R
RobertLGarrett
Guest
I haven’t seen where I was uncharitable towards you. If I was, then accept my sincerest apology.
Merry Christmas
Are homosexual acts still wrong provided that the Bible is not inspired?
- Status
Merry Christmas
E
Exalt
Guest
Apology accepted!
A
AveSantaMaria
Guest
I have to apologize. I think that I wrote earlier that men without women are often up to no good. Yet, I LOVE the Carmelite monasteries. These places are my deepest sources of feeling the presence of God in this life on a planned basis. 
This is a place for men without women where they are up to a great deal of good for the world. However, these men are chaste, and the Carmelite order is the only order under the patronage of no known human founder, simply Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Elijah so there is still a woman there. Our Blessed Mother. I strongly suspect that a lot of men in these monasteries successfully battle same-sex attraction. These men do a great deal for the world, living as living sacrifices that help sanctify the world through prayer.
St. Padre Pio did little else but pray, hear confessions. St. Padre Pio, who said, “The Rosary is The WEAPON”, said as many as 90 rosaries a day in a special form for which he received ecclesiastical permission. Father Thomas Euteneur, President of Human Life International, cites this in The Rosary Batters the Gates of Hell hli.org/sl_2008-10-03.html Yet Satan told him that he snatched more souls from him than Archangel Michael.
Courage is a Catholic support group for people experiencing same-sex attractions. couragerc.net/ There will be a Courage/EnCourage conference on July 9-12, Villanova University this year. couragerc.net/courage_conference_2009.htm I seriously suspect that if one needs money to go then a local parish or diocese will be willing to sponsor the trip.
I hope to go to be an encourager/friend/ally/support. I think it would be wonderful for men with same-sex attractions to feel more a part of the Catholic Church and to stop feeling so imperfect. It may be a “disordered desire” but other “disordered desires” exist as well. Perhaps The Kingdom of God is for everyone.
It is very possible to have a same-sex attraction and contribute greatly to the Church’s life. I also think that maybe it might soften Catholics on this issue to consider that Michaelangelo, painter of the Sistine Chapel and sculptor of the Pieta, might have also had same-sex attraction. He lived a life of almost “monk-like chastity” wrote 300 poems/letters to a much younger male young friend and had only a spiritualized/intellectualized friendship with a woman in later life. It might also help the Christian community to consider the intentional valuation of male-male friendships with biblical models such as David/Jonathan, and to reflect on Christ’s teaching on eunuchs Matthew 19:4-15.
Pieta
http://www.bulwa.com/P1902Pieta1.JPG
Maybe the Church needs to work on - not changing its moral teaching on same-sex activity - but changing the level of condemnation, providing more support and open role models for same-sex attracted people and loving unconditional community.
This is a place for men without women where they are up to a great deal of good for the world. However, these men are chaste, and the Carmelite order is the only order under the patronage of no known human founder, simply Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Elijah so there is still a woman there. Our Blessed Mother. I strongly suspect that a lot of men in these monasteries successfully battle same-sex attraction. These men do a great deal for the world, living as living sacrifices that help sanctify the world through prayer.St. Padre Pio did little else but pray, hear confessions. St. Padre Pio, who said, “The Rosary is The WEAPON”, said as many as 90 rosaries a day in a special form for which he received ecclesiastical permission. Father Thomas Euteneur, President of Human Life International, cites this in The Rosary Batters the Gates of Hell hli.org/sl_2008-10-03.html Yet Satan told him that he snatched more souls from him than Archangel Michael.
Courage is a Catholic support group for people experiencing same-sex attractions. couragerc.net/ There will be a Courage/EnCourage conference on July 9-12, Villanova University this year. couragerc.net/courage_conference_2009.htm I seriously suspect that if one needs money to go then a local parish or diocese will be willing to sponsor the trip.
I hope to go to be an encourager/friend/ally/support. I think it would be wonderful for men with same-sex attractions to feel more a part of the Catholic Church and to stop feeling so imperfect. It may be a “disordered desire” but other “disordered desires” exist as well. Perhaps The Kingdom of God is for everyone.It is very possible to have a same-sex attraction and contribute greatly to the Church’s life. I also think that maybe it might soften Catholics on this issue to consider that Michaelangelo, painter of the Sistine Chapel and sculptor of the Pieta, might have also had same-sex attraction. He lived a life of almost “monk-like chastity” wrote 300 poems/letters to a much younger male young friend and had only a spiritualized/intellectualized friendship with a woman in later life. It might also help the Christian community to consider the intentional valuation of male-male friendships with biblical models such as David/Jonathan, and to reflect on Christ’s teaching on eunuchs Matthew 19:4-15.
