It’s all so ridiculous. The only thing I am sure of is this Jesus came back now and saw what was done in his name, he would be pretty damn horrified by the majority of his followers.
The Bible is completely silent on the subject of same-sex love and marriage?
No, no, in fact it’s not.
I agree it’s silent on the specific concept of same-sex marriage, but given its emphasis on sexual contact being permissible in the context of marriage only, and its emphasis on same-sex sexual conduct being forbidden, period, there’s a concrete inference that same-sex marriage is not permitted.
You are correct, unless of course the marriage was without sexual relations.
But do note that fornicators and adulterers are also condemned.
Yes, and no-one’s been arguing that homosexuals are uniquely sinners.
Yet you don’t see the Christian fundies protesting these other sins with quite the same energy, do you? Wonder why.
Not is not a logical inference. There is no mandate, Biblical or otherwise, that marriage must include sex. Traditional marriage vows make no mention of sex, only love and fidelity.
Making these kind of extrapolations to justify condemning gay couples is antithetical Jesus’ message. It requires a level of petty legalism that is incompatible with love and compassion.
We were born into sin, according to Biblical dogma. Under this paradigm, it’s impossible to “sin no more”, and as such, this is only an aspirational goal. Jesus’ crucifixion would have been *completely unnecessary * if people truly had the capacity to “sin no more” on their own. Hence is why he spent so much time telling people to stop judging others and focus on loving them. He was trying to reprogram a society that believed observing a laundry list of laws was the key to winning God’s favor.
This is so basic that the only way you can not understand it is to try especially hard not to.
I don’t agree.
Moreover, even among Christian faiths that permit same-sex marriage, there is no expectation that such marriages be sexless.
Your view of this issue is relatively idiosyncratic, wouldn’t you agree?
Isn’t there something biblical about “Go forth and multiply”? Or maybe “be fruitful”?
Was Goad advocating for math? Or agriculture?
If God wants people to have more people, either there’s sex involved or he didn’t quite get around to giving us the tools for cloning.
Not sure what point you’re trying to make, because none of this means you must have sex to be married to your partner.
Jesus was idiosyncratic for his time, wouldn’t you agree?
If there is a biblical mandate to reproduce (I can’t say for sure because I don’t know it well enough, but I’ve heard those quotes attributed to the bible), then there is certainly a biblical mandate to have sex.
So tell me, is there in fact a biblical mandate to “multiply” or “be fruitful”?
It is not a mandate, no. It’s not in the Commandments and no where is it stated that it’s a sin not to reproduce. Jesus had nothing to so say about reproduction either.
That said, plenty of Christians probably think it’s a sin not to “go forth and multiple”. This is another one of those issues that has been subject to much picking and choosing.
Do you believe the only mandates in the bible are contained within the 10 commandments?
There are 7 “deadly” sins – are there lesser sins? Does the bible have a list of all sins?
You’re asking too much.
Yes. Those would be what the Catholic church at one time called “venial sins” (I speak in the past tense because I have no idea if it’s still the case). Basically, a venial sin is/was a benign offense that, while still warranting admission and sincere repentance and not doing it again if at all possible, won’t go on your Holy Permanent Record. God won’t keep it against you even if They won’t forget, and you’ll get to rise from the dead regardless come J-Day.
By opposition, a mortal sin cuts one away from God semi-permanently - it “kills” one’s immortal soul, which is then sent to the hot place upon death, no questions asked, no second chances. For those ones, the forgiveness process is more involved and typically requires the intervention of a holy man of some description, plus penance.
But note that there’s a whole lot more than seven deadly sins - what is commonly dubbed “the seven deadly sins” are really the 7 capital vices : the mental processes that generate sins in the first place. They are opposed by the 7 cardinal virtues, which one’s supposed to strive to attain.
1 John 5:16-17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
16 If you see your brother or sister[a] committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God* will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.
*
You said that procreation isn’t a mandate, and not procreating isn’t a sin, and you’ve suggested biblical sources for these opinions. If it’s not the source, how do you know these things?
Your questions about the 7 deadly sins suggests you have way too many knowledge gaps about the Bible for me to fill in the limited time I have to spare SDMB’ing. That’s what “you’re asking too much” meant.
It’s clear that I don’t interpret “go forth and multiply” to mean that marriage requires sex and I have explained why. Something mentioned once and never emphasized again doesn’t rise to a mandate to me. But if you want to press the issue, have at it. It’s all bunch of BS to me anyway.
I’m sure that is true in many cases but in others where people are doing God’s work and bringing more people into his kingdom he would be very pleased.
But I also think he would be upset about how people have watered down his message. Or as its said in 2 Timothy 4:3
"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. "
I see this often with certain “Christians” who will look at the Bible and pick and choose the passages they like or dont like. Or often reject it all together and look to other sources for their faith.
Now personally I would like to meet some LGBT Christians to get a feeling about what they believe and how they live their lives.