h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

until just recently i was a homophobe. i've got to thinking,do we as heterosexuals go after any woman? i guess it is a sort of self centered vanity. we tell ourselves that we would be irristable to even homosexuals. i am guilty of hearing that someone is gay and sudenly clearing the area around the person. some of you may have read my article homosexuality& christianity. i realize that it is almost nothing but homophobic remarks. now don't get me wrong, i dont agree with the practice of homosexuality. but i try not to harm them with violence. i realize the ridicule i put them through in the past won't help them to "go straight", it may only lead to self hatred and sometimes even suicide.i beleive as a christian i should try to convert them to heterosexuals, sort of bring the lost lamp back to the flock.my coments before about homosexuals all going to hell is not in any way bibicaly true. i as a baptist beleive in once saved always saved. this means that if you accept jesus christ as your savior you will go to heven reguardless of your actions. but i do beleive tha th lord will hold you accountable for your sins. this means that you will have to confess your sins in the eyes of god himself no matter who you are. i also believe that all sins are equally wrong weather you kill someone or steal a peanut at Homeland. i also beleive that the sins that you asked to be forgiven of will be stricken from the list of the sins your held accountable for, and if you don't think it's wrong then you won't ask to be for given of it right,i don't know the reprocussions for the sins you are held acountable for but i'm sure it taqkes away from the bliss of heaven. well it apears that i have turned a article about homophobia into the article i should have writen about homosexuality and christianity in the first place


please forgive the spelling,i refuse to use spell check as a protest but thats another article.

So... if as a Baptist, you believe that whatever you do you are still saved: could you not accept Christ at, say, age 10, and then discover you were actually gay/lesbian/bisexual at about 18, safe in the knowledge that a decision you made in childhood will safeguard you for life despite committing various 'sins'? Also you could repent at the last minute (stirrup and the ground, type) and be forgiven, as so many have conveniently done. Or would you give credence to the Calvinist theory of the Elect and the Reprobate, in which God has predestined a section of the population for heaven, and another for hell- there's no way of changing it, whatever you do in life- and the only proof of being Elect (i.e. heaven-bound) is 'believing'.
Just interested,
-Mandragora

yes the people who become a christian and then become gay still will go to heven. but there is no such thing as a "death bed confession". the reason is because no one knows when they are going to die. some may know they are sick but they will never know the exact time when they are going. even if they did, it's not realy a true confession if they do it at the last minute, because it is not sincere.


calebB-(

When I was 8 years old I believed in god. This is because I went to a Church of England school, where I was regularly indoctrinated. Does this mean that I can now do what ever i like, because i'm going to heaven?

(evenin', Rocket)
But the idea of being able to repent at the last minute is accepted by many, notably Catholics- the idea being that if you genuinely are sorry then God will know. Which he would, wouldn't he? it isn't necessarily insincere since impending death leads you to reflect upon things you wish you'd not done and you can choose to make amends. Not accepting this, however genuine, is a bit unfair, especially when you say you can be forgiven for just about anything as long as you ask for it.
Asking for forgiveness and being granted it also seems a bit contradictory to the death penalty idea. If someone can be so truly sorry that God can forgive them, why should society find it so hard? it's not like you have to do time for God (unless you believe in Purgatory.)
What about double predestination?
and seeing as all sins are the same, if I were to, say, steal your pen and then slaughter your family you would consider them equal and, one would expect, react in the same way.

the question is not of beleiving in god but asking jesus as your savior. another question is what do you beleive?

'lo?

How do you know God exists..and how do you know it's a him....?????
Religion is man made...god if he/she/it exists did not write the bible/koran etc, people did. they also built houses of worship etc. This is not to decry anyones beliefs in their god, but if you are so certain god exists and is the saviour of mankind ..why would god punish people who do not conform to your image of white hetrosexuals?
as a psychologist i am always interested in why people believe what they do, but I also don't like those beliefs being used to persecute others who do not fit the "ideal" model of their faith.

Oops, sorry Mandragora. I am subriscribed to so many conversations about homophobia that I overlooked this one.

You've raised a good point here Tabitca. Not only does the 'justification' of persecution through religion hurt its victims, but it also creates prejudice towards religious beliefs. Caleb's idiocy does nothing to bring out the many good aspects of christianity (live thy neighbour as yourself etc.) To me this is especially relevant as I have muslim friends who have directly experienced prejudice after 11 September.

you're all right as usual... unfortunately Caleb has chosen to ignore all our arguments and also vanished. I really hoped that some comments would have an enlightening effect on him- it was too easy to make him look an idiot, but a real challenge to succeed in bringing him round to a more open view.
sigh. Shame, but it won't prevent me from trying with folk like this (if only for personal entertainment, if nowt else.)

He does appear to have just I was getting around to geting unto this one.

Minfd you his comment about Death Bed Confession is also slightly wrong some poeple do know when they are dying I would have though. People in terminal care wards, with inoperable diseases. Even the theif on the cross.

Also he says he is trying to convert homosexuals to hetrosexuality shouldn't the 'task' he has beeen given to God be to lead them to Christ or is my interpretation of the bible incorrect and then only the Spirit is supposed to challenge people to a point of confession and conversion.

I may be bi-sexual but I also have a firmer understanding of the arguments he appears to be putting forward than he does himself, if only he would respond.

we can manage in his absence.

There are many recorded deathbed confessions too. (In the case of genocidal warlords who realised they're about to snuff it and so left all their money to build a monastery, I think it's a bit cheap... but there you are.)
Well, if they were Christians already and then found they were other-than-straight, apparantly there's not a problem. I would say that finding Christ is far more important to their religion- leading/ inviting being much more pleasant than what his idea of conversion seems to be.