[Shady Grady]

Sorry for the long post, but covering a lot of "comments" here.

Shamingly, I have just read the entire Constitution of the United States, for the first time, yea, I know the Preamble, but had never read the Constitution. I think that this is something that everyone in here should read, because, after reading this, I am convinced without a doubt that the whole homosexuality issue is soley based upon religious beliefs.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many different denominations in the United States? The Baptist do not believe as the Methodist, the Methodist do not believe and the Church of Christ, and this goes on and on. To those of you that have stated your agreement or disagreement against homosexuals, do you believe that your denomination/belief will be the only people in Heaven? or **** as far as that goes. I do believe that it is John where it says, paraphrasing here, but "Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved". I think that includes EVERYBODY!!!

To defend their assertion that God condemns homosexuals, people always use small passages from the Bible to prove their point. Using the Bible in this manner is destructive. Instead of "exegesis" which involves examining the history of scripture to find out what it means and how it applies to us, "eisegesis" approaches scripture with a preconceived idea of what you will find there. It is abuse of scripture.
In eisegesis you search the Book until you find a passage you think applies and use it as your "proof" that God backs you up. You isolate that phrase or passage, take it out of context and improperly use it to back up your argument. It's like a friend taking a sentence or phrase out of a letter you wrote and using it to represent what you believe as a whole. It's easy to be taken out of context. You wouldn't want your views represented that way, but that's how the ideas and beliefs of the Bible's authors are presented everyday!

Thankfully, there are states and cities and companies who have deemed it policy to allow same sex couples to have insurance covereage as a heterosexual married couple. My hat is off to those entities. So, does that mean that those of you who feel the homosexuals do not have the right to have this type of insurance going to boycott these companies, move out of your state and or city??? As strongly as you have made your point in here about how you feel about homosexuals, I would make that ULTIMATE STAND and really think about it. You know, you have that right. And isn't it amazing that YOU have that right???

And in conclusion, God tells all people who have felt alienated because of the pain of prejudice and hatred, "in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near... You are no longer strangers, foreigners or aliens, but fellow citizens with all God's people." (Ephesians 2:11-22)
Finally, God reminds us that no matter what our orientation is, or what our beliefs are on homosexuality, we need to remember that "God is love". (I John 4). We need to follow the law of love: "LOVE GOD, LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF, LOVE ONE ANOTHER!" (Lev. 19:18, Matt 19:19, Mark 12:31, 33, Luke 10:27, John 15:12, 17, Romans 12:9-10, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8)

Yeah, it is funny now people pick out one verse, like the one, "Whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved". Mark 16:16 says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved". Matt. 7:14 says, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." If it were that easy, there would be more than a few. And one more: 1 Cor. 6:9, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor EFFEMINATE, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Again, BE NOT DECEIVED.