Religion and LGBT

I've only been to church on a handful of occasions at most, but I've never heard an anti-gay message. My local church was amazing, oddly enough in the few occasions I went with someone, giving a message of joy, love, and service to others. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. To me, God is real and he showed himself there.

Such is probably not the case everywhere though.

 

I'm a very spiritual and even religious person, when it comes to being gay, I've had to remind myself that judge me out of a sense of arrogance that I'm trying to impress, I am on my own journey in my relationship with God and as much as some people say..and it hurts to hear them say that, that's the advice I would have to offer. Pray to find a church with God there..and grow in your relationship with God.

 

Back when I was still religious I had a little coping tactic I used a lot... It's sort of like being religious and female, you can't help how you're born but you're still given disdain. You've got to avoid dwelling so much on the vile parts and focus on the highlights, don't read into it too much. Sometimes the best way to deal with something is to get it off the mind and focus on something more positive. I can't restrict my own thinking and it eventually became unbearable, but such tactics are vital in many cases and prolonging to your sanity.

Essentially, you are free to express your heritage, but at the same time don't let it become an extra source of stress... none of us need any more of that in this world. Find a bunch of bad verses? Try to search out some kinder ones and divert your attention to those instead, maybe play a game or watch a movie and don't dwell on it. Most people have something that relaxes them, read some nice parts and then do that. I've seen articles posted in similar threads here as well.

I'm not sure my way was the most effective, but it worked for me for a long time. I don't know if any of that helps, but sometimes a calm mind can be a better alternative, yes?

 

I am not religious what so ever, due to the fact that i look at science first but also that im gay. I do not go to church because i wont be accepted and looked at as a sin/mistake.

But if your ever having trouble in churches, just know you were born the way you are and God (hard for me to say) made you the way you are and will always love you.

 

In my opinion, many modern-day Christians have a very skewed view of homosexuality/bisexuality. Many like to cite that God is against LGBT individuals due to a certain Bible verse, which goes along the lines of "a man can't lie with another man" or something like that. However, that's from the Old Testament, which many branches of Christianity don't follow anyways because that's no longer the word of God. God loves everyone regardless of their background or sexual orientation. An all-forgiving master of this universe wouldn't get pissed at someone because they like the same sex. I think they would rather care if you were a murderer or not.

If you still want to develop your spiritual side, I suggest either finding a new church or, if that is not an option for you, simply try to tune out those hateful messages as much as you can while still paying attention to the better parts of the service.

 

This link https://www.gaychurch.org/find_a_church/ should take you to a list of LGBT affirming churches in and around the Orlando area. It was taken from the Gay Church website, which includes some good and positive resources for LGBT Christians. All of the churches on the list have chosen to sign up in support of the LGBT community and you will notice that they cross denominations. Before you visit any of the churches on the list check out their websites to see if you get good vibes and then pop along to one of the services and speak to the pastor or priest. It's really not the case that all churches are opposed to the LGBT community.

 

Church... Well, I was thinking that this was part of the "hive mind" that I've been reading about but when I looked it up all I could find were negative assessments as in Hitler and Mussolini. Then I discovered it goes by several other names as well, such as "group think" (also negative) and "social consciousnesses" (positive). It seems to me these are all the same thing expressed in good and bad ways. Simply put, we are designed to be programmed by some higher power – round holes ready to be filled by round pegs. How is that for a gay metaphor LOL. But sometimes our holes aren't round and much to our pubescent shock, the peg isn't fitting. Welcome to being "different." To be clear, you do have the same social consciousness you were taught to have. That isn't the problem. You are totally aligned with God. The problem is you are personally opposed to that value system and this is causing you some considerable uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. God will not get rid of these feelings for you because you cannot "get rid of" being bisexual. So what do you do? Do you give up God and all those things you believe in? Well, for sure some people have done just that. And some haven't. No one, and I mean no one, can answer that for you. If you believe in God then you must see this as a challenge that God has given you. A task for YOU to find the right answer. It is a personal spiritual journey. And it does NOT involve the teachings of man!