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Step 6: |
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Learn the facts about homosexuality and the Bible. The truth will set you free. John 5:39; 8:32: Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; but it is these that bear witness of me… You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Jesus frequently showed how the Bible had been used incorrectly to hurt people. See Matthew 5:17-48. Here Jesus said that he had come to fulfill the Law, not that he had come to force you to keep the Law! In this passage Jesus corrected several mistakes in the Old Testament by saying repeatedly, "you have heard it said, but I say unto you." Things that Jesus corrected were based on quotations from the Bible. Jesus corrected mistakes in the Bible. Jesus spent most of his time dealing with abusive and oppressive religion and showing how he had come to replace law with love. He taught his disciples to think objectively and logically about their relationships with God and with other people. The "burden of proof" concerning Bible condemnation and rejection of gay people is upon those who use incorrectly translated and out-of-context passages to hurt people who were not intended in the original texts. Frequently I have been asked to prove that the Bible does not condemn homosexuals. That question is backwards. No word for "homosexual" exists in biblical languages. No reference to sexual orientation exists in the Bible. The 6 Bible passages used against gays are either translated incorrectly or taken out of their correct setting of condemning idolatrous religious practices and applied incorrectly to people of the same sex who love each other. The Bible nowhere condemns love, affection or sex between people who love each other. No word for "sex" exists in the Bible. When the verses that are used to condemn people for their sexual orientation are examined carefully in context and with the accepted methods of academic research and logic, there is no evidence that the Bible says that homosexuals are evil and hated and rejected by God. No evidence exists in the Bible to prove God's rejection of gays. The case against gays and lesbians is "dismissed for a lack of evidence." Jesus never mentioned homosexuals or any issue related to sexual orientation. If you follow Jesus, you accept everyone equally. Jesus is proof that God loves and accepts all people including you . See: THE BIBLE AND HOMOSEXUALITY Further discussion of Step 6 can be found in my book Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse in the following Lessons: (Click on the Bible references to see them.) No. 21. "GAY PRIDE DAY IN SODOM" No. 22. "WHAT ABOUT LEVITICUS?" No. 23. "DISCOVERING THE TRUTH IN PAUL" No. 24. "HOMOSEXUAL GHOSTS" |
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