Questioning sexuality and being a Christian

I am a new age spiritualist who was previously Christian, and I personally believe the bible passages on homosexuality are mistranslations.
I have studied the bible, I have watched Lee Strobel's A Case For Christ, and I've even used BibleHub.com and I'm not convinced that the bible is 100% accurate.

You see, "Luke" may actually be "Luke Skywalker" if you think about it. In The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader says to Luke "I am your father", and then Luke falls into a black hole.

I also do NOT believe in the Mandela affect or parallel universes. I believe that propaganda brainwashed us into thinking the movie said "Luke, I am your father", when it actually always said "No! I am your father."

I believe Luke was sent to protect us. So A Case For Christ says that "Luke" is a reliable piece of the bible. The "Luke" bits could have been mistranslations of ancient texts written on stone tablets, and if the translations are correct, he could have been lying about some stuff.

And several bible pieces could've been written by people just to gain power and money and have no truth to them.

I personally don't believe in hell. I used to believe in hell, but I don't anymore.

I think it was a lie made up by the more modern world that was translated from ancient texts on stone tablets to scare people. I believe that people can experience "Hell on earth" by going through really tough experiences.

I instead believe in reincarnation and past lives. I believe people can get murdered, attacked, or commit suicide in another life then die and not even remember and just get recycled into a new life where they still believe they're the same person that they were before when they're actually a completely different person.

I believe people who claim to have visions of hell and purgatory are either massively hallucinating, they have a dream about it, or they're just lying to make money.

Our mind is so powerful, if we believe hell or purgatory exist, then our subconscious mind can turn that into a story and cause us to have a "false experience".

People interpret Revelations 20:14 to mean "hell" or "the second death". It says "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death".

But what "Lake of fire" are they talking about? A black hole? A burning bush? A magma pit? It could've talked about an experience of Hades being tortured on earth.
If you look at Hades in Greek mythology, you could maybe get a better understanding of it.

While Greek mythology is obviously fictional in some parts, I believe there is also some truth to it.

Regarding the "second coming", people have said there was going to be a second coming for generations. And people right now think this is it, but I personally believe Trump plays a big part in that theory.

In the end, no one really knows for sure what happens after death, but I think the chances of hell existing are super slim. And I personally think constantly spending your life worrying about what happens in the afterlife is a waste of time.
If a meteor comes down and hits us and sends us all to hell tomorrow, we don't really have any control over that. So why worry about that?

The only moment we ever live is today, if you waste it worrying about the afterlife, I believe that's just a waste of time.

I can't tell you what to believe. It's really up to you. If believing in a punishing god that sends people to hell makes you feel good, then good for you. It just doesn't work for me. If believing in ghosts, aliens, and parallel universes makes you happier, then you can believe that too. Believe not what other people want you to believe, but what works for you.

 

You and I seem to be very similar, I have dealt with and in some cases still dealing with the things you just talked about. I consider myself bisexual but leaning more towards guys, but there was this girl in my Chemistry class that I saw and did a double take and was like damm I really want to talk to her shes gorgeous and really smart. But in the back of my mind I was saying whats the point, if I can't be honest with her about who I am then the relationship won't go anywhere. I'm talking to her anyway but my point is I know how you feel. I also went to a Christian high school, love the lord, and don't want to be sinning, don't want to lie to anyone and don't want to hurt anyone. I've read the bible and I know what it says, but I'm conflicted on how I should move forward in life. Some of my closets friends are very strong christians, and I don't see the point in coming out to them either because I already know what that outcome would be. Although I'm in my early 30s and I suspect that they are suspecting that already. I wish I had more info for you, ways to offer help. All I can say is read the bible, there are resources on this site that you should check out to. Do some soul searching keep reaching out and talking to people and hopefully you'll find an answer there. Good luck

 

I have actually done some more bible studying and have found that the Bible contradicts itself several times. In the passages like Sodom and Gomorrah, while the historical location of Sodom and Gomorrah has been historically proven by non-biblical historians, how do we really know that it was portrayed how it was in the bible?

They also say the bible is reliable because of ancient Jewish manuscripts that line up with the story of Jesus biblically. I totally believe Jesus was a real person and he did get crucified, as there is non-biblical historical evidence to physically prove that, but how do we know who wrote those ancient manuscripts?

