From an email I had waiting for me when I got back from making hospital calls this afternoon. It's from a long-time therapist friend (and I'm changing some of the details for privacy) looking for some help with a client:
I'm working with [a client] whose parents are fundamentalist Christians. This young woman talks of suicide because she is constantly being told that God condemns homosexuality.
She made the poignant comment, "I pray to God every day to make me straight. If He's against people being gay, why doesn't He help me?"
I'm looking for easy-to-read information to give her, just so she'll understand that not all Christians believe as her parents do. She needs to know that God loves her, in spite of what her parents say. Do you have any suggestions for reading material?
You bet I do.
Are there others you have to recommend? Send 'em on over and I'll add them to the list. And in the meantime won't you join me in praying for all those can't hear the message of God's love, justice and compassion over the rhetoric of God's anger, judgement and condemnation. (See also Matthew 7:10)
7 comments:
This list NEEDS "Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church" by Dr. Jack Rogers. (Amazon).
It might also benefit from a link to Justin R. Canon's website Inclusive Orthodoxy. He's got a great little Bible study there covering the clobber passages from some thought-provoking angles not covered in most other texts (that I've seen).
It also must have a link to The Gay Christian Network where a care seeker can find an entire online community of literally thousands of queer Christians of every denominational background in a VERY safe and supportive environment.
I developed this program and wrote this book specifically for this population: people from a fundamentalist, evangelical background who want to integrate their sexual orientation and their faith. I developed the original program in the lat 90's at the request of a group of LGBT Baptists. The book is Reconciling Journey, http://www.amazon.com/Reconciling-Journey-Devotional-Workbook-Christians/dp/0829815694/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311041781&sr=1-1
I would suggest " A Fish Out of Water" It's an easy watch, and a nice starter documentary to lead to more detailed biblical discussion. Especially relevant because it starts with the person making the film and their difficulty dealing with biblical attacks from close friends when she came out. Definitely a good place to start if the person is in their 20s or younger. Very accessible.
I would suggest " A Fish Out of Water" It's an easy watch, and a nice starter documentary to lead to more detailed biblical discussion. Especially relevant because it starts with the person making the film and their difficulty dealing with biblical attacks from close friends when she came out. Definitely a good place to start if the person is in their 20s or younger. Very accessible.
A friend, who was raised in the evangelical fundamentalist tradition and who spent more than 30 years trying to rid himself of gay impulses, reflected on the Gospel lesson for last Sunday.
He realized that he had uprooted a whole lot of wheat in his life, missed opportunities to use his gifts, trying to get rid of what he thought were tares.
There is another documentary called "through their eyes" which is just gay christians talking in their own words. It's very cheap to buy. Many of them talked about how they were raised and came to reconcile competing views. Matthew
Actually it's called through MY eyes
http://www.throughmyeyesdvd.com/
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