I think the main issue is that the Bible isn’t concise enough for a supposed divine book. It rarely tells me useful things and what to do in my modern life in the big city. Instead it has a lot of passages about camels, living in the bronze age and so on. And I think that’s because of what it is. Written by humans, a long time ago, shaped by their perspective. If God had wanted it to contain absolute truth, he shouldn’t just have appointed them to write it, but handed out some absolute truth.

And I can see how we can interpret all kinds of things into it. We definitely have the “Christians” who focus on hate. Who run around with these “God hates fags” signs and they find all kinda of things to make other people’s life miserable. We have several variants of Christianity and they disagree on many details. We had things from the Spanish Inquisition to today’s more liberal times. All based on pretty much the same text. And why is that? Are 99% of people throughout history, and the other variants of current Christians all just wrong and on the wrong path and I’m the only one understanding it correctly? Or who is? Because I really need to know if I’m expected to follow it.

I think it’s because Christians do in fact base their morals not just on straightforward literal bible verses. That’s why they genuinely and wholeheartedly held different beliefs in the middle ages. That’s why they’re able to adopt to societal progress. We don’t just make women’s life miserable any more. They got the right to vote and they’re supposed to have equal opportunities now. We even allow them to become teachers. And that’s pretty much in direct violation of the bible. Yet I have some friends who are teachers, some even for religion. And the protestant church here even has a male and a female priest and she doesn’t view her role as to stay quiet and bear childs. The catholic church which I’ve grown up in thinks that’s not how it’s done and they don’t appoint females. (Plus she has some formal education on scripture and the inner workings of the Church, so I trust she knows more about it than I do.)

Point being: Women’s rights are not an achievement of the church. They didn’t sit down, have a covenant or concile and then changed the world to be more open towards women… It’s the other way around. Society made progress, and it was a long hard fight. And people adopted.

I think it’s basically the same thing with the stands towards LGBTQ+ people.

And we have a few other issues in the catholic church, like Maria 2.0. And the vatican’s long held ideas towards contraceptives which are highly problematic because it contributes to spreading HIV.

I have little issues with you and your personal belief system. The issue is that we’re all part of the same world and it has quite some impact. And the church still has a big influence. They employ some of my friends, they run entire hospitals and more, several big charities… They shape society. And I’m everything but indifferent towards that. And I don’t view myself as an outsider, because I’m living amongst Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics and all sorts of people. We’re really one because we share the place we live in. And it matters what we do, both individually and collectively.

I have a problem with people who say scripture has to be taken literally. None of the people I talked with, even with ranks in the Church or a formal education in scripture, has ever told me that, and that’s all there is to it. I know such people exist, though. It’s not the way I learned it. They gave me the text, but also added context, historical context and told me how we’re fitted with a brain with the capability to reason, to understand meaning, and I need to use it. And that got me to where I am.

Luckily the community around me mostly shares what I recognize in your comments as well. How “The gospel” means “good news” and that’s the central point of how you’re supposed to practice it.

Edit: And to add some conclusion: I sincerely think all the laws governing sexuality, like outlawing anal sex, or teaching how the death sentence is appropriate for coitus interruptus (contraception) are the way of the Old Testament. It’s in the spirit that humans are meant to suffer for sins, not enjoy life. And that has been replaced by the “good news” part and the new covenant.

I mean what do you think? Do you think intimacy being enjoyable is God’s crude way to punish us, or is there more to it after Jesus? Do I deep-clean the couch and break all the pottery and not sit down in my own home for half a month each month or do you think the invention of the washing machine and sanitary products changed how we deal with female biology? And what’s with the female priest in the protestant church here? I’ve listened to her speak in the church and she views that as her job. I don’t even have to revert to the Old Testament to judge. Paul has a very clear stance on that. What’s correct in your eyes? Because I think this is very similar to what we’re talking about. And answers to these questions could help me understand how archaic cleanliness rules apply to modern times, and how more liberal approaches in society translate to scripture.