steven
03-20-2006, 02:45 AM
Hey everyone. Never really given a web introduction, so here it goes:
I'm 21 and a junior at Duke University in Durham, NC. I stumbled across the Soulforce site rather unexpectantly. Before tonight, I had no clue who Mel White was. Luckily I decided to peruse Duke's upcoming events calendar and was more than suprised to see a speech by him being held this Tuesday, the 21st, on campus. The topic of course will be homosexuality and Christianity--two topics that from my experience do not mesh well together. I googled Mel White and read about his life and work (for a few hours, actually) and am truly moved by the stories behind the Soulforce Equailty Ride. I must say, each participating rider is a hero of mine. To any rider that may read this: Thank you.
I'm not sure I would consider myself a Christian. I stopped believing during my Lutheran confirmation (oh, irony). Until half a year ago, I felt that liking men was simply incompatible with religion and that christianity was overrated, to put it mildly, for reasons not limited to its acceptance of homosexuality. In fact, I could say that I hated (yes, hated) organized religion--and many of its followers. They hated me, after all, right? Yeah, not my most shining moment.
My boyfriend, who is a devout catholic, was the impetus to start rediscovering my faith months ago and to convert my full-out rejection of organized religion into cautious optimism. He and I are both closeted, at least from our "brothers", and are not involved at all in the gay community at Duke, though not entirely by choice. The past few weeks we have been discussing religion a lot, and it's great timing that I found this board. I have read numerous threads already and appreciate the honest and open discussion that goes on here. I have a high level of respect for everyone on this site and cannot understate that fact enough. I have many questions about christianity and faith and I thank everyone in advance for helping me answer them directly or indirectly.
steven
I'm 21 and a junior at Duke University in Durham, NC. I stumbled across the Soulforce site rather unexpectantly. Before tonight, I had no clue who Mel White was. Luckily I decided to peruse Duke's upcoming events calendar and was more than suprised to see a speech by him being held this Tuesday, the 21st, on campus. The topic of course will be homosexuality and Christianity--two topics that from my experience do not mesh well together. I googled Mel White and read about his life and work (for a few hours, actually) and am truly moved by the stories behind the Soulforce Equailty Ride. I must say, each participating rider is a hero of mine. To any rider that may read this: Thank you.
I'm not sure I would consider myself a Christian. I stopped believing during my Lutheran confirmation (oh, irony). Until half a year ago, I felt that liking men was simply incompatible with religion and that christianity was overrated, to put it mildly, for reasons not limited to its acceptance of homosexuality. In fact, I could say that I hated (yes, hated) organized religion--and many of its followers. They hated me, after all, right? Yeah, not my most shining moment.
My boyfriend, who is a devout catholic, was the impetus to start rediscovering my faith months ago and to convert my full-out rejection of organized religion into cautious optimism. He and I are both closeted, at least from our "brothers", and are not involved at all in the gay community at Duke, though not entirely by choice. The past few weeks we have been discussing religion a lot, and it's great timing that I found this board. I have read numerous threads already and appreciate the honest and open discussion that goes on here. I have a high level of respect for everyone on this site and cannot understate that fact enough. I have many questions about christianity and faith and I thank everyone in advance for helping me answer them directly or indirectly.
steven