inteligrrl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
inteligrrl) wrote2002-11-20 07:51 pm
inteligrrl) wrote2002-11-20 07:51 pm
Coming Out of Christianity
The other day I was talking to the most liberal of my sisters, and she said that in her opinion all homosexual behavior was a sin. Being raised with a deep respect for God, the bible, and the church, this is understandably an issue that distresses me when I allow myself to dwell on it.
I was wondering how those of you who are coming out of a conservative christian (or in my case, extremely conservative) background are dealing with the conflicts between your lifestyle, and what you've been taught?
My family has always been extremely anti-gay. They don't feel that gay men and women should be allowed to teach, and that it should be a company's right to refuse to hire someone on the basis of sexual orientation. When I was younger my father would often reminded us that biblically homosexuals should be removed from any position in which they can 'pervert' society; i.e. committed / eradicated. My mother (a nurse) feels that people who lead a homosexual lifestyle are predisposed for many mental illnesses because they are living in 'violation of God's will'. Over the years my father has at least softened his views, mostly due to my urgings, enough to feel that most homosexuals are 'misguided'. That's just my family.
The churches we've always attended have all had strong stances against homosexuality. Varying between expelling the member from the fellowship of believers until they have come under conviction and repented, to preaching brimstone of hell against fornicators and homosexuals.
My trouble is, there are people I know very well, and respect for their wisdom, who are quite committed to these ideas. I worry that someday I may find something that causes me to conclude they were right all along. I don't think I could bear to deal with guilt over choosing to 'live in sin'.
My question is, how do you correlate your beliefs and your sexuality? Have you reached a point where you can feel sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you aren't knowingly disobeying God's commands in this area? What helped you?
I was wondering how those of you who are coming out of a conservative christian (or in my case, extremely conservative) background are dealing with the conflicts between your lifestyle, and what you've been taught?
My family has always been extremely anti-gay. They don't feel that gay men and women should be allowed to teach, and that it should be a company's right to refuse to hire someone on the basis of sexual orientation. When I was younger my father would often reminded us that biblically homosexuals should be removed from any position in which they can 'pervert' society; i.e. committed / eradicated. My mother (a nurse) feels that people who lead a homosexual lifestyle are predisposed for many mental illnesses because they are living in 'violation of God's will'. Over the years my father has at least softened his views, mostly due to my urgings, enough to feel that most homosexuals are 'misguided'. That's just my family.
The churches we've always attended have all had strong stances against homosexuality. Varying between expelling the member from the fellowship of believers until they have come under conviction and repented, to preaching brimstone of hell against fornicators and homosexuals.
My trouble is, there are people I know very well, and respect for their wisdom, who are quite committed to these ideas. I worry that someday I may find something that causes me to conclude they were right all along. I don't think I could bear to deal with guilt over choosing to 'live in sin'.
My question is, how do you correlate your beliefs and your sexuality? Have you reached a point where you can feel sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you aren't knowingly disobeying God's commands in this area? What helped you?
the Lord loves you
(Anonymous) 2002-11-20 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)I find that if I go somewhere quiet and just listen sometimes you can find that he's talking to you about your problem but that life and everyone else is shouting him into silence.Remember Your mom and dad brought you into this world but the Lord made you.
YAY!! Diana gets to talk... (really I won't shut up if I don't have to)
I should point out right now that I'm a Pagan Zen Buddhist. (There's a mouthful for you.) Which means for me, I believe in nature (like the Druids) and in the Buddhist philosophy. I do believe in a Supreme Being, or God.
I am bisexual and my current partner is a woman. Do I worry that I am 'living in sin' because she's a female and I am a female? No. If I am correct, the Devil has not yet learned how to create life, therefore God is the only one responsible for me. Thus, I must be created exactly as I was meant to be created.
On another level, I've been taught that to love is the greatest gift of all. Should you tell someone that they are not worthy or deserving of your love because they share the same sex? Or they believe something other than what you believe? If you do, is that really love, or is it just something else?
You have to separate love and sex almost. Is it more important to love someone, or is it more important to be with someone because of their gender? I know my answer, and I hope your answer is that it's more important to love someone.
So if we understand that it's more important to love someone, regardless of gender, where are you 'sinning'? You love someone, that's not a sin; if it is, well, then the world is going to hell in a handbasket. *s*
I hope this helps and made some sense. =)
no subject
My question is, how do you correlate your beliefs and your sexuality? Have you reached a point where you can feel sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you aren't knowingly disobeying God's commands in this area?
Quite simply put, I didn't.
I used to belong to a fairly conservative christian church. Though they were actually a great deal more lenient than many other churches, they did believe unequivocally that homosexuality was a sin and that homosexuals were misguided.
The bible is such a huge book full of sometimes vastly different interpretations of the same things, that I found it possible to argue both ways on the topic.
I've had it argued to me more times that I care to recall that homosexuality is a sin and that the bible says it's so. And quite frankly, that argument is quite right. It is in the bible clear as day.
However, I was competely unable to see how homosexuality was wrong or immoral, and the belief I held that it was perfectly fine and normal clashed badly with the one I continually encountered in Christianity. So I found myself unable to reconcile the dictations of my religion with what I felt, in my gut, was right.
So I abandoned Christianity. My conscience was stronger than my faith and I couldn't reconcile the two. I refuse to act as though something is wrong, when I don't believe that it is, out of some fear of Hell.
If there is a God, I find it difficult to believe he'd be so petty as to condemn people based on their sexuality. And if he is so petty, then quite frankly I want nothing to do with him, whether he created me or not.
I kind of have a problem with authority figures. I don't really believe in any sort of God anymore, because I cannot imagine any being having the right to judge and condemn any other being, inferior or not.
I do think that people abuse the bible terribly by picking and choosing what to believe and what is false. Most people use it as an excuse to back up their own predjudices. I am sick of hearing that 'homosexuality is wrong because it says so in the bible'.
Yes, it says in the bible that homosexuality is wrong. It also says that women are supposed to slaughter two doves every time they have a period, but I somehow doubt that is a widely spread practice throughout the Christian church.
I needed a stronger foundation for my beliefs that what Christianity offered.