I'll try to keep this brief, but I would like to share....
I grew up in the church, literally. My mother worked full-time at a large protestant church, so my siblings and I were over there ALOT. It was our second home. We come from a looooong line of pastors, on both sides of the family. Both parents taught Sunday school, and even I taught it. And everybody is still involved with the church, except me of course.
I loved God, I loved my religion, I never questioned, and I was good at it. I read the Bible on my own at the age of 5.. you get the picture.
So what happened? Well, I'd probably be working in ministry right now if it wasn't for one thing... at the age of 18 I (finally) realized I wasn't straight. I was one of those "gay" people my church had been talking about. And I freaked.
I am, and always have been, a very logical person. I love logic, math, science, ect... And logically, I couldn't figure out why this good loving God would make me gay. I know there are gay christians out there, but for me personally, I couldn't ignore what the Bible had to say. That didn't make me an unbeliever, it just got me questioning for the first time.
~5 years of reading, studying, questioning people, and hoping from church to church, religion to religion. I wanted a religion. I'm good at religion. But I had to face the fact that there were NO FACTS. Now I've learned to be okay without a religion, without a magic deity, and be okay with the phrase "I don't know". And I've never felt more grounded, and more content with my life. All I have to say is... thank god I'm gay.
I grew up in the church, literally. My mother worked full-time at a large protestant church, so my siblings and I were over there ALOT. It was our second home. We come from a looooong line of pastors, on both sides of the family. Both parents taught Sunday school, and even I taught it. And everybody is still involved with the church, except me of course.
I loved God, I loved my religion, I never questioned, and I was good at it. I read the Bible on my own at the age of 5.. you get the picture.
So what happened? Well, I'd probably be working in ministry right now if it wasn't for one thing... at the age of 18 I (finally) realized I wasn't straight. I was one of those "gay" people my church had been talking about. And I freaked.
I am, and always have been, a very logical person. I love logic, math, science, ect... And logically, I couldn't figure out why this good loving God would make me gay. I know there are gay christians out there, but for me personally, I couldn't ignore what the Bible had to say. That didn't make me an unbeliever, it just got me questioning for the first time.
~5 years of reading, studying, questioning people, and hoping from church to church, religion to religion. I wanted a religion. I'm good at religion. But I had to face the fact that there were NO FACTS. Now I've learned to be okay without a religion, without a magic deity, and be okay with the phrase "I don't know". And I've never felt more grounded, and more content with my life. All I have to say is... thank god I'm gay.
Douglas Adams:
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.
He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife.
In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move.