It was from a guy who was responding to a supposedly anti-gay song, which uses the Bible and God as a reference in its lyrics. Another guy said, and I quote:
Christians really hurt themselves when they act so intolerant and hateful.
As is usually the case, it is more than an intellectual discussion; there is something behind the questioning of the Bible.
So, no matter how good one’s arguments, they will fall on deaf years because they don’t want to hear the message.
Chastity: it’s a tough one.
Here we have Genesis 3 all over again:
1 Now, the snake was the most subtle of all the wild animals that Yahweh God had made. It asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?’
In the case you describe, we have:
“Does the Bible really represent the truth?”
2 The woman answered the snake, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden.
3 But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, “You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death.” ’
4 Then the snake said to the woman, ‘No! You will not die!
5 God knows in fact that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, knowing good from evil.’
6 The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
So you get statements to the effect that:
“You will be happy, better even, doing what you will. The church does all this to maintain control and power.”
“If it feels good, do it; be free.”
It’s all been heard before, since the beginning.
Some verses to consider:
John 4:13-26 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
John 8:7-12 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
