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  1. Sure, the bible forbids homosexuality.... It also forbids and allows a whole lot of crazy things I don't see many gay-haters following.

  2. Don't ask, don't tell!
    Lovely
  3. I really have no respect for someone living in 2015 who can think there is anything wrong with this. People are gay. Deal with it. They probably don't want to marry you so it really doesn't affect you in any way. (Not that marriage itself is such a sacred thing these days).

    Anyone who thinks it's wrong for someone to love another person..is wrong.
  4. Originally posted by Remy:We got this reply from another fan on Facebook:
    [..]

    Guess there are really a lot of mixed responses to this.
    Good. They're making people to take harsh decisions.

    You're willing to drop your favourite band because they believe that gay people should have the same rights as everyone? Maybe you'll have to drop some of your best friends or a relative for the same reason? that's sad. There's no glory in that.

    Eventually you'll have to wonder if it's worthy, specially when it's very clear -even from a religious point of view (Mt 7:12 Jn 13:34...)- that the "bible is against it" argument is rather weak.

    And I can't see why people wouldn't expect this from this band, that all the time have been promoting "love" and "equality" and "dignity" and all that.
    They're a very religious band (even if they say they aren't) but definitely not a "this is a sin! repent!" religious band, but a "God is love, love everyone and act accordingly" religious band.

    Did they expected that Bono would be even remotely against it? that would be against everything he believes.
    Did they expected that Bono would keep it to himself and don't say anything? yeah, very Bono-like.
    If this got them by surprise and shocked people enough to stop supporting them, then they definitely weren't paying any attention for the last 40 years.

    ---

    Also, when you're already winning a debate the last thing you want to do is to polarize it.
    And the "yes" is winning, slowly but steady. And any study about this based on age groups shows that eventually it'll win. There's no need to polarize it.

    If you want the people who believe in God to support the "yes" then don't make it seem like you have to stop believing in God in order to support this... the Bible and God (and Bono) support love, that's more than enough
  6. Originally posted by Bloodraven:[..]
    Good. They're making people to take harsh decisions.

    You're willing to drop your favourite band because they believe that gay people should have the same rights as everyone? Maybe you'll have to drop some of your best friends or a relative for the same reason? that's sad. There's no glory in that.

    Eventually you'll have to wonder if it's worthy, specially when it's very clear -even from a religious point of view (Mt 7:12 Jn 13:34...)- that the "bible is against it" argument is rather weak.

    And I can't see why people wouldn't expect this from this band, that all the time have been promoting "love" and "equality" and "dignity" and all that.
    They're a very religious band (even if they say they aren't) but definitely not a "this is a sin! repent!" religious band, but a "God is love, love everyone and act accordingly" religious band.

    Did they expected that Bono would be even remotely against it? that would be against everything he believes.
    Did they expected that Bono would keep it to himself and don't say anything? yeah, very Bono-like.
    If this got them by surprise and shocked people enough to stop supporting them, then they definitely weren't paying any attention for the last 40 years.

    ---

    Also, when you're already winning a debate the last thing you want to do is to polarize it.
    And the "yes" is winning, slowly but steady. And any study about this based on age groups shows that eventually it'll win. There's no need to polarize it.

    If you want the people who believe in God to support the "yes" then don't make it seem like you have to stop believing in God in order to support this... the Bible and God (and Bono) support love, that's more than enough
    nice one. Also, U2 has always been supportive of gays. Listen to Twilight, and don't forget that One is (at least partially) about a friend of Bono who came out to his father and his father did not accept.

    You say one love, one life
    When it's one need in the night
    One love, we get to share it
    Leaves you baby if you don't care for it

    Did I disappoint you?
    Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
    You act like you never had love
    And you want me to go without


    Man, the first time I really read into this lyrics from that perspective I cried.
  7. Guess someone doesn't bother with the whole 'love thy neighbour' thing then.
    Originally posted by Remy:We got this reply from another fan on Facebook:
    [..]

    Guess there are really a lot of mixed responses to this.

    Guess someone doesn't bother with the whole 'love thy neighbour' thing then.

    Love a bit of Jed.
  8. As a Christian myself who has always appreciated the spirituality of the band and Bono's lyrics in particular, I just wanted to weigh in here with a few thoughts. Not to start an angry debate at all - I actually love having gracious, honest, down-to-earth discussions about faith with anyone that cares about ultimate meaning and purpose to life. So:

    1. I love Bono's speech and how he connected gay rights to the civil rights struggles of African-Americans led by pastors like MLK Jr. At the same time, to be perfectly honest, while I will ALWAYS support the rights of gay people to get married as a civil right, I am still thinking and studying deeply on how to apply the (fairly clear) commands against homosexual practice in the Bible to our contemporary situation today. I don't think this makes me or any other Christian "intolerant," simply wrestling with how to both love our neighbor as ourselves and also stay true to the spirit of Scripture. I "still haven't found what I'm looking for" here!

    2. Not all Christians are "gay haters." There are plenty of thoughtful Christians who read the Bible more critically and (appropriately) see nuance and shades of grey instead of black-and-white, who pay attention to things like historical and literary context in Scripture to more faithfully inform contemporary debates over sexuality and such.

    3. Relatedly, that Newsweek article contains a lot of truth to it that any well-educated Christian should already know about the Bible. Of course Scripture was written by humans and of course humans edited it, collected it, translated it, and passed it down. But to argue that that discounts any form of divine inspiration just doesn't follow - especially if your view of inspiration is more developed than just a naive, "God told the writers to write exactly this down" mechanical kind of view. That's where I think the author overstates his case and uses a lot of unhelpful hyperbole.

