The Heretical Way

What I think is wonderful about Odin is that He doesn’t give you the strength to literally overcome. That’s not how He works. Determination is like a furnace and a raging fire and He makes it crackle and burn. He is not being the fire or forcing the fire…

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cosmopaulitan:

Yesterday while browsing my twitter timeline, I came across a retweet a friend of mine had posted. This person spoke of being a Christian and being in favor of marriage equality. As I am someone who is proud of my faith, I promptly sent a response thanking her for the support. What I did not anticipate, was a slew of Christians who questioned how I could be both gay and a follower of Jesus. The answer is surprisingly simple…

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power-of-faith-is-only-love:

“YOU ARE AWESOME!! You are wise beyond your years and I’m sure you know that God is working through you. Very cool Andrew!”

drocell:

so lately i’ve been arguing with some homophobes on figment (a website for posting writings) and some of the things that they have said are hilarious.

high-speed-ninja:

Let me tell you I have been a Christian my whole life.  I prayed the sinner’s prayer with my dad when I was 5 years old and I’ve always been completely sold out to it.  When I was about 13 I think is when I really said yes, this is what I myself believe and this is how I will live my whole life.

I struggled for 9 years with this.  I fell in love or what I thought was love with my best friend when I was 15.  Nothing came of that and then I fell in love with a guy from age 17-19 and we were dating then.  I was destroyed when we broke up and when I was 20 I started dating a girl that ruined my life.  I walked away from God because I didn’t think I could have both.  It tore me apart inside.  After college when I was 21 I got Christian counseling specifically for that and it honestly helped and I felt like I could date guys and I did for 2 years.  But I never fell in love with these great Christian guys…like really awesome ones.  And I would get turned on when making out or whatever, but I didn’t want to have sex with a guy.  I had been saving myself for marriage until I dated a girl anyways so I’ve never slept with a guy.

Then I met a girl who blew me away and spent an entire summer tugging her back and forth with my emotions as I tried to decide once and for all between being with girls or having a relationship with God.  She shipped to basic training in september and right before that is when I realized that I was going to end up with a woman.  Unfortunately I got my heart broken by that one because I had strung her along too much and she moved on.

But I had finally realized it.  I love God.  And I’m still going to end up with a woman because that’s what makes me feel right and ok and happy and whole and not broken.  I know what the bible says.  I know the arguments people make about it not being in the new testament are loads of shit.  I know it’s in the old and new testament.  I don’t have an argument.  I don’t want to argue.  I love God and I have a relationship with Him.  And He loves me.  He hasn’t cursed me, condemned me or anything.  Now that I’ve broken through this barrier of not giving a shit what EVERY CHRISTIAN thinks of me and being judged and being a “good Christian” I’m ok.  I don’t feel guilty.  I just feel shitty sometimes when people try to make me feel bad.  When they call my wife my friend or my “wife.”  When they tell me they love me even though they “don’t agree” with my life choices.  That’s when I feel shitty.  And it’s hard.  Especially with my wife away.  Cuz honestly when things like that happen I just need a hug.

But it’s ok.  Because God loves me.  My wife loves me.  And I love me and accept myself.  I’m not perfect, but I do not see me being gay as one of my imperfections.  This is the healthiest relationship I have ever been in and that includes my parents, my brother, my boyfriends, my girlfriends, my friends…everyone.  She is looking out for me and she understands me and she puts me first.  And I do the same for her.

It’s hard.  You can’t explain it away.  But as soon as you accept yourself and say screw everyone else the guilt goes away and you can just breath and live and love God too.  Don’t try and argue with people.  Don’t try to figure it out.  Because most the people that try to explain the bible away are full of shit and twist the whole bible anyways.  The best thing I can tell you is maybe we misinterpreted.  Maybe we made small changes to what God was trying to say when He whispered His word into the hearts of the men who wrote the bible.  I don’t know.   But I’m happier than I’ve ever been and I don’t feel torn in half.

I’m not going to tell you what to do.  But do what doesn’t make you hate yourself.  Accept yourself and be happy with the decisions you ultimately make.  It’s your life and you’re the only one living it.

Inspired by one of my followers.

justanotherjesusgay:

Today, during the children’s story, my pastor spoke about repentance, and what it means.  I’ve been thinking a lot about being removed from membership of the last church I was a part of lately, and I had a revelation.

They told me I needed to repent from my sins and turn towards God and they kicked me out when I didn’t.

