000 years, so why are you insisting that Christians should think and behave like spoiled immoral Americans that have only been around for 65 years?

Set forth by whom? Who put them in charge? And by what right or ability do they presume to do so?

The standards of righteousness found in the Bible were set forth by God. He put Himself in charge. He has that right as the creator of the universe and His ability as the Almighty.
:duh:

No thanks. God has already determined that we will each decide for ourselves what righteousness is.

You really should read what the Bible says before making moronic pronunciations like that one.
God repeatedly condemned those people that did what was right in their own eyes.

And I will not surrender that responsibility to you, or to Paul, or to the Pope, or to anyone else.

You really haven't been paying attention, have you?
A Christian is supposed to surrender to God alone, and a Christian is not supposed to rebel against God and refuse to surrender to Him.

Because biblical idolatry is not a prerequisite for being a Christian.

Idolatry is a sin, so you appear to be trying to build a straw man argument and failing miserably.

And because you don't get to decide what Christ is for everyone else, nor who embodies it.

God is the one that decides what the Messiah (Christ) is and who embodies it for everyone, including you, and directed those things to be written down so nobody, including you, could find an justification to make up their own Christ.

 

[genuineoriginal]

racists have called blacks sexual perverts for generations.

I see you are identifying yourself as a racist.

 

[genuineoriginal]

Is it an acceptable perversion to falsely compare blacks to rapists? or gays

No it is not an acceptable perversion to falsely compare blacks to rapists or gays.

 

[genuineoriginal]

no one chooses their orientation

You love that lie.

 

[genuineoriginal]

Go read it. If you would you would find a whole list.
Since you want an example there is communities.
GO to any city of any size and you will find the gay neighborhoods, Castro, West Hollywood, Greenwich Village.
No pedophile communities

There is a famous one located in Bohemian Grove.

 

[genuineoriginal]

The trouble between Jesus’s actual teachings and the church framework that grew up after the crucifixion, is that Jesus became too difficult and too disturbing to follow.

I have seen proof of this fact all too often whenever I inject my own faith interpretation of “What Would Jesus Do?”

If the Jesus of the synoptics has any weight or credibility at all, he would probably wash the gangsters’ feet and celebrate feasts that demonstrated his open-heartedness and concern for others: even sinners and tax collectors. The poor and the homeless alike.

So, what part of "go and sin no more" are you having problems understanding?

 

[genuineoriginal]

1: IF homosexuality is a sin it is no worse than adultery, fornication, gluttony etc, where are those people in that church?

They are there because they are repentant sinners and not people that defy Christianity to publicly state that they are going to embrace a lifestyle of sin and then complain publicly when they are told they can't be a member while they are doing that.

2: Homosexuality is not CHOSEN.

Acting on your sexual desires is always a choice, whether it is an adulterous affair, a rape, fornication, self-abuse, or homosexual sodomy.

3: Churches that pick and choose which of their members they will punish while ignoring the others who are equally sinful deserve closure.

Once again you seem to have overlooked the FACT that the man in the OP publicly stated that he was going to live in sinful defiance of God's standards of righteousness.
That is not something that can be tolerated among Christians.

Ephesians 5:3 3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;​

1 Thessalonians 5:22 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.​

 

[aikido7]

So, what part of "go and sin no more" are you having problems understanding?

Jesus offered and gave salvation to many people--long before he set his face toward Jerusalem for that final journey.

“Go and sin no more,” and “Your faith has saved you."

Salvation is about transformation in this life. It does not come from the neo-pagan idea of a blood sacrifice for sin.

And I would never claim that I understand the infinite mind of God in my human understanding. So yes, I have “problems” in study and comprehension. That’s why I appreciate other people when they point out some point where I am mistaken about.