    I'd love to hear more of others' thoughts on this (and maybe we will continue to get opportunity to engage in discussion if Bono continues to refer to this throughout the tour)!

    Thanks for reading!
  9. Thanks to everyone here for sharing your opinions, specially Buttons and Ben. I don't share your spirituality, but I always welcome different views. I'm happy that, at least in one country, love doesn't have genre, race, credence or colors.
    Love don't need to find a way
    You find your own way
  10. Originally posted by bpt3:As a Christian myself who has always appreciated the spirituality of the band and Bono's lyrics in particular, I just wanted to weigh in here with a few thoughts. Not to start an angry debate at all - I actually love having gracious, honest, down-to-earth discussions about faith with anyone that cares about ultimate meaning and purpose to life. So:

    1. I love Bono's speech and how he connected gay rights to the civil rights struggles of African-Americans led by pastors like MLK Jr. At the same time, to be perfectly honest, while I will ALWAYS support the rights of gay people to get married as a civil right, I am still thinking and studying deeply on how to apply the (fairly clear) commands against homosexual practice in the Bible to our contemporary situation today. I don't think this makes me or any other Christian "intolerant," simply wrestling with how to both love our neighbor as ourselves and also stay true to the spirit of Scripture. I "still haven't found what I'm looking for" here!

    2. Not all Christians are "gay haters." There are plenty of thoughtful Christians who read the Bible more critically and (appropriately) see nuance and shades of grey instead of black-and-white, who pay attention to things like historical and literary context in Scripture to more faithfully inform contemporary debates over sexuality and such.

    3. Relatedly, that Newsweek article contains a lot of truth to it that any well-educated Christian should already know about the Bible. Of course Scripture was written by humans and of course humans edited it, collected it, translated it, and passed it down. But to argue that that discounts any form of divine inspiration just doesn't follow - especially if your view of inspiration is more developed than just a naive, "God told the writers to write exactly this down" mechanical kind of view. That's where I think the author overstates his case and uses a lot of unhelpful hyperbole.

    I'd love to hear more of others' thoughts on this (and maybe we will continue to get opportunity to engage in discussion if Bono continues to refer to this throughout the tour)!

    Thanks for reading!



    Not a Christian myself (nor a religious person in the denominational sense), but raised in a relatively Christian household - I probably sit in the general spectrum of spiritual humanism if I had to be categorised - and the resounding message that upbringing gave me was of agape / unconditional love, which I advocate. Certainly, it can be difficult to uphold it every day (there are some people who I find it very difficult to feel any love for! Haha), but it's a message that I believe should be propulgated far beyond the anger and awfulness that humanity's capable of. It's a big, scary old world we all share, and I think we'd all be better off if we just loved and cared for one another on our value as human beings, not who we prefer sharing a bed with (or any other metric, for that matter - skin colour, hairstyles, religious preference etc.)
  11. Originally posted by bpt3:As a Christian myself who has always appreciated the spirituality of the band and Bono's lyrics in particular, I just wanted to weigh in here with a few thoughts. Not to start an angry debate at all - I actually love having gracious, honest, down-to-earth discussions about faith with anyone that cares about ultimate meaning and purpose to life. So:

    (...)


    Well, to begin with, those "fairly clear" commands against homosexuality (and working on sabath and many many many many other things) are in the Old Testament and...

    two things you should keep in mind: it's not just that it's not the "only" thing the old testament is against (check all kind of weird laws regarding food, slavery, marriages, menstruation and on and on and on...), but it's not on the "top of the list" by far... homosexuality is barely mentioned and is hardly singled out. It's just modern bias that focuses so much on that and once you realize that, frankly it looks silly.

    And the second one, is that Jesus didn't really agreed with many of those rules/laws, and specially never when they affected anybody.
    There's more than one instance when Jesus "brakes" the law or ignores it because he believes that LOVE is the supreme (and only) law. (And when I say he "ignores or brakes the law", I'm talking about the same Bible that we're talking about).

    "Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

    4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

    5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored."


    ---

    I don't mind if churches and religions and religious people don't agree on marrying gay couples (religious wedding). I believe that that's their right. It's fair.

    I really dislike when churches and religions and religious people (specially when they call themselves christians) dislike or even hate a group of people, or fight against their rights in the society (civil weddings).
  12. Originally posted by Bloodraven:[..]


    Well, to begin with, those "fairly clear" commands against homosexuality (and working on sabath and many many many many other things) are in the Old Testament and...

    two things you should keep in mind: it's not just that it's not the "only" thing the old testament is against (check all kind of weird laws regarding food, slavery, marriages, menstruation and on and on and on...), but it's not on the "top of the list" by far... homosexuality is barely mentioned and is hardly singled out. It's just modern bias that focuses so much on that and once you realize that, frankly it looks silly.

    And the second one, is that Jesus didn't really agreed with many of those rules/laws, and specially never when they affected anybody.
    There's more than one instance when Jesus "brakes" the law or ignores it because he believes that LOVE is the supreme (and only) law. (And when I say he "ignores or brakes the law", I'm talking about the same Bible that we're talking about).

    [..]


    ---

    I don't mind if churches and religions and religious people don't agree on marrying gay couples (religious wedding). I believe that that's their right. It's fair.

    I really dislike when churches and religions and religious people (specially when they call themselves christians) dislike or even hate a group of people, or fight against their rights in the society (civil weddings).
    As a Christian....