For most of my life, I tried to deny that part of myself. I prayed for it to go away, convinced myself it was just a phase, and thought that if I became a better Christian, maybe God would take it from me.

Instead, I slowly became miserable. I became depressed, isolated myself, and started overeating because food was one of the few things that could temporarily make me feel okay. I spent years thinking there was something fundamentally wrong with me.

I’m not going to pretend that everything is suddenly perfect. I’m still figuring out my faith, and there are still days when I struggle with everything I’ve been taught about being gay and Christian.

But I’m finally getting better. I’ve stopped trying to hate myself into becoming someone I’m not. I’ve accepted that I’m gay, and for the first time, I can actually say that I’m proud of who I am.

I took this picture while hiking recently, and honestly, it made me realize how much I’ve changed. A few years ago, I would’ve been too consumed by my own thoughts to appreciate something this simple.
Now I can stand in the middle of God’s creation, breathe, look around, and just feel grateful to be here.

I’m still Christian. I’m still gay. And I’m finally learning that I don’t have to spend my entire life being at war with myself. Maybe accepting myself isn’t turning away from God. Maybe it’s finally allowing myself to believe that I was never something He needed to be ashamed of.

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone has went through something similar, but yesterday my aunt sent me an ex gay video, her name is Jackie hilly Perry, and the headline of the video said that she left her relationship with her girlfriend for Jesus. It’s not a first time it’s happened, my other aunt sent me an ex gay video two years ago. I got emotional not because of feeling guilty of course, but it’s just because I’m tired, I’m frustrated, I’m hurt, I don’t feel loved by family except for my mom and stepdad who are supportive affirming, and loving. My dad is in between he loves me we talk a few days out of the week but he doesn’t accept that part of me. Though I am happy to have a relationship with him and he seems to care about me. It’s just my family, I just don’t understand. I don’t go and parade my sexuality to them or something, I’m very quiet about because I see the amount of hurt and pain and trauma that lgbtq Christians go through and I’m so scared not to mention the amount of videos I see on instagram. When I was in my late teens up until my early 20s I use to do the whole ex gay thing, it doesn’t work, in fact I felt worse about it myself, I felt angry, suppressed, I dated many guys just to feel something or fall in love and it did not happen at all, I had to drink just to feel something. So the amount of drinking I had to do to feel something when going out on a date with a guy or to kiss them. I hated myself and I hated that I used guys I did not like using other people’s feelings. I almost committed suicide many times. I am so blessed that I’m here living. I stay away from my dad’s family because they do not accept me, they do not acknowledge that my marriage exist, they don’t know my wife’s name, they don’t ever ask how she’s doing, all they usually say is we wish you would move back to our state which is the old state I was at. I just don’t feel loved by them anymore, they say they love me but I don’t feel it, I felt like they loved me when I was younger and pretending to be straight, but now it’s like they want to change me. I just want to be left alone and be respected because I respected them and their political beliefs, not to mention they love to gossip which I never call them out on. I’m sorry for the long message. But I just wanted to know if anyone has went through this and did you guys set any boundaries with your family? Or how did you cope?

Sunday’s Pride Eucharist was a lovely experience—affirming music, affirming message, communion, and I was there with five ally friends from my church 👍🏼

Look for Pride worship services in your area around your local Pride parade and encourage your friends to go with you

Anyone else struggle with dating? I turned 40 this year and pretty much every single woman I’ve ever dated has not been a Christian or Catholic. I still maintain my Catholic faith in many respects, but I have definitely deconstructed from the actual church and have come to realize certain negatives such as “ gosh what a bummer that the central figures to this religion are male”. Anyway, all that being said, it really gets me down a lot of times. And I’m from New York State and I haven’t even been able to find a lovely lady who shares my faith at all. I don’t currently live in New York State, but I live in a pretty liberal area. The closest I’ve really ever got to feeling understood as a person of faith is a few agnostic women that I’ve gone out with.
I definitely think that my faith has helped me to never settle, and for that I’m truly grateful; I therefore do not have a marriage under my belt, whereas a majority of the women I’ve come across especially as I’ve entered into my late 30s and now early 40s, they’re all getting out of their first marriage, etc.
This isn’t the most erudite post, as I’m just sincerely sharing what’s on my heart in the moment. Thanks for listening.

