To answer the OP: Yes, I'm a Christian and I believe the Bible was written by men who were inspired by God.
I believe: (JMHO)
The Old Testament gives us the beginnings of our understanding of God and his relationship with man. There are two creation stories in Genesis, probably taken from oral legends of the time and I think they are astonishing in how close they are to what we know of evolution today, particularly if you understand "day" to mean era,
God chose to reveal himself to the Jewish people and through them things like the Ten Commandments were given to us to help us learn how to live as decent people who don't steal or murder. He also gave over 600 minor laws that were specific to the time and climate (don't eat pork, don't spill your seed on the ground, etc). I don't think we need to worry about them too much, now that we have refrigeration and a well populated earth.
Much of The Old Testament is a history of the early Jewish people, their wars, and Kings and the words of wisdom of the Jewish prophets.
I believe:
The new Testament is about Jesus and his teachings. Some of his followers, like Matthew, were educated and could write down his sermons. My Bible has Jesus' words in red. He was Jewish himself and he did not come to change the law as given to them. He was well educated and knew the Law well enough to be discussing it with the learned men in the temple when he was just twelve years old.
His sermons did not attempt to change the law, but to remind us that the laws were meant to teach us how to treat each other. He extended the laws -- for example, don't just not murder your neighbor, don't even be angry at him, don't just be faithful to your wife, don't lust after other women.
He always emphasized that the greatest virtue was to love each other as much as we loved ourselves. That's why I believe he would love gay people as much as anyone else.
After Jesus was crucified for going against the establishment, those who followed him and believed they had talked to him after he rose from the dead, began saying Jesus was the Christ, and so they become know as Christians. I believe that, so I'm a Christian. I don't have to follow every word of the Bible or be perfect all the time to be a Christian, I just have to believe in him.
All the above are just my opinions I don't try to force them on anyone.
I go to a liberal church that welcomes everyone. We are not perfect people. Yes we listen to sermons on Sunday and then do wrong on Monday. Rinse and repeat. We're just trying to get better, please quit judging us as we try not to judge you.
I'm always shocked at the amount of hatred for Christians and the examples used of Christians who take money from poor people or hate gays all seem to come from televangelists and movies. They're about as typical of real Christians as Hollywood Housewives are of the rest of us. My church gives money to the poor every week. I would invite those of you who think Christians are all like Dana Carvey's church-lady to actually go to a mainstream church a few times before making your sweeping judgments.
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. ( Lucius Annaeus Seneca).”
I think I would rather follow Jesus and his message of love for all people, than Lucius Annaeus Seneca and his classist values.
@Geezer Garage...
