I am a Christian myself and do indeed believe in The Bible...it is as simple as that. I will not force my beliefs upon anyone but I will make a few points.
@obZen
- Homosexuality is considered an abomination and a sin in the eyes of God as various verses of The Bible state.
Lev. 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."
Lev. 20:13, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them"
1 Cor. 6:9-10, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
Rom. 1:26-28, "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper."
As for your question about eating certain "unclean" foods this entry from Wikipedia about Peter's vision in Acts should shed some light on the issue.
"As the Book of Acts makes clear, Christians are not obligated to follow this holiness code. This is made clear in Peter's vision in Acts 10:15. Peter is told, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' In other words, there is no kosher code for Christians. Christians are not concerned with eating kosher foods and avoiding all others. That part of the law is no longer binding, and Christians can enjoy shrimp and pork with no injury to conscience."
Right. I was gonna stay out of this. I really, really was. I seem to get involved in EVERY Bible discussion on site.
But I can't. So here I go:
With any actual research done on the Bible, you'll find it's actually quite indifferent on the subject of homosexuality.
Case.
Two verses from the Old Testament's law books.
Lev 18:22
Lev 20:13
The Leviticus passages in most translations forbid male homosexuality as a taboo, AKA a betrayal of Jewish identity; an offense (impurity) against the Jewish religion. "Uncleanness." No where does it mention female homosexuality, nor does it even mention homosexuality. It merely says if a man were to lay with a man as he would a woman. This leaves a lot for interpretation.
Ah, but we're looking at the Bible in its entirety, aren't we? Both Old AND New Testaments.
In the New Testament, Paul tells us that Christians are now beyond Jewish law, meaning they are no longer subject to the laws stated in the law books.
Galatians 3:10 - "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.'"
So if you force someone to follow the old law books, you are literally cursing them and yourself...
Galatians 3:13 - "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us."
One of the reasons Jesus died for humanity was so that he could free it from the laws set forth long before. By enforcing the laws you actually undermine everything your religion stands for, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Galatians 5:1 - "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
Law = slavery.
Why? Because if we subject others to law by which they have no control over, it is the same as slavery. (Proverbs 26:11; II Peter 2:22)
Galatians 5:18 - "If you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are not under law."
In short, the New Testament overrides all law books. Your argument is literally invalid.
Now for your other points:
I Corinthians 6:9
Find me one person who is not guilty of any sin, let them cast the first stone... who said that or something like it, oh, right Jesus did.
Mistranslations are all over in the Bible. Things taken from ancient languages, edited over and over again and misconstrued by the ideals of the translators. In this case the original Greek text reads 'malakoi arsenokoitai'. The first word means soft; the meaning of the second word has been lost. It was once used to refer to a male temple prostitute in the Old Testament. The early Church interpreted the phrase as referring to people of soft morals; i.e. unethical. From the time of Martin Luther, it was interpreted as referring to masturbation. More recently, it has been translated as referring to homosexuals . Each translator seems to take whatever activity that their society particularly disapproves of and use it in this verse. (I can give more on this if you want)
Rom. 1:26-28.
Sigh. This one. I hate this one.
Thing is, if you use this as an argument against homosexuality, you're using the quote wrong.
Romans 1&2 is one big lecture. Seriously. It's a constantly continuing lecture. Not a lot of little lectures, and if you take it out of context you're missing the point of it.
The point? You're not supposed to judge each other. Read both Romans 1 & 2 and you'll see what I mean. It's the reason the new Pope issued that new quote saying the same thing, we are not to judge.
People who have not read the Bible cover to cover should not pick out verses and expect to win an argument with someone who has. Many times.
EDIT: Sorry about multiple edits/notifications, my computer is messing up a bit.