Is Christianity homophobic?

[AgnosticBoy]

Christians are often accused of being homophobic. So then I question why do people call themselves Christians in this day and age. I've searched the internet for a response. Of course, there are those Christians that try to make a case that homosexuality is not condemned by the Bible. But in this thread, I want to focus on those Christians that believe that being homosexual or engaging in same-sex behavior is wrong.

Here's one perspective I've found:

By Oxford Languages’ definition, homophobia can be as simple as a dislike for or as strong as a prejudice toward LGBT+ community members. While the word “phobia” implies a fear, homophobia has been used to describe everything from refusing to make a cake for a homosexual wedding to death penalties for homosexuals.

Christians are often accused of homophobia, often specifically because we stand for God’s holy design of sexual relations: one man and one woman united in marriage. It is never wrong for Christians to make a stand for biblical principle

However, true homophobia––prejudice against or hatred of homosexuals––is also sin. Prejudice is never biblical. We are never called to hatred but to love others as Christ loved us. Christians should not condone the homosexual lifestyle, but they should also not hate, degrade or condescend to those who identify as homosexual.

Source: https://www.collegianonline.com/2021/03 ... omophobic/

If I'm understanding correctly, it seems the author is trying to make a distinction between disagreeing with homosexuality and "prejudice and hatred of homosexuals". In another place, the author also refers to homophobia as a "fear".

For debate:
1. Is the author's distinction correct? Does 'homophobia' involve any type of belief or action (e.g. simply saying that it is wrong) that goes against homosexuality? Or does it just involve "hatred and prejudice"?

2. Is it even possible to believe that homosexuality is wrong but not to hate it or be prejudiced towards it?

[boatsnguitars]

[Replying to boatsnguitars in post #62]

Technically I don't think gay people are having sex. I think it is closer to mutual masturbation.

Before any minds explode, all I am saying is that we have words for 'walking' and 'running' or 'dancing' and 'wrestling'. When a word gets overloaded we usually make new categories of words. Rolling more ideas into a word is the opposite of what we should be doing.

No - and don't let your mind explode - but what they are having is sex. Hooking up, Smashing, Getting laid, Banging, Boning, Screwing, Shagging, Doing the deed, Hitting it off, Getting it on, Making love, Gettin' busy, Bumping uglies, Rolling in the hay, Knocking boots, Dipping their wick(s), Riding the wild pony, Playing hide the sausage, Making the Beast with Two Backs, Humping, Having relations.

Or, "Knowing" each other - as the Bible puts it.

More, you say? Yes, here is what gay people do:
Pound
Smush
Tumble
Hanky panky
Wrestle in the sheets
Slip the sausage
Tap that
Dip the stick
Get some action
Score
Paddle the pink canoe
Make whoopee
Do the horizontal mambo
Bounce
Roll around
Boink
Have a roll in the hay
Go to town
Rack up a body count.
Smash the granny
Chew bubblegum
Make babies
Plow
Go all the way
Ride the baloney pony
Play doctor
Park the beef bus
Get freaky
Make out
Slip and slide
Have a romp
Bury the bone
Take a ride on the wild side
Have a quickie
Screw around
Get it in
Boogie
Get one's freak on.
Have some hanky-panky
Knock someone's socks off
Rattle the bed springs
Do the nasty
Have a one night stand
Have a horizontal refreshment
Have a tumble in the sheets
Ride the skin bus
Have a sexcapade
Have a tryst
Hump like rabbits
Get it off
Have a fling
Scratch the itch
Bounce the ball
Have a rendezvous
Go to bed with
Play naked twister
Slip the salami
Have some adult fun.
Horizontal refreshment
Saddlebacking
Horizontal tango
Throwing a hotdog down a hallway
Playing "hide the sausage"
Womb raider
Hitting the skins
Making whoopie
Doing the mattress mambo
Parting the pink sea
Smashing uglies
Poking the beaver
Fishing in the pink pond
Scratching the seven-year itch
Doing the horizontal bop
Making the beast with two backs
Launching the skin rocket
Doing the bump and grind
Knocking boots
Engaging in some "scientific research".

Or, "Falling in love" a la:

Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

In Spain, the best upper sets do it
Lithuanians and Letts do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it
Not to mention the Finns
Folks in Siam do it - think of Siamese twins

Some Argentines, without means do it
People say in Boston even beans do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Romantic sponges, they say, do it
Oysters down in oyster bay do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Cold Cape Cod clams, 'gainst their wish, do it
Even lazy jellyfish do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Electric eels, I might add, do it
Though it shocks 'em, I know
Why ask if shad do it? Waiter, bring me shad roe

In shallow shoals, English soles do it
Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

The dragonflies in the reeds do it
Sentimental centipedes do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

Mosquitos, heaven forbid, do it
So does every katydid do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

The most refined ladybugs do it
When a gentleman calls
Moths in your rugs do it
What's the use of mothballs?

