Why Zerbie is not christian

[Zerbie]

Thanks, Andy. I definitely know what I DON'T want! And I am not going to a visit anyplace that doesn't have a fair amount of info publicized someplace that indicates to me that they probably aren't what I don't want (if a rambling sentence like that manages to communicate anything at all.)

What I'm less sure of is what I do want. I want to enjoy a community where people are working on healing injuries that have been done to the world from an internal perspective, ie. beginning with themselves. I would like some three dimensional friends with whom I can have conversations like the ones we have here.

Maybe I should just be taking dance classes or learning a foreign language. What do you think, Andy?

[Alecto]

Zerbie (I don't know if I asked, is Zerb ok? In my head it gets shortened, and it sounds kinda cute, but I don't like to project my label onto you),
I don't know how, but I haven't seen this thread before. I'll admit I read the first post, and then the last couple.

On the first one: I so much want a doctor-who time machine to go back and give 9 year old Zerbie a hug. Also....you were a pretty awesome kid, from the sounds of it. There are plenty of lists of open and affirming churches that specifically wouldn't be telling you how evil gay folks are, but as for what you're looking for...have you considered looking into UU? My understanding is that the Unitarian Universalists are NOT strictly Christian, but...it sounds like a place where you really would get to hang out with a bunch of people and have conversations like you have here. I haven't looked into it too far, but I have a friend that was raised UU, and I"ll probably check out the local church here with her this coming Sunday (just before pride, which they always march in).

I decided that I'm not going to let other people keep me from enjoying life. If the people AT the church you checked out are part of the reason you're going there, and THEY aren't what you thought they were, that'sone thing. But don't let other folks keep you from finding what you're looking for.

[pnggrad79]

Zerb,
No church will be perfect and besides you shouldn't go if you have the goal in mind that it will be and all there will be welcoming and inclusive. That will happen when pigs fly. There is no perfect church. The reason to go is simply that as a spiritual person you want to connect on some level with God, maybe learn an aspect of God that you didn't know before...
I love church but probably because I grew up in it, and although most of what I grew up with is now tossed out the window, I had to develop my own relationship with God, not ride in on the coattails of my parents' faith.
Since you didn't grow up in church, it would make sense that it is not part of your world view. If you want to go to church, have the expectation that it is not perfect people, and you don't go there for them anyway. You go for a vertical purpose and that is relationship to God. After that, the horizontal purposes start appearing.
As a lesbian or bisexual or whatever, you need to connect with others who are like yourself and who have the same struggles and same revelations about God and homosexuality. I hope you find what you are looking for.

[Zerbie]

It sounds like church is not for me then.
I don't know.

[BruceChris]

You encountered some very judgmental people that called themselves Christians. Very unfortunately, your mother agreed with them.

Since then, I'll bet that you have met a great many people that are loving and accepting, who call themselves Christians. Many of them can be found on this forum quite often. You are still upset by the name, but I'll bet that you feel much much closer to THIS group than to THAT group. Do you think you could consider joining our group?

Namaste', Bruce Chris

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by BruceChris

You encountered some very judgmental people that called themselves Christians. Very unfortunately, your mother agreed with them.

Since then, I'll bet that you have met a great many people that are loving and accepting, who call themselves Christians. Many of them can be found on this forum quite often. You are still upset by the name, but I'll bet that you feel much much closer to THIS group than to THAT group. Do you think you could consider joining our group?

Namaste', Bruce Chris

Actually, it was only Jerry Falwell, or whoever that was on TV. He said that was "Christian," so blasphemy became how I defined Christian for 20 plus years - after all, he said that's what it was, so that's the definition. Ya know?

I've been noticing that in the advocacy and activism I get involved with, it's always the religious people I most prefer to hang out with as they have the viewpoint most like mine. They've almost all of them been Christians, but due to that definition I had in my head, it has taken years to make sense of them calling themselves by that term.

Anyway, I definitely like hanging out with y'all. I've started reading Matthew the last few days (in hotels, and they happen to have trilingual editions of the New Testament tucked into the drawers, so to be precise, I am practicing my French by reading l'évangile de matthieu.) As far as I've gotten so far, it makes sense, and I really don't see much in there that is poisonous or that could incite the kind of illogic and insanity one sometimes sees.

Hello, thread drift.

Well, my point in bumping this a couple weeks ago was getting at whether one has to adhere to any particular set of beliefs and guidelines in order to go visit churches. Or can you just pop in and hang around for a while. Someone PMed me and said I could just go visit, that you don't have to sign up for anything. So that's what I figured I would do.