Hi everyone, just another new person.

Destin.....Hi and Welcome to empty closets! I am so happy to see you posting here on EC. I have shared posts with Niagara so I know that you have had it rough for a while. There is no doubt that finding who you are and accepting yourself are not easy things to do. Many people avoid it all their lives and are far less than they could be because of it. I wish you and Niagara the very best as you go forward....and most important....be yourself!!
....David

 

Hi, Destin.

Welcome to EC. I think you'll find that the feelings of guilt and shame associated with going against Christianity will decrease over time. Remember that those feelings are coming from learned behavior coming from an interpretation of beliefs. I recommend checking out the work of Matthew Vines, who has both an excellent book and a number of videos challenging the idea that Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with homosexuality. His scholarly work has changed the minds of a lot of fairly high-up folks in many churches.

I hope you'll stick around and both share your experiences and continue to offer input to others.

 

Destin....What I see happening to you is a lot like what happened to me. When I finally accepted that I am gay and always have been, my faith was still very difficult to reconcile. There were so many things that I had been taught/learned over the years that conflicted with things in my life, things that I knew without a doubt to be true and good. That's when I launched into a very serious in-depth study of what the Bible says about any LGBTQ topic. I read books - Matthew Vines "God and the Gay Christian" was the first of many - and studied what the Bible passages said in the language and society of the time they were written. I had heard people say that the Bible doesn't condemn being gay, but at first I had trouble believing that. As it turns out, they were right. Even though I had become convinced that God does not condemn me for being the way he made me, it took a while for the belief to move from my "head" to my "heart". That's likely where you are now. I was excited, relieved, happy and still anxious for several months as I "adjusted" to no longer feeling guilty and ashamed for the first time since I was 15 years old. I wish you and Niagara the very best and please know that the rough times you have gone through will build a stronger relationship!
....David