Religion Hurt Me

[hippie4lyfe]

I used to be a strong believer in the bible, but after coming to terms with my sexuality and re-reading leviticus 18 and the other verses I feel so hurt by them that I have completely dismissed the bible. I am now pretty much not in favor of organized religion but more so in favor of my own or individuals own versions of spirituality.

[u-dog]

Originally Posted by hippie4lyfe

I used to be a strong believer in the bible, but after coming to terms with my sexuality and re-reading leviticus 18 and the other verses I feel so hurt by them that I have completely dismissed the bible. I am now pretty much not in favor of organized religion but more so in favor of my own or individuals own versions of spirituality.

Eric,

If a sincere and authentic apology from a follower of Jesus will help you.. you have it. On behalf of Jesus and many of his followers, I apologize for how you were injured. it was just plain wrong and I am ashamed!

Do what you need to do for yourself spiritually in order to heal, but know that Jesus DOES love you and the Bible, in fact, does tell us so... even if some people use the bible as a weapon. I pray that when you have journeyed where you need to journey that you will one day be able to come home and reclaim your place

Every Blessing Eric!

[dsdrane]

It's the people who thump it and think they know what it says.

Big difference.

[Vanessa White]

It really is about the message that some people say the Bible sends, vs. the actual message that is really there. Jesus loves us, loves us, loves us. I appreciate many of the Bible stories, psalms, and just love the New Testament. But, I have to say that I had lost respect for the Bible and its teachings at one point in my life, due to what some people said parts of it meant.

For the Christian side of things, I also apologize (genuinely, I might add) for what other Christians have said and done to you in the supposed name of God and Jesus.

I often refer to myself as a follower of Christ rather than a Christian, due to not wanting to associate with those "Christians" that are so shaming and damaging in the name of God to my LGBTQ brothers and sisters.

There is absolutely no excuse for it. And it needs to change.

[keltic63]

nearly 20 years ago, I was injured by organized religion, and it had nothing to do with my sexuality. I had bought what this particular denomination had been teaching, I went along with what they were trying to sell to me and others, as "the way to God" and all things spiritual. I was working for these particular types of churches, and I must say that in 3 positions as music director, I saw the same thing from the minister and others in charge. None of it was Christian. Much of what they did and said in front of the congregation was for show. What I saw in the offices before and after the services was very different. My last job in that kind of church, I was paid very little (we were eligible for food stamps) and near the end of the first year, the minister decided to get rid of me. (I had a habit of thinking for myself.) After all that was said about me, and done to me, I lost my faith for a while. In addition to that, I lost my song. I literally could not sing for a few years because of the hurt brought on at the hands of christians.

I do have my song back now!

[Zerbie]

Stories like these make me thankful that I was not raised going to a church, and glad that I have continued to avoid churches.

[u-dog]

Originally Posted by keltic63

nearly 20 years ago, I was injured by organized religion, and it had nothing to do with my sexuality. I had bought what this particular denomination had been teaching, I went along with what they were trying to sell to me and others, as "the way to God" and all things spiritual. I was working for these particular types of churches, and I must say that in 3 positions as music director, I saw the same thing from the minister and others in charge. None of it was Christian. Much of what they did and said in front of the congregation was for show. What I saw in the offices before and after the services was very different. My last job in that kind of church, I was paid very little (we were eligible for food stamps) and near the end of the first year, the minister decided to get rid of me. (I had a habit of thinking for myself.) After all that was said about me, and done to me, I lost my faith for a while. In addition to that, I lost my song. I literally could not sing for a few years because of the hurt brought on at the hands of christians.

I do have my song back now!

PRAISE GOD!! S/HE DOES SAVE US FROM HIS/HER FOLLOWERS!!!

[Vanessa White]

Wow, Keltic. Thanks for sharing that story. So glad to know that your song is back, and probably more beautiful than ever, Yes?

[paul]

It's something to me that the written code has a way of revealing the contents of a person. The bible has something for everyone. If you are inclined to commit genocide, it's in there. If you are inclined to give up your life for an enemy, it's in there too. When you read the stories of Jesus response to the 'religious' of his time, the message was, "you don't get it."

