"God Hates Gays"

Some of you may be familiar with the Westboro Baptist church and preacher Shirley Phelps-Roper. If so, what is your position (as followers of the Abrahamic rite) on their beliefs?

They are strongly against homosexuality, as evienced by their famous picket signs that read 'God Hates Fags'. They defend this statement with a passage from the bible; "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. That is detestable." Leviticus 18:22. What do you think of that? If you had to, how would you counter-argue that bible passage?

lying to a woman is a necessity of life, to another man it is dishonourable

On a more serious note, some of the followers of abrahamic religions might tolerate homosexuality but most will never like it or consider it equal to heterosexuality. I'm not keen on religions that go as far as telling people what to do in their bed (I wonder if according to the bible gay sex while standing up is OK though), but I'm not into abrahamic stuff, so it's difficult for me to view their teachings as worthy.

Even if there was some merit to this there's a clear loophole. As long as both are not lying down anything goes. Women are totally off the hook too since they're not mentioned. :S

One can pick a sentence out of the Bible and remove it from its context and many do just that. Why does it not bother these same folks that God Hates Shrimp or that wearing any clothing made out of any blend of fabrics is a sin?

This verse is a part of a group of hundreds of rules and regulations called the Law. It is important to note that this group of rules is always referred to in the singular form such as: the Law of Moses, the Law of the Lord, the Law of God, the Book of the Law or simply the Law. This Law is contained in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Jesus said: "It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law." (Luke 16:17) These rules were to be taken as one Law. It's all or nothing.

Check out http://www.christiangay.com/he_loves/lev_18.htm

Let's look at some of the rules of the Law found in Leviticus. Chapters 1-7 has rules about the different kinds of offerings and sacrifices that were to be made in preparation for worship.

Chapters 8-10 has rules for the priests regarding offerings, sacrifices, and other priestly duties.

Chapter 11 has rules about clean and unclean foods. For example you will find that pork and shrimp are abomination but it's OK to eat beetles, locusts and grasshoppers.

Chapter 12 has rules about purification of a woman after childbirth and the circumcision of males is a must.

Chapters 13-14 has rules related to skin disorders from leprosy to scabby stuff like dandruff, eczema and zits.

Chapter 15 has rules about purification of women after their period and for men with seminal discharges.

Chapter 16 has more priestly rules Chapter 17 has rules about not consuming blood. Chapter 18 has rules about sex.

Chapter 19 has rules about dealing fairly with others, crossbreeding of animals and crops is not allowed (No tangelos allowed and Tropicana twisters are a synthetic sin). Mixed fabrics are a no-no! (no polyester or cotton blends), no cutting of sideburns or trimming of beards, when you plant a tree you are to avoid eating its fruit for three years.

Chapter 20 has more rules about sex...if a man has sex with a woman on her period they are both to be cut off from the people and that if a couple commits adultery they are both to be put to death.

Chapter 25 has rules about not lending money to a country man with interest, and we are not to sell food at a profit.

There are good arguments that Leviticus 18:22 actually has to do with men having sex with the male prostitutes of the temples of some other god. Be sure and see:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibh4.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibh5.htm

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibh2.htm

This is a long enough post without me going into the fact of Jesus never mentioning anything about someone being gay or having gay sex. Jesus never said it was wrong to have heterosexual unmarried sex either. He only said adultery was wrong and he has a good point.

The joy of bothering to study these links and becoming armed with their knowledge is that you can beat Phelps with the same Bible he bashes with. It's handy for use on many other bigots too.

One last word and a photo. This is priceless!

Man Tattoos Leviticus 18:22 That Forbids Homosexuality On His Arm, But Leviticus 19:28 Forbids Tattoos. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/man-tattoos-leviticus-1822-that-forbids-homosexua

Some hebrew language specialists also claim that a holy ingredient for some holy oil described in the bible is cannabis. The only reason it doesnt' show up anymore is that it was mistranslated. So they claim Also it was being used at the time as a medicinal drug (proven by archeologic finds...) It nearly sounds too good to be true. :laugh:

''God hates Fags'?' Ouduar asked as he pulled a fag out of it's box and lit it, 'What's the dude got against us smokers?'

"It's also derogatory slang for a man who just so happens to be more 'fabulous' than other dudes." Jack corrected him.

'Ah.' Ouduar took a drag, then considered, 'What do they use to back it up?'

"A line from their holy book. I don't really care -- my own, very Catholic grandmother was more than willing to accept that I was willingly headed down the spinsterhood path, in a very technical sense. And the Catholic church tends to stick to the very same ideology."

'I liked the way your sister put it.' Ouduar mumbled, ''The Bible didn't arrive in a fax from heaven.' Just because that's what it says, it doesn't make it the so-called word of God. Human hands wrote it, and those human writers imbued it with their own ideas and beliefs. So, really, basing your entire ideology off of something that, for all we know, could have been written by a scribe who just said 'You know, I wanna see a whole culture of people jump through all these hoops just because of something I wrote down in a book... let's see what I can throw at them...' It seems kinda... I dunno...'

Jack bit her lip and snorted.

'What?'

"Don't make Scientology joke, don't make Scientology joke, don't make Scientology joke, don't make Scientology joke..."

How do you deal with people that, no matter how right you are, disagree because of blind faith/stupidity/hatred/etc.?