As a teenager, I had a friend who felt Christianity was not for him and would keep bringing Bible contradictions to my attention. So I would keep explaining them away in hopes of converting him. I never won his soul.
Then I faced a variety of challenges based on my faith. Broadly, I felt like my faith was used to manipulate me, I felt like I had seen fellow believers be incredibly cruel to each other and use their faith as an excuse to do so, and I was exploring my identity beyond the confines of what I felt was continually expected of me by a variety of social pressures. There were a number of moments where my faith felt more like a very deep wound instead of a very great hope.
I also began to truly listen to individuals who shared their stories of being lesbian, gay, or transgender instead of immediately mentally responding with a Bible verse.
I came to love Jesus and Mary more than ever, but with the perspective that perhaps the Bible contradictions are not present in order for us to find an explanation, but in order to provoke us to rely on what is inherently obvious throughout the Bible in order to learn to think for ourselves.
I think when people are afraid to think for themselves, largely due to life experiences that resulted in them not feeling like their perspective was valid, they depend on very easy-to-digest crumbs of spirituality in order to perpetuate their limiting beliefs that they cannot think through an issue in a manner that has merit, regardless of how others may not receive it very well.
I do not understand how lesbian, gay, and transgender identities are viewed as so exceptionally rejected by God, their creator, and therefore by His “followers”. The Bible I am familiar with has a Jesus who loves outcasts and even His enemies. I believe that while there are a handful of Bible verses that do explicitly not condone homosexuality (*Primarily Leviticus, which also identifies many bizarre rules and rituals that most “Good Christians” ignore) or identifying with a gender other than your birth, there are a vast multitude of other verses that are even more explicit regarding God’s Love. God’s Love is dependent upon Him and His character.
There is nothing that can separate us from His love, Romans 8:38-39
If we just listened to each other more attentively, I think we would realize what unites us is stronger than what separates us. I am not inclined to be transgender, but I can certainly relate to every outcome looking bleak no matter what you choose, I can certainly relate to the challenge of never feeling pretty enough, and I can certainly relate to that friction between who I want to be and who I feel expected to be. You don’t have to have the same identity as someone to relate to the larger themes of their common existence.
I believe the Bible should have the freedom to be perceived as a document that preaches Love, not as a document that teaches us that being hateful is a justifiable choice.
There is always a valid support to choose Love. You’ve got this!
*Editor’s note: Leviticus condemns ALL sex acts as “unclean”, not just same sex acts.
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