If we respond to what people have done to us, are we followers of God or are we followers of people? The real trick is to discern God. If we can, perhaps we to will be able to say, forgive them, for they know not what they do

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by paul

It's something to me that the written code has a way of revealing the contents of a person. The bible has something for everyone. If you are inclined to commit genocide, it's in there. If you are inclined to give up your life for an enemy, it's in there too. When you read the stories of Jesus response to the 'religious' of his time, the message was, "you don't get it."

If we respond to what people have done to us, are we followers of God or are we followers of people? The real trick is to discern God. If we can, perhaps we to will be able to say, forgive them, for they know not what they do

Will you be my teacher?

[paul]

Originally Posted by Zerbie

Will you be my teacher?

. stop that...well, okay, if you'll be mine.

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by paul

. stop that...well, okay, if you'll be mine.

Deal.
Where's the hand-shake smiley?

[antiochian]

Dear Hippie,

I learned something from a speaker in a class yesterday. According to Native American spirituality, and this is paraphrased, no person has the right to tell another what to do. Yet we have these Christians who would love nothing more than to run everyone else's lives. That's what they're trying to do when they fight against gay marriage, or spew from the pulpit about how we're going to hell if we don't do A, B and C. These people have a power addiction, plain and simple. They've made their millions running the likes of you and me into the muck. And some of them are just crazy.

According to an Episcopal priest I know, 3 out of 5 people on the globe are starving to death. Why are preachers, televangelists, popes, etc. wasting their time, breath and MONEY condemning us when they could be doing something about that??!! It makes me furious.

Yet there really are Christians who aren't like that. I know them from the Anglican parish I attend off and on, and at the Metropolitan Community Church. These people believe in God, Christ, and the Bible, and they don't use it to bash people over the head. They are loving, accepting people, not the frauds you see on the "Trinity Broadcasting Network."

Believe me, Hippie, I know what it is to despise religion, especially Christianity. It all boils down to this--are these people actually living up to the standards of the faith they tote around like a shield? Or are they just a bunch of strutting roosters who wouldn't know the real Jesus if he slapped them on the ass with a 2x4?

[pnggrad79]

Hippie and Antiochan,
It truly does hurt me to see how much this monster called religion has hurt innocent people. This monster is not what Jesus intended for his church to be,and I think he would be sorely disappointed in the tragedy and misery it has purveyed on so many people throughout history, even through today. It is prejudicial, judgmental, narrowminded, ungracious, unmerciful, unrepentant, and most of all, unChristlike,
It is not the church of God. It is the church of people and of man-made religion that has made a god out of their own lust for power and money. God is not there. If he were, it would be very different. If the church has to stand before God someday and answer for what it has done, it would stand collectively guilty for turning away thousands of gays and lesbians who desperately wanted God, but were told it wasn't possible for God to love a fag. It would stand guilty for turning away black people because they just couldn't have a black person sitting in an all white church. That wouldn't be right. It would stand guilty for closing its doors to all divorced women and drug addicts trying to quit for the tenth time. The church is a poor excuse for Christ's representative on earth.
There are a few congregations out there who are NOT these types of churches and all I can say is, go find one. Most of all, don't depend on anyone else's interpretation of God or the Bible for your feelings on the subject. It is your relationship to God, you have to work it out for yourself.

[Dumbledore]

Originally Posted by hippie4lyfe

I used to be a strong believer in the bible, but after coming to terms with my sexuality and re-reading leviticus 18 and the other verses I feel so hurt by them that I have completely dismissed the bible. I am now pretty much not in favor of organized religion but more so in favor of my own or individuals own versions of spirituality.

I've been hurt by the Bible thumpers more than you can imagine and like you have often dismissed the Bible. But ya know ... there are a lot of very important and beautiful teaching there ... well like our thread on Galatians where we talk about God's unconditional acceptance of us through Justification. How comforting that is in life and death. Just a thought.

[hippie4lyfe]

Originally Posted by keltic63

In addition to that, I lost my song. I literally could not sing for a few years because of the hurt brought on at the hands of christians.

I do have my song back now!

keltic that really resonates with me as well, I feel like I used to take such joy in singing praises to God, but I feel it has been silenced. I feel like I may now be reclaiming it in my own and I guess slightly off mainstream spiritual path.

all your comments resonate with me, I know we all share this common struggle we have or had been wrestling with our faith and our sexuality. It is such a shame that one has to feel that sexuality compromises religion.