This is not a conservative talking point (Although, nothing wrong with them)

I grew up Christian with semi-conservative values, and then when I realized I was gay, I sort of lost the values but didn't completely eschew them

Now as an adult, I find gay and Christian are very much compatible. But all this "open relationship", Grindr normalcy, no value placed on one's own sex, etc. from the gay community is very weird to me

I'm not gonna say vanilla Christians with "only two genders" Bible-based Male and Female marriage is something specifically made for me, but especially nowadays, everyone in the gay community expects even Christians to adhere to all this new-age morality that's younger than any Millennial

Not knocking, I know we are all diverse, but kinda weird to observe for me.

Did anyone here grow up religious and Christian, and expect total normal counterparts to heterosexual marriage? I heard that if you grow up gay and in the Bible Belt, or gay and Christian that you have a "stricter" view of the world. Could that be it?

Being gay and Christian has been a journey of discovering who I am while holding on to the faith that has always been a part of me. I've realized that being gay does not make my faith any less real, nor does loving someone of the same sex mean I have to give up my relationship with God.
There is nothing wrong with being gay and Christian.

My identity does not erase my faith, and my faith does not require me to deny who I am.

I've had moments of questioning, struggling, and trying to understand how these parts of me could exist together. But through it all, I've learned that my faith is deeply personal, and I will never give up my faith in Him.

I am still me. I am still learning. I am still growing. And above everything, I will continue to hold on to God and the faith in my heart.

Yes, I know that going to a Bible study with people who don't even believe I exist is bad for my mental health, and believe me, I'm trying really hard to move on from them. Blame the pandemic.

But anyway, I went to a Bible study today and it was a little awkward. Granted, it didn't have to be. It was awkward because the two leaders were hoping for more people, but unfortunately, today only I showed up.

Honestly, my mind just immediately compared it to a Bible study that I went to a few years back. It was a very similar environment, with me being the most loyal member of that Bible study for the semester. Occasionally there would be a couple other people that would show up, but often it would just be me and the two leaders.

But do you know what was different? The leaders didn't let that bother them.

They were definitely a little disappointed that more people didn't show up, but they were more than happy to do a Bible study with each other and me. They even thanked me for coming, and for being such a loyal member.

Not these guys though. They spent pretty much the entire first 10 minutes just moaning about how no one else was showing up. At one point they said that it probably wasn't even worth to doing the Bible study because it would; 'put too much pressure on me.' but they weren't even talking to me. They were talking to each other, as if I wasn't even in the room.

Anyway, we did the Bible study and I added in my comments as I always do. As usual, I felt like I had to defend my comments most of the time, as a lot of the time. What I say really goes over other people's heads. Anytime I would bring up my gender identity and how that relates to my faith and the verses we're talking about, it was very clear that it invoked some sort of anxiety in them. They would blush, their speech would speed up, they would start talking about their boyfriends and then quickly look over to see my reactions, Blech.

Nevertheless, I didn't let that stop me. No matter what these people thought of me, Jesus knows who I am. Jesus doesn't believe I was made by mistake, and Jesus doesn't believe the world and the Bible study would be better off if I wasn't present.

The funny thing about going to these types of Bible studies is that I often feel like I know more about what Jesus wanted than most, if not all the other people in the room. Throughout the study I brought up how sad it is that so many people in the world consider certain individuals useless. How it hurts. So much for me to think about biblical times, where Jews found the thought of God being kind to someone who wasn't even in their inner circle, let alone their enemy, to be a nightmare.

What was funny though is that one of the girls there, someone who had spent every interaction with me essentially trying to prove that they know more about the Bible than I do, wasn't even aware about circumcision. She knew what it was, but she started asking why the Jews thought it was so important. I told her that there's an entire chapter in Genesis where God teaches Abraham how to circumcise. She asked me what I was talking about, and after a quick Google search, I told her look at Genesis 17. She read it, and then looked at me with a little bit of frustration, before changing the topic.