Pieta
http://www.bulwa.com/P1902Pieta1.JPG
Maybe the Church needs to work on - not changing its moral teaching on same-sex activity - but changing the level of condemnation, providing more support and open role models for same-sex attracted people and loving unconditional community.
A
AveSantaMaria
Guest
Why believe in the inspiration of Scripture and the Catholic Church?
Scripture is infalliable because it was listed at the Synod of Hippo chaired by St. Augustine in the 300A.D.s and then later listed and disputed at the Synod of Rome and Synod of Carthage. However, during the Council of Trent during the Protestant Reformation it was first declared and made infalliable. Here is a link to the Council of Trent declaration that makes it infalliable. ewtn.com/library/councils/trent4.htm If it is the Magisterium taht tells us that Scripture is infalliable and rejects other Scriptures that propose to be true then how can we then reject the Magisterium and still lay claim to our belief in Scripture as infalliable. I understand the Magisterium to be a continuation of the Church that Christ established chaired by Peter that he said would not fail, which is what gave it the authority to declare something infalliable or not, such as Scripture.
The vicar of Christ is believed to be established from the living Church that Christ founded. We trace him directly to Peter - this means that just like a new apostle was chosen to replace Judas, with every death of the Bishop of Rome, Peter, a new Pope has been chosen from the earliest of times to replace the old Pope. The Pope leads the Church and is the one who has the moral authority to declare something like Scripture infalliable or not. He has the authority to choose the canon of Scripture and refute such as the Gospel of Peter or Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
The fact that there are disputes between Protestants and Catholics may just be an accumulation of division that we inherit because of people who left the Church that Christ established. Luther established a new Church and dispute certain books. He tried to remove Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelations. These books are called Luther’s Antilegomena and stated that Revelation is “neither apostolic nor prophetic” and stated that “Christ is neither taught nor known in it.” Anglicans established a new Church when they didn’t like the rules on divorce in England. Mormons established a new Church. Seventh Day Adventists established a new Church. Muslims established a new Church. Now the gay bishop is establishing a new Church, splitting the Anglican church even further. Here is a papal timeline. faithfirst.com/html/popeJohn/timeline/timeline.html We have His Holiness St. Peter ca. 64, His Holiness St. Linus 67-76, His Holiness St. Anacletus (Cletus), 76-88, His Holiness St. Clement I, 88-97, His Holiness St. Evaristus, 97-105 and so on to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
In Kibeho, Rwanda prior to the genocide, the Mother of the Word appeared. She said a “river of blood” would happen if people did not convert, repent,pray the Rosary, the Chaplet of Seven Sorrows, and stop committing various moral sins, such as the girls sleeping with certain men. Did a river of blood happen? This New York Times Article on the Rwandan genocide documents the apparitions of Mary prior to the genocide. query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400E4D81738F93BA35757C0A96F958260
Then we look at Fatima, Portugal. See some of the messages from Mary to the three little children: *The war [World War I was still raging] is going to end. But if people do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI… When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light [on January 25-26, 1938 from 9PM to 2AM there appeared over the Northern Hemisphere a very unusual light that scared many people. The New York Times devoted almost an entire page to the event. Scientists attributed it to an exceptional aurora borealis] “know that this is the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its many crimes by means of war, hunger and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father” [Within two months of the sign, in March of 1938, Hitler invaded his first country, Austria.] loveandmercy.org/loveandmercy/fatima.htm
New York Times article: January 26, 1938
Aurura Borealis Startles Europe; People Flee in Fear, Call Firemen; Britons Thought Windsor Castle Ablaze–Scots See Ill Omen-Snow-Clad Swiss Alps Glow–Short-Wave Radio Halts The most brilliant display of an aurora borealis in fifty years held Britons spellbound over a wide area of this country tonight. From 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. the people of London watched two magnificent arcs rising in the east and west, from which radiated pulsating beams like searchlights in dark red, greenish blue and purple. [End of First Paragraph] Buy This Article, Single Article $3.95 select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00817FB355A157A93C4AB178AD85F4C8385F9
Other articles
Los Angeles Times, Jan 26, 1938 Aurora Borealis Upsets Europeans pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/743927742.html?dids=743927742:743927742&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&date=Jan+26%2C+1938&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Aurora+Borealis+Upsets+Europeans&pqatl=google
Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan 26, 1938Aurora Borealis Glows in Widest Area Since 1709Abstract (Document Summary) Radio and telegraphic communication was disrupted and persons in many parts of the world were awed tonight as the aurora borealis [northern lights] flamed brilliantly farther south than the phenomenon ever has been seen by this generation.
pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/441756312.html?dids=441756312:441756312&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jan+26%2C+1938&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune&desc=AURORA+BOREALIS+GLOWS+IN+WIDEST+AREA+SINCE+1709&pqatl=google*
Scripture is infalliable because it was listed at the Synod of Hippo chaired by St. Augustine in the 300A.D.s and then later listed and disputed at the Synod of Rome and Synod of Carthage. However, during the Council of Trent during the Protestant Reformation it was first declared and made infalliable. Here is a link to the Council of Trent declaration that makes it infalliable. ewtn.com/library/councils/trent4.htm If it is the Magisterium taht tells us that Scripture is infalliable and rejects other Scriptures that propose to be true then how can we then reject the Magisterium and still lay claim to our belief in Scripture as infalliable. I understand the Magisterium to be a continuation of the Church that Christ established chaired by Peter that he said would not fail, which is what gave it the authority to declare something infalliable or not, such as Scripture.
The vicar of Christ is believed to be established from the living Church that Christ founded. We trace him directly to Peter - this means that just like a new apostle was chosen to replace Judas, with every death of the Bishop of Rome, Peter, a new Pope has been chosen from the earliest of times to replace the old Pope. The Pope leads the Church and is the one who has the moral authority to declare something like Scripture infalliable or not. He has the authority to choose the canon of Scripture and refute such as the Gospel of Peter or Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
The fact that there are disputes between Protestants and Catholics may just be an accumulation of division that we inherit because of people who left the Church that Christ established. Luther established a new Church and dispute certain books. He tried to remove Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelations. These books are called Luther’s Antilegomena and stated that Revelation is “neither apostolic nor prophetic” and stated that “Christ is neither taught nor known in it.” Anglicans established a new Church when they didn’t like the rules on divorce in England. Mormons established a new Church. Seventh Day Adventists established a new Church. Muslims established a new Church. Now the gay bishop is establishing a new Church, splitting the Anglican church even further. Here is a papal timeline. faithfirst.com/html/popeJohn/timeline/timeline.html We have His Holiness St. Peter ca. 64, His Holiness St. Linus 67-76, His Holiness St. Anacletus (Cletus), 76-88, His Holiness St. Clement I, 88-97, His Holiness St. Evaristus, 97-105 and so on to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
In Kibeho, Rwanda prior to the genocide, the Mother of the Word appeared. She said a “river of blood” would happen if people did not convert, repent,pray the Rosary, the Chaplet of Seven Sorrows, and stop committing various moral sins, such as the girls sleeping with certain men. Did a river of blood happen? This New York Times Article on the Rwandan genocide documents the apparitions of Mary prior to the genocide. query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400E4D81738F93BA35757C0A96F958260
Then we look at Fatima, Portugal. See some of the messages from Mary to the three little children: *The war [World War I was still raging] is going to end. But if people do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI… When you shall see a night illuminated by an unknown light [on January 25-26, 1938 from 9PM to 2AM there appeared over the Northern Hemisphere a very unusual light that scared many people. The New York Times devoted almost an entire page to the event. Scientists attributed it to an exceptional aurora borealis] “know that this is the great sign that God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its many crimes by means of war, hunger and persecution of the Church and the Holy Father” [Within two months of the sign, in March of 1938, Hitler invaded his first country, Austria.] loveandmercy.org/loveandmercy/fatima.htm
New York Times article: January 26, 1938
Aurura Borealis Startles Europe; People Flee in Fear, Call Firemen; Britons Thought Windsor Castle Ablaze–Scots See Ill Omen-Snow-Clad Swiss Alps Glow–Short-Wave Radio Halts The most brilliant display of an aurora borealis in fifty years held Britons spellbound over a wide area of this country tonight. From 6:30 to 8:30 P.M. the people of London watched two magnificent arcs rising in the east and west, from which radiated pulsating beams like searchlights in dark red, greenish blue and purple. [End of First Paragraph] Buy This Article, Single Article $3.95 select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00817FB355A157A93C4AB178AD85F4C8385F9
Other articles
Los Angeles Times, Jan 26, 1938 Aurora Borealis Upsets Europeans pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/743927742.html?dids=743927742:743927742&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&date=Jan+26%2C+1938&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Aurora+Borealis+Upsets+Europeans&pqatl=google
Chicago Daily Tribune, Jan 26, 1938Aurora Borealis Glows in Widest Area Since 1709Abstract (Document Summary) Radio and telegraphic communication was disrupted and persons in many parts of the world were awed tonight as the aurora borealis [northern lights] flamed brilliantly farther south than the phenomenon ever has been seen by this generation.
pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/441756312.html?dids=441756312:441756312&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jan+26%2C+1938&author=&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune&desc=AURORA+BOREALIS+GLOWS+IN+WIDEST+AREA+SINCE+1709&pqatl=google*
A
AveSantaMaria
Guest
Now, there are more apparitions. As far as I can tell the Church is silent. But they warn about the punishments the world will receive. Jesus and Mary specifically mention abortion and gay marriage. Maybe they mention other things, I don’t know. We don’t have to listen. However, when did the Church approve Kibeho, Rwanda apparitions - was it before or after the Rwandan genocide. Do we want to take the chance that these Georgia apparitions will have to take place and the world be punished before we figure out that we should listen? To me, when I read these messages or hear quotes by Mother Teresa by others (haven’t verified for myself the truth though), it sounds like the punishment is nuclear war and she said “The fruit of abortion is nuclear War.” ourlovingmother.org/
Let us compare slavery/colonialism/racism, genocide, abortion/euthanasia, and nuclear war in the level to which they value life. Slavery/colonialism/racism - treats another group of people like dogs, but still wants them alive to work.
Genocide - decides another group of people needs to be exterminated. Abortion/euthanasia - decides than one’s own self or one’s own children need to be exterminated.
A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, 'Cover us!'Luke 23:27-30
Nuclear war - potential for exterminating the entire world - nature everything.
When I read St. Maria Faustina’s Diary, I was struck by the fact that she said that God held his hand back from punishing the world because of her prayer. I was also struck by the fact that she mentioned that one city would receive wrath of God for punishment of its sins, like the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the footnotes, it was suggested that this city was one of the cities bombed during the Holocaust. She died at age of 33 - just like Christ - on October 5, 1938. In March of 1938, Hitler invaded his first country in WWII. On January 1939, Hitler announced in a public speech, “If international-finance Jewry inside and outside Europe should succeed once more in plunging the nations into yet another world war, the consequences will not be the Bolshevization of the earth and thereby the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.” “Justice is mine,” says the Lord, I will repay."
Let us compare slavery/colonialism/racism, genocide, abortion/euthanasia, and nuclear war in the level to which they value life. Slavery/colonialism/racism - treats another group of people like dogs, but still wants them alive to work.
Genocide - decides another group of people needs to be exterminated. Abortion/euthanasia - decides than one’s own self or one’s own children need to be exterminated.
A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, 'Cover us!'Luke 23:27-30
Nuclear war - potential for exterminating the entire world - nature everything.
When I read St. Maria Faustina’s Diary, I was struck by the fact that she said that God held his hand back from punishing the world because of her prayer. I was also struck by the fact that she mentioned that one city would receive wrath of God for punishment of its sins, like the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. In the footnotes, it was suggested that this city was one of the cities bombed during the Holocaust. She died at age of 33 - just like Christ - on October 5, 1938. In March of 1938, Hitler invaded his first country in WWII. On January 1939, Hitler announced in a public speech, “If international-finance Jewry inside and outside Europe should succeed once more in plunging the nations into yet another world war, the consequences will not be the Bolshevization of the earth and thereby the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe.” “Justice is mine,” says the Lord, I will repay."
If we receive nuclear war on our country, it will be because of the 45 million people killed as a result of Roe v. Wade. As Mother Teresa said,"The fruit of abortion is nuclear war. :eak:
A
AveSantaMaria
Guest
I deeply apologize for any lack of charity or love that I and other Christians have unintentionally or intentionally shown the same-sex attracted community in our commitment to following the truth of Christ. 
