Is it possible to be a gay Christian?

[John V]

So how do you know that you're supposed to follow or not?

Read.

From the moment everyone follows different verses and have different interpretations, that's not a religion any more, it's several religions

So what? If God wants some ambiguity to get us thinking about it, that's his business. You atheists criticize us for being mindless sheep in one breath, then note that we think about things and come to different conclusions in the next.

[vorlon13]

Because the Bible itself says that I shouldn't follow all of it.

You're running into a wall, there, my brother in Christ Jesus. Few of the Bible writers knew each other and what every other biblical author had written, and none of them expected that they would be published in the same book.

Um, I thought they were divinely inspired. Surely God could keep track.

Seems somewhere He says He is not the author of confusion.

[Dystopia]

Read.

I can read. And because I can read I can note some verses can't be interpreted differently than the grammatical text. Saying 'You shall kill X' can't be interpreted as meaning another thing

So what? If God wants some ambiguity to get us thinking about it, that's his business. You atheists criticize us for being mindless sheep in one breath, then note that we think about things and come to different conclusions in the next.

If everybody gets to different conclusions, that's not a religion, a religion is supposed to have a unified set of beliefs and coherence between it's followers.

[Purplundy]

Um, I thought they were divinely inspired. Surely God could keep track.

Seems somewhere He says He is not the author of confusion.

Well, I don't buy into the notion that Yahweh somehow possessed random Hebrews as if he was in a prequel to Paranormal Activity. If there's some reason that I should believe that because I'm a Christian, I'd like to know.
The Bible was written by people looking for God in their lives and disseminating their discoveries to their communities. What Christianity DOES teach is that God prompts (or "inspires") people to go looking for him.
The Bible authors came to some decent conclusions, and then Jesus expanded their comparatively narrow view of what the ultimate standard of goodness would say or do.

[vorlon13]

If not divinely inspired, then why not be a follower of Yoda ??

[Purplundy]

If by "divinely inspired" you mean written by men in the mental state of a character in "The Exorcist", then yeah, the Bible is not divinely inspired.
I'm a follower of Jesus and not Yoda for the same reason you'd rather listen to a podcast by Bill Gates and not Ken Ham—I like his teachings and believe that following them can make the world a better place.
Actually, maybe I should listen to a little more Yoda.

[StealthySkeptic]

Read.

I can read. And because I can read I can note some verses can't be interpreted differently than the grammatical text. Saying 'You shall kill X' can't be interpreted as meaning another thing

So what? If God wants some ambiguity to get us thinking about it, that's his business. You atheists criticize us for being mindless sheep in one breath, then note that we think about things and come to different conclusions in the next.

If everybody gets to different conclusions, that's not a religion, a religion is supposed to have a unified set of beliefs and coherence between it's followers.

One would also think that God would want people to get their shit together on basic beliefs like the afterlife. Yet there are so many different interpretations of how the afterlife works in Christianity that it's clear that there is no divine inspiration.

[John V]

I can read. And because I can read I can note some verses can't be interpreted differently than the grammatical text. Saying 'You shall kill X' can't be interpreted as meaning another thing

True enough, but have you considered who "you" is? Gentiles are not under the law of Israel. I'm in America. Maybe I'm breaking another country's law right now, but it doesn't matter, as I'm not under their law. Since you can read, try reading Acts 15.

If everybody gets to different conclusions, that's not a religion, a religion is supposed to have a unified set of beliefs and coherence between it's followers.

Then call it something else. Doesn't bother me.

[The Grand Nudger]

If the Bible was a book to be "followed", in the way you're using the word, it would be a book of rules.

um......................yeah, so, I'm at a loss for words here. Let me gather my wits up. You don't feel that a book full of rules, with stories full of people either following or ignoring those rules- expressing the consequences thereof - is a rule book, or meant to be "followed" as-such?

[Purplundy]

You don't feel that a book full of rules, with stories full of people either following or ignoring those rules- expressing the consequences thereof - is a rule book, or meant to be "followed" as-such?

If the Bible was simply about telling people what to do, then it wouldn't try to explain who God is or what God does.
And even at that, the Bible as a rule book would just be the Torah—all written down by one person or group at one point in time, and lacking contradiction.