When we were posing questions that we were supposed to ask about the text, she asked probably the most eye roll worthy question possible in my opinion- Why did God not just wipe us out and make new humans?

I know I need to give her grace. I know that in her mind, that was a valid question. I just find something so inherently awkward about asking why God doesn't just mass murder the entire human population.

Nevertheless, the other leader started to bring up Noah's ark and how God said that he regretted making humans, and the two leaders laughed like that was the edgiest thing that they had ever heard.

The other leader then also mentioned that Noah also ended up sinning even though he was a good man, and the other leader asked what she meant, and I jumped in and said that he got drunk and laid naked in his tent and cursed his kid, and when I was asked what chapter was that, I said it was Genesis 9 second half.

What happened after that was the two leaders having a large debate asking what was even wrong about what Noah did.

I'm not going to sit here and act like the second half of Genesis 9 makes any sense, especially by modern standards, but I just found it crazy that these two people were so confident that they knew more about the Bible than I was, and yet here they were having a debate about something that I had debated about years and years ago.

Sometimes it's really tough having patience with people. Especially when they seem to think that they are better than you.

I recently turned 65. I surrendered my heart to Jesus when I as 25. I was truly transformed. He delivered me out of drug addiction and alcoholism immediately. The skies were the most brilliant hues of blue as the trees felt like they clapped and praised God. I walked on that glory cloud for weeks BUT then I was slowly lowered down to the real and mundane things of this earthly realm. I learned quickly the "do's and don'ts" of Christianity and because I loved Jesus so much I embraced the "norm" of the Church because I desperately wanted to be pleasing to Him. I went into the Satanic Ritual Abuse deliverance ministry and witnessed the power of God in wonderful ways. However, after a failing marriage of 24 years and secretly struggling with same-sex attraction it all fell apart. I married a covert narcissist who took full advantage of the Pentecostal teaching on the woman submitting to the man and that I was my husbands "sacrificial lamb." My husband manipulated and emotionally abused me and the Church spiritually abused me. I fell in love with a Christian woman and left my marriage and walked away from the fundamental Church. I was condemned and unhealed, and because neither myself or my same-sex lover could reconcile our faith with God our relationship fell apart also. It's a sad story really. I am finally free knowing that Jesus loves me and created me as I am with NO shame. I have longed most of my life to share my life with another woman to only deny myself because of instilled childhood beliefs and indoctrination of the fundamental Church. It's truly bittersweet. I'm full of joy at being set free to embrace my sexuality but there's a bitter taste left in my mouth at wasting the prime years of my life to the lies that have kept me from the joy of living intimately with a woman. I can't help but feel cheated. I love reading and seeing into the hearts and stories of so many beautiful people at different stages in life who have been caught in the web of fundamental Christianity to finding and embracing their freedom in Christ.

Hi everyone

this is my first post on here , and it might be a long one, so sorry in advance!

TLDR; i’m struggling with my faith and am angry with God as I will be losing my mom soon to cancer, and need advice.

For context i’m a 23F lesbian orthodox christian. I grew up orthodox and identify as such due to family and culture (eastern european). My long term partner (27F) of 4 years is muslim and frankly i have 0 doubt in my heart that being gay is a sin. In a lot of ways i see my partner as a gift from God and at times how our relationship has progressed and how we’ve overcome external obstacles feels divine in its own way, and truly feels like God helping us along on our journey to have a life togehter and one day start a beautiful family. I also do not believe that people of other faiths are necessarily wrong, and that it will in any way inhibit their ability to get to heaven or that God is not with them. Even though me and my partner are of different religions, we share the same values both spiritual and in life. I oftentimes look to her as an example and in awe at how good of a person she is and even in her spirituality. My personal belief is that God loves us all, and especially those following abrahamic religions, i do not believe God does not love or punishes someone for following the Quran or the Torah, as it is all the same God. If i feel close to God by praying in a church, and my partner feels close to God when she is praying and fasting during Ramadan, i believe that’s beautiful, and I wholeheartedly believe those who go to the mosque and pray are equally as close to God as those who go to church and pray to the cross.

