Again, the some laws in the Old Testament are binding across all peoples, in all ages. Not all, but some. The reason homosexual acts are sinful is that they take something beautiful and fruitful, and completely warps it. I don't think you, or anybody with a iota of wisdom for that matter, would disagree with the fact that man and women are quite literally designed for each other. They bear fruit, and bring pleasure to one another to encourage procreation. Now, men's bodies are clearly not designed for one another. The only thing gained through homosexual acts is pleasure. Now, I can't exactly blame gay people for submitting to their desires, but I also can't praise them either. They are taking something fruitful and Good, and making it merely an object of pleasure, which is not its primary purpose.
(Important=>)I'm not asking you to agree with me in that this is evil, as I did oversimplify it, I just want you to understand why Catholics believe certain laws hold true for every people and age(<=Important).
And as for only men being mentioned, women don't need to be included, because the laws hold true for both men and women. Another reason why Christianity isn't some backwards, misogynistic group of old men. We, to quote the legendary Satou Kazuma, are true advocates for gender equality.
I agree, lgbt people should be treated with respect, and not be persecuted. I don't think any Christian who upholds the beliefs of the church would say otherwise.
I'm not even gonna reply to that, as it seems as though you don't really care for an answer lol
Ah, I misunderstood your question, and how I ought to answer it. As I do not have much experience in eschatology, I will merely remain silent on that topic, as I would only make things more confusing for both of us.
I mean the early Christians for the most part died as martyrs, or at least in danger of death at any moment. They didn't think they would get rich or powerful off of being Christians, and this has held true for centuries. Even the Church leaders, while they may have had power, many ultimately suffered for their faith, or at least lived in danger at every moment. I don't see why you have a problem with an organization having control over a country. After all, any government is founded on the basis of some type of religion, even though most are objectively flawed ones. Just because the Church had militaristic as well as cultural power doesn't necessarily make it bad.
And as for the monks being the only people to transcribe the Bible, well, who else was going do it? They were the biggest and most organized group of scholars of the time. And the people who supervised were also devout Christians as well, like abbots and bishops. What I think you are doing with your evaluation is taking the fact that there were many evil church leaders and generalizing from there, albeit unintentionally. I can't blame you, it's a natural part of one's consciousness.
I don't feel personally attacked, I just wanted you to know that Church leaders are in general not benefitting in the worldly sense from their positions. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but it would be appreciated if you at least entertained the idea for the sake of our discussion.
As an aside, I'd just like to note that the Bible says the words(or at least some version of the words) "do not be afraid" something like 350 times. But, as you disagree with my previous message about how fear is not a theme pushed in the Bible, and the fact that it is in human nature to seek the Good (we merely have a warped idea of what is Good), I cannot in good faith pursue an avenue which will eventually lead nowhere.
