Presbyterian Church (USA) votes to formally recognize gay marriage and allow same-sex weddings

New York Daily News ^ | 03/18/2015 | Tobias Salinger

[kaehurowing]

Gresham Machen was right.

[cherry]

its a not a challenge...its a race to the bottom....

[cherry]

what the churches should do is to instruct the members to stop giving...run up deficits..take out loans to re do "things" and all in all , leave a big financial mess....

then just leave....big old churchs are going to be a dime a dozen and let the big elite presyterians take them over and pay the bills....

[cherry]

traditionally, churches didn't have to speak to ones sexuality.....it was a given...as was growing up and getting married and having children and working for a living...

this strange bizarre culture we have no has no "givens".....no compass to go by....no rules/regulations/etc...

the churches are just winging it as the wind blows...

[PieterCasparzen]

Going by the Gospel, Jesus wasn’t obsessed with homosexuality. In fact, he didn’t say much about it at all.

We can see where you stand. Jesus never specifically prohibited bestiality; does that mean he approved of it ? What about rape ? Incest ? He never mentioned them.

He did say it’s very hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

For some reason, no one is talking about that.

I see a lot of nice cars in the parking lot every Sunday

That blatant misapplication of Scripture is more tired than it is old, and it's 2,000 years old.

It's also straight out of the communist playbook. Get Christians to embrace false piety of seeking heaven through rejecting financial blessings.

Barak, is that you ?

Should Christians give all their "nice cars" to "the poor" ? If nice cars are so bad, wouldn't that be a bad thing to give poor people ? I mean, the more you have, the harder it is to get into heaven, right ? Shouldn't we all go live in a cave and reject all worldly goods and conveniences ? Isn't that the most pious way to live ?

Perhaps everyone on FR should break out their old copies of the Communist Manifesto and study up on "religion". /do I need the sarc tag ?

[PieterCasparzen]

traditionally, churches didn't have to speak to ones sexuality.....it was a given...as was growing up and getting married and having children and working for a living...

See that first word is where it all goes wrong - traditionally. When we base our morals on traditions of men - we build our foundation on sand. Because over the years, men can change their minds. What grandpa said was bad, I can say is good.

If we only had a written document that expressed perfect justice and morality, and was unchanging...

When men changed their minds, we could refer back to that document to get our moral compass pointed in the right direction...

this strange bizarre culture we have no has no "givens".....no compass to go by....no rules/regulations/etc...

And yet we have this thing called the Bible, the very Word of God.

To follow it, or not to follow it, that is the question.

[Carlos Danger]

Let me see if I understand your bestiality argument.

1) Obviously, bestiality is immoral.
2) You are able to figure that out.
3) Jesus never specifically forbade it.

Therefore, whatever else is obviously immoral to you happens to coincide with the mind of God, barring any counter evidence.

On the other hand, it sounds like you are ready to dismiss direct scripture you don’t like, and that makes me a communist.

Nice bubble you’re living in.

[PieterCasparzen]

Exodus 22:19 “Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.”

Leviticus 18:23 “Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.”

Leviticus 20:15 “And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.”

I did not write the Bible, I didn’t figure anything out. I’m basing my idea of right and wrong on the Bible.

[Carlos Danger]

Do you follow literally in everything in Leviticus?

I have never met anyone in my life who does, but I have heard many people quote select verses that reinforce their worldview.

By the way, most Christians believe Jesus superseded the code of Leviticus.

[PieterCasparzen]

So now Christians are free to break the moral laws of the Old Testament ? That contradicts Jesus’ teaching:

Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

The Old Testament law contains both ceremonial law and moral law as well as prophecy and the special revelation of God’s commands to the ancient Israelites in specific situations, i.e., go destroy a city, etc., which are specific commands that applied to those specific situations.

Jesus perfectly fulfilled the OT moral law by living a sinless life, living perfectly according to the OT moral law.

Jesus fufilled the OT ceremonial law as it foreshadowed his coming, ministry, death and resurrection.

Jesus fulfilled the prophets, of course, by being the prophesied Messiah.

God is unchanging - the Bible consistently teaches this.

God’s moral laws are also unchanging, and the Bible also consistently teaches this as well.

For example, murder is against God’s Law - it always was and always will be.