Religions of Love and Hate

Suspected homosexuals hanged in Iran

In the eyes of many, Christianity is a religion that foments discord across the world by promoting hatred and intolerance.

Why is Christianity hated by so many people? Because it classifies a host of behaviors as sinful and declares that no one who willingly practices those behaviors "has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." (Ephesians 5:5)

Among the list of behaviors condemned by the Bible are stealing, lying, adultery, greed, fornication, witchcraft, prostitution, extortion, murder, idolatry, necromancy, sorcery and homosexuality. 

Needless to say, with a list like that, there are a lot of folks in the world who find Christianity extremely repugnant. 

And those people will do whatever they can to demean the faith by marginalizing it as a primitive and outdated belief system conjured in the minds of ignorant men. 

Concerning those who hate the truth and refuse to repent, Jesus Christ said this: "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:19-21)

One person who shall remain anonymous, responded to my recent post on Homosexuality and Christianity with this comment:  "Christianity is a never-ending stream of filth and a certified cancer to society." When I responded that Islam also condemns the homosexual lifestyle (Sura 26:165-166, Sura 70:80-81), he retorted that Christianity and Islam are "similar."

No, they're not. While gays have been historically persecuted by those who claim to represent Christ, Christianity doesn't encourage nor sanction the persecution of gays or anyone. Those who persecute gays and encourage others to do so, do it in opposition to what Christ taught. 

However, Islam mandates physical torture, dismemberment and even execution for those who violate Shariah Law. Muslims who refuse to carry out the punishments specified in the Qu'ran and the Hadith for violating Shariah, do so in opposition to what Muhammad taught. 

When former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to the United Nations several years ago and claimed that homosexuality didn't exist in his country, he failed to mention the reason--those who are even suspected of being homosexuals in Iran are executed.   

For the record, biblical Christianity's moral tenets are based upon the 10 Commandments, the Mosaic Law and the writings of the ancient Jewish prophets. Christianity's condemnation of the homosexual lifestyle comes from the Book of Leviticus (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13) which is one of the five books of Moses. The homosexual lifestyle is but one of several sexual practices condemned in Leviticus.

And so, when the apostle Paul listed homosexuality among the number of behaviors that are unacceptable to God in his first letter to the Corinthian Church (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) he wasn't sharing his own opinion--he based that on the Mosaic Law.

And concerning that law, Christ said this: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Matthew 5:17-18)

I guess that makes Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul and all the rest of us bigots who embrace that law. So be it.