Are you religous?, And Why? Options

[*disco infiltrator*]

1) A masochist receives pleasure from inflicting pain. Is it unfair for God to deny the person the right to cause pain to others?
2) People accept vocations to become priests and nuns because they are called by God. Being celibate is part of this. Having homosexual tendencies is a call to be celibate as well. You must follow God's rules to be one of his followers. Having homosexual relations doesn't exactly jive with this.
3) I'm speaking in general. We've had thousands (maybe millions?) of priests that have remained celibate. Yeah, we have some bad priests (even some bad popes) but that doesn't change the fact that they are required to be celibate. And yes, the Bible teaches that we should stay abstinent until marriage. But homosexual relationships do not constitute as a marriage, therefore, the Church does not recognize them as lawful marriages.
4) I love my father and I am straight as an arrow. Why must love always be sexual in nature? Or are we confusing love with lust?

The fact remains that homosexual relationships are contrary to the will of God. If a homosexual chooses the love for an earthly person over the love for Christ, they risk seperation from Christ.
God did what to poor little Bobby? Bobby chose to join the army.

1) Does everyone else get to recieve that pleasure and/or is pleasured by it?
2) But WHY? They are people just like straight people. Is there any REASON it's so bad, other than "God says so"?
3) What if eventually homosexuals are allowed to marry?
4) You don't love your father in the same way that you would love a girlfriend.

[flc]

So God should just fix all our problems because we're just that damn worthy? That's not how it works, my friend. A loving, all-forgiving, all-powerful Lord also respects our ability to choose. We choose to let AIDS fester, we choose to send our soldiers to Iraq, and we choose to, for lack of a better term, f**k up.

Buck up and deal with it, planet earth.

Why do you think we call God Our Father? Is it because, besides our parents here on Earth, he is actually our real and true parent?

Think about it. Parents who love their kids try as hard as they can to fix their problems. Why can't God do the same thing? Maybe we're not worthy, but loving parents don't just stand by and watch their children f**k up, saying, "I told you so, I TOLD you not to do that, now look what you've done." They would try to prevent anything from happening.

God gave us the Ten Commandments as guidelines to help us lead a happy, healthy life. Well I think he should be intervening more actively like actual parents to prevent us from f**king up.

[*kryogenix*]

1) Does everyone else get to recieve that pleasure and/or is pleasured by it?
2) But WHY? They are people just like straight people. Is there any REASON it's so bad, other than "God says so"?
3) What if eventually homosexuals are allowed to marry?
4) You don't love your father in the same way that you would love a girlfriend.

1) I don't know about you, but the thought of one man's penis in another man's anus doesn't give me pleasure at all. Just because the two parties involved are happy, doesn't mean it's right.
2) From the Catholic Catechism:

Chastity and homosexuality

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

3) Homosexuals will never be allowed to marry in the church, for the reasons stated above.
4) Doesn't change the fact that love is not only limited to sexual desire.

Why do you think we call God Our Father? Is it because, besides our parents here on Earth, he is actually our real and true parent?

Think about it. Parents who love their kids try as hard as they can to fix their problems. Why can't God do the same thing? Maybe we're not worthy, but loving parents don't just stand by and watch their children f**k up, saying, "I told you so, I TOLD you not to do that, now look what you've done." They would try to prevent anything from happening.

God gave us the Ten Commandments as guidelines to help us lead a happy, healthy life. Well I think he should be intervening more actively like actual parents to prevent us from f**king up.

God created us, so yeah, he's Our Father.

I think He is trying to fix your problems. Perhaps if you pull out the earplugs and take off the blindfold, you'll see how much God is reaching out to you. Do you think it's a coincidence that people tend to get on other people's case to tell them not to sin? If no one has told you yet, I'll say it now. Live according to God's will. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

God won't force you to do anything because he give you free will. Obviously, you know God's moral guideline. Why knowlingly screw up by going against it?

[priyas]

yes.

[*disco infiltrator*]

^ Please don't spam.

1) I don't know about you, but the thought of one man's penis in another man's anus doesn't give me pleasure at all. Just because the two parties involved are happy, doesn't mean it's right.
2) From the Catholic Catechism:
3) Homosexuals will never be allowed to marry in the church, for the reasons stated above.
4) Doesn't change the fact that love is not only limited to sexual desire.
God created us, so yeah, he's Our Father.

