brandydaniels
10-29-2006, 12:29 AM
Hi everyone. I'm Brandy, and I have recently became very interested in homosexuality and the church. Below is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to someone explaining this newfound interest...
"I guess I will start by saying that I am a recent APU alum myself, and I don’t think I know you, but we have some of the same friends. I am a straight female, but one who has recently become very interested in sexuality and the church and your blogs have been very helpful and encouraging to me.
I was one of those students who came into APU as a overzealous conservative supporting president Bush and thinking abortion and homosexuality were wrong and what the church should be fighting against. . Through many experiences, classes, and relationships that occurred during my years at APU, I began to change a bit… I became a bit more of what the evangelical world would dichotomize as ‘liberal’…
Then, I went to Wheaton for grad school, a school that is much more conservative then APU. This experience has been interesting, to say the very least. Many a time during my few months here, I have felt like a heretic and felt very judged, simply based on my differing Biblical interpretations and priorities. I have even had a few people tell me they were praying for me, and one gentleman who did not agree with my beliefs said that “my moral and theological standpoints demonstrated that I did not have the Holy Spirit living inside of me.”! This experience has been incredibly difficult for me, as my program is a cohort, so there are 20 of us who spend a hell of a lot of time together (all our classes and then some) and being the odd girl out makes me stand out.
Then I got to know a guy in my cohort, Mike, a little more…. To make a long long story shorter, Mike and I clicked because he thought a little out of the box himself. Eventually, Mike told me he was gay. This was an interesting experience for me, a bit shocking, never having had a friend who was openly gay. On one hand, it was affirming, that someone could trust me with information that, in this culture—especially the Christian one, and extra especially the conservative Christian one—is scary to share. I have had pretty “liberal” ideas for awhile, but have never put them in action. On the other hand, it was scary, cause I knew that I had been conditioned to think conservatively and I feared being reactionary one way or the other, falling into making Mike my token Christian gay friend/lab rat or judging him.
Through my new friendship with Mike and through a wide variety of other experiences that would, if written down, make a book, I have felt a calling (I hate this phrase, but its what it feels like and I know no better word) to serve the gay community and women’s community (basically to study and do work in gender, sexuality, and ministry). "
The letter goes on, that would be a really wierd place to end it, but that just gives the readers on this forum who are interested a little tidbit of who I am and where I am right now.
"I guess I will start by saying that I am a recent APU alum myself, and I don’t think I know you, but we have some of the same friends. I am a straight female, but one who has recently become very interested in sexuality and the church and your blogs have been very helpful and encouraging to me.
I was one of those students who came into APU as a overzealous conservative supporting president Bush and thinking abortion and homosexuality were wrong and what the church should be fighting against. . Through many experiences, classes, and relationships that occurred during my years at APU, I began to change a bit… I became a bit more of what the evangelical world would dichotomize as ‘liberal’…
Then, I went to Wheaton for grad school, a school that is much more conservative then APU. This experience has been interesting, to say the very least. Many a time during my few months here, I have felt like a heretic and felt very judged, simply based on my differing Biblical interpretations and priorities. I have even had a few people tell me they were praying for me, and one gentleman who did not agree with my beliefs said that “my moral and theological standpoints demonstrated that I did not have the Holy Spirit living inside of me.”! This experience has been incredibly difficult for me, as my program is a cohort, so there are 20 of us who spend a hell of a lot of time together (all our classes and then some) and being the odd girl out makes me stand out.
Then I got to know a guy in my cohort, Mike, a little more…. To make a long long story shorter, Mike and I clicked because he thought a little out of the box himself. Eventually, Mike told me he was gay. This was an interesting experience for me, a bit shocking, never having had a friend who was openly gay. On one hand, it was affirming, that someone could trust me with information that, in this culture—especially the Christian one, and extra especially the conservative Christian one—is scary to share. I have had pretty “liberal” ideas for awhile, but have never put them in action. On the other hand, it was scary, cause I knew that I had been conditioned to think conservatively and I feared being reactionary one way or the other, falling into making Mike my token Christian gay friend/lab rat or judging him.
Through my new friendship with Mike and through a wide variety of other experiences that would, if written down, make a book, I have felt a calling (I hate this phrase, but its what it feels like and I know no better word) to serve the gay community and women’s community (basically to study and do work in gender, sexuality, and ministry). "
The letter goes on, that would be a really wierd place to end it, but that just gives the readers on this forum who are interested a little tidbit of who I am and where I am right now.