The thing is, I did, it just didn’t look like what they wanted it to.  I didn’t turn from homosexuality, and my mental illness didn’t magically disappear.  When I turned toward God, I ran from a church where guilt, shame and self hatred were disguised as love.  I turned toward love, light, acceptance, honesty, patience and other beautiful things.  I did repent.  I turned from self hatred, blind obedience, and worship of man to worship of GOD and God alone.

mrandromeda:

God
Accepts
You

myadventuresinoddity:

First, throughout the book Hill refers to himself and his sexual orientation as “broken” or “bent”, among other terms.  He used those words, however, in such a way that I was led to believe he viewed only homosexuality as a broken or bent sexuality.  Heterosexuality is the be-all-end-all.  It is the only God ordained, God pleasing sexuality there is. Reading the book, with these words, images, and phrases strewn throughout, it seemed to me that he has a serious self-loathing problem.  He seems to believe that the mere fact that he is attracted to members of the same sex—attracted to, not acting on anything—makes him displeasing to God:

 

“Even after a good day of battling for purity of mind and body, there is still the feeling, when I put my head down on the pillow at night to go to sleep, that something is seriously wrong with me, that something’s askew.  I feel in those moments that my homosexuality orientation makes God disappointed or unhappy or even faintly upset with me….I can’t choose not to be gay. Does that mean I’m locked into this feeling of being constantly unacceptable to God?” (pg. 134)    

Only towards the end of the book does Hill begin to explore the idea that he is acceptable to God, that he is pleasing to him (at least in some respects).  But even then, it seems that Hill still presupposes that God views a homosexual orientation as a sin. 

I had a serious problem with Hill’s representation of a homosexual orientation.  One, if homosexuality is somehow more broken than heterosexuality, surely God does not hold us personally accountable because some of us possess that orientation, which even Hill admits cannot be “turned off”.  Two, Hill seems to frequently forget (though at times he does not) that heterosexuality is as marred, broken, and sinful as homosexuality.   Heterosexuality carries its own sinful inclinations, just like homosexuality.  This is one of my biggest problems with those on the ‘traditional’ side of the same-sex orientation debate: they seem to forget that no sexuality is ‘all pure’ and ‘all good’.  Three, Hill’s book may lead some to see homosexuality as the cause of his problems and troubles, and, in part, it is.  But Hill’s handling of his homosexuality, in my estimation, seems to be the bigger problem that his orientation itself. Hill seems ashamed of his sexual orientation, and surrounds himself with others who, holding to the traditional Christian point of view, see it as sinful.  This is a problem.  Regardless of one’s feelings regarding homosexual acts, one must be able to affirm the basic goodness of one’s sexuality.  One’s sexuality must be freed from shame and sin by naming it as good, by bringing it out into the light.  In hiding his sexuality in the dark and surrounding it with shame Hill is giving into a modern prejudiced understanding of sexuality far more than a Gospel centered one.  

biblicalbelief:

christusexemplar:

Follow Faith|Reasons here. 

I remember back in the 70’s when people were pushing the need to follow ones desires and the divorce rate went up. Many children were damaged by the frequent breakup of the family unit often rooted in self interest. Now there are people arguing (some of the same group that promoted the need to follow ones desires) that marriage is a right that all should have regardless of the need to redefine marriage and regardless of the potential impact on culture. 

• (1) Marriage is a privilege not a right. That some have abused it does not make it something all should have.
• (2) Marriage is intended to be a representational microcosm of society in that a representative of each half of humanity is represented in the relationship.

The interaction of that relationship (when done rightly) and the learning that goes on in it furthers culture by showing the couple and by effect, the culture how to be more fully human. This is particularly true in the growth and development of a child. When either gender is not represented, the child suffers for lack of exposure to that perspective. This suffering loss of perspective, which limits the child’s understanding of what it means to be human, also damages the society at large. Male and female both bring important perspective to the child and without it, the child is incomplete.

Again, the often self-interested failure of traditional marriage does not mean that society should institutionalize the possibility of continued failure on a grander scale. Traditional marriage may often end in failure (due often to the self-interest of the party(s) involved) but that is not a reason to make it worse by compromising the definition and purpose of marriage altogether. A side note, the fact that interracial marriages were not at one time allowed but now are has nothing to do with this debate.

The problem with the attack on interracial marriage was a horrid and tragic misunderstanding of the position of the black person in society. This issue is now about, not the race or orientation of the person, but the purpose of marriage in a functioning society that produces a person (husband, wife and child(ren) who understands from the point of view of both gender perspectives about what it means to be human.

Interesting from a hypothetical perspective, but no reports have shown that children raised with gay parents are in some manner deficient. This notion of ‘traditional’ marriage forgets that it’s only ‘traditional’ for this culture, and even then it’s in a constant state of flux as to what is ‘traditional’ (as exemplified by the societies changing attitudes, such as with interracial couples). So, this ‘tradition’ is just societal whim.

On top of that, this argument keeps making some sort of implicit call to ontological gender, a concept which has been thoroughly decimated by Judith Butler in works such as Bodies that Matter, Gender Trouble, Undoing Gender, etc… 

As such, none of the presented reasons are feasible. 

Marriage extends way beyond children and Christianity. Gender is not as clear cut and sharply defined as society tries to make it be either. Binary opposites have many grey areas between them and end up not being so opposite after all. There also seems to be an underlying assumption here that the point of marriage is for people who can produce children. What about infertile couples? 

youarenotyou:

if you really want to be edgy, try standing up against oppression. nothing pisses off people as quickly and easily as that.

Why do some Christians believe that marriage belongs to Christianity?

lifelongpadawan:

Had a deep & meaningful with one of my best girl friends (who is christian too)… came out to her… all went really well, she’s super loving & supportive :’D. Wow it’s like some heavy burden is lifted from my heart!

