Tears and sweat. That’s what I’m drenched in. Sweat due to this thick puffy jacket that’s making my midnight excruciatingly torturous. Tears because of a movie I've just watched. “Prayers to Bobby”. In a word: enlightening! The story is about a teenager named Bobby, confused and distraught in life because of all the teaching that have been drilled into his head by his overbearing mother, that homosexuals will “burn in a lake of fire”. Now, Bobby has struggled all his life to stay in the closet or at least try to suppress his true nature, but we later learn that it was a part of him. That he was born that way. That God did not attempt to fix him, as Mary, the same mother, prayed and prayed for, because there was simply nothing to fix. He did not end up in Hell, as we come to learn, but rather his pure, loving and kind heart redeemed him. Personally, I’ve never imagined my identity to be, well, acceptable in the eyes of God, but... wow. You know, it’s funny because at my age, I’ve literally found myself at a dead-end with my personal and spiritual development, because it all came down to me seriously asking the Good Lord our God to just give me a sign on whether who I was is acceptable in the 21st Century, whether the rules had changed for our generation because it would be inhuman for us homosexuals who are actually really good people who delight in the way of the Lord to just go to Hell because of something as mere as our sexual preference. I just feel it to be a bit shallow, especially for our God. Come to think of it, God has answered my prayers. And I've JUST realized that. He IS truly a God of wonder, isn't He? “Ask and you shall receive”... And through the most unlikely circumstance, He gives me the sign I have so yearningly asked for, through the simplicity of a movie! ...thanks to the Reverend who so vividly interpreted the phrasing of the stories of Sodom and Gomorrah, of the condemnation of homosexuals. He said that homosexuals were just as likely to end up in hell as an adulterous woman was to be taken to her father’s house and stoned to death, as said in the very same Book -Leviticus. That it’s, well, okay to be gay. I don’t want to jump into any sudden conclusions, so I’m only left to ask my fellow gay members: Could this be true? And please watch the movie so you can be in a better position to respond... It was really the end of the movie that broke me into tears, looking at just how happy and full of life and free and proud marchers on that Gay pride gathering were. It got me thinking: YES, THAT is life. Freedom to be who you truly are is life. For what is life if you go through it having to hide your true identity, having to betray your ORIGINAL identity? Oh and how she embraced the spitting image of her son, with such love and acceptance! The true ending to a movie. I can only pray that I won’t have to go through suicide, which I have vowed never to resort to attempting again, for my own mother to finally open her eyes to the same life-changing realization Mary occurred at. Glory be to God for all eternity!
Yes, that is a great movie and a real tear-jerker. I'm glad to hear that it has impacted you in a very positive way. This is also something you might like that even further explains homosexuality and the bible. [YOUTUBE]0Ihzwo4ygxk[/YOUTUBE] Also this is great and very in-depth. I think it's probably the best one I've seen so far.. [YOUTUBE]ezQjNJUSraY[/YOUTUBE]
if you really want to be christian, it sort of has to be the truth, in order for you not to be miserable, doesn't it? Instead of giving up your faith, you just make up your own version of it as a defence mechanism, so far as i see. I might be alone in thinking that Bobby Griffith's mother should be terribly ashamed of herself, but at least she is making something positive out of her previous horrendous behaviour (even if that something involves more brain-bending faith adjustments)
I don't think you're alone. In fact, Bobby's mother has, in interviews, talked about her shame and how much she's punished herself as a result of her ignorance. She had (at the time I read the interview, some years ago) given up her faith since, through this experience, she realized that the "faith" simply made no sense in the context of how it treated her son. She's also been extremely honest in saying that, for where her head was at as she was going through the experiences with Bobby, she doesn't think anything could have been said or done to get her to see things differently; she acknowledges that she was completely blinded by her faith. She remains one of the national spokespeople for PFLAG and has probably done more than any other individual to try to facilitate a change in thinking on this issue.
I am glad that she came to the realisation that she was blinded by her faith (and apparently abandoned it?), but extremely disappointed it took the suicide of her son to achieve. She is obviously a decent person (when abandonment of hateful dogma allows her to be) and doesn't deserve such tragedy (no-one does), and i am glad she's turning a negative into a positive, that shows real character. I'm especially glad she's saying that nothing could have changed her mind had her son not died, but do you really think it's going to change anyone who remains in a similar mindset to the one she was previously in? I for one am glad the world is becoming more secular and wish her all the best in facilitating that change. It's a terrible shame she can't take back her monstrous actions. Without dogma subverting her inherent decency, the world mightn't be one lovely man short today. Makes me wonder now, she made a terrible mistake and will never overcome the shame, but who should say mia culpa?
That's a tough question, and I think her point in saying it was maybe to try to get through to the people who are stuck in that same blind spot. Apparently it has had some effect; PFLAG has called her one of their most effective speakers, and credits her with making a real difference. I do think that in watching that film (and let's not forget it was produced for Lifetime for Women, a network with an audience that skews heavily toward middle-america), that a lot of minds may at least be opened to thinking about this. I don't know how many ultra-ultra religious parents, when faced with the choice of saying "I'd rather have my son alive and gay, than dead" would honestly say they'd rather have him dead. But clearly there are some... and if this movie (and Bobby's mother's continued work for PFLAG) can at least make a few parents think about the impact on their son, it might make a difference.
