No, actually my sexuality has never seperated me from God. Ok, thats not entirely true. I did go through this whole phase where I thought I'd be better off dead than gay. Yeah, we werent exactly on speaking terms then.

But since I've started to learn who God really is, I've not had a problem with this. God is not some judge far removed from our lives, judging us from on high. God is our loving Father who is with us at every step of the way. He understands our difficulties better than we do. And He loves us despite our flaws.

Now, so far as reinterpretation of Scripture. The Truth of the Bible will always remain the Truth of the Bible. God is our Loving Father, Jesus our Lord and Savior. There's such a thing as sin, it seperates us from God. There's a person called the Devil, he wants to harm our relationship with God. What is happening in the present time is not necessarily a reinterpretation of Scripture, as it is new knowledge is being derived from the ancient sources. As we learn more about the cultures Scripture was written in, we know more and more about how to properly understand it. Let's do a for instance. Say someone writes something critical about President Bush. Thousands of years later, someone picks it up and says that all the ancients (us) hated Republicans because of that piece. Well, that's not entirely true.

Also, I am welcome and respected in my Church. And I have a feeling that would not change (too much) if people found out that I'm gay. Sure, there'd prolly be some discrimination, and itd become more and more important to have someone there with me when i train new altar servers, but that's just the nature of the beast. I recommend that if you're not welcome in your current place of worship, to find somewhere where you are. And I'll tell you right now that there are lots of places that accept gay people.

That was a great perspective CG777

A few comments about what you wrote:

"Now, so far as reinterpretation of Scripture. The Truth of the Bible will always remain the Truth of the Bible. "

This is what I was getting at. If the Bible is all truth, how does one reconcile with the fact it may say hateful things about homosexuality? (I have my own theories about it, but I wanted to hear others.)

"There's such a thing as sin, it seperates us from God."

But which ones remain sins? Is homosexuality still a sin or was it ever one?

"What is happening in the present time is not necessarily a reinterpretation of Scripture, as it is new knowledge is being derived from the ancient sources".

Good point. So we have to consider the fact that the Bible's writing may have been tainted by the culture of those who write it. So if there's "cultural biais" in it, can it still be 100% true?

The truth of the Bible is that there is a God who loves us deeply.

Scriptures are not to always be taken literally, and we have to admit that there can be cultural bias.

Homosexuality was never a sin. Its not a sin to be how you were born. Its the abuse of sexuality that is sin. According to Roman Catholic thought (remember this is the perspective I'm coming from), all sex whether its hetero or homo outside of marriage is sin, because its an abuse of sexuality. The only marriages that the RCC recognizes are hetero. Therein lies the problem for us.

My girlfriend feels that she can't have the relationship she once did with God because of her sexualtiy. But she is coming along, everyday realizing that God loves her no matter what.

I dont think that me being gay or anything distances myself away from god. Yes the church and stuff makes it hard to be gay they dont want gays and all that stuff. But why would god make us if he did not want us? Idk this maybe sounds stupid but this is wut helps me get through being who i am. I just think since god made me he loves me no matter wut, god loves all of his children no matter wut, and since he has chosen this difficult life style for me then he has a plan, he maybe preparing me for something else that is in this life or after this life but idk. So all i have to do is fight through this and get through life and keep him by my side helping me through this and while i am going through this i just have to try to enjoy all the things i can. I dont know it may sound stupid but thats how i am getting through this.

I've had problems with this issue myself. I've gone to church ever since I was a child, a Catholic one. I never enjoyed it, until my parents divorced and my dad started taking me to a more modern, congrigational church. I fell in love with it and truly enjoy going to church. As I realized my sexuality, I tried not to let it affect my spirituality, but it's hard. It's hard for me to sit in church, which is such a safe place, with such great people, knowing that if they knew about me, it wouldn't be as safe. I want to get closer to God but it's almost as if every other source is telling me its not possible.

The best thing to do, which continues to help me, is keep your relationship with God between you and God. What I mean by that is, don't let anyone else tell you what's right and what's wrong. God is love, and he made us all, and made us who we are. Don't let anyone else or anything else give you the impression that because you're gay, you're not allowed to be close to God. God welcomes and loves all of his children.

u know what screw what those people have to say. u know what God made us who we r and loves each and every single one of us NO MATTER WHAT. if people dont understand that then they arent really people to be with. i found out that long ago like 150 years that in the bible it said that God hated blacks or people of colou. but guess what those people were in ignorant times where black peopel weren't liked. so for people to keep it that way they wrote hating stuff against black people in hmmm something people trust with all their life lets see hmmm oh i know the bible. but now that people do like blacks its not in the bible anymore now is it???? hmmmmm. so ignorant people (not God or Jesus) write stupid stuff in the bible. God loves u no matter what even if yur black,gray,green,purple, gay, beastuality, virgin, rapist, whatever u name it.so that's why i only believe in GOd and JEsus cuz the other crap was made by ignorant people who r scared of the truth and what to screw up our mindds. point is u might feel distanced form GOd BUT GOD ISNT DISTANCE FROM U EVEN IF U R GAY. :D

Since I've come out, I have felt myself distancing from God. However, I would like to change that. I've run into a little wall because I had to leave my church of eight years for issues I cannot explain. I'm having trouble finding a new church but am hopeful that I will find one eventually. Some people interpret the Bible saying that being gay is a sin. The plain truth though is that everybody sins in some way or another. Nobody is without sin except for Jesus Christ. And even if it is a sin, which I don't think it is, there's much worse things people could be doing. One thing that always helps me is to remember that nobody was EVER saved by a guy with a megaphone holding a sign that says "God hates fags".

