Is God going to punish me?

A God who would create someone as gay, then punish them for it, would not be worthy of our worship. Same if He / She expected that person to live out their lives in misery and denial, while everyone else got to express their sexuality to their heart's content with a partner. And of course, I don't accept that God - the real One I mean, and not merely the incomplete, biased picture of Him / Her that various scriptures have attempted to paint - truly I believe the the True God, if He / She exists, would be more just than we are, not less; more merciful than we are, not less; more kind, not less. That's why, whereas scriptures can have some good bits in them - yes I include the bits that challenge us to be the best that we can be also, I'm not advising one to cherry-pick only the bits one finds 'easy' - but whereas they can have some good bits, there are quite a few bits that are clearly not Divinely inspired, but arise from the prejudice of the human being who perhaps thought he was 'receiving' it - or who knows, maybe just decided that what was already written down needed a bit of tweaking, and so added in some of his own prejudiced views.

I'm not a Christian, but I do have a respect for what I perceive as a Divine Order to things, and I believe that sexuality is literally a gift from God. If we look in Nature, sexuality is incredibly diverse - you may know, that not only human beings, but many other mammals also have same-sex pair bonding, and sexual relations - and who created Nature, according to those who claim to believe in God? God did, of course! And so too with the rich and diverse spectrum that is human sexuality; I believe that it's a Divine gift, and that the diversity is yet another expression of God's grace, if you like. Besides, I don't think God could possibly be offended by two people loving each other. If there's love there, what does it matter if both are male, or both are female? Isn't love what is really important?

Anyway I almost feel uncomfortable using so much religious language, but if anything I have said has been helpful to you, then I don't mind that discomfort. I'm not religious anymore myself, although I must say that my spiritual path is still the most important thing in my life - but I'm not going to explain that apparent contradiction right now, just wanted to say, no way will God punish you if you express the sacred gift of your sexuality, that He / She gave you in the first place - imho.

 

I'm an agnostic lesbian, and I am celibate. I will remain celibate, until I find my "soulmate". Regardless of whether of not there is an invisible man/woman/person/being in the sky, or what my orientation is, I want the first person I have sex with to be the last person I have sex with. Just so we're clear, secular/queer DOES NOT = promiscous.

I don't think your god would have a problem with you being queer. If he didn't want you to be that way, he wouldn't have made you that way. Also, sexual urges, whether gay or straight, are completely natural. Science has proven this. Take the clitorus, for example. It doesn't really do anything. It does not help with fertilization. All it is is some hood shaped thing with an estimated 8,000 nerve endings. All it does is make you ORGASM. Now, riddle me this. If your god did not want you to be horny, why would he make a body part that does nothing but make you get-off?

If you want to be celibate until marriage, that's fine. If you want a way to relieve sexual tension without having sex too early, you could masturbate (GASP!). Masturbation, like your clitorus, is a natural thing. Hell, even some babies and children masturbate as a way to explore their bodies. If you're afraid of your parents finding out, you could do it when no one's home.

Maybe you could ease your parents in on homosexuality without letting them know.

"Did you hear about George Takei? He played Sulu on Star Trek, and he's now a huge gay-rights activist."

"I heard Morgon Freeman supports gay rights too."

Sorry, my advice isn't the best. I wish you luck. (*hug*)

 

I know it's hard, but don't let the haters get you down.

The "clobber-Scriptures" that are supposedly about homosexuality in the Bible are not about real gay people at all. They're about pedophilia, male and female prostitution done as worship to other gods, rape, and ritualized anal sex in worship of other gods (and a few other things). It's all about context.

There's no actual word for "homosexual" in the Hebrew or Greek--and even though a lot of Roman men were encouraged to keep a houseboy as a sex slave, not all cases of that could be considered consensual loving relationships.