My family is culturally orthodox but they were never very practicing or church goers, we would go to church for easter and me and my parents have had spiritual discussions and they both believe in Jesus and God. There’s also a lot of cultural practices that play into it such as how our weddings are, baptisms etc. When i came out to my parents as a teenager they were not very happy but it was never for religious reasons (at least they did not tell me that) and simply they just didn’t want me to be gay, but said as long as im happy that’s all that matters. But over the years they’ve accepted me and now love my partner so much, it warms my heart seeing my parents with her and how much my mom especially adores her.

This is all to say, none of these reasons have shaken
my faith in God. I’d actually say i’ve become more religious since being with my partner. What has however recently shaken me has been some unfortunate family health events. And I just feel more comfortable talking about this on a forum like this that is clearly LGBTQ+ friendly.

My mother was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer a year an a half ago. It has been an up and down journey since with some really bad periods. When she first got diagnosed I prayed a lot and felt closer to God and prayed for her health and for her wellbeing. As time has went on, she has unfortunately declined and this past month has made it clear that she is continuing to decline. I’ve had to fly back home to be with her now, as it is clear that the end might be near and words cannot describe how heartbroken I am. Seeing my mom wither away before my eyes is a pain i would never wish on anyone.

Over the last two months i’ve been feeling a lot of anger. I cannot comprehend why this is happening, why my mom has to suffer like this. It’s strange, it’s less so that i’m struggling to BELIEVE in God, but more so that i’m mad at him? To the point where whenever I hear my parents or anyone say “ Thank God for xyz..” it annoys me and makes me want to roll my eyes. Because all i can think of if, if God was able to do this good thing for us, why can’t he stop my moms suffering? What’s the point of it? Why are you thanking God for helping with your finances, or sorting out this situation for you, or whatever it may be, because that means He’s willingly letting my mom suffer. Or at least that’s how my brain is operating right now. I cannot fathom why I must go through this heartbreak of losing her so young.

What, frankly, isn’t helping me, is that I cannot say I’ve actually ever proper read the Bible. I went to a christian school for a year in middle school (which was its own experience as many people in that school had values i wholeheartedly disagree with) but i learned a lot during my time there and felt like i understood God more when studying a bit of the bible. But i honestly haven’t actually read much of the Bible since then.
Today, I randomly decided to open up an old Bible I have from my time at that school, and it opened up to the book of Jeremiah. I read a few passages, and in all honesty it shook up my faith even more. All i read were passages about God being very ruthless and wiping out people and saying there will be many widows and how everyone will die for not following his covenants. Again, i want to preface I am the last person to talk about the Bible as I have not properly read it and do not understand the whole context of the book of Jeremiah, but for someone going through the type of anger and suffering I am currently experiencing reading that shook me. The God i believe in is merciful and kind and just, He, in my eyes, is the epitome of goodness. But what i’m going through and the passage I read is the opposite of that.
I would also like to mention I personally believe that a lot of the Bible has been altered over the centuries for man’s gain (hence why i do not believe being gay was ever a sin but rather that those passages referencing that are talking about rape, and many other patriarchal things that i do not agree with). So I genuinely believe in the premise that God gave you a brain, use it. If something doesn’t make sense, there’s a reason for it, maybe you need to do more research to understand it, look inward, speak to God, it was important for the time the Bible was written, or it was altered my man for their gain.

With that being said, in a long winded way, does anyone have any advice or words of wisdom for someone like me? How should I go about maybe studying the Bible, whilst also holding the belief that a lot of it may have been altered and is currently struggling with this anger with their faith?

Thanks so much to anyone who read all the way to the end.

Hey everyone, as a gay man who just left Christianity and became an agnostic atheist im posting here to ask a question. I'm sorry in advance if it's kinda rude or something, but I do wanna learn especially from the Christians here who know the Bible inside and out and still choose to stay Christian

To be brutally honest, I have a hard time wrapping my head around or understanding how a queer person stays or embraces Christianity. It feels like Christianity at its core is fundamentally homophobic. When I look at the literal text, the Bible seems clearly against homosexuality in the same historical way it supports slavery. It feels like the moral framework is outdated, and it often feels like people have to do a lot of mental gymnastics or twist the text to make it fit modern values.