Check out the movie documentary called The Bible Tells Me so. It goes through all of scripture to counter all the church's arguments condemning homosexuality. I actually found it actually drawing me closer to God. Actual textual proof that God loves me no matter who I love.

http://clefbass.wordpress.com

The way I view my spirituality and faith is this and this alone; i am a free minded christain. I love God and Jesus, and equally have faith in them. I feel the God who loves me in my heart will not judge me based on my sexuality. If I am a good person, am kind and compassionate, and do the best I can, then why would my God punish me? I do not follow scriptures word by word, nor what the Pope preaches. I was Catholic for 18 years of my life, until I decided organized religion isn't for me. But that does not mean I cannot be a spiritual young women who is attracted to other women. Whoever wants to judge me, can... because in the end it's not up to them. I harm nobody, and am extremely compassionate. So while the Catholic church may go on how gay is wrong, they are also contradicting themselves when they say "love your neighbor as yourself". I am not speaking for the church as a whole, and am not judging... I still attend Mass. I just kind of block of the signals that they send that I don't agree with. I go to church to connect with my God, the God that loves me. Whoever disagrees.... help yourself ;]

Love has no gender!!!!!!!!

im sry to say , but anything and everything can distance you from god. even the bible can distance you from him, if you focus too much on readin the bible and trying to make sense of it you will not become closer to god.talking to god is what makes us closer to him , prying and caring and doing the right thing is what makes us closer to him, we just have to make sure that we strive to be closer , and just don't think that by doing the right thing will make us close to god .

ok, alot of good ideas and thoughts here but i'll tell u how i feel about being gay and being a christian... first, God loves me. the bible tells me that God looks at the heart, this tells me that if my heart is toward God and im living my life ( as much as possible, cuz we're not perfect) according to his word then i have his approval and blessing on my life. God, doesnt care that im loving a woman... God is all about love... i didnt say sex, i said love. i beleive God looks at a persons heart and is more concerned with whats in the heart rather than a persons sexuality.. God made us all to b who we r some of us r women who love women and some r men who love men.... God is about love and thats it

12 months ago. My world started falling apart. I didnt know who to turn to and just denied any relation between me and being gay. For some time I also felt myself shying away from God. But i learned to deal with it and trust God to either change me or leave me the way I am becuz He wanted me this way. I get the impression that my mom knows because she talks about something related to being gay everyday. For awhile I thought it would be better to be dead than gay. But God kept me through it. The actual word "Homsexuality" was non existent in the Greek language and thus could not be what was written in the Bible; it wasn't invented until the 1800s. Knowing that some of man's translation of God's word seems to be incorrect, makes me wonder how much else of the Bible may be written in words that God didn't intend. Each day I pray to Him asking for guidance. I trust that any questions or concerns I have will be answered directly from Him. That helps me get through it. If God created me gay, then He did it for a reason. I see no need for others to hate gays if we "came down form heaven" this way. If you don't like it, then I guess it's your issue. We're not going anywhere. If God is Love, and loves freely. then we should be aloud to love the same. SO much diversity is in this world. No two people are alike. Red Yellow Black White, short tall, big small, soft hair, big eyes, man, woman...Why not have one more inclusion to the list? God bless

This is somehing me and my best friend have been dissussing over the past week. I'm still not sure whether God is alright on me acting on my same sex disres

My best friend takes a very literaly view of scripture and aksed if I was to end up thinking that the scriptures on this topic were wrong how could I take any of scripture to be true. But scripture says slavery is right and we in the 21st centery know its wrong.

It doesn't make sense that God has made this way AND condems me just for loving someone when he gave me that desire.

If scripture is inspired by God then why in none of the Gospels does Jesus mention anything on Homosexuality? If its so important then you think God would have inspired the writters to put down someing the saviour said (if he said anything at all)

The idea of humans creating the Bible and being 100% right ie perfect is a hard concept for me to get my head around. But if it was inspired by God it would be perfect, wouldn't it?

Do I say to myslef yes I know scripture says these things but what I feel and think is right and discard the scriptures on Homosexuaity or do I say yes I know I feel and think this way but Scripture is right and I have to discard what I think and feel?

Ah, its so confusing but I'm trying to stand firm on the rock of the Lord and hopefully in time an answer will come.