majorshipper | sorry for another post, right on the heels of that massive one, but I had to share this

http://www.danoah.com/2011/11/im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html

I don't know who's read it and who hasn't but I think everyone should give it a go. The title will only make sense once you've read it, though.

I'm not gonna try to start a huge discussion or argument, but I figured it's something that everyone should read. If you're interested in the comment I left, you can find it under the cut.

This is one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long time. This is so beautifully written. Not everyone can do what you've done here, and I admire you greatly for it.

It's always been something I've felt, but I've never found a way to put it down and explain it to people. It's even harder to explain how someone who claims to be a Christian can love everyone for who they are(which shouldn't be so unbelievable). A lot of drama went down at my church, not for being gay, but for being living together out of marriage. A couple was banned from the premises because they refused to get married(due to financial convenience), and when they left, a lot of our church members went with them because of the horrible hypocrisy that some people were displaying by refusing to even see someone they felt was living in a sinful way.

Another sad thing I've found is that people, like you mentioned, instantly tie in loving someone with approving of everything. I've been accused of not loving my openly gay friend just because I happen to be a Christian and I happen to think that practicing a homosexual life is sinful. But I don't associate loving someone with approving an aspect of their life. I have other friends who are drug users, and one who can be extremely violent. I disapprove of both drugs and violence, but I still manage to be their friend and still love them for who they are, not what they do. Any parent will tell you it's possible to love your kid without approving of things they do. I hate that it sounds like I'm being a judgemental religious person. I hate saying that I disapprove of something, because it feels like I'm also saying I can't love someone who's like that. So I love this article, and I really do love what you're saying here. I wish the whole world could read it.

ETA: Some of the responses he posted in the follow-up entry are pretty much making me cry. Again.

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I just want to thank you for sharing this because it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. It's a fantastic article!

Me too. It's something I've been trying to wrap my head around and, admittedly, justify, in my own head for a while, and then this article showed up on my flist earlier, and I absolutely had to share.

Being a bisexual female who has to keep a secret from just about everyone I know, I related quite a bit to "Jacob"'s plight. Thankfully, the few people I've told in real life, have been great and treat me no differently than they did before. Online, no one - Christians, conservatives, whatever - has defriended me or stopped talking to me, either. In fact, the person who helped me realize who I am ... is a conservative Republican Christian from Texas. But before all of that, she's been a friend for almost fifteen years now.

I didn't get through all of the comments, but I did read the Nine he posted up. I felt literally ILL at the woman who commented in the second one. Then you take all of that nastiness and compare it to the poor kid who'd almost killed himself because of people like that until he happened to find this post (it very well could've been God or Fate or the Universe itself that directed him there) ... I wonder if that woman saw his comment. If she even cared? Unfortunately, living in the state where Fred Phelps is from, quite a few people, even in the more liberal metro area where I am, support this kind of hate. Hate against all kinds of people, not just gays and bisexuals. It's always baffled me how people whose important figures teach tolerance and love and acceptance behave the way they do.

I have to admit, I was surprised to hear about Hindus and Buddhists with these ideas. The acceptance and comfort I received from Hinduism and it's followers is the reason I gravitated to it. But I guess they do have their jackasses, like every other major religion. Then again, I think people take religion more seriously than they take God. Even now, my feelings on the matter are the same: God's all right until you make a religion out of Him. Then it gets all twisted up into nonsense and people get stupid for stupid reasons and forget what it is they're supposed to be ABOUT.

Thanks for linking. I might repost in my own LJ tomorrow. I'm sad I checked my FL just before going to bed or I'd do it now.

I gotta say, when I was a teenager, I struggled for a while with figuring out if I what I was feeling was normal, or if it was more towards bisexuality, mainly because I had nobody to tell me if it was normal to feel that way at that time in my life, because of the stigma attached to being even possibly bisexual or homosexual. I mean, hello, deep south. My family might have been understanding if I'd discovered I was bi, but I didn't dare broach the subject unless I was sure. Eventually, I discovered I just had a healthy appreciation for women, and the issue for me just kinda went away. But it was a fear I had for a while of what could happen if it was more.

It sickens me because my brother is extremely hateful towards everything he doesn't like, and he justifies it with religion. He sounds exactly like the first response Dan posted. I wish I could help him somehow, but he's been like this for a long time. Thankfully everyone who's seen it recognizes that he's horribly full of hatred and it isn't right. I'm just a little terrified of what might happen when he actually heads out to the big blue internet. Because he's selfish and hateful and violent and has all the characteristics of a bully.
But yes. I've never understood the double standard. It's hard to walk the talk, and I guess that's why so many just go the easy route of hate.

Interesting. I tend to agree with you, re; religion makes people stupid. I try not to prescribe to any specific type of religion outside of saying Christian, because I really don't believe so many of the traditional characteristics of religion.

I'm just glad I can spread it about to those who hadn't seen it, because like I said, it's the kind of thing everyone needs to read.

sorry for another post, right on the heels of that massive one, but I had to share this

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