As a result of my posting yesterday of the Ray Boltz concert in Indiana from 3 weeks ago, I have had a substantial increase in the number of visits to this site. I also did a check to see where they were coming from...and as I did that search, I came across some really vile postings on other sites by so-called Christians.
Don't get me wrong. I am all for people being able to believe what they want. After all, this is the cornerstone of our government. But, it really does bother me to see these pious "saints" discussing a topic that obviously they have no first hand knowledge about....assuming that just because they are straight, God made EVERYBODY that way....then saying that people like Ray Boltz.....and (HORRORS) me.....are "doomed"....and that we are consumed by lust.....that we are deceived.....and one person on their wonderful site even went so far that Boltz now has mental problems. One lady even said he has hooked up with that "church that Troy Perry, the Pentecostal Snake Handler started."
God help me please!
Why must everyone get all vitriolic? And be so fearful?
So, I got all bent out of shape....and decided to write the attached note to the Christians out there. Bear with me....I don't mean to get all "preachy".
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An Open Letter To My Fellow Christians:
Look, there is nothing wrong with people like us following our natural programming to love someone who has likeminded programming.
There is NO agenda!
My loving a man shouldn't affect YOUR straight marriage. (Unless of course, your husband is another person like me who has tried to conform to societal norms. And he reaches the point of deciding to accept himself.)
Being homosexual is no more about lust than being heterosexual is.
There are extremes in the homosexual community just as much as there are extremes in the heterosexual community.
We are NOT out to recruit others!
We are NOT child molesters!
We are every day people from all walks of life. We work. We pay our taxes. We live our lives.
Why shouldn't we be permitted to have a partner in our lives that we can love, honor and cherish?
I'm Christian...just like you. I believe in Jesus and that He died on the cross for my sins. But where we differ is that while the Bible may be inspired by God, it does not mean that people who wrote the submissions that appear therein went into trances, then used automatic writing as God dictated it thousands of years ago, for me here today.
If you're gonna attack Ray Boltz about this issue....and accuse him of being mentally unbalanced.....or crucify him because of his divorce.....then give those hefty gosepl performers equal time because of their out of control eating.......or some of those singers' who have been married more than once......or other's problems with consumption of alcohol....or the straight preachers who have "girlfriends" and wives.
I, for one, am tired of being told about how bad I am....just because in my mid-life, I was forced to face my orientation...head-on. I am now divorced. All this flies in the face of what you've taught me all my life..... And after all the change ministries....ex-ministries....prayer....fasting......and demons being cast out of me.....God did not change me. I have accepted that.
And you know what? I finally feel that I am the man that God now wants me to be. He's confirmed that I'm on the path He has set before me.
So, in the end, your screaming and preaching at me isn't going to change me and all my screaming and preaching at you isn't going to change you. Let's just realize this isn't going away. It isn't going to change. But let's learn to live with each other and tolerate each other. Then, in the end, let's see what awaits us in the hereafter.
God is certainly big enough to decide....fairly....and justly.
And I can certainly live with that knowledge.
Can you?
4 comments:
I've been amazed how many of the fundamentalist Christians (including many Southern Baptists) have used Ray Boltz coming out as a discussion point that God didn't make anyone gay, but that it's a chosen, sinful lifestyle. Reading their commentaries may be one-sided, but unfortunately they also appear "logical" and easy-to-buy-into. Go read this as an example - http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=28996 .
I don't even know how to respond to the indisputable "facts." Help!
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All people, to a greater or lesser extent, suffer from what Dilbert creator Scott Adams referred to as the "I am the world" fallacy--the assumption that one's own internal experiences are the norm. When I was younger, I believed that everyone had same sex attractions and anyone that denied it was lying. As I got older, I came to realize that I was just projecting my own internal state on others. You and I (and I think most who have struggled for years in the closet) are deeply introspective individuals--most people are not. However, I don't believe that this is the main driver for the strong reactions to Ray Boltz' coming out.
It's not so much the homosexuality that gets (most of) them so angry. It's the deception. It's that they didn't recognize the enemy in their midst. Nobody likes to feel that they have been made a fool of and when someone we admire turns out not to be who we thought they were, we feel used and angry. That's how our wives felt when they found out we were gay.
I applaud Ray Boltz for the courage to come out and I empathize with his struggles in the closet. But I also understand (even if I don't like) some of the anger that has greeted his revelation.
Frank,
As an evangelical Christian, I have to say I am on the fence on this. I am married and still love my wife after all these years. But I also like sex with guys. So I hide it from her and everyone else.
Am I a hypocrite? Yes. But if I were to come out, look at the reaction.
You are divorced and have come out, so you obviously have a different point of view (and a little more integrity one could argue) I'm comfortable here in my closet.
Very well said! Thanks!
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