>>>>>I love you, Victor. But Jesus loves you more.
>>>>>
>>>>>There is love in God. And that love will cut through everything, Victor. Everything.
>>>>
>>>>Every time you are confronted by fair questions like the one Victor made and you cannot or don't want to provide a proper answer you provide rubbish like this.
>>>>
>>>>Pathetic
>>>
>>>Yes and it's at this stage where I drop out of the conversation because it is now no longer a conversation. What can I say? Some people simply can't admit they are wrong about something...and since he falls into this category (on this subject anyway) he has no choice but to not answer direct and fair questions. None the less I've made my point and I'm sure somewhere, deep down inside, he's knows I'm right. I can tell when this happens because he quits responding to my questions and starts deleting things I've said in his responses. Kind of funny if you ask me as it's not fooling anyone (hence your reply).
>>
>>
>>He does not think you are right "deep down inside" at all. The truth is that you are not interested in understanding him (or he you probably). What you are interested in is in being right (from your subjective position). You want to pick apart his worldview using your worldview. You are as imprisoned in your world as he is in his. To truly understand another you need to first set aside your own ideas, your opinions, ideology and philosophy and listen without interpretation. To truly listen to another means to listen without interpretation, without agreeing or disagreeing, with liking or disliking according to what you already hold to be true. Otherwise all you have is the collective monologue - which is what all these threads are.
>
>I see your point - but I really do want to understand his point of view.

No, you wish to be right. One can understand without agreeing. Understanding is one thing. Agreement, or not, comes from comparing to one's held-as-true worldview.

>But how am I supposed to understand this when he refuses to explain it?

He has explained it but from his point of view. You guys aren't talking at the same level, you're not coming at it from the same place at all and hence it's a monologue.

> I consider myself a pretty opened minded person

Everyone thinks they are open minded but usually only to the extent that they agree.

> Frankly as far as this is concerned here, I don't consider what I'm doing as really trying to interpret, just comprehend.

You are trying to comprehend but from within your own worldview.

> If all this boils down to Rick doesn't think gays should be treated equally because god told him so, then so be it...

For Rick it's not about being gay. That is a side issue for him and his worldview.