Get out of jail free.

I’m feeling a bit down right now. It’s great outside, and earlier this week I laid on a girl’s lap and she ran her hand over my scruff. I wanted to make sure and mention that, because it was relaxing. Friday night downstairs outside of my old apartment they had a fire going outside, and I had a chance to listen to people’s view’s on ethics and “God” (they would say) and got some ideas about the Bonnaroo missions trip from them. Slept over at my old apartment and felt rested. Was sad to find out that my friend had done this drug called “2ci”. Went to a Christmas party last night in a very small house. It was filled, and a lot of fun. I met a guy who I got along with pretty well, and we seemed to be on the page in regards to what christian art can be, so we exchanged numbers. A guy in seminary was at the party, and he was going nuts talking about what the act of “Sanctification” consisted of. Talked last night with an old friend (the one I used to refer to as “my gay friend Matt” and also used to take advantage of his crush on me/his need for acceptance by having him buy me things and then treating him like crap). It was a good conversation, and I was able to be a part of God working in his life, I think/I hope. Have seen God working in my life. Halfway through the conversation with Matt, he changed the topic to the 9/11 conspiracy, and it just totally drained me. He went on and on, and in hindsight I’m glad I was able to be a part of it, because it’s good to see for myself what’s it like when someone is talking about something that I don’t agree with and don’t want to spend my time talking about. (I say this in regards to me sometimes “preaching” a bit when I talk to people about God.) Sometimes it is good to go there when people don’t want to hear it, when it’s imperitive, when you feel led, but other times I think discipline is good, to listen to what people need and are asking for. I pray that God will persuade the person’s heart to open up about his or her thoughts on the most important question: is there a God?

I think there is. My friend asked me, since he noticed how much I’ve changed since the gay-friend-Matt days, what my thoughts were on his homosexuality. I told him, “I disagree with what you do, but I love you, and the most important thing is not that you’re gay, but that you are saved by Jesus Christ. And I do realize how dumb and cliché that sounds.”

I even said something slightly heretical to some: “I think you can be gay and still be a christian. I just don’t think you’ll be doing what God knows would make you happiest, and I don’t think you’d be honoring God.”

I made sure to mention the fact that I am in a struggle with sexual sin at the moment as well. And that I am no different than him.

Sure he can be a Christian. We all have our temptations in one way or another. What matters is his heart. It’s not a sin to be gay anyway. Straight WASPS don’t have a monopoly on Christ. Everybody can love Jesus because Jesus loves everybody.

dj_johnnyquest

December 10, 2006

2ci was one of the few times i thought i was never coming back.

Ryn~ (Based on this: http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2001/jan2001/0101catholic.htm which is based on scripture), this sums it best: “Stated in the simplest terms, the core of that teaching emphasizes that being homosexual is not a sin, but engaging in homosexual acts is a sin. The distinction between the individual and the act has consistently been maintained in church teaching: Love the sinner; hate the sin.” from: http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/su2004/church.html BUT also, there’s a catch: For a sin to be a “mortal sin”, one has to “Know” it’s a mortal sin. Ask a gay person if they “KNOW” that homosexualiy is a sin, and they will probably say “I most certainly do NOT”. Furthermore; not even Jesus judges… He leaves it up to the law of God (see Joh 12:47-48). Ultimately, God is a fair & loving God who also judges each person by their heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

Ryn~ I would! Except I never ever give out my address online (except for shopping purposes, lol). You could send it electronically though, that would be cool.

Well, there are different levels of sin: Venial and mortal. You can’t go to hell over a mere venial sin, but you can a mortal. A venial sin is something small, like being rude to someone’s bratty kid. A mortal sin, is like killing someone, immoral sex, missing church on sunday, etc. Here’s a link that explains mortal & venial sin better than me: http://www.cin.org/mateo/9307151.html

helena everything

i don’t believe that any form of love is a sin. even if it’s with an animal. (although you should know, love doesn’t always equal sex.)

Woo…you touched on a ugly subject right there…homosexuals and the church. Ouch! The people I work with are vehemently against homosexuality. I mean if you are gay? You’re not in their lives. It’s scary to me how they talk about “them” like their a species from another plant. They won’t even talk to homosexuals other than to convert them. Like it might rub off? Whatever. It’s just theugliest subject I can think of that will alienate others from God. Sad.

Harley Quinn

December 11, 2006

Homosexuality has been around a whole lot longer than Christianity has, and it’ll be around long after Christianity has fallen by the wayside… And yes, it will one day.

freckles.

so how does the bible explain (natural) homosexuality in animals?

It’s a natural thing only because of the sinful nature of the world. Animals practice cannibalism, but does that make it okay for humans to do so? I’m not comparing homosexuality to cannibalism, but I do think it’s a weak argument to say that because an animal does it, it means it’s okay for us to do too. I think in the natural state of this world, there is no reason why homosexuality wouldbe wrong, or even a sin. It’d just be what it was. But just because it’s natural doesn’t make it right. I don’t think God created us to lie, or envy, or hate others — but we do, regularly and naturally. The true question is, why would it be considered a sin, if there is a God. The act of sex was never created to be purely for pleasurable means. From a strictly functional standpoint, God’s first command to mankind was, “Be fruitful and multiply,” and to do so would require a man and a woman. Through the joining together of two souls in total commitment to one another, a new being is created; pleasure not being the goal, but the natural outcome of love. Obviously heterosexuals fail at this as well — even christians. But again, that doesn’t make it any less true, biblically.

One last thing: I also find it interesting that in most homosexual relationships, the natural way a couple functions is by one taking over the male role, and the other taking over the female role (not that one is better than the other or anything). It seems that the male-female dichotomy is the way our brains/genes naturally respond in a relationship. Thanks for the note.

Finding.Myself

December 12, 2006

I think G-d manifests himself in a lot of different ways, some that are not so obvious at first. It’s dangerous when people adopt only one way of understanding and viewing the world.