My crisis of faith....
Submitted by Nate on 2002-10-29 23:09:49, Tuesday
In reply to My crisis of faith.... submitted by Ringo on 2002-10-28 10:05:21, Monday
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Hi Ringo, Wow! So much of your post describes feelings that I am having too. For almost 20 years I have tried desperatly to follow the church's teaching and understand why it is that I am a bad person. I don't really feel like a bad person, in fact, I think that I am a loving person, but I still have this sexual attraction to boys, which they tell me is "sin". After years and years of studying the Bible and watching how others defend the church's traditional position that sex is only meant for a married man and woman, I have learned this: If you start from the assumption that sex is only allowed between a man and woman in a marriage, and agree to ignore several breaches in logic, then you can find a few scriptures that seem to support your position. However, if you want to take the scripture at face value and read what it says, there is just not much discussion about it. There is the list in Leviticus which states that you should not do your mom or your step-mom, your sister, or your aunt - and if you get caught with a virgin girl, you should expect to pay her daddy the price of her dowry. Actually, you got me going and I spent all day today using the Bible study tools linked at the top of the board. Every scripture that typically gets used to argue that God is against sex actually say things that are somewhat different. In the Greek or Hebrew, these scriptures are deploring the practices of forced prostitution, promiscuity, and the idea of using force or coersion in sexual activity. I can get behind that. I guess I will get challenged as being a heretic now, but for the record, I love God - and have a good relationship with him - I believe in Jesus and I accept the authority of the Bible. That is why I want so desperately to understand what it says - I mean what the Bible says, and not the traditional re-interpretation which becomes more and more restrictive each time it is told. I have been trying, but I just don't see any way to support the sex-phobic interpretations that I have been taught all these years. Anybody else got it all figured out? Peace, Nate |
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