How do Gay people want to be viewed by Christians? (Buddhists, hell)
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How do gay people want Christians to view them? How do gay people want Christians to speak/interact with them?
I have been encouraged to begin speaking to youth and congregations about my testimony. When I'm speaking to these people one of the main points I plan on talking about is how gay people perceive Christians, how they feel they're treated by the church and what Christians should & should not do/say to gay people.
In essence I plan on being an advocate of sorts for gay people and trying to change some long-standing views. What do you want Christians to know? Here is your opportunity to share and know that your viewpoint will be taken to the church.
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Originally Posted by Hoosier_guy
How do gay people want Christians to view them? How do gay people want Christians to speak/interact with them?
I have been encouraged to begin speaking to youth and congregations about my testimony. When I'm speaking to these people one of the main points I plan on talking about is how gay people perceive Christians, how they feel they're treated by the church and what Christians should & should not do/say to gay people.
In essence I plan on being an advocate of sorts for gay people and trying to change some long-standing views. What do you want Christians to know? Here is your opportunity to share and know that your viewpoint will be taken to the church.
I would like to extend the olive branch on this subject. As you may know from my posts that I uphold the GLBT issues. By all means, I'm not going to hop on my soap box in this one.
Well.. basically. I just want to be viewed as a normal person. I don't want to be treated differently. You can hate me because I'm a jerk, hate me just for the hel l of it. Just don't treat me differently because I'm gay.
I don't want them to shower me with love - Yet, I don't want to be ignored. I want to be welcome me into the community and let that be the end of it.
And lastly.. I realize being gay 'goes against the Christian religion' ..But DON'T shove it in my face - I don't care any more. I REALIZE this, but theres nothing I can do about it. I can't change.
I agree with Cody. There are many Christians out there who take the stance of "hate the sin, love the sinner." This works for me, at large, though it's not quite as fulfilling as "acceptance" would be. But in the short term, until religion changes, tolerance is okay.
What I can't palate, and probably many Christians agree with me, is people like Falwell - God Hates ****! Woo! We as GLBTQ extend you respect (you don't see us attempting to sow discord about divorce rates, do you?) and only deserve the same.
The other aspect is that many people, Christian and otherwise, need desperately to be educated on the seperation of religious mores, natural mores, and how to keep the two apart in government. I think I need not say more on this subject, as easily deduced can my meaning be.
Just look at how Bush is threatening to veto the legislation to include orientation and gender identity in the national hate crimes register. I know he's pandering to his constituency, but it's a perfect example of bigoted bullying that, for many GLBTQ people, unfortunately Christianity has come to represent.
How do gay people want Christians to view them? How do gay people want Christians to speak/interact with them?
I have been encouraged to begin speaking to youth and congregations about my testimony. When I'm speaking to these people one of the main points I plan on talking about is how gay people perceive Christians, how they feel they're treated by the church and what Christians should & should not do/say to gay people.
In essence I plan on being an advocate of sorts for gay people and trying to change some long-standing views. What do you want Christians to know? Here is your opportunity to share and know that your viewpoint will be taken to the church.
Interesting question, Hoosier_guy. Since, by some of your other posts, we know that you were once gay, I'd be curious, how would you answer that question yourself? You have been on both sides of the fence, so to speak. When you were practicing the lifestyle, (for lack of a better way to put it, since there is so much disagreement, as to whether it is a choice, or not), how would you have liked Christians to approach you? How did they treat you, during that time in your life, and what would you have changed, about them? What would you have told those Christians, about how they should have interacted with you? Personally, I've not known anyone who was once gay, and is now a born-again Christian, so I am curious, if you don't mind answering.
Well let me start by saying that if a gay or any other sexually deviant person has ever been made to feel like they should feel guilty by any Christian man or woman, that Christian was wrong.
It is not our job to judge you, isolate you, or make you feel evil, but it is also not our job to pacify you or allow you to think that God is okay with your path. It is our job to bring you to our church, minister to you in a loving manner, and introduce you to God. It is also our job to protect you in the church from a cruel or unkind word. In the Body of Christ you are our brother or sister.
God loves everybody, but He hates sin. Not the sinner. As people, Christian or not, we are all responsible for our sins. No one man is exempt. Should gay marriage be legal? No. But am I for making it illegal? No. Because God gave us the right and the privilege to do as we please, but He will have the final say.
Well let me start by saying that if a gay or any other sexually deviant person has ever been made to feel like they should feel guilty by any Christian man or woman, that Christian was wrong.