The chimpanzees in the zoo do it
Some courageous kangaroos do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love

I'm sure giraffes on the sly do it
Heavy hippopotami do it
Let's do it, let's fall in love.

Everybody (but religious zealots) are doing it. Even Christian priests and choirboys are ... ugh....

[Wootah]

[Replying to boatsnguitars in post #71]

I thought the religious zealots were the ones reproducing?

A core question of the Bible is whether we are more than animals. The Bible says yes.

I do agree with you and this is why I don't think humanitarianism works. Humanitarianism can't explain why it should preference one animal over another.

[Wootah]

1. Homophobia is the hatred or fear of Homosexuality. If a book, person, religion, organization, etc. expresses hatred for Homosexuality, it is by definition Homophobic.

Christians squeak by then, because if they're doing what the book tells them, they don't hate anybody. They don't even hate homosexuality; they just think it's a sin (the act, not the inclination).

If the question is whether the Bible teaches not to do a heck of a lot of things people in modern day think they should be allowed to do, yeah, of course it does.

Noting that there are still Jews after thousands of years while every time a society becomes extremely free, it crumbles, seemingly in response. It might actually be that the notion that you're not hurting somebody unless you're hitting him is a childish and incomplete one, and freedom shouldn't go as far as we take it.

Case in point, it may be that male-male pairs outcompete inferior male-female pairs, not only because they have two stronger males which expands the work they can compete successfully at, but because most times the male-male pair does not have to support a child. If this is the case, society can either 1) accept population collapse for the sake of morality 2) ban homosexuality or 3) find some other way to address the issue.

I think a Christian should hate what God hates.

Here are examples of Christians arguing for that. I can't find a direct verse telling Christians to 'love what God loves and hate what God hates' but I have a belief that we should do so.

https://realfaith.com/daily-devotions/l ... god-hates/
https://decisionmagazine.com/hate-what-god-hates/

I think we can say that, rightly considered, a Christian hates homosexuality but as always that does not reflect hating the person (I know we hate to hear that).

So God is not All-Loving? Can we have you confirm this on record?

Hate is required to be all loving. I am creating a thread on this.
viewtopic.php?t=40606

[brunumb]

Hate is required to be all loving.

So what is the meaning of all loving?

[boatsnguitars]

Hate is required to be all loving.

And again, we have a Christian claiming words mean the opposite...

I suppose one needs to be All-Just to be All-Merciful, too. They have to be Most High to be Most Low. They have to be most Sinful to be Most Righteous. All-Knowing to be All-Ignorant.

I sincerely get the impression, as I've said before, that Christians know they are lying straight to our faces (because of in-group psychology. But really, they are the guy holding up the sign that says, "GET A BRAIN, MORANS!" - and laughing because they think they're pwning us.

[Purple Knight]

I think a Christian should hate what God hates.

Here are examples of Christians arguing for that. I can't find a direct verse telling Christians to 'love what God loves and hate what God hates' but I have a belief that we should do so.

https://realfaith.com/daily-devotions/l ... god-hates/
https://decisionmagazine.com/hate-what-god-hates/

I think we can say that, rightly considered, a Christian hates homosexuality but as always that does not reflect hating the person (I know we hate to hear that).

"There’s a mistaken idea in our culture that love and hate are antithetical, but they’re actually allies. If you love life, you should hate murder."

Yeah, even the modern tolerance people the article is complaining about can't get away from that. They hate intolerance like nobody's business. Even they do not actually believe that they should hate no one and tolerate everyone and everything. Your article is right and they are dead wrong, because if you love tolerance then you should hate racism. It becomes this paradox where they're saying that the guy hating on the murderer is wrong, because all we should have is love and forgiveness, and in the process he's castigating, shaming, and in most cases insulting and denigrating murderer-hater, in exactly the way murder-hater is hating the murderer.

I don't get it. It seems like a very loud contradiction to me, but if it was as stupid as I thought it was, it would be obvious to everyone. So I tend to think I'm the one in the wrong, and maybe there is some meaningful difference between initiatory hatred (like murderer-hater) and hating the person who committed it.

[Wootah]

Hate is required to be all loving.

And again, we have a Christian claiming words mean the opposite...