I think He is trying to fix your problems. Perhaps if you pull out the earplugs and take off the blindfold, you'll see how much God is reaching out to you. Do you think it's a coincidence that people tend to get on other people's case to tell them not to sin? If no one has told you yet, I'll say it now. Live according to God's will. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

God won't force you to do anything because he give you free will. Obviously, you know God's moral guideline. Why knowlingly screw up by going against it?

And I don't know about you, but at this very moment, the thought of a penis in my vagina doesn't make me very happy. I guess that means all sex is wrong because it wouldn't make me happy!

They don't need to be married in the church. Many people get married on a cliff over the ocean or in their backyard, or not by a priest, since not all people that get married are Christian...and oh, shouldn't that mean that marriage should not go strictly by Christian rules? How funny that Christians don't rule every institution of the world...

Of course love isn't only sexual desire, but it includes it. Deal with the fact that in love, there is sex. There is. It happens.

[*kryogenix*]

^ Please don't spam.
And I don't know about you, but at this very moment, the thought of a penis in my vagina doesn't make me very happy. I guess that means all sex is wrong because it wouldn't make me happy!

Your questions was "does everyone else get pleasure from it?" I assumed that your arguement is that homosexual relations and masochism are different because both parties are happy. Happiness does not always make it right, as you have discovered just now with your remark.

They don't need to be married in the church. Many people get married on a cliff over the ocean or in their backyard, or not by a priest, since not all people that get married are Christian...and oh, shouldn't that mean that marriage should not go strictly by Christian rules? How funny that Christians don't rule every institution of the world...

We're talking about Blow_Not_Suck's arguement against the Church being against homosexual marriage. Marriage outside the Catholic church is irrelevant with respect to her post.

Of course love isn't only sexual desire, but it includes it. Deal with the fact that in love, there is sex. There is. It happens.

I think you mean "sex isn't the only love."

Love does not require sex to be called love. Sexual desire requires love to be called sexual desire. Otherwise, it is lust.

[flc]

Somehow between you two this has become a debate over homosexuality. Oh well, I'll chime in. {Oh yeah. Sammi, you made really good points at the top of the page.}

Christians can believe whatever they want to believe about homosexuality, that's fine with me. Christians are people who shouldn't have influence on how this country is run, though. I really don't care how many times you want to tell me, "But this country was founded on religious morals." Maybe this country started off like that, but obviously it's changed over hundreds of years, and it's going to keep changing, so you'd better get used to it.

But when a government is forcing this Christian belief that homosexuality is wrong on you, that's crossing the line. People are only getting so disgruntled about this because they're letting it bother them.

Dissapprove of homosexuality as much as you'd like. I don't understand how you can really argue against this besides giving me reasons for why you believe homosexuality is wrong, which is irrelevant to why gay marriage is illegal in most states if church and state are supposedly separate. Try to justify why it's alright for us to make it illegal WITHOUT utilizing your personal beliefs. And if it has nothing to do with God and you simply don't want your children growing up thinking that homosexuality is okay, then what, really, is so wrong with it? Just because the thought is unpleasant for YOU? A lot of people don't like horror films, and find THEM unpleasant. Should we take a poll, and if the majority of the country wants horror films OUT, should we adhere to it?

I'm sorry, but people have no right to tell people who or how to love, when it's causing no harm to any other party. This is a free country which is supposed to allow you the pursuit of happiness, and God should not be a part of every single aspect in this society, especially when it's affecting those who don't even agree with some religious stances.

Leave 'em alone, for crying out loud.

[mastashake15]

i am a religious person and a muslim.
i believe in the holy books and i try to follow all the rules
and regulations and its is a way of life.

i was at the park today and i saw some teens about my age
around 15 or 16, and already having children ,hear talk about having sex and children and in the muslim religion, sex and relations like that
are not allowed and you will be punished for doing that, unless asking for forgiveness and never commiting that sin again.

this got me thinking.maybe, if i wasn't very religious, i may have been the same way, still in my early teens and having sex and kids, doing drugs or smoking. being a muslim is a way of life for me and following it might have saved me from doing something stupid. im not saying that all kids these days are doing stupid things and im not saying im perfect either, but it is making me a better person and having better morals than most kids these days do.

[*disco infiltrator*]

I don't think that's true - you can have morals and not be religious whatsoever. I'm an atheist and I have not ever tried alcohol, drugs, or smoked. I am still a virgin and have only had two boyfriends, one being currently, and I'll be sixteen in a week. You would think the same way and not want to do the same things, Muslim or not. I know a lot of Christians (not to say it's the same, but with that sort of thing, there are the same rules) who do those things even though they are Christians, and they would do it either way.