God loves everybody, but He hates sin. Not the sinner. As people, Christian or not, we are all responsible for our sins. No one man is exempt. Should gay marriage be legal? No. But am I for making it illegal? No. Because God gave us the right and the privilege to do as we please, but He will have the final say.
I'm sorry, mpope, because you seem like a genuinely nice guy and you're definitely on the more level-headed side, but can't you see that saying "we don't judge you," then saying "sexually deviant" are completely irreconcilable? Also... are you pro same-sex marriage or against? I couldn't tell!
Your, and others', bias infiltrates your very speech. Almost all people who are "anti-gay" as it is often called refer to us as "the homosexuals" or "the gays." What is failed to be acknowledged is that we are "homosexual people" and "gay people." Small difference yet it can totally change the way someone thinks. We're people, too. You don't prohibit Buddhists in this country from participating in "Christian federal marriage," for lack of a better descriptor, and if someone who was Baha'Ã was murdered, you bet the Feds could/would become involved, instead of spouting off some ridiculous excuse like they do for glbtq people's murders. Religion is ultra-powerful in our society, too powerful.
Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. -Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
Part of how many GLBTQ (or at least the ones I know, and me) want Christians to view them is to leave them alone. Plain and simple, just leave us alone. We don't want to be prostylized or preached at! Seriously! I am in university and often as I cross campus there is some random person shouting about the glory of God and the immorality of "homosexuals." The ties that can be drawn to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and '60s is just so obvious, yet so many people can't get it. We're second class citizens in this country as it is, both legally and in the minds of the majority of the population. Can't you just leave us the hell alone?
Last edited by jabogitlu; 05-04-2007 at 10:11 AM..
I'm sorry, mpope, because you seem like a genuinely nice guy and you're definitely on the more level-headed side, but can't you see that saying "we don't judge you," then saying "sexually deviant" are completely irreconcilable? Also... are you pro same-sex marriage or against? I couldn't tell!
Your, and others', bias infiltrates your very speech. Almost all people who are "anti-gay" as it is often called refer to us as "the homosexuals" or "the gays." What is failed to be acknowledged is that we are "homosexual people" and "gay people." Small difference yet it can totally change the way someone thinks. We're people, too. You don't prohibit Buddhists in this country from participating in "Christian federal marriage," for lack of a better descriptor, and if someone who was Baha'Ã was murdered, you bet the Feds could/would become involved, instead of spouting off some ridiculous excuse like they do for glbtq people's murders. Religion is ultra-powerful in our society, too powerful.
Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law. -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814
History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes. -Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, Dec. 6, 1813.
Part of how many GLBTQ (or at least the ones I know, and me) want Christians to view them is to leave them alone. Plain and simple, just leave us alone. We don't want to be prostylized or preached at! Seriously! I am in university and often as I cross campus there is some random person shouting about the glory of God and the immorality of "homosexuals." The ties that can be drawn to the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and '60s is just so obvious, yet so many people can't get it. We're second class citizens in this country as it is, both legally and in the minds of the majority of the population. Can't you just leave us the hell alone?
Well, jabogitlu, "sexually deviant" is not a bad word. It really sounds like one, but it isn't. Keep in mind that it also refers to those who engage in premarital sex. Heterosexual or not. I can honestly say that I am not anti-gay but anti-sin, so that would pretty much make me against myself, lol. Who am I to call out or judge someone because they're gay? What right do I have? I don't have that right is what I'm trying to say. I am a sinner just like everybody else. Even babies, lol.
You see these "Christians" loudly protesting homosexuality and I'm sitting here today telling you that they are wrong. It's Christians like them that have given us a bad rep in recent times. People look at us like we're these hateful, judging, holier-than-thou type of people and it makes us look bad. Really bad. But that's not who I am at all. That is not how the church is supposed and that is not how God wants us to be.
Now, for the sake of my reputation, I would ask that you wouldn't assume what type of person I am until you've given me a chance to speak my part.
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Since, by some of your other posts, we know that you were once gay, I'd be curious, how would you answer that question yourself? You have been on both sides of the fence, so to speak.
When you were practicing the lifestyle, (for lack of a better way to put it, since there is so much disagreement, as to whether it is a choice, or not), how would you have liked Christians to approach you? How did they treat you, during that time in your life, and what would you have changed, about them? What would you have told those Christians, about how they should have interacted with you? Personally, I've not known anyone who was once gay, and is now a born-again Christian, so I am curious, if you don't mind answering.