Z
zaqxswcde
Guest
Reaching Out to Gay Friends…
by Kristin J. Tremba
Do you have family members and friends who identify themselves as homosexual or who struggle with same-sex attraction? As a Christian who loves your friend or family member, do you find it difficult to know how to respond?
Perhaps you are gay-identified or you struggle with same-sex attraction? Do you find it difficult being a Christian and trusting your sexuality to God in this area? Do you wonder if you are living according to God’s will for your life and if the Bible really says homosexual behavior is a sin?
Ten years ago, I asked these questions about my own struggle with same-sex attraction. At the time, I debated whether I was going to “come out” and live with a woman, and I was in turmoil over this decision because I was a Christian. I loved Jesus Christ, and I studied the Bible. I grew up in a Christian family, the daughter and granddaughter of Presbyterian ministers.
However, even though I knew that the Scriptures forbade homosexuality in the Old and New Testaments without exception, I still thought that if God loved me he would let me have love even if it was unconventional…
But I was not content to just wonder. I needed to know. So one day I got on my knees and I prayed this prayer: “Lord, you know I love you, but I don’t know what to do about this area of my life and this relationship with this woman. More than anything, though, Lord, I want your will to be done in my life. No matter what, let your will be done in my life.”
I stood up and went about my business, not making any decision to end or continue the relationship. A week later, I received a phone call from the woman who professed to love me and planned to move in with me, saying that she wasn’t coming. I never saw her again.
I knew God had answered my prayer and had ended this relationship, but instead of being grateful to him, I was angry. I rationalized that following Christ meant that I would be alone and unloved. I mistakenly believed that serving God meant living a joyless existence of deprivation and suffering. How wrong I was.
It was during this time of anger and confusion that God revealed an amazing truth to me about what it means to follow Jesus. One day I was driving my car, oblivious to the fact that the stop light had turned red. I ran the light and a truck ploughed into my car, totaling it…
In God’s mercy, he had me crash in front of an apartment where I had opened up and prayed with Christians about my same-sex attraction. The girls with whom I had prayed came out of the house and into the street. One girl put her arms around me and held me as a cried. I had remembered that the first time I felt sexual feelings for another woman was when I was comforting her as she cried in my arms. In light of this memory, I pulled my arm away from hers so as not to give her the wrong impression; after all, she knew about my “issue”.
However, as I pulled my arm away, she took my arm and pulled it back around her. In that gesture, God spoke to my heart and said to me, “My dear Kristin, I did not come to deprive you of love but to give it to you - in my way. Trust me to provide for you and follow me.” Initially, my anger turned to fear, and then gradually my fear turned to trust, and then finally trust turned into joy because God came through. His word is true; God provided for me. Was it easy? No. Was it quick? No…God never gave up on me. He always protected, always trusted, always hoped and persevered. His love never failed.
The Psalmist’s prayer is true of my life: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry… He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord…” (Psalm 40:105).
Following Jesus meant that I trusted him to provide for me at all costs - no matter how long it took and no matter how confusing and difficult my circumstances. During this time, God revealed himself to me deeply and personally as I trusted him. He became my Father and friend. He loved me as a good husband loves his wife, as a good father loves his daughter. He began to change my mindset and to heal my heart. He taught me why he set boundaries for us, not to keep us from joy but to give it to us.
I came to realize that my same-sex attraction stemmed from a deep need to have emotional intimacy with the same sex, a healthy intimacy that had been short-circuited as a child and adolescent. I learned that only God, our perfect parent, can fully meet our emotional needs. When I went to others to meet all my emotional needs - to a woman in a sexual relationship or to a man in a sexual relationship outside of marriage, I was making people my idol - I worshiped them above God - and trusted them to give me what I thought God had deprived me from having. These relationships always ended in disappointment because only God can fully provide; people fall short.
Today I’m married to a loving and devoted Christian man, and though I have only been married a very short time, I am learning that in even in marriage, I still need to go to God first to meet my core needs for love, security, and identity before I go to my husband for these things. Only God is worthy of our worship because only God can fully meet the deepest needs of our hearts.
C.S. Lewis was right when he said that we are like children content to play with mud pies in a slum because we have never seen or experienced a day at the ocean. Had I believed the world, well-meaning but misguided Christians, and a Church that is increasingly advocating gay marriage and celebrating homosexuality, I would never have experienced the joy of living in obedience to God’s commands and the blessings that have come from it…
If we don’t tell them, who will?
by Kristin J. Tremba
Do you have family members and friends who identify themselves as homosexual or who struggle with same-sex attraction? As a Christian who loves your friend or family member, do you find it difficult to know how to respond?
