Who is shoving anything down your throat?
You go to church? i dont run into many people anymore who go in my age group. Its usually the 80 and up crowd. Why do you go? Do you feel it makes you a better person?
Do you use AAS? How does your church feel about that? They likely dont believe that is OK either.
I've been a member of a few churches in my life and have visited several others and I've never encountered an anti-homosexual agenda in any of them. Certainly I've met some individual church members that have an anti-homosexual agenda of their own making, but that wasn't Christ's intention for believers.
Should we turn from sin? Yes. Is engaging in homosexuality a sin? Yes. Should we seek to help unbelievers align with Christ? Yes. Should we hold existing believers accountable for their actions? Yes.
There are members of the Roman Catholic clergy that are homosexual. There are ministers and pastors that are homosexuals. What separates them from others is that they love Christ more than they love themselves. Does that mean the temptation to engage in homosexual behavior is forever gone from them? Absolutely not, but they strive to deny what God has deemed immoral because they choose God first. People are called to love one another....to lay our lives down for our friends. To pray diligently for our enemies. To act as the salt and light for the world.
Churches picketing abortion clinics. Gay bashing rallies organized by churches. Historical justifications of murder by the church. Not a bit of it represents Christ. The obvious irony being that the sinful transgressions these church groups exhibit are equally as great (if not greater in some instances) than the transgressions of groups they seek to oppose. They've developed an idol of sorts grounded in their personal justifications. Would Christ support these efforts? Never.
Christ called those that desire to be apostles to first deny themselves and then follow him into righteousness. We can't enter into righteousness on our own...it's only through Christ that it is granted to us if we come unto him faithfully. Yet if we seek righteousness we must be willing to deny those aspects of ourselves that are contrary to Christ's commands for us. Those challenges are more difficult for some than others, but "the church" should be a place where those who love Christ can seek help to overcome the sin they struggle with. Condemnation is reserved for those believers that refuse to give up their sin not for those seeking to keep it at bay.
For many, they'll never turn to Christ because they love their lifestyles and their worldviews above all else because they believe nothing else and refuse to entertain anything else. Fortunately for them God has allowed them to live their lives however they please, but it's fleeting.
Does the act of attending a church service make someone a better person? No. For believers, attending church is an opportunity to fellowship with fellow believers, serve each other faithfully, find counsel, give counsel, grow our faith, learn the theology we espouse and worship the one we claim as Lord, God and Savior.
