Hey everybody! It's been a while since I've been here. I have a GIGANTINORMOUS update for y'all. I came out to Shalia, my bestest friend ever, about a month ago. She took it well, although it did freak her out at first. Also, in the time I was away, I figured out that I'm bi instead of gay. Oh, and ummmm, my mom read my journal... so ya, she knows too, he he. *sigh* Ever since she found out she's been bugging me about it. "Are you sure you're not just curious?" "It's normal for teens to go through this you know." "God just doesn't make people that way!" "It goes against the bible, AND nature." "It's okay, you're not gay, you're just normal." "Everyone goes through this, Alex." "I found this site that says that you can't be sure that you're gay, or bi until you're at least 20." "You can't trust what you read on the web, Alex. They tend to twist things in a way that defies the bible." Bla bla bla. She really makes me feel like crap when she says this sort of stuff. It's like she's saying, I'm right and you're wrong, you're not sure about your sexuality so shut the F&@# up. In other news, I'm pretty sure that I love Shalia. She's become the center of my (positive) universe, even though I can't even hang out with her outside of school. For those of you who don't know, she lives in the middle of nowhere with an EXTREMELY overprotective dad and two brothers. I don't want to tell her how I feel though, because If she doesn't feel the same way, it'll really screw up our friendship. I REALLY don't want that. One more thing, I've been having a lot of mood swings lately. It seems like I'm more depressed than I am happy nowadays. I've been thinking about suicide, not seriously because I know I'm going to get through this, but I just want the pain to stop. Because of my strong relationship with Christ (and mom), I feel like $#!t. I've found a cool website called soulforce.com. But because it supports gays, it can't be right, according to mom. So ummmmmm, ya... That's pretty much it. If there's anything I can do to help prove my mom wrong, please help me out here. If you could, please include a scripture in it from the King James version. I've heard that the bible said that eating seafood is a sin and stuff like that, but I'm not sure since I've never actually seen the verse. Please and thank you! (!)
lol Yes, just pick out Leviticus (spelling?) and you'll find plenty to argue with her about. Congrats Alex.
Hey congratulations on coming out Alexander! Now about your mom, you could do some searching around EC because this comes up a lot. I searched 'shellfish' and found this post and a lot of other religion based posts - maybe it could help: http://www.emptyclosets.com/forum/showpost.php?p=278463&postcount=16
Leviticus is the book that most often is used to "prove" that homosexuality is wrong. However, the book is basically a list of rules and regulations for the priest class of ancient Israel (the tribe of Levi, thus "Leviticus"). So there's a lot of complex and (now) obscure things in there. Suffice to say - if she's had BBQ ribs, she's sinning... Lex
Oh, cognitive dissonance, how I love thee. Anyway, I'll expound on what Lex and the others have said. There are indeed several acts mentioned in Leviticus that are described as "abominations unto the Lord," such as eating shellfish, working on the Sabbath, wearing clothes of mixed fabrics, and so on (somebody on this site has an avatar that's a hilarious send-up of that). The basic argument is that all of these and homosexuality are described as equal abominations unto the Lord, and yet your mother probably eats shrimp AND wears polyester. Don't doubt your sexuality because of your mother-- you know better than anyone else what you're attracted to. And for what it's worth, I believe that God did make you that way on purpose.
No eating lobster nor shrimp, and some very strict rules about owning slaves and performing religious sacrifices
Thank you all. Sorry for being so late to post back, but I was watching American Idol. :lol: Well for one thing, I know enough about the new testament to say with confidence that the book of Leviticus doesn't apply to us anymore, so there. lol Is there anything else in the bible that says anything about homosexuality? Anything that justifies it? Edit: Nevermind, thanks for the link Olides!
The Bible very, VERY rarely if ever speaks about homosexuality. Leviticus, if I recall correctly, was referring to men who were just perverted enough to try other sins. Not gay people. It has to deal with the time period. And Abomination meant against their practice if memory serves. Sodom/Gomorah had to do with men trying to dishonor and shame the visitors, not homosexuals. At least, that's my take. Im sure someone will correct. Probably Lex, for the better.
Or Greggers In this time period, an "Abomination" was a ritual type of a sin, not an inherent sin like murder or stealing. If you were having your period? Abomination. If you mix different types of cloth in your outfit? Abomination. If you eat shellfish? Abomination. If you slept with another man? Abomination. Cultural things are not to be applied to everyone in every walk of life as cold, hard, fact. Anyone who tries to use Leviticus to prove homosexuality is wrong is an idiot, we have proven this time and time again. It just does NOT mean what it reads word for word, like so much of the bible. As for Sodom and Gomorah, the point of the story was not homosexuality is why the city was destroyed. The point of the story is that they were wicked people. The part in question about homosexuality is where the guards would break into a home and gang rape the man staying there. This was an act that would bring SHAME to the man who was raped by another man, because that was one of the ultimate signs of shame in this culture. It was not homosexuality, it was rape. Plain and simple. Two loving men in a relationship is kind of different than 5 guards raping a man...if you fail to see that difference, wow. As for homosexuality in the NEW testament, there are two sections. Both are in letter written by Paul to church's he founded. Now i have not done *as* much research myself here, but ive heard alot. In one verse Paul uses the word homosexuality. In reality though, the hebrew word now translated into homosexuality meant the same as our "queer". It just meant odd or different. ONE use of the Hebrew version of "Queer" was for homosexuality, but that was just one use. Many Scholars who have researched the roots of these words think Paul was indeed not condemning homosexuality in this case. This brings us to Paul's final verse that he condemns homosexuality in. Here he uses "A man who lies with a man". Kinda straight forward compared to the last one. However, This is a human man talking, not god. Three or four words in the ENTIRE bible that actually 100% condemn the act of homosexuality that could even be applied to today. But again, writtin 2000 years ago by a man who scholars suspect was in-fact gay himself (no clue why, but thats true that alot of scholars now do lol) in a language that was transcribed and translated hundreds of times before it came before us today. And yet people take these few words and make a mountion out of a mole hill. Sheeeesh. Just remember, Jesus himself NEVER condemned Homosexuality. As Christians, we are to be "like christ". We are not Paulians. We do not follow Pauls every word. Heck, if we followed Paul's teachings women would not be happy either. I can drag quite a few verses out about women that would get blood boiling.
there are tons of things u can find to argue about. slavery, womens' roles, what to wear and what to eat, etc. just google it. youll find a good amount of info.