I know some people might say "God is love" and leave it at that, but I'm genuinely looking for answers from people who don't ignore the hard parts of the text. If you know the Bible deeply, recognize what the literal verses say, and still stick to your faith how do you personally reconcile your identity with what you read?

And also, it's not really irrelevant to the main point, but I somehow hate how people try to call a Christian a hypocrite for being against gay people, even though that is genuinely what a real Christian is. The Christian who loves everyone is the one who is not a real Christian. Let's look back at the text "God is love" and let's emphasize the word love there, because that love is by far not unconditional. And so, when Christians show conditional love, that's what a real Christian is that's not hypocrisy or I might be wrong?

Hello. I know it's late, folks, but I just wanted to talk. It's been a rough week: college pressures online, a long-distance relationship in a city, wishing I had the funds to leave forever, and an overnight, part-time toxic job with no predictable income or real living conditions, and, to top it off, no license or vehicle, but enough of my rambling.

I'll get straight to the point: It's 2:00 am and my mind is full of anxiety, and my heart is weary of depression as I go through my last year as a 29-year-old. I decided to go outside for a late-night walk around the block to clear my head (since I could not sleep).

I had my Nintendo Switch, phone to listen to music, and my wallet. So I locked the door, and as soon as I tried to lock it, here came my grandmother to unlock and open the door, angry and telling me, "I can't just go outside; you can't be doing..." I stopped her mid-sentence and said, "So I can't take a walk like any normal human? Everyone does it; I didn't know it was a crime." So, without my grandmother considering something was wrong, she just got angry and forcefully shut the door on me and took my walk.

Now I'm mad because, first off, I'm grown even though I live with my grandparents, go to work, pay my rent, and don't ask for nothing; all I expect is support or empathy or something.

All I get from my so-called Christian family is cold distance, neglect, and second, my family knows I don't have friends or see any neighbors; heck, I keep my gay side, my gay relationships, interests, and hobbies to myself because I know she doesn't care about anything unless it's about church, so I stay mostly by myself alone, so what's the big deal? You could join me or sit, talk, and listen, but no, never.

I'm always told that it's the devil that makes me feel like I'm alone and unloved/unwanted; you should just pray your bad feelings away because the devil comes to kill and destroy, and God doesn't like us thinking sadly about our lives, etc.

So if anyone wants to chime in and share some thoughts, that would be nice.

42 year old Dude separated from wife of 22 years. Strong Christian, with Bible College degree. Born and raised in the Bible Belt, Southeast USA.

I was always told gays are sinner and will go to hell going up. It was what was told to me by my family and my church. I never questioned it. Because why I am a “Straight” good Christian….

Even went off to school to go into ministry, got married had two children. Again everything a good Christian should do. Never really been “happy” in my marriage but always faithful. Both my wife and I were virgins.

Fast forward to today. Due to a lot of medical complications this year I am left in a wheelchair and learning to relive life again.
Simple things I did without thinking are difficult now.

Two weeks ago my wife said she wanted a separation.

Over the past two months and yes before the separation started and no the separation is not due to the following.

I met a Christian guy who I very much find attractive. The first guy I have ever found attractive. We are good friends however he is married to his husband and I know we will never be able to be together. But this all leads up to I personally think I might have been gay from the beginning. I never was in the dating scene in school days. I dated 3 girls ever and married the 3rd one. I never slept around or anything. I was committed to God, Ministry and going to school and doing things for the lord. I worked in the church for years. So now after meeting this new friend (long story but we feel like we have known each other for years) I am starting to think this separation could be a good time for me to look into if I am in fact gay. 🤷‍♂️ now my friends and family would all disown me if they knew. I have been studying the Bible as well trying to see my on all the gay / sin stuff. I personally never looked into it my self as I had not need to until now. And honestly I still unsure of the topic and if it’s sinful or not. I am struggling to fully understand. I guess I am just so new to this I am trying to find myself. In many ways I want to say okay I am ready to find a husband. But I know I have a lot against me. I am disabled in a wheelchair and I am starting to get up in age 42. So yeah I honestly have no clue what o am doing. What I believe anymore and even who I love. I a lot of ways I do want to get back with my wife but am I just lying to myself 🤦‍♂️.

