PS

I knew I was opening a can of worms by expressing my opinion, but I would never want to silence anyone's voice, regardless if I agree with their perspective. After all, I walk in my own shoes, no one else's.

I keep retuning to the idea in my spirit, that no matter what one believes, whether or not one holds to the traditional beliefs of Christians and traditional/conservative interpretations of scripture, one does no good by judging the sins of others.

In fact, we often do a LOT of harm in doing so. If we will listen to people half as much as we condemn them, we will know and see this. And I stand by the fact that there is SO much we do not and cannot fully understand correctly, despite all our study of scripture, for we are finite beings, and only God himself is worthy to say he knows or comprehends with absolute certainty. So instead, let us try something:

Let us focus on our own sin, listen to God's voice and word, pure and unadulterated by human opinion and cultural confines, and do a lot more listening to the stories and lives of God's children, regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.

Let us love and welcome, rather than exclude and alienate those who are different than we are. After all, is this not the very thing Jesus did, much to the horror of the religious leaders of his time?