I suppose one needs to be All-Just to be All-Merciful, too. They have to be Most High to be Most Low. They have to be most Sinful to be Most Righteous. All-Knowing to be All-Ignorant.

I sincerely get the impression, as I've said before, that Christians know they are lying straight to our faces (because of in-group psychology. But really, they are the guy holding up the sign that says, "GET A BRAIN, MORANS!" - and laughing because they think they're pwning us.

Do you love murderers and liars or do you hate them?

[Miles]

Hate is required to be all loving.

And again, we have a Christian claiming words mean the opposite...

I suppose one needs to be All-Just to be All-Merciful, too. They have to be Most High to be Most Low. They have to be most Sinful to be Most Righteous. All-Knowing to be All-Ignorant.

I sincerely get the impression, as I've said before, that Christians know they are lying straight to our faces (because of in-group psychology. But really, they are the guy holding up the sign that says, "GET A BRAIN, MORANS!" - and laughing because they think they're pwning us.

Do you love murderers and liars or do you hate them?

How many murders does it take to make a murderer? Should we assume you've never committed a murder?

How many lies does it take to make a liar? Should we assume you've never lied? Yeah, sure.

,

[boatsnguitars]

Hate is required to be all loving.

And again, we have a Christian claiming words mean the opposite...

I suppose one needs to be All-Just to be All-Merciful, too. They have to be Most High to be Most Low. They have to be most Sinful to be Most Righteous. All-Knowing to be All-Ignorant.

I sincerely get the impression, as I've said before, that Christians know they are lying straight to our faces (because of in-group psychology. But really, they are the guy holding up the sign that says, "GET A BRAIN, MORANS!" - and laughing because they think they're pwning us.

Do you love murderers and liars or do you hate them?

Which ones? But, is your point that God is like us - capable of loving the wrong people, having mixed emotions, not having all the information, etc? Because you seem to be intent on comparing our flawed reasons to love and hate to God. The Greeks believed in capricious gods - perhaps you do too?

Again, the answer is "God isn't All-Loving". It solves the problem.

[Adonai Yahweh]

Christians are often accused of being homophobic. So then I question why do people call themselves Christians in this day and age. I've searched the internet for a response. Of course, there are those Christians that try to make a case that homosexuality is not condemned by the Bible. But in this thread, I want to focus on those Christians that believe that being homosexual or engaging in same-sex behavior is wrong.

Here's one perspective I've found:

By Oxford Languages’ definition, homophobia can be as simple as a dislike for or as strong as a prejudice toward LGBT+ community members. While the word “phobia” implies a fear, homophobia has been used to describe everything from refusing to make a cake for a homosexual wedding to death penalties for homosexuals.

Christians are often accused of homophobia, often specifically because we stand for God’s holy design of sexual relations: one man and one woman united in marriage. It is never wrong for Christians to make a stand for biblical principle

However, true homophobia––prejudice against or hatred of homosexuals––is also sin. Prejudice is never biblical. We are never called to hatred but to love others as Christ loved us. Christians should not condone the homosexual lifestyle, but they should also not hate, degrade or condescend to those who identify as homosexual.

Source: https://www.collegianonline.com/2021/03 ... omophobic/

If I'm understanding correctly, it seems the author is trying to make a distinction between disagreeing with homosexuality and "prejudice and hatred of homosexuals". In another place, the author also refers to homophobia as a "fear".

1. Is the author's distinction correct? Does 'homophobia' involve any type of belief or action (e.g. simply saying that it is wrong) that goes against homosexuality? Or does it just involve "hatred and prejudice"?

The authors distinction is correct . Homophobia is prejudice and hatred against homosexuals . Christians are not homophobic they disagree with homosexuality meaning that they would not encourage someone to be a homosexual .

Is it even possible to believe that homosexuality is wrong but not to hate it or be prejudiced towards it?

Yes it , disagreeing by definition means that differ in opinion . Differing in opinion does not mean you hate something . For example lets say you like wearing a polo shirt with smart shorts and sneakers and I prefer to wear suits with smart shoes and tie all the time . I disagree with your outfit choice because I don't like the style and its not suited for me . That does not mean I hate it , it just means my style is not compatible with yours . My style works for me and it makes me look presentable and is suited for my lifestyle . Your style looks works for you makes look presentable and is suited for my lifestyle . However if I met someone who asks about what style they should adopt I will recommend my style and if you meet the same person you'll will recommend yours . The same is with Christianity and Homosexuality . Christians will also recommend a christian lifestyle because it has worked for them , Homosexuals will always recommend a homosexual lifestyle cause it works for them . There is no hate just that the 2 lifestyles are not compatible , we agree to disagree