You argue that simply because the United Methodist church declares that homosexual behavior is incompatible with Christian teaching, we are therefore guilty of not showing "love, respect, and dignity" to homosexuals.  The story of the Samaritan was one that focused on his behavior.  He behaved in a way all persons should behave.  I can assure you, if I came upon a person in similar circumstances as the Samaritan came upon, and he had a badge on him that said he was a homosexual, I would act just as the Samaritan acted.  Again, our church's position has nothing whatsoever to do with a person's worth; it has ONLY to do with a person's behavior. 

Look, I've taken in two teenage boys who were basically thrown out by their "parents."  I loved them, nurtured them, and supported them in every way I could.  They went to church with me.  One of them went on a church mission trip to Mexico.  But when their behavior turned criminal, I had to release them.  I still love them, but I can't have persons living in my home involved in criminal behavior.  So please save your sermons about loving the least for someone else.

Dec 20, 2009 -- 1:09PM, 54george wrote:

 

To finish, I also strongly believe that no children should be raised in a family other than in a union between Man & Woman.  If you choose to do otherwise you are corrupting the young to your way not God's way!    

One of the finest young men I know was raised by 2 gay men.He was given away by his drug addict mother to a family member who had escaped the barrio life by his association with other gay men,a lot of whom tend to be educated professional types,that steered him away from the machismo drug culture of the barrio.He went to college and is engaged to a girl (gasp! Imagine that.Being raised by 2 gay men yet liking girls) from a highly successful professional family.His siblings are still trapped in the barrio culture.

But I guess God would prefer that he was left in a "proper" biblical family where the brothers and uncles all set the example for him of drug dealing and violence.

Jan 9, 2010 -- 2:33PM, Bevo wrote:

I hardly think a drug addicted family qualifies as a biblical family.

Oh,but it was a one man/one woman family,thereby  evidently making it a "better" environment than a 2 gay men family to some.

Jan 9, 2010 -- 4:27PM, Bevo wrote:

I never said that.  I simply objected to your describing a drug addicted family as biblical.

That would be because most anti gay people describe the traditional man/woman marriage that way.I'm not using a term they don't use themselves to differentiate between gay marriages and traditional "biblical" marriages.They themselves never seem to get into the morals of these traditional families themselves,just the gender arrangements of them.

There's quite a bit more than a marriage being between a man and a woman that would qualify it for being a biblical marriage.