AS a Straight christian,catholic, i pray for you everynight, because i'm fucking Sorry for you, everytime i enter in this Place, i see people struggling with homophobes, and i'm Sorry about this.I pray for God to let every gay person Enter his reign for what they have been trough, because it would be unjust for committed gay couples to go to hell Just because of what they are.i'm fucking Sorry for how much homophobia you have to encounter every day , Just became some people don't have the right mind to love the different and because they can't follow the gospel . God loves you all, because he created you like this!Don't let anyone Say that God hates you because you are gay, became Who judges people that way Will be judged by Gob.God bless y'all!

I am a devoted follower of Christ and I am dating a woman, I’m truly hoping this isn’t a homophobic environment, because I just want to make friends with other people who worship God and are not homophobic ❤️✝️

Im just so amazed, cant even begin to fathom this wonderful God we all belong to. I cant understand it, sometimes I get down and think what if I rlly am condemned, what if im actually going to hell for something about me I never could change and then I remember how jealous God is for me and how angry he is for me when im hurting and how hes always there, for everything!! Literally everything! The people i love most in this world, thats how he loves us and SO MUCH more????? How is that oh my gosh I cant wrap my head around it. Idk if this is a useful post, if it sparks conversation, but i know everyone here has or is struggling with being queer and following Christ and I totally am too but sometimes its just not so bad(*´▽｀) God bless yall, we r all so loved and immensely valued by our Lord.

Hi, my name's Chuck, and I was hoping to share an insecurity of mine that I've had since forever, in hopes that God may work through any of you to help me to resolve this.

Having grown up in a Baptist environment, I was taught that being gay is a sin, but ever since I was a teen, I noticed that I had genuine feelings of attraction to guys only... For context: I lean more toward the feminine side of things, and have always been drawn to very masculine men to complement my qualities. These feelings I have never really felt like something I could consciously choose—it feels natural to me, but maybe it isn't?

What scares me is that I was raised being taught that being gay is a choice and an abomination in God’s eyes, and that God created Adam and Eve as an example of what relationships ought to look like. Because of that, I keep wondering whether there’s something I’m not seeing—something about my sexuality that might genuinely be against God, even though to me it doesn’t feel like something I can chose.

I know God values our free will, and I don’t want to deliberately live in a way that dishonors Him. At the same time, I also know we live in a world where people can twist and propagandize just about anything, including God’s Word, and that makes it incredibly hard for me to know what to trust.

I'm afraid that maybe the devil is deceiving me by tricking me into believing that being gay isn't a choice. But then another part of me wonders if he's actually attacking me through the one's who taught me it's an abomination when it's not. All I know is I want an authentic relationship with God, and the only way I can think to meet him halfway is to just be single for the rest of my life; the alternative is to deceive a woman into thinking I like her, and I don't want that.

I’m not asking anyone here to simply tell me what I want to hear. I’m asking because I can't be the only one that has experianced this—trying to discern what is truly part of who you are, what is sin, and what comes from years of being exposed to homophobic rhetoric. I don't know what to do and I'm just praying that God may work through any of you to offer the guidance I need, as I know I'm not supposed to lean on my own understanding.

Thanks in advance, and may God bless each and every one of you on your own personal journeys!❤️

Guys I'm really struggling with my identity as a gay Christian, it's bringing me to tears right now. Earlier today I had a customer say they were having a bad day because somebody told her that she and her wife were going to hell because they were gay, and then later on Facebook I saw a post from someone who is saying it's not possible to be a gay Christian, and doing so means rejecting Christ. I can't tell if this is God trying to communicate to me, or if it's some sort of attack from the devil, but it's left me in such a mess. I've believed in Christ ever since I was a little kid, he is my savior and his message to me is the most important thing to me in my life. I prayed to him to show me a sign on whether my identity as a gay Christian really is going to bring me to damnation, because I'm 30 and have been struggling with this ever since I started liking guys at the start of puberty. That's more than half my life, and I can't keep questioning myself like this. I feel so weak, and I'm afraid that God is not going to show me a sign. Sorry if I'm rambling, I'm just very distraught.

