A Request

I have a request.

So threads like this come and go seemingly without end. I know I personally don't bother to read or watch everything I see posted - so much of it ends up being a frustrating waste of time.

I was speeding through my Facebook news feed and the link to this blog post stopped under my finger. I would've skipped over it without a thought, but I was waiting for a few classmates to show up for this group project and decided - what the heck - I'll read it.

So anyway, back to my request. Please read this. Don't let the title fool you; it's not just about gays and it's not just about Christians. It's about all of us as people and the way we think about and treat each other.

You probably think you know what it's going to say (and maybe you're right!) but it's really not very long and is worth the few minutes it will take you to read. Of course, the most important part comes at the very end - the author links to a follow-up post in which he shares some of the responses he received several days after the original went online. I guess I'll be a little greedy and ask for more of your time to read this one as well.^^

It's by no means a perfect expression of thought - I'm sure everyone can find something to disagree with - but at its core, I think it really draws together a lot of the sentiments I've seen posted here in this forum, all of which come from very different people with very different opinions and vantage points in life. (Hey that's you guys^^!)


tl;dr
Please read this...
I'm Christian, unless you're gay.

...and this...
Powerful Responses to 'I'm Christian, unless you're gay.'

...and think about the judgmentalism that lies at the root of so much misery in this world. I struggle with it; chances are you do too sometimes.

Thanks guys.^^ *whooshes off to bed grumbling about exams*

This was an incredible read. Thanks, Carrelo! I would + it a few dozen times, except I can't and I already used up my +'s for today and taking the message to heart is more important than a + anyways. <3

Edit: I also shamelessly stole it and posted it to Facebook. I'm a shameless thief. xD

Bump because it's worth the read.
Likewise guilty

Thanks for sharing.

I got warm fuzzies reading some of the responses lol

It's nice to know there are good people out there

The first page drove me to tears--It's just like Carrelo said,

WhatSorry, it just... really rankled me to read... just that.... I need to step away from this article; I'm getting too emotionally affected.

This was definitely a great read, and so were the responses. I've always felt the same way myself, about the fact that if the roots of most major religions being "love your fellow man unconditionally", then why is there so much hate coming from those that profess to be devout followers of those religions? Where in time were these basic notions lost and replaced with "only love the people who you think are acceptable"? It's definitely something worth thinking about.

The responses were quite powerful, as well. the first two though honestly left me truly wondering if they had even read the text, or even the bible for that matter. the second one mentioned, "It is not my job to love sinners. It is not my job to be gentle and not hurt their feelings. It is my job to tell them that they are wrongful sinners who will go to hell if they don't change, and if I have to hate and hurt them in the process, then so be it." This really struck me, I was truly unable to imagine how someone could sincerely feel this way, and sincerely be a christian with this attitude, and it made me sad to see this attitude even exist. On the other hand, the more positive responses were quite good, the fact that this blog post even saved a life is quite something. It really made me happy to see families reunite, and people to be uplifted by the message brought forth in this article, and the fact that it's still spreading is amazing.

I, too, share this on my facebook after reading it. This really should be spread as far and wide as possible.

~credit to Ragnarok.Doluka for sending me this image via PM while I was PMS'ing over what I hope to be fake askar+5 stats, and the lack of quality to WotG storyline.


I wish I could let my preconceived notions and bias let me love every single person equally. I'm not perfect and I admit that. If I ever gave anyone on the forum a different impression: I am sorry.

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

Either that comment was a typo (omission of the word not), or a very misled individual. I hate to ask it of you, but you should throw those two quotes into the religious debate threads that are currently active, as many people have stated the Bible and the teachings of God force those of faith to be judgemental and exclusive.

Given the entirety of that individual's post, I'm led to believe the person was misled in terms of Biblical doctrine.

I'm not really one to... willfully involve myself in religious debates, but I will say a word or two when appropriate. Thanks for the invite, though :)

anye you know a lot about this stuff >.>

Noticed it, and appreciated.

Reading those responses, minus the first two of course, certainly brightened up my day. Thanks for sharing. It's too bad there are a lot of people out there who need to read this and never will.

Hahah well that's the only reason I saw it to begin with. XD

Thanks for reading - I'm glad you guys found it worthwhile. :) The responses drove me to tears and I'm pretty sure my hallmates could hear me sniffling away in here lol

One of the big takeaways is obviously the hypocrisy so prevalent in religious ideologies, but it goes beyond that. Growing up, I harbored some pretty intense resentment toward the religious, mainly in response to the hatred that is so harshly directed at people like me. I mean... not even gay children are spared.

Now I'm a 21-year-old man - very much out - and 3 of the people I find closest to me in this world are also some of the most religious people I know. There's my mom, who cried to me after I came out and said she wished we could've lived somewhere other than Alabama. There's my friend, whose shoulder I cried on after this guy broke my heart last year. And there's her boyfriend, who (as another of my best friends) goes with me to a lot of GSA programming.

Then I read about all these people who learn to see how hateful they've been and go out of their way to make amends... and I can't even explain what that means to me.

Don't get me wrong, I still get a little miffed sometimes. Right now I'm really struggling because even among the open-minded, non-hateful variety of Christian - even among my own close friends - there are those who consider things like homosexuality to be just as much a sin as theft. I think that's insufferably arrogant. The word "sin" serves only to sloppily represent something or someone as one of those delightfully subjective words "good" or "bad." Helloooo, didn't you learn in your middle school literature class that this is not a black and white world ? Why not save that kind of thinking for things that are objectively harmful - like the bullying of children ?? Oh wait, some children deserve to be bullied, that's right. /sarcasm

But you know what makes me even more mad ? It's when people go around saying things like "Christians are like this, Christians are like that. Don't even get me started on those Muslims, they'll never change. I can't stand religious people." This kind of thinking is the exact same thing as the word sin - it paints things in black and white, polarizing our world into this nasty dichotomy of "the religious" vs. "everyone else." And that there robs people of the agency required to have an open mind.

I did not post this to demonize the religious. Judgmentalism goes both ways - this realization is what prompted me to post in the first place. :)