In another thread Brother Lazarus said:



So I started the thread to discuss not only white America but Europe and Austrailia too. I am certainly willing to talk about problems we have. Of course, I am not too familiar with the problems of Europe and Austraila so others here will need to contribute. And the sad thing is, I can watch European news casts daily and only tune in about once a month.

- how to deal with the problems? The best place for us to work on solving problems is to work on solving our own problems, to work on ourselves. We cannot solve anyone else's problems. But if we can improve our own conduct and/or attitudes everybody will benefit from the change in us.

That is pretty simplistic. It reminds me of the street preacher in college that told us the world's problem is sin. True but simplistic.

This is not any more a problem among whites than among blacks. But I agree with you that it is a problem if we're speaking from the Biblical view.

There is a sense in which it is more condemned publically in the black community than among whites, which have a tendency to condone it nowadays. But all that has done is make black homosexuals and bisexuals hide their behavior more, but it is not any less a part of that community.

What denial and hatred of gays does (at least among some people) is cause them to participate privately in those things but publically to insult and do violent things to them, that is, to treat them with the same indignities, control and violence that many women often have to undergo.

I wish the Homosexuals didn't talk about it so much. I don't care to hear what someones sexual preference is.

As a heterosexual ... I don't go around advertising it. And I don't care to hear others advertising what they do in the privacy of their bedroom.

I really don't care if you are Black, Red or Green. And I don't care if you are Homosexual or Heterosexual. (God cares but I don't want to hear about it or judge it.)

Let's just all be happy with each other. Respect each other. Give Christian Love to each other.

We can let God do the judging and we can let GOD work out the changes in people's lives.

I shouldn't have listed just the word homosexuality by itself. To be clear, I should have listed, acceptance of homosexuality. As I stated before, I wouldn't want to go back to the days when white society was intolerant of gays.

However today, the problem in white society in regard to gays is their open acceptance of it. White society tells gays they cannot be helped and should live out the gay lifestyle. That is not helpful to the gay people. However that is how Satan wants us - to one extreame or the other.

What I really don't like is the GAY PRIDE parades.

This is what I'm referring to.

I don't care what they do in their bedroom ... just keep it quiet.

You don't see Heterosexual Pride marches do you?

Shane wants society to be hypocrits... He doesn't like it accepting homosexuality, but he doesn't want it to be intolerant of it either.

/Bevin

Neither extreame is helpful to the gay community. If we are going to live the love of Christ, we need to love the sinner but hate the sin. A balanced approach is like the one used with alcoholics.

I don't see anything on Shane's list that strikes me as a problem specifically of the white community.

Ignoring the debatable issues of church attendance and homosexuality, the rest of the problems can all be described as "poor choices".

The solution that many in the secular world are adopting towards these is a mixture of education and carrot and stick.

When I see Christian churches denigrating all three, it makes me realize just how glad I am that my money is not funding these churches.

Pre-marital sex. The best known solutions involve teaching kids what the actual benefits and risks are, acknowledging that teenagers have strong sexual drives, and recognizing that masturbation is a reasonable and guilt-free solution to those drives. Churches usually go the ignorance-and-guilt route.

Abortions. Birth-control is far cheaper and better. That is why the Catholic Church opposes it. That is why Protestant Christians are opposed to it being taught in schools.

Secular entertainment. Lets admit that some is good and some is bad. Same is true of Christian books and movies and songs.

Poor diet. Why is the SDA church still wasting its time on the irrelevant noise about vegian v vegetarian and coffee, rather than teaching a modern science-based pragmatic diet?

Drunk driving. Where is the strong Christian push for European-level drunk-driving penalties?

Domestic violence. Of course that never happens in christian homes, right... which is why the Christian churches teach male-dominance.

Alcoholism. Ditto - which is why many use alcoholic beverages for communion.


Lastly, I can not drop this topic without slamming the USA fundamentalist Christian churches for their anti-science stance.

No wonder Europeans are rejecting organised Christianity - it is a disgrace to its founder.

/Bevin