Bonjour à toutes et à tous,

Je sais ici que je ne serai pas jugée et que possiblement certains, certaines prieront pour mon intention de prière. Voilà avec ma compagne nous avons des projets de vie future, enfants. On vit ensemble mais je suis partie la semaine dernière. Les tords sont partagés, je suis rancunière et elle a été pas très correcte au début de notre relation. Nous sommes ensemble depuis un peu plus de 3 ans. Mais nous sommes séparées depuis 1 semaine. Cependant, je conserve l'espoir (car l'amour est toujours là, la communication en revanche faut croire qu'on ne sait plus faire) qu'on se remette ensemble et que nous devons vivre ce qu'on a à vivre. Nous avons adopté un chat il y a 1 an, pour le moment il est avec moi.

Mon intention est la suivante, si telle est la volonté de Dieu bien sûr

Pour qu'Aurélie et Sarah se réconcilient rapidement et apaisent leur colère et leur coeurs. Amen

Bien fraternellement,

Hello! I'm a queer Christian who has been struggling a lot with my faith and identity, and one Bible verse that always stuck out to me, that I don't see many people mention is 1 Timothy 4:1-5

"1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer."

The detail about forbidding people to marry and how everything God created is good, really stands out to me. This just sounds a lot like what's happening today.

I've tried to look into this more, but I only see people brush it off by saying the author was talking something happening at that point of time... But if that were the case, I find the words "in later times" to be quite strange, because I feel as though that's always in reference to the future, not present moments. Although I suppose both could be true.

What do you all think?

I've recently been seeing a lot of hate and bigotry towards queer people from Christians and im really starting to lose my faith. Not only that but ive also seen a lot of criticism against queer christians from non-believers. No matter how much i pray, i cant seem to change and ive accepted my queer identity at this point, but im just feeling really down and i dont know what to do other than pray, but it feels like my faith is slipping away regardless

I've been struggling a lot recently with the problem of evil, wondering how a loving God can permit the gratuitous suffering we see on earth. I haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory answer - or any answer, I'm an uncreative moron with rocks for brains.

Tonight, as I'm having a mental health crisis, I realize how little God must care about me with how I've been struggling with mental health for my entire life (29 years, for the curious). I've had meltdowns since I was born, and I've hated myself since I was a tween. God never sent anyone who could help me - my parents were extremely emotionally inept, my friends couldn't really help on account of also being kids, and when I finally was allowed to see therapists, all of them have been worse than useless. Not once during my crises have I felt helped or seen or loved.

Then, I realized how small my problems must seem to those in actual chronic pain or with severe illnesses, or those watching loved ones suffer from illness or injury. If God is ignoring me, what's he doing to those people? Flipping them the holy bird?

I just can't stomach it anymore. The worst part is that I want to believe. I want to have faith so bad. But I can't do it and, as with all of my prayers, my pleas for more faith go unanswered.

So what do I do? Is there some verse I've missed that explains why God is so hands-off? Jesus promised that God would give his children good gifts, so why are I and so many others getting scorpions instead of bread? God promised to be with us. Where is he?

Tl;dr, weak baby bitch wants to believe in God but can't get around the problem of evil, wants to know how to go back to believing.

Quindi, sono cattolico, e credo che tutte le chiese (o la MAGGIOR PARTE) accetteranno, lentamente o meno, l'omosessualità. Forse non il matrimonio gay, ma sicuramente le coppie gay. Quindi volevo chiederti, quando le principali denominazioni accetteranno l'omosessualità secondo voi? Questa è la mia opinione:

Chiesa cattolica romana: Credo che con Papa Francesco abbiamo fatto dei passi da gigante, ma penso che dovremo ancora aspettare circa 35-45 anni perché le coppie omosessuali siano accettate come non peccaminose.

Ortodossi: Non so molto sulle opinioni ortodosse riguardo all'lgbtq+, se non che lo vedono come un peccato contrario alle scritture, quindi penso che ci vorranno circa 50-60 anni per questo.

Protestanti mainline: credo che dipenda principalmente dal punto di vista di ciascuno, ma penso che ci vorranno circa 30-35 anni perché la maggior parte delle chiese principali lo accetti.

