Why do most Christians and Atheists feel the need to constantly vocalise and push their beliefs on others?

Here's my answer. It's really long but I think it warrants some explaining...

Okay so my answer on what I think of gay peoples a Christian (and this includes the entire LGBTQ+ community) has three parts, but with the following prelude: I know this is a very contentious topic and many people have many issues surrounding the topic and the Church (I.e. the Christian community as a whole) has on general done a very poor job of interacting with this topic. Also, there is huge division in the Church about what the answer should be and theres a spectrum as is often the case. On one side you have the Westboro Baptist type approach of openly and aggressively hating on anyone associated with the LGBTQ+ community (which I am strongly opposed to). On the other side are churches and ministers who believe there's nothing wrong with it and openly gay pastors should be a thing and are a thing in those churches (which I also do not agree with. Finally, I think it's a difficult topic because you're talking about what people often see as part of their identity and not just some behavioural do or don't. For example, someone who drinks a lot of alcohol does not see themselves as an alcoholic (and there's a definite negative association with alcoholism) whereas someone in a gay relationship may well see that as an integral part of who they are as a person, so you can't just dismiss that away and tell people who they are as a person is wrong. My main point here is that it's not just an issue to discuss. It's something both sides of the discussion need to approach with grace and teachability. And so it's not an easy question to answer and either way, there will be offence taken.

Right! Having said that disclaimer here are my three basic points...

1. The Bible is quite clear in saying that practicing homosexuality is wrong. The Christianese word would be sinful, and all that really means is that it's not in line with God's will. It's stated fairly categorically in a few passages both in the Old and the New Testaments, most notably Leviticus 18:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Romans 1:26-28. There are others but I think these will do for now. 

The reason WHY it's considered sinful has a few sides and is quite complicated, but some answers (whether you agree here or not is not at issue) include: because God says so, and if he is the Creator and we are to follow his will then the why isn't for us to question (here's a link to a guy named Francis Chan addressing this in a very clear way https://youtu.be/pJ82wVfO5qs, and he makes some other good points about the topic in general too - a lot of his stuff is very well said and he doesn't mess about). Another reason is that it's not in line with the original design for marriage and sexual relationships (Christians believe that God designed marriage and sex to be a metaphor for his relationship with us, as weird as that sounds, and it's difficult to understand exactly how that works (even Paul, the guy who wrote most of the New Testament and is considered one of the main guys in developing Christiaity as we know it today, calls it a "profound mystery" in Ephesians 6). There are other reasons but I'll leave it there for now. 

So basically, from my best understanding of the Bible, I understand practicing homosexuality as not in line with the will of God.

2. The second point is partly what you were saying. IF homosexuality is sinful, then it is definitely not the ONLY sin around. 

The Bible teaches very clearly that every human being is in a state of sinfulness. Again, this means rebellion against God or not being on the same late as God.  The most common way we are in rebellion against God is that we want to replace God and be God.

Essentially, every single person has some form of sinfulness in them. The premise of the Gospel is that we are unable to be not sinful, so we don't have the ability to be perfect. But God by his nature cannot be in contact with sin because he is Holy (apart from sin) and if sin is rebellion against God he cannot be that. So if we want to be in relationship with God, the sinfulness in us needs to go away. But again, we can't do that by ourselves. The punchline of the Gospel is that God made a way for that sinfulness to be taken away (cleaned as it were) by Jesus who was perfect, taking it onto himself. It's a bit odd and complicated but I'll leave it there for now. 

SO why did I say all that. Basically, being a Christian does not mean being perfect. It means recognising you're not and asking Jesus to take the sinfulness away. The very basis of our faith is that we were undeservingly forgiven. 

The passage from 1Corinthians I quoted earlier has a whole list of stuff that's wrong. That list happens to include homosexuality.  But for anyone (especially a Christian) to turn around and tell people who are gay are going to hell, but not apply the same reasoning to any one of the others on that list and many more, is an idiot.  AND on top of that, if we as Christians live under the belief that we did wrong and were forgiven despite it, we cannot hate on people who do things we believe to be wrong. 

And so I think that Christians have made too big if a deal about homosexuality as a sin. Yea the Bible does teach it as wrong, but it's not the ONLY wrong thing. Churches might excommunicate someone for being gay, but turn a blind eye to someone who's having an affair or drinks excessively or gossips. And that's not right.  Because as you say, who are we to judge. Churches should be for imperfect people who need support and love, not for a few hypocrites who sit on their high horse and condemn others. Those people have not understood the Gospel

3. This point is a bit shorter hopefully.  As I've said the Church has failed in many ways to address this topic in the right way. And I'm sorry for those people who got hurt because of that. When asked what the most important commandments were, Jesus simply said, Love God and love others. 

I do believe it's possible to love others while disagreeing with them. If you believe being gay is right and I think it's wrong, we can still respect each other as people and show love. Tolerance isn't about everyone's point of view being correct (that cannot logically be the case). It's about treating everyone with human dignity while disagreeing with them. 

Finally I want to say this: Christianity shouldn't be a club for people who think they're perfect. It should be a place where people can come to bring their hurt and brokenness and their doubts.

And that's my answer. Sorry it was so long. I hope it made sense. And if there are typos it's because I'm on mobile. If you have more questions or comments aboit what ibe said, I'd love to hear them.

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