[flc]

^ Yeah. I guess what he's trying to say maybe though, is that some people NEED religion to be moral..?

[*disco infiltrator*]

But I don't think that's true. All people have different morals no matter what; they may base them off of their religion, and they may or may not have thought the same way without being taught that, but if their parents believe that those are the guidelines of life (no alcohol, drugs, sex, whatnot) then they would teach them that anyway with a consequence other than going to hell or something.

[flc]

^ True, true.

The definition of morals really does change for everybody. Like a kid who's grown up stealing. They don't know it's wrong, they don't think it's wrong.

[x1049]

I'm not religious, but i like to think of myself as spiritual.

i'm kind of too realistic a thinker to believe in God, or whatev.

I believe in Neitchze's Will to Power, but am in strong agreement with many buddhist ideals. hooray! :D

[Paulina]

Yes, I would consider myself as religious.
I do believe in God, the Triune one. I'm a Christian.
I go to a Lutheran high school and I attend church twice a week.
I think that makes me religious.

[AngelinaTaylor]

You don't need to be religious to have morals.. I read something about that above. I'm an atheist, and I have morals. Does an atheist make me a druggie/killer/sex freak, or something of the sort? No.

And I do think that Christianity makes you weaker.. because you depend on something SO much, that you don't even care that most of it has been disproven. Oh well.. let people believe.

Taylor``

[*kryogenix*]

You don't need to be religious to have morals.. I read something about that above. I'm an atheist, and I have morals. Does an atheist make me a druggie/killer/sex freak, or something of the sort? No.

And I do think that Christianity makes you weaker.. because you depend on something SO much, that you don't even care that most of it has been disproven. Oh well.. let people believe.

Taylor``

Disproven? That's news to me.

[NoSex]

Disproven? That's news to me.

sh*t, disproven is almost synonymous with, "and then he walked on water!"

[AngelinaTaylor]

Disproven? That's news to me.

Do some reserch.

Taylor``

[*Girthy*]

Do some reserch.

Taylor``

Hmm....Enlighten me, what exactly has been disproven?

[*kryogenix*]

Do some reserch.

Taylor``

Believe me, I've done plenty of research. A lot of the alleged inconsistencies in the Bible are disproven simply by taking the passage in context, or (in the case of many Old Testament passages), understanding ancient Jewish culture. I've found that many atheists themselves admit that they can't prove that God doesn't exist.

[*mipadi*]

I've found that many atheists themselves admit that they can't prove that God doesn't exist.

I don't intend to be like everyone else and attack your faith, kryo, but it's important to point out that just because something hasn't been disproven, does not mean it is therefore proven. The fact that the existence of a god has not been disproven might simply indicate that no one is clever enough to disprove it.

[flc]

And I do think that Christianity makes you weaker.. because you depend on something SO much, that you don't even care that most of it has been disproven. Oh well.. let people believe.

Taylor``

Even though I'm not religious, there's nothing to disprove. It's all about faith. I don't care how many people tell me to look at the world around me, that there's no way that something this complex couldn't have been created by a higher power. That still doesn't prove he exists. And me arguing back and giving all my reasons for believing he doesn't exists doesn't prove he DOESN'T exist, as well.

Wow, that was confusing.

[*kryogenix*]

I don't intend to be like everyone else and attack your faith, kryo, but it's important to point out that just because something hasn't been disproven, does not mean it is therefore proven. The fact that the existence of a god has not been disproven might simply indicate that no one is clever enough to disprove it.

Well yeah, but her assertion was that it's all been disproven. I just feel that agnosticism is a better position than atheism if you're unsure of the existence of God.

[NoSex]

Well yeah, but her assertion was that it's all been disproven. I just feel that agnosticism is a better position than atheism if you're unsure of the existence of God.

I think you're confused about what atheism and agnosticism are.

Also, certain Gods can clearly be disproven. Using the laws of contradiction it can be easy, sometimes, to prove a negative existential proposition. Also, you must realize that be asserting that your God is the true god, you are, at the same time, denying the existence of thousands of other gods. I mean, in all honesty, I only believe in one less god than yourself.

Note also, She said "most" of it had been disproven. "Most," definately does not mean "all." I would say a decent amount (for the divine, at least) has been disproven. For example: the idea that the Bible is infallible.

[*mipadi*]

Well yeah, but her assertion was that it's all been disproven. I just feel that agnosticism is a better position than atheism if you're unsure of the existence of God.

Perhaps, but keep in mind that not believing in God is not the same as being unsure about the existence of God. One can be as sure that God does not exist as you can be that God does.