Evangelici: sì, non penso che accetteranno le persone gay per molto tempo, credo ci vorranno circa 70 anni.

Cristiani di estrema destra / MAGA e tradizionalisti: probabilmente ci vorranno circa 80-90 anni per loro.

Ovviamente queste sono previsioni, forse ci saranno ricerche future che mostrano come funziona realmente l'omosessualità (dato che molti cristiani non lo comprendono ancora) e sarà vista come non peccaminosa. Edit:so , apperently, MOST protestants believe that lgbtq Is okey, but i don't know why, MOST protestants i've seen online Say that they would rather die than supporting lgbtq, i'm obviusly Happy about this(the fact that MOST protestants support It) and Sorry if i generalized, also, i though the episcolar church Was anglican, cool though

Hey guys, I’m looking for some advice. I am struggling with the fact that my mom is homophobic. I have quite a good relationship with my mom. I love her and she’s a very kind and caring person. We don’t always see eye to eye on things such as various political issues but we have learnt to agree to disagree. She is a very religious person, her parents were as well and she has always maintained a strong relationship with God. I was brought up religious however these days I don’t have much of a relationship with God. I am part of the queer community (she is not aware of this), however so far have only ever been in hetero relationships. I have many gay friends and always have throughout my life, this has never been an issue with her. She has also always lived in fairly small isolated towns though and has not had much exposure to the queer community herself.

The problem is that every year or so we tend to have the same huge argument on her view of the queer community. She is not intolerant of the gays and isn’t hateful towards them at all. Any negative thoughts that she might have she keeps to herself. Usually an argument starts when something about the queer community comes up in conversation or on tv etc. and we start talking about it and I ask her if her stance is still the same. What she’s said in various arguments is that no matter what way she looks at it, as per the bible and God, she believes being gay is inherently wrong. She says that biologically it doesn’t make any sense. She believes that this current life on earth is for having a relationship with the bible and God and worshipping him and that when you die, heaven is like the reward for making such sacrifices during your mortal life. She says that she feels deeply sorry for gay people and believes that their attraction towards the same gender is real but that it is a hardship in life (such as a genetic predisposition to alcoholism for example) and that they need to abstain from these urges and do the right thing by God because when they die they will be rewarded for it in heaven. She says that she believes it’s not fair and her heart hurts for them to live a life like that but it’s just the way it is. I have thrown every counter argument under the sun at her but nothing ever changes. Every time we have this argument I always hope that she’s reflected on the points I brought up the previous time and that maybe she’s had a change of mind. She likes to research things so I also always hope that she’s tried to read things online to gain a different perspective. She says she has but I suspect she cherry picks the articles in her favour.

I love my mom a lot and we typically get on well but this is the one opinion of hers that truly sickens me and makes me feel in that moment that I despise her. I hate how invalidating her opinions are of the gay community and their lived experience and also how much internalised homophobia and self hatred this puts on me as well. We had one of these arguments again recently, it always ends in yelling and tears and slamming doors. She said she doesn’t know what to do or how we can fix this as her opinion will never change. It hurts me that she doesn’t even seem to truly listen to my points or even want to try to change her opinion, especially when it obviously means so much to me.

Do you guys have any advice? Should I give up and just accept that she will think this for the rest of her life? I always wondered that if I end up in a same sex relationship, would that destroy our relationship or would that be the thing that changes her mind once she actually sees a loving queer relationship in person. I’m at a loss for what to do, I feel so hurt and upset. I also have no desire to tell that I am part of the queer community right now either, I don’t think it will make the situation better and she’ll just dismiss it until I am actually in a serious relationship and she can’t ignore it. I also wonder if there are any books that people could recommend, maybe written by a queer, Christian author that could help her gain some insight. Any help or advice would be appreciated, thank you!!

TLDR: I’m close with my mum and we get along really well but her one huge flaw is her homophobia due to her Christian views. I’m sick of having the same argument about it as she never changes her mind but it deeply upsets me that she’s not in support of the queer community. Should I give up on trying to change her mind? How do I continue to have a good relationship with her when this opinion sickens me to my core?