Could mainstream christianity ever make peace with gay people?

Rahvin writes:It's another thing entirely to say "falling in romantic love with a member of the same sex is sinful and evil, and you'll go to hell for it."

Silent H writes:We've both been through at least two threads on this issue, and you have been unable to provide any greater evidence than that supporting a vague possibility the OT proscriptions limited to temple prostitution.

Levi 20:13 (KJV) If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

PMOC writes:That does not follow. If man has the ability to drop some proscriptions, and that ability is demonstrated by the fact that they have done so, to argue that man might not have the ability to drop this proscription is just to argue the merits of one proscription vs the others. You would be elevating this biblical proscription to special status. You'd be hard pressed to demonstrate that this is a "special" proscription that can't be dropped without discussing the merits. Haven't even some anglicans demonstrated that it too has been dropped? I think there is in fact a rift. Some Anglicans "chose" to drop this proscription and some Anglicans "chose" to condemn that practice.

Silent H writes:As Rrhain has pointed out, the proscriptions (as originally written) appear to focus on male temple prostitution and not male homosexuality in general.

PMOC writes:For me a "success" in this debate would be to get someone to admit that when they interpret the bible to say that homosexuality is sinful

Levi 20:13 (KJV) If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

iano writes:Because 'lie' might mean the telling of untruths - unless you interpret lie to mean have sex?

Genesis 19:32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

Gen 19:36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.

Silent H writes:I assume you would acknowledge that the original text of the Bible is not english?

Silent H writes:I've been through at least two well written debates

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Lev 20:2 Thou shalt also say to the children of Israel, If there shall be any of the children of Israel, or of those who have become proselytes in Israel, who shall give of his seed to Moloch, let him be surely put to death; the nation upon the land shall stone him with stones. Lev 20:3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given of his seed to Moloch, to defile my sanctuary, and profane the name of them that are consecrated to me. Lev 20:4 And if the natives of the land should in anywise overlook that man in giving of his seed to Moloch, so as not to put him to death; Lev 20:5 then will I set my face against that man and his family, and I will destroy him, and all who have been of one mind with him, so that he should go a whoring to the princes, from their people. Lev 20:6 And the soul that shall follow those who have in them divining spirits, or enchanters, so as to go a whoring after them, I will set my face against that soul, and will destroy it from among its people. Lev 20:7 And ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Lev 20:8 And ye shall observe my ordinances, and do them; I am the Lord that sanctifies you. Lev 20:9 Every man who shall speak evil of his father or of his mother, let him die the death; has he spoken evil of his father or his mother? he shall be guilty. Lev 20:10 Whatever man shall commit adultery with the wife of a man, or whoever shall commit adultery with the wife of his neighbour, let them die the death, the adulterer and the adulteress. Lev 20:11 And if any one should lie with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness: let them both die the death, they are guilty. Lev 20:12 And if any one should lie with his daughter-in-law, let them both be put to death; for they have wrought impiety, they are guilty. Lev 20:13 And whoever shall lie with a male as with a woman, they have both wrought abomination; let them die the death, they are guilty. Lev 20:14 Whosoever shall take a woman and her mother, it is iniquity: they shall burn him and them with fire; so there shall not be iniquity among you. Lev 20:15 And whosoever shall lie with a beast, let him die the death; and ye shall kill the beast. Lev 20:16 And whatever woman shall approach any beast, so as to have connexion with it, ye shall kill the woman and the beast: let them die the death, they are guilty. Lev 20:17 Whosoever shall take his sister by his father or by his mother, and shall see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness, it is a reproach; they shall be destroyed before the children of their family; he has uncovered his sister's nakedness, they shall bear their sin. Lev 20:18 And whatever man shall lie with a woman that is set apart for a flux, and shall uncover her nakedness, he has uncovered her fountain, and she has uncovered the flux of her blood: they shall both be destroyed from among their generation. Lev 20:19 And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister, or of the sister of thy mother; for that man has uncovered the nakedness of one near akin: they shall bear their iniquity. Lev 20:20 Whosoever shall lie with his near kinswoman, has uncovered the nakedness of one near akin to him; they shall die childless. Lev 20:21 Whoever shall take his brother's wife, it is uncleanness; he has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall die childless. Lev 20:22 And keep ye all my ordinances, and my judgments; and ye shall do them, and the land shall not be aggrieved with you, into which I bring you to dwell upon it. Lev 20:23 And walk ye not in the customs of the nations which I drive out from before you; for they have done all these things, and I have abhorred them: Lev 20:24 and I said to you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you for a possession, even a land flowing with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from all people. Lev 20:25 And ye shall make a distinction between the clean and the unclean cattle, and between clean and unclean birds; and ye shall not defile your souls with cattle, or with birds, or with any creeping things of the earth, which I have separated for you by reason of uncleanness. Lev 20:26 And ye shall be holy to me; because I the Lord your God am holy, who separated you from all nations, to be mine. Lev 20:27 And as for a man or woman whosoever of them shall have in them a divining spirit, or be an enchanter, let them both die the death: ye shall stone them with stones, they are guilty.

Silent H writes:In the original hebrew the word we have translated as "abomination" in fact denotes ritual uncleanliness, not merely something which is repulsive (which is our usual take on that word).

Silent H writes:Again, I find it amazing how many devout Xians