All my votes go to a little place called Knynsa. Prettiest place on earth, if you ask me.
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· 10 years ago
I live in south africa. Cape town is WONDERFUL I live in a town far away from it though. Cape town is a great place to live. I stayed there for a week and 3 days on a Choir tour my school had :) but, like every beautiful place in south africa, it has the side effect of crime :( but you can keep yourself safe though :)
its funny because a lot of pastors (or a lot i have met) feel this way. they know god loves them and that they need to love them too. most of the problem is everyone else claiming that christians hate them when most don't at all. its awesome to see this though :3 finally getting it out there
"...But I love you even more for what you could become." Don't forget the more important part. If you want to be accepted exactly as you are, Christianity is not the religion for you.
#PART ONE:
I have to get this off my chest. I studied Theology for a short time (8 months) because I was interested in biblical contradictions. I found heaps (no shocker). Yet, despite this I also realized something critical.
Only the Old Law (Mosaic Law) explicitly states that homosexuality is a sin. No one can deny this. Other laws outlined in Leviticus included:
1) “Don't wear clothes made of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19)
2) Any person who curseth his mother or father, must be killed. (Leviticus 20:9)
3) People who have flat noses, or is blind or lame, cannot go to an altar of God (Leviticus 21:17-18)
Nor can anyone deny THESE Laws. Killed for wearing too types of fabric? Guest, I hope you’re not doing that because if you are, I’m sorry, but you deserved to be stoned (according to the Old Law). I think we can safely agree that this is absurd and most of the Mosaic Law was completely outdated. Even God ultimately realized this...
#PART TWO:
According to the biblical story, God sent his only son (Jesus) to Earth. This boy would sacrifice himself for the sins of mankind, ushering in the New Law (Luke 9:28-36). This scene, called the Transfiguration, demonstrates Moses and Elijah passing on their roles to Jesus, who represents the NEW Covenant. God has done away with the Old Testament and its barbaric laws. The New Law under Jesus advocates love, acceptance and ironically enough the phrase “love thy neighbour as yourself” is a direct quote taken from Leviticus 19. Out of everything, Jesus has chosen to neglect the hatred, taking one phrase from Leviticus (a book commonly associated with hate). He has taken this quote and manipulated it to represent his mission, one premised on love. He makes no explicit reference to homosexuality in the New Testament because it is no longer relevant! Accept Jesus, be you blind, poor, gay or not, and you will (according to the Bible) receive the Kingdom of God.
Thank you for your comments. With all this controversy about homosexuality and the old laws being brought up, I've decided to study them more because I think people really need answers not just "because God said so." So I'm going to look into those verses more, putting into consideration the culture of a nation just out of bondage, the purpose of the tabernacle, etc. Again, thanks for those references.
May I just say that we go by what Jesus says. Yes in Galatians 3 it says that we are no longer bound to the old laws because that is not where we get our salvation from. It also says in the New Testament that in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 it says that homosexuality is a sin. Despite that, God is Love. As his followers, he wants us to love others before we do anything else. Don't hate on Christians and study the bible truly before you judge it.
@everything: nothing is "no longer relevant." I think you're applying a Mosaic mindset to your analysis. Christianity isn't about following specified rules, and it sure as heck isn't about trying to find out what you can get away with now. It's about doing the right thing and following the spirit of the law, being freed from the demands of the letter of the law. But it's not easier or less strict -- to the contrary, Jesus raised the bar substantially. He just changed the thought process, back to the way it's supposed to be. Back to where God doesn't always have to explicitly tell you exactly what you should and shouldn't do.
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deleted
· 10 years ago
ALL OF YOU, except for the first guest way at the top that started this whole thing, PLEASE MAKE THIS A POST! SPREAD THIS AS FAR AS YOU FUCKING CAN! YOU READ ME? PLEASE DO THE WORLD A FAVOR :)?
How so? Ruth was a Moabite, a race that was generally looked down upon by the Hebrews and yet her story of unselfishness for her mother-in-law is in the Bible and how she and Boaz broke down racial barriers and married. She is a direct ancestor of Jesus. There was also Peter who had the vision of unclean animals being presented to him and God said "What I have cleansed, you are not to call common or unclean." This is often misinterpreted as saying we can eat whatever we want but it was referring to the Roman who came to Peter a few hours later asking for spiritual guidance. It was illegal for Peter, a Jew, to accept this Roman into his home but God said to disregard the Jewish law. Then of course there is the more popular story of the Good Samaritan and how despite racial prejudice he helped a Jew.
As for sexist? There was Deborah who led the people of Israel through battle because she had been appointed by God to be the matriarch of her people. There was Anna, a prophetess who was present at Jesus' dedication and Miriam, the sister of Moses who led the Israelites with him and their brother Aaron, Esther who saved her people from total annihilation from the hand of Haman and there are so much more. And when God made Eve she was deemed the most beautiful of all his creations.
Homophobic? The issue of "man shall not lie with man as with a woman" is brought only twice (to my knowledge at the moment). Some people say God was so homophobic that he burned two whole cities because there were so many gays. No, those cities were burned because they had been practicing religious prostitution, child sacrifice, and whether or not a visitor was male or female they would gang rape them to death.
I have to get this off my chest. I studied Theology for a short time (8 months) because I was interested in biblical contradictions. I found heaps (no shocker). Yet, despite this I also realized something critical.
Only the Old Law (Mosaic Law) explicitly states that homosexuality is a sin. No one can deny this. Other laws outlined in Leviticus included:
1) “Don't wear clothes made of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19)
2) Any person who curseth his mother or father, must be killed. (Leviticus 20:9)
3) People who have flat noses, or is blind or lame, cannot go to an altar of God (Leviticus 21:17-18)
Nor can anyone deny THESE Laws. Killed for wearing too types of fabric? Guest, I hope you’re not doing that because if you are, I’m sorry, but you deserved to be stoned (according to the Old Law). I think we can safely agree that this is absurd and most of the Mosaic Law was completely outdated. Even God ultimately realized this...
According to the biblical story, God sent his only son (Jesus) to Earth. This boy would sacrifice himself for the sins of mankind, ushering in the New Law (Luke 9:28-36). This scene, called the Transfiguration, demonstrates Moses and Elijah passing on their roles to Jesus, who represents the NEW Covenant. God has done away with the Old Testament and its barbaric laws. The New Law under Jesus advocates love, acceptance and ironically enough the phrase “love thy neighbour as yourself” is a direct quote taken from Leviticus 19. Out of everything, Jesus has chosen to neglect the hatred, taking one phrase from Leviticus (a book commonly associated with hate). He has taken this quote and manipulated it to represent his mission, one premised on love. He makes no explicit reference to homosexuality in the New Testament because it is no longer relevant! Accept Jesus, be you blind, poor, gay or not, and you will (according to the Bible) receive the Kingdom of God.