Hello Ultima,
couldnt resists a few comments ; )
Ultima: [No effects from hanging out, right? WRONG! Hanging out with gays, you'll begin to get their ideals, their beliefs, their thoughts, and slowly, subliminally, it'll begin to creep into your mind, so that when some straight friend laughingly refers to another straight friend as a "Fag", you'll spaz over that and preach to them about gays' equality...you see?]
Yes, I see. Eventually, if you
spend time with gay people, you will begin to respect their right not to be ridiculed or treated as a whole different species. Slowly, and subliminally, you will begin to
empathize with them just based on the fact that they are *human* and might find some common ground with them and start liking them as people, regardless of who they are attracted to. Against your own will, you might learn some humility and grow as a person. Heaven forbid
Ultima: [The effects have worked due to the beliefs of your gay friends.]
Ultima, I have spent a lot of time with people who believe WAAAAY differently than I, and never has there been any hypnotic effect where I mysteriously began believing as they did -
unless it was because my own logic had been flawed to start with. And in
that case, yes, my beliefs HAVE changed as a result of seeing the holes in my own logic and realizing that what they were saying made more sense than what I currently believed. And when that has happened I have adjusted my view in proportion with the knowledge gained. Actually, I think it's healthy to spend time with others who believe differently and challenge our own views - what better way to find weak spots in your logic? And when a belief does not hold up under scrutiny, I will discard it, usually in favor of a more solid one. But then again, it appears as though you and I have a different way of handling new knowledge and the way beliefs affect us. For me, beliefs are like a working hypothesis, and if I learn something that invalidates a presently held belief, I will incorporate the new knowledge into my perspective and adjust my beliefs accordingly.
Ultima: [As for being friends with gays, my bad. If they actually want to be Christian, they have to know what it requires: leaving a life of sin.]
Ok, so I can assume that you never ever sin anymore? Because what you are implying above is that in order to be a Christian you can never sin again. Also, what happens if they have trouble leaving their life of sin and they make mistakes? Is their "saved" status then revoked? This is all so confusing!
Take care,
Saint J