Maybe there is a broader lesson to be learned, and God put us here as agents of tolerance? Not to make us sound like a supreme people by any means, I feel we all have a life purpose to fulfill.

[Pablo Rafael]

Originally Posted by hippie4lyfe

I know we all share this common struggle we have or had been wrestling with our faith and our sexuality. It is such a shame that one has to feel that sexuality compromises religion.

Maybe there is a broader lesson to be learned, and God put us here as agents of tolerance? Not to make us sound like a supreme people by any means, I feel we all have a life purpose to fulfill.

Eric,

It seems to me that the struggle between faith and sexuality is a totally artificial one; and one that so many of us have struggled with. If everyone could just forget all they thought they knew about the Bible and approach it anew as if for the first time with no preconceived ideas and no already-formulated doctrines, I think no one would have any opposition to homosexuality.

I think it would be obvious that the Old Testament must be looked at through the New Testament. So many of the OT teachings have long since been done away with (especially the entire book of Leviticus.) And a careful look at Paul's writings would show no anti-gay statements at all. I feel that the only reason people think the Bible is anti-gay is because they have come to it with that idea already drilled into them, and they see what they expect to see.

All information that comes from the Bible comes through a person's interpretation. My personal interpretation (and I think it's the right one, of course ) is that the Bible shows the love of God and shows us how to love others. All teachings and beliefs must be viewed through that lens. (Martin Luther thought that the Bible must be viewed through the lens of "justification by grace through faith.") I no longer see a conflict betwen faith and sexuality; it has taken some time, I'll admit. I sorrow over all those who have lost their faith due to the narrow-mindedness of so many Christians.

I also see LGBT people as messengers of tolerance. I think the church very much needs that message.

Tu Amigo, Pablo

[antiochian]

Pablo, I think you'll agree for those of us who come from Catholic (or in my case Orthodox) backgrounds there is not only a big emphasis on the biblical text itself, but on "Tradition" and "Patristics." The idea is, the Church Fathers said this and that, so we have to believe this and that. And heaven knows they were not gay-friendly. I was so disappointed to read St. John Chrysostom, who in one breath writes of mercy and grace, advocating death for those guilty of same-sex acts.

So, when talking to a traditionalist Catholic, you'll not only have to explain how their reading of the Bible is wrong, but have the added (and harder burden) of convincing them that the "infallible" Church Fathers (Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Cyprian of Carthage, etc.) were wrong. Sometimes Protestants refer to the fathers as well, but not as often--they pretty much stick to just the Bible. For Orthodox Eastern Christians, the words and writings of these people is basically on equal par with scripture, so we have a problem...

Plus you'll have to convince traditionalist Catholics that their infallible popes were wrong...

[snuka12000]

I'm so sorry that religion hurt you. Unfortunately, religion has hurt a lot of people. We need to tune into and tap into the Lord Jesus Christ. He never said anything about homosexuality.

I think that just reading the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) would be beneficial for you. I think that the Gospels will inspire, enlighten and uplift you.

[Pablo Rafael]

Originally Posted by antiochian

Pablo, I think you'll agree for those of us who come from Catholic (or in my case Orthodox) backgrounds there is not only a big emphasis on the biblical text itself, but on "Tradition" and "Patristics."
So, when talking to a traditionalist Catholic, you'll not only have to explain how their reading of the Bible is wrong, but have the added (and harder burden) of convincing them that the "infallible" Church Fathers (Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Augustine, Cyprian of Carthage, etc.) were wrong.

I certainly know what you're talking about here, Jeff. I have given up posting on the Catholic.com forums because there is always that brick wall of the "Church Fathers" that blocks any discussion.

What surprises me a lot being in the Catholic church is how few "Traditionalist" Catholics there seems to be. Maybe I just hang around with a very liberal group and read books by liberal Catholic authors, but I see an acceptance of a wide variety of viewpoints in the church.

And that "infallability of the pope" teaching was a recent teaching in the 20th century and was proclaimed by one of the popes himself. (Seems like a conflict of interest to me.) I know I'm not one of the "good" Catholics, heretic that I am. (Being a "bad" Catholic is more interesting, however. I wonder sometimes why they put up with me )

Pablo