They could've been written by crooks and liars. For every Christian argument, there is always an atheist or new age argument to back it up. As I've mentioned several times before, please try not to get offended by my arguments, as I am a very non-judgemental person and I respect ALL beliefs and opinions,

including conservative Christians, as I have some conservative Roman Catholic and Baptist aunts and uncles and I still love them even though they believe that homosexuality is sinful because they are really nice people.

To me, the person is all that matters, religion is only a small part of who people are. I just don't know how to share my beliefs in any different way, and I'm sharing my beliefs to try to help others, not to hurt them. If anyone disagrees with me, I have full tolerance and respect for you. I probably don't have to keep mentioning how non-judgemental I am, but I am really worried about offending people so I want to make my points clear.

 

I was raised Catholic and attended only Catholic schools.( no choice there were only Catholic schools) . My parents forced church attendence until I was 17 and they backed off. I had misgivings about my religion since I was little and have faith wasn't a good enough answer to my questions. I've become agnostic. I find it impossible to believe in what I cant see to feel. I believe all religions are a construct used to further oppress women.( my religion and global diversity professor really hated my views and the Muslim in the class thought I was islamaphobic. She didn't get I dislike every religion equally). I half believe in a higher power but all the versions of God I've heard don't work for me. But if a God does exsist her made me this way and I won't let some old guy tell me I'm wrong. The bible is open to interpretation and was also written 1000s of years ago and is no longer relevant so for all we know Facebook could be an abomination and whoever uses it should be put to death. Some religions have loosened up and accepted that gay people exist and aren't pure evil. I live in Ireland and the only nearby church's are all Catholic. A couple of years ago we learned that children were physically and sexually abused in the industrial schools in the past. The Magdelene laundries ( the mother and baby homes) run by the nuns turned out to be terrible places where the nuns abused the women there and sold their babies. I read the book by a nurse who worked in one and wrote about the conditions. I struggle to support a religion that terrorised innocent people for decades. I don't believe in hell. I believe in an afterlife. Because of the Bible the Catholic Church considers gays immoral. The Bible also says eating creatures that walk in the ocean floor and planting different crops on the same field are on the same level as homosexuality. It also doesn't think much of jewellery, revealing clothes or even bacon, masturbation is a mortal sin, along with sex before marriage. It's kind of behind on the times. I hope you manage to sort out your feelings on the issue.

 

Only you can decide which church (if any) to attend and you may find this resource helpful in arriving at a decision https://www.gaychurch.org/find_a_church/

Have you considered attending the Episcopal Church? On the Gay Church website you will find a long list of Episcopal Churches in the United States. The style and pattern of worship in the Episcopal Church would be quite familiar to you, if you was raised Catholic, but the message is more liberal and tolerant and less inclined to judgement. Within the Episcopal Church, members of the laity and clergy are openly gay and accepted. I am an Episcopalian (Anglican) myself. It's your choice and I'm not trying to lead you, but it might be worth considering.

 

I'm originally from Springfield, Mo, so I know a lot of people affiliated with the Assemblies of God. There is definitely an anti-lgbt bias within the organization, and they were actually the main group lobbying against an anti-discrimination bill that was trying to be passed by the city, and the bill ultimately failed. That being said, I've met people from the organization, particularly younger church goers, who are very supportive of the LGBT community. I think, more than anything, it depends on the person. For full disclosure I am no longer religious, nor do I believe in god, but I was raised in a Catholic family. We went to church every Sunday, I went to a Catholic school for basically all of my pre-college education, and my father was the parish president of our church. He even considered becoming a deacon, and I had a lot of people who suggested I become a priest. Based on that, you'd think my family would freak out when I came out to them as gay, but they didn't. They were all very supportive. I think the Catholic Church is getting a little better when it comes to LGBT issues, but they're still not great. But even though the official stance of the church isn't the best when it comes to non-heterosexuality, my family, who are still very much Catholic, had no trouble fully accepting my sexual orientation. I don't think being gay and being Christian are mutually exclusive, and my sexual orientation and gender identify are not why I left the church. You know your friends better than anyone, but I wouldn't just look at their denomination and assume they won't be okay with you being not straight. It's much more personal than that.

 

I have to say that on a personal level, I'm not a fan of the Alpha or Chi Alpha way. It's my theological bias speaking and I'm fully prepared to acknowledge that, but I just find it rather naïve. To me, it feels like Sunday School for adults. I'd rather invite young people and new Christians to engage with things in a more radical and challenging way, that's less reliant on old certainties. Stretch their minds about God and Christianity and take them out of a theological comfort zone.