[ladygreek]

I, too had decided not to respond to this thread because of the emotions it brings up in me. BUT here I go. All sins are an abomination to God. Everyone of us on the board are still sinners and we will be until we die. Why pinpoint a specific group?

When I see the number of people who are baptized (heck I was baptized at the age of 7, did I really know then what that meant--no, do I now--yes,) I have to wonder do you all really believe that all of them have given up their sins? Of course the answer is no.

What if the headline at been "Church banned from association for baptizing greedy people?" What would our responses have been then? It is easy to be self-righteous when the "sin" does not apply to us.

I won't even go into the number of gay pastors, ministers, preachers, etc. there are. Would you have me believe that none of them got their calling from God? How do we know that the very pastor who baptized us wasn't gay. If he or she was, does that make our baptism invalid?

We can all read the Word, and all take different interpretations from it. It happens from religion to religion, from seminary to seminary, from church to church. If your pastor gives one interpretation, then that is what you believe. But if you go to another church and that pastor gives another interpretation are we going to tell he or she that they are wrong? Catholics believe that during communion the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ. Protestants believe it is just symbolic. Thus orthodox Catholics will not allow Protestants to take communion with them.

For me, the bottom line is I am tired of homosexuality being used as an excuse to practice religious discrimination, intolerance, and persecution. That to me is an abomination in the name of God.