Comments on: The L Word

By: Luna

Luna — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:50:05 +0000

This touched me so deeply.

Thank you.

By: jrc

jrc — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:16:08 +0000

Hi Sisters – thanks for your words Anita and Aunt thanks for your honesty – as you said it has only been 2 months for you. It has only been two years for me since I came out and I still struggle with my faith. My current faith struggle is that I believe in God and I know he is very big and I am very small and I am not really sure that humans can have a personal relationship with God. I think it’s crazy when I think this way because for so many years I have believed that we/I can have a personal relationship with the almighty but now I am not so sure.
Peace and Love to All.

By: anita

anita — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:05:02 +0000

Anut–> I don’t consider your comment to be a “wet blanket” at all. Yes, we do have responsibility in our relationship with God but again, I would argue that the deeper we understand and dwell on the love of God for us that the more our “responsibility” becomes our “desire and delight” and obedience becomes less painful sacrifice than an eager willingness on our part. I’ve spent many posts focused on our sexual orientation, the Bible and homosexuality, and being gay and a Christian, but for this time, my intention is simply to dwell on the love of God, because I honestly believe that when we center our lives in that love that the answers will come to whatever questions we have, and even if the questions remain we can live with them from a place of the peace and comfort that comes in knowing God’s love and grace endures and holds us. There is no divine ax held at our neck and no time limit on how much God will endure while we strive from a place of love, not fear, to earnestly follow God’s will as best we can understand it.

By: Anut

Anut — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:15:47 +0000

Anita, yes, I understand that God is love and that no matter what I do His love stays. But what is my responsibility in this whole relationship? The child spilling the milk must surely after 100 spillages have learnt how to be more careful no matter how patient her parents had been? I also understand that you all have come to the conclusion that being gay is not sin and thats wonderful…but what if some of us still have that 1% of doubt…doesn’t even that 1% put us in the category of sinning, not because of the act, but the doubt thereof? Sorry, I am not trying to be a wet blanket, but trying to understand. Its only been 2 months since I was honest enough to myself to accept that I was gay and as much as I want to take everything you say and run with it, I need to ask these questions.

By: anita

anita — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:15:57 +0000

Laura –> Beautifully said. I especially love “what we focus on grows.” Amen on that one and all the rest!

By: anita

anita — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:15:06 +0000

Susan–> Ah, so true. I think one of the many benefits of being a gay Christian is coming to understand the painful reality that “the heart of God” and “the attitudes of the church” are often at odds rather than in harmony. In fact, history has shown us all too well that much has been said and done in God’s name by the church over the centuries that would seem diametrically opposed to the God of Jesus. As I said, it’s a painful lesson for each of us to learn, and yet it’s an important truth to learn as we grow into spiritual maturity. And just your opinion, is also my opinion

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:42:59 +0000

Hey Anita,

God is Love. Yes, and as the hymn goes… “and where true love is, God himself is there.”

For me this statement is golden:

God will be God. God will do as God will do. God will be who God will be. And to that end, God isn’t waiting on my next move to give or withhold love to me. God isn’t watching over my actions, words, and thoughts today to decide whether tomorrow God will bless or curse, reject or accept me. No. Today as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow God is acting out of the core of God’s being toward me and toward all people and at God’s core is Love.

So, so true, sister-friend! I guess for me as a lesbian, the question hasn’t been so much about whether God will love me. I came to accept that God didn’t hate me when I choose life over death as a teenager.

I think what kept me from fully experiencing the depth of God’s love was the “church people” who would say that God didn’t accept my kind and would quote the same Bible passages over and over to prove their point. I believed that God accepted me: it was the church that I couldn’t count on. But as Paul notes in 1 Corinthians, we are many members and we are all members in one body of Christ. This includes all colors, genders, and sexual orientations. The more the church reflects the faces that exist in ‘the world’, the more the church starts to reflect the face of God. Just my opinion.

By: Laura H.

Laura H. — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:05:56 +0000

This is a wonderful post, and one I will think about on hard days.

Regarding Lisa’s comment above –> I find it interesting that your response/comment focused on the “flesh being weak” and humans “beginning our lives of sin.” While I certainly agree that as humans we sometimes (perhaps often) behave in ways that separate us from God (i.e. “sin”), I must say I am disturbed at how much some people and some segments of Christianity focus so much on “sin” as though that’s all humans do, as though we’re some sort of leftover garbage God one day took pity on. Well, I do believe God created us and I do not believe God creates junk. I also think it’s a mistake to put such emphasis on human “sinning” as the main event of our everyday activities. If we were to put more effort into seeing the GOOD in ourselves and in our brothers and sisters, we would much more easily be able to see GOD in us and in each other, thus focusing more on the Love that is God. Remember: what we focus on grows. And finally, I think it is very important to understand that God created us all with our own unique characteristics. So, for those of us who are gay, to be able to accept and delight in our God-given sexual orientation, and live and love responsibly with love in our hearts requires us to focus solely on God and not on the fears, misunderstandings and willful ignorance so often directed our way – from others and/or from our own conditioning.

Hopefully, working to focus on God and only God will help all of us find peace with the uniqueness in ourselves and with the diversity in this world.

By: Anna Joy

Anna Joy — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 07:47:12 +0000

I came across this post during the process of asking myself questions I hadn’t realized I was asking (if that makes any sense at all).

Namely, I wondered if God did, in fact, love me. Still. Now. Even now?

God is love. Why is this always so hard to believe???

Thank you for this post. It really is a beautiful thing!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:40:37 +0000

Totally. I believed for years that it was Paul who said, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. But it wasn’t. It was Jesus. He knows how hard it is to live in a fleshly body and a Fallen world. He still chose to die for us 2,000 years ago before we had even begun our lives of sin! His response to our sin (no matter what that may be, cos sin is sin) is exactly that – HIS response. And yes, he loves each and every one of us more than we could ever comprehend.

Blessed beyond belief..