This whole idea that men and women are separated by extremes of masculinity and femininity is not only more recent, but very culturally subjective. What macho patriarchal alpha-male-istic Americans see as femininity in men today--is still seen in many cases as very male in other cultures. Some cultures even have a practiced form of male-male relationships--the West looks and says it's homosexuality--but to those cultures, it's normal, it's ok, and it's next to holiness.

Even the Eastern churches used to have certain forms of what the West would now call homosexual weddings--but to them it was "brother-bonding" or something like that, where the relationships of men were celebrated in a ritual, they made vows to each other, and they lived together afterward.

The English translations of the Bible have really been screwed up over the years. But as it's been said in this thread, God is Love. Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God and love others. He didn't say love God, love others, and then hate some people. He didn't even tell us we all needed to have the same theology or doctrine or dogma, or live the same way, or practice the same kind of politics or cultural traditions... He just said Love. And that's something that all the translations have gotten right.

 

If there is a God, and he could come down to Earth, I'm pretty sure he would tell all the religious fanatics how disappointed he is in them. Then he and Jesus would take part in a Pride Parade! You are punishing yourself. Don't let the hate get to you. Love is love

 

Of the 66 books of the Bible, homosexuality is only mentioned in 5 of them and even then, only in a few verses. So out of thousands and thousands of lines of scripture we're looking at a few narrow lines.

The word homosexual is a modern term that didn't exist during biblical times. In 1 Corinthians 9, the word has been translated from an ancient Greek word with a very different meaning.

The writers of the Bible didn't think about human sexuality in the same terms we do today, so the passages we get hung up on need to be viewed through the lens of history. We can't simply transplant passages of scripture from thousands of years ago into the 21st century if they are devoid of meaning and relevance. In the case of verses about homosexuality, they are time-locked or irrelevant to Christianity (OT laws, rituals and rules).

Most significantly of all, Jesus said nothing at all about homosexuality, but had much to say about love, mercy, justice and commitment and reserved his greatest disdain for the Pharisees who put the letter of the law above everything else. Worth remembering!

In summary, you are not having sinful or immoral urges and God will not punish you. Please do not mis-interpret what the Bible says and do not even think about ex-gay or conversion therapy as it is totally discredited and will do you great harm.

Keep talking and sharing how you feel. There are people on here who will help and support you much better than ex-gay charlatans.

(*hug*)

 

The five or six verses supposedly denouncing homosexuality have all been debunked that they were really talking about pedophilia and cult rape. There are no instances in the Bible, old testament or new that denounces homosexuality, and Jesus ran around with gay people. It's even being investigated whether or not Jesus was actually gay himself, and one of his disciples was his partner. Any Christian who says they denounce homosexuality might just be denouncing their Savior.

Also, an all loving God (if they were to exist) would not make someone a certain way from birth just so they can be thrown into the fiery pits of hell when they die. In the end, your interpretation of Christianity and homosexuality comes down to whether you think your God is all loving, or a malevolent being.

 

I've felt the same way as you do. I realize that the translation of the scriptures that so say condemn it is wrong, but then again, with being around so many homophobic people, I always get insecure and wonder if I could be wrong and sinning against God - Which is something I don't want to do as a Christian myself.

However, no, God wouldn't punish you for loving another person. As people have told me here, that would hypocritical of Him and God is no hypocrite. I feel like that as long as you love God and put Him first, honor Him, praise Him, and a be a Christ-like person, God would would be waiting for you in Heaven and telling you "Well done, thy God and faithful servant"

I hoped I helped! Feel free to talk to me more if you need or want to!

 

I'm going to strongly suggest you check out John Corvino on YouTube. He pretty much makes a living advocating for gay rights (He is, as you might have guessed, a gay rights advocate) and has some very convincing evidence as to why being gay can't possibly be sinful.

Also, you should check out these links too (I hope this isn't going against forum rules!):

31 arguments against gay marriage and why they're all wrong

Six biblical reasons why Christians should embrace gay marriage

Homosexuality & Choice: Are People "Born this Way"?