If Jesus were to enter a mega church today, He would pull down the pulpit and turn over the seats and say something like, “This is not a house of God! This is a house of money, corruption and greed! You have turned this House of Prayer into a den of thieves!”

Women own their bodies, not society, 

Who is Odin to me? 

It’s an important question with even more important answers. Who is this deity? What does He need from me? Why is there a bond? Why do I believe? But who is Odin, to me?

Odin is a teacher first and foremost. I’ve already had a good,…

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kaila-baila:

So today, I was called a “disgusting fag”, “vagina licking whore”, and told I was going to the “deepest part of Hell” by a “religious” extremist in the middle of my university (in front of a crowd of people). I want to thank everyone who gave me support at the flagpoles today and those who spoke against his ignorance and discrimination. While making a complaint to the university and being told “there’s nothing we can do.”

I’M STILL TAKING ACTION.

I am a strong, black woman who is a member of the LGBT community and no one should ever try to dis-empower how I feel. No one should be allowed to spew hatred to others or perpetuate violence. Something must be done because, me nor anyone else deserves this injustice.

I don’t even know how I’m going to tell my mom about this. She’s going to be so angry.

lezbechristians:

It hurts me to know that while some of my friends love me just as God loves me, they believe that I am living in sin because of who I love. It hurts to know that they will never approve of any loving relationship that I may have. And that’s hard for me.

luvshumsterek:

So I just came out to my sister. Glory to God, she accepts me for who I am. She also told me that she is bisexual too!

estebanthegreat:

The Heretical Way: Now that I’m back, here’s another rant about the world and gay people

thehereticalway:

estebanthegreat:

thehereticalway:

estebanthegreat:

estebanthegreat:

Why is is that the world says you either have to hide in the closet and deny your sexuality, or accept it and act on it as you please? Since when did this become the way of things? If you have a desire to do something wrong and you’re embarrassed about it, do you have to…

thehereticalway: (not letting me reblog the quote so Im adding the quote here)

So you’re angry that people who were (and possibly still are) repressed, have managed to come to the conclusion that God loves them and have successfully overcome self loathing and are forming a relationship with Christ?

Are gay people meant to go carry on hiding away in inner turmoil? Is that how it works? 

Are gay people meant to hate themselves and believe that God hates them? Is that how it works?

Are gay people meant to be condemned to lonliness and a false life? Is that how it works?

The “misunderstandings” of their faith are from being judged, from fear, lack of help, an oppressive and unhealthy community, et cetera. Maybe their “misunderstandings” emerge from the very people around them, the very people who are meant to love, support and help others but spend so much time judging, castigating and insulting others there is no time for the message of Jesus Christ to shine through. Maybe the “misunderstandings” happen because some Christians are not following the second commandment of Jesus, love thy neighbour.

If you had read my post the way I intended it to be read, you would have seen that I wish for gay people to not have to had from society and be rejected. I also don’t want them the live the lie that society presents to them as acceptable. You say celibacy is a “false life”. I say living in sin is a false life. How can doing what your Creator calls you to be false? It is sad that some people who claim to be religious treat gay people poorly and don’t show them love. But that doesn’t change the sinfulness of what people who engage in homosexuality are doing. I think you might be confusing love with telling people to do whatever pleases them. For a person to truly love anyone, gay, straight, or whatever, they should treat them kindly and with respect, and also discourage them from sinning.

“How can doing what your Creator calls you to be false?”

Bingo. I was called to be gay and I am gay. I’m gay because God made me so. He’s blessed me with a beautiful, Christian woman. My relationship with God has transformed from utter fear and anger, to love and tranquility. God has changed me from a wreck into a person. He repaired me. He is making me whole. And that whole He’s building and mouling and shaping includes my sexuality.

 I am not confusing love with that, I agree with your last sentences. I just do not believe that homosexuality is a sin and it needs no calling out except to call out the repressed from their closets and to help them live the life that God has in store for them. 

I don’t know what version of Christianity you follow, but in almost all Christian denominations, there is the belief in the fall of Adam and Eve. I don’t know how you could ignore such a huge part of the Christian tradition, but if you understood this event, you would realize that humans are broken and and although made in God’s image, are inclined toward sin because of the sins of Adam and Eve. So no, God did not make you gay, he made you perfect, but Original Sin caused you (and me) to have an disordered attraction to people of the same sex. Don’t blame God for your sinful desires and then pretend He’s alright with them because He “gave them to you”. Through Christ, you can become whole again and turn away from your sinful nature.

I do not blame God for my “sinful desires”. I’m thankful for them! Sexuality is a beautiful gift and is part of the perfection you speak of. I turned away from my sinful nature when I stopped pretending to be straight because I stopped lying. Who are you to override what God has done to calm my heart, to dismiss the love that Jesus has shown me, to say that I should turn away from where God is leading me?

Sexuality is a beautiful gift that is meant to be shared between a man and woman within the context of a monogamous marriage. And the problem with what you claim is that God doesn’t lead people into sin. Only the enemy does that. I’m sorry that you are confused as to what is sinful and what is not, but I wonder whose authority you are following that led you to believe that the sin of homosexuality is acceptable and is something God wants for you and is leading you toward.