'Duck Dynasty': Phil Robertson anti-gay sermon surfaces

Cowboy Hank said:

According to the bible there is no difference between homosexuality and bestiality. Or between bestiality and adultery. Or between adultery and lying. In God's eyes sin is sin and He doesn't differentiate between different sins. He cannot look upon sin period. There are no degrees of sin in God's eyes, that's a human creation. He also doesn't differentiate between sin when He forgives us for our sins. Speaking out against sin and against the willful sinner is not hateful, whether it hits you personally or not. I don't get mad at my pastor when he preaches against divorce because I know he's not targeting me personally, he's talking about sin and sinful behavior.

Being a homosexual is NOT a sin. Engaging in homosexual acts is. Temptation is not a sin. Yielding to temptation is.

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Simpleton said:

You guys all bring up very good points but is Freddie Mercury a homosexual?

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E_D_Guapo said:

Serious question for Christians, no snark intended. If you were born in, say, Afghanistan you would have been raised Muslim (or Israel and raised Jewish...whatever) and would be just as devout a Muslim as you are a Christian in reality. You would be just as adamant that Islam is the truth and the only correct religion. You'd raise your family Muslim just like you're raising your family Christian now.

But you weren't. You were born in a country where historically the majority happen to believe in Christianity and the Bible instead. The fact that you became a Christian is largely a product of the culture in which you were raised. There's no question about that. That's the reason you believe in the Bible instead of the Koran (or the Torah or whatever). How do you reconcile that?

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Deuce said:

Christianity and Islam are very closely related. A few differences like if Jesus was actually the son of God, but the teachings are similar.

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E_D_Guapo said:

Serious question for Christians, no snark intended. If you were born in, say, Afghanistan you would have been raised Muslim (or Israel and raised Jewish...whatever) and would be just as devout a Muslim as you are a Christian in reality. You would be just as adamant that Islam is the truth and the only correct religion. You'd raise your family Muslim just like you're raising your family Christian now.

But you weren't. You were born in a country where historically the majority happen to believe in Christianity and the Bible instead. The fact that you became a Christian is largely a product of the culture in which you were raised. There's no question about that. That's the reason you believe in the Bible instead of the Koran (or the Torah or whatever). How do you reconcile that?

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Cowboy Hank said:

Pretty simple really. If you look at the major religions (Christianity, Jewish and Muslim) there's virtually no difference in belief as far as the Old Testament goes. The big divergence happens at the birth and life of Jesus. Christians believe He was the Messiah, Jews believe he was a prophet and Muslims believe Mohammed was the prophet. I've somewhat studied several religions and although I was born in the Christian faith and have an obvious bias, I believe the story of the birth of Jesus as the Son of God is most historically accurate. Muslims are an offshoot of the tribe of Abraham, after his wife lost faith in God's ability to deliver him a son by her and had Abraham sleep with Hagar, her handmaiden. Hagar bore Ishmael, who is basically the father of all Muslims (Genesis chapter 16). In Genesis 16:12 God tells Hagar what Ishmael and his descendents will be like, telling her that he will be "a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him..." Sounds pretty accurate doesn't it?

Not to disparage other religious beliefs, but I believe most other religions borrow tenets from Christianity, Judaism or Islam, but discarded some tenets that they personally didn't care for and added others on their own in order to justify their own desires. Obviously I'm biased because of my own Christian faith. I respect the beliefs of others with some noted exceptions like Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses. I believe their beliefs are frankly ridiculous and based on some wildly inaccurate interpretations of certain biblical passages. Any time a layman like me can let the door knockers come in my house and completely stump them, I have trouble with their beliefs. Scientologists are nothing more than a cult based on a science fiction book and I don't even consider them.

That's about it off the top of my head. I don't know enough about Hinduism or Buddhism to really speak to their beliefs.

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Cowboy Hank said:

I've somewhat studied several religions and although I was born in the Christian faith and have an obvious bias, I believe the story of the birth of Jesus as the Son of God is most historically accurate.

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E_D_Guapo said:

I understand that, but that wasn't the question. Again, I'm not looking to stir things up or make disparaging comments about Christianity (I've done enough of that on this board over the years). This is a legit question I have for believers.

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Deuce said:

I know and that's my legit answer. Believing in which of the differences is trivial to me. If you believe in God, live a good life and promote love it doesn't matter which version you believe.

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E_D_Guapo said:

Serious question for Christians, no snark intended. If you were born in, say, Afghanistan you would have been raised Muslim (or Israel and raised Jewish...whatever) and would be just as devout a Muslim as you are a Christian in reality. You would be just as adamant that Islam is the truth and the only correct religion. You'd raise your family Muslim just like you're raising your family Christian now.

But you weren't. You were born in a country where historically the majority happen to believe in Christianity and the Bible instead. The fact that you became a Christian is largely a product of the culture in which you were raised. There's no question about that. That's the reason you believe in the Bible instead of the Koran (or the Torah or whatever). How do you reconcile that?

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E_D_Guapo said:

Thank you Hank. This can not be understated though:



You were born and raised with the Christian ideals and you accepted them. Are you suggesting that if you were born and raised in Kabul as a Muslim that you would have still decided that Christianity was the correct choice and converted? That's really the crux of my question.

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Cowboy Hank said:

I think I would have. I went through about a four year period where I thought the whole religion thing was a load of crap and couldn't see any sense in any of it. One of my quirks though is that when something confuses me or I'm not sure of my own beliefs I'll spend a lot of time researching it. Jews, Christians and Muslims all acknowledge that Jesus existed and Roman history also confirms it. They all agree on the Old Testament version of the bible and historical texts also confirm it along with Jesus. Those facts and various events in my life led me back to my original religious beliefs. While the existence of God can never be confirmed through concrete evidence, I've had personal evidence of His existence and His assistance in my life too many times for it to be coincidence. That coupled with my faith tells me that the path I've chosen is the right one and I'm comfortable with it.

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Cowboy Hank said:

I think I would have. I went through about a four year period where I thought the whole religion thing was a load of crap and couldn't see any sense in any of it. One of my quirks though is that when something confuses me or I'm not sure of my own beliefs I'll spend a lot of time researching it. Jews, Christians and Muslims all acknowledge that Jesus existed and Roman history also confirms it. They all agree on the Old Testament version of the bible and historical texts also confirm it along with Jesus. Those facts and various events in my life led me back to my original religious beliefs. While the existence of God can never be confirmed through concrete evidence, I've had personal evidence of His existence and His assistance in my life too many times for it to be coincidence. That coupled with my faith tells me that the path I've chosen is the right one and I'm comfortable with it.

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E_D_Guapo said:

Ah OK, gotcha. I think that's a great approach but I think most Christians would shake their heads and say that you're wrong.

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Iamtdg said:

/butcheredjoke

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E_D_Guapo said:

OK, so your answer to my question is that you believe you would have converted to Christianity anyway, even if you had been born and raised as a devout Muslim in a Muslim culture. If that's what you believe then that's what you believe. If so I think that would have made you a very rare exception. Thank you for taking the time to answer.

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Deuce said:

You should have just made this your sig years ago.

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E_D_Guapo said:

OK, so your answer to my question is that you believe you would have converted to Christianity anyway, even if you had been born and raised as a devout Muslim in a Muslim culture. If that's what you believe then that's what you believe. If so I think that would have made you a very rare exception. Thank you for taking the time to answer.

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