Wow. I applaud your moral courage and open-mindedness. I wish more people who consider themselves Christians would look at things from your perspective.

Velina. I don't know if this will help, but as a Physical anthropologist, it is my belief that there is more than a little evidence that Homosexuality is not a choice for the vast majority of Homosexuals, but is a Biological imperative. Those who wrote even in the bible of the "evil" of homosexuality did not have the benefit of DNA and in most cases as in the visit of the angels to Lot and the crowd wanting to rape the angels who visited him at his home near Sodom. I believe the evil there was rape and not homosexuality.

Practically all laws and religions are based on the golden rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is fair, rational, and part of almost all religions. But apparently they also have an all powerful being that insists they thank and worship him, and more importantly believe in him if they don't want to face eternal torrture. I think of the bible as one big comic book. Childish, silly and implausible. Hell is something people living near volcanoes dreamed up.

Professor thanks for the fresh perspective. Jimgalt thanks for the laugh. You have a wonderful sense of humor. So volcanoes are the reason I stay up at night worrying about my transgressions. Whether real or unreal the notion of hell is a lesson in consequences as is you reap what you sow. I have a theory about reap what you sow. I don't believe that there is any mystical force that causes your bad decisions to result in doom. I believe that when you make a bad decision or perform a bad deed you can never imagine all of the consequences that might follow.

well put

Velina, I'm glad you value the compassion of Christ over the angry retribution moral indignation. I keep trying to figure out when I chose to be a heterosexual, and to imagine what would be the motivation for a person, against all social and cultural norms, to choose a sexual activity that was contrary to their natural biological desires. Every time my conclusion is to believe that homosexuals are answering the call of biological nature every bit as much as I am in my attractions to the opposite sex. I would say that any other conclusion would probably be a sin against nature, which is the sin of the angry self-righteous anti-gay mob.

@professor: I thought the evil in Sodom was failure to offer hospitality to needy strangers...but then what do I know about knowing?

Chapter 5.13 of Pirkei Avot Mishna:
13. There are four types among men:
He who says, "What is mine is mine and what is yours is yours"--this is the common type, though some say that this is the type of Sodom.

He who says, "What is mine is yours and what is yours is mine"--he is an ignorant man.

He who says, "What is mine is yours and what is yours is thine own"--he is a saintly man.

And he who says, "What is yours is mine, and what is mine is mine"--he is a wicked man.

Also Jesus in Matthew 10:14-15 provides evidence for this view, as does Ezekiel 16:49-50.

It seems, according to the mishna, that the people of Sodom were essentially guilty of thinking like small government anti-tax conservative Republicans.