Perhaps you are gay-identified or you struggle with same-sex attraction? Do you find it difficult being a Christian and trusting your sexuality to God in this area? Do you wonder if you are living according to God’s will for your life and if the Bible really says homosexual behavior is a sin?
Ten years ago, I asked these questions about my own struggle with same-sex attraction. At the time, I debated whether I was going to “come out” and live with a woman, and I was in turmoil over this decision because I was a Christian. I loved Jesus Christ, and I studied the Bible. I grew up in a Christian family, the daughter and granddaughter of Presbyterian ministers.
However, even though I knew that the Scriptures forbade homosexuality in the Old and New Testaments without exception, I still thought that if God loved me he would let me have love even if it was unconventional…
But I was not content to just wonder. I needed to know. So one day I got on my knees and I prayed this prayer: “Lord, you know I love you, but I don’t know what to do about this area of my life and this relationship with this woman. More than anything, though, Lord, I want your will to be done in my life. No matter what, let your will be done in my life.”
I stood up and went about my business, not making any decision to end or continue the relationship. A week later, I received a phone call from the woman who professed to love me and planned to move in with me, saying that she wasn’t coming. I never saw her again.
I knew God had answered my prayer and had ended this relationship, but instead of being grateful to him, I was angry. I rationalized that following Christ meant that I would be alone and unloved. I mistakenly believed that serving God meant living a joyless existence of deprivation and suffering. How wrong I was.
It was during this time of anger and confusion that God revealed an amazing truth to me about what it means to follow Jesus. One day I was driving my car, oblivious to the fact that the stop light had turned red. I ran the light and a truck ploughed into my car, totaling it…
In God’s mercy, he had me crash in front of an apartment where I had opened up and prayed with Christians about my same-sex attraction. The girls with whom I had prayed came out of the house and into the street. One girl put her arms around me and held me as a cried. I had remembered that the first time I felt sexual feelings for another woman was when I was comforting her as she cried in my arms. In light of this memory, I pulled my arm away from hers so as not to give her the wrong impression; after all, she knew about my “issue”.
However, as I pulled my arm away, she took my arm and pulled it back around her. In that gesture, God spoke to my heart and said to me, “My dear Kristin, I did not come to deprive you of love but to give it to you - in my way. Trust me to provide for you and follow me.” Initially, my anger turned to fear, and then gradually my fear turned to trust, and then finally trust turned into joy because God came through. His word is true; God provided for me. Was it easy? No. Was it quick? No…God never gave up on me. He always protected, always trusted, always hoped and persevered. His love never failed.
The Psalmist’s prayer is true of my life: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry… He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord…” (Psalm 40:105).
Following Jesus meant that I trusted him to provide for me at all costs - no matter how long it took and no matter how confusing and difficult my circumstances. During this time, God revealed himself to me deeply and personally as I trusted him. He became my Father and friend. He loved me as a good husband loves his wife, as a good father loves his daughter. He began to change my mindset and to heal my heart. He taught me why he set boundaries for us, not to keep us from joy but to give it to us.
I came to realize that my same-sex attraction stemmed from a deep need to have emotional intimacy with the same sex, a healthy intimacy that had been short-circuited as a child and adolescent. I learned that only God, our perfect parent, can fully meet our emotional needs. When I went to others to meet all my emotional needs - to a woman in a sexual relationship or to a man in a sexual relationship outside of marriage, I was making people my idol - I worshiped them above God - and trusted them to give me what I thought God had deprived me from having. These relationships always ended in disappointment because only God can fully provide; people fall short.
Today I’m married to a loving and devoted Christian man, and though I have only been married a very short time, I am learning that in even in marriage, I still need to go to God first to meet my core needs for love, security, and identity before I go to my husband for these things. Only God is worthy of our worship because only God can fully meet the deepest needs of our hearts.
C.S. Lewis was right when he said that we are like children content to play with mud pies in a slum because we have never seen or experienced a day at the ocean. Had I believed the world, well-meaning but misguided Christians, and a Church that is increasingly advocating gay marriage and celebrating homosexuality, I would never have experienced the joy of living in obedience to God’s commands and the blessings that have come from it…
If we don’t tell them, who will?
- Status