Editor:

I am someone who has just come across Whosoever, and am just writing to thank you. Having read only relatively little of the e-mag I already have taken from it much comfort, not only comfort but fortitude to deal with feelings of ill against those who condemn (living in Northern Ireland there are many) and move towards a feeling of love and good will towards them. Whosoever, I feel, shall help me along the way a great deal.

Thank you once again and God Bless,

Ross Anderson (Belfast)

Editor:

Although I intended to write a formal letter of appreciation to you, just writing this mail to you makes me want to out a whole lot more.

By accident, your website recently came to my attention. And went straight to the heart. It can hardly be expressed what it meant to me, to see a site where knowledge about and acceptance of homosexuals are combined. Being a homosexual myself (21 years of age), I find myself isolated in the small protestant community of my village. Striving for a Christian (maybe even orthodox protestant) lifestyle while being attracted to the same sex is hard enough without missing someone to tell about my struggle. (Perhaps because of fear for public disapproval)

Now, I see that your site includes answers and opinions on questions that have been haunting me ever since I discovered my homosexuality. Thank you so much for this initiative, thank you so much for being there. God bless you and your work!

Sincerely, “Huib,” The Netherlands

Editor: 

I enjoyed Darrell Grizzle’s article [Anger and Compassion] although I have to say I disagree with a lot of what he says.

I believe that the way believers have approached the gay and lesbian issue is appalling in many respects. They do so out of a motivation of hatred, fear or as you point out a lack of compassion.

However, scripture is clear on God’s position in regards to immorality. This doesn’t just mean sexual sins of men with men and women with women, but lusting after ones neighbor and the struggles that we have with our thought life.

God wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him and He understands that it is impossible for us to do so while we are committing immoral acts and sins against our own bodies. In order for us to have a true intimate relationship with Him we must have victory in our life in this area.

Can you be gay and be saved? Yes. Can you be in God’s will and be gay? Never. No more then I can be in God’s will and be struggling in my thought life. Am I any better then a gay person if I’m struggling in my thought life? No.

How do we gain victory in these difficult areas? We recognize that we can’t do it on our own. We confess it before brothers. We hold ourselves accountable to brothers in intimate relationships sharing our struggles, praying for one another and encouraging one another with the battles that we wage against sin. We humble ourselves before God having gone through excruciating brokenness and continue to call on God for forgiveness and grace. We will never attain perfection in this life, but there is no denying what God has set before us as right and wrong in scripture.

God has given us instructions in how to live for our own benefit. Not to make life hard, but for our own good, because he loves us.

I believe in loving gays and lesbians as much as I don’t understand their struggle, just as I believe in loving a brother struggling with pornography. The sins are the same, immorality and they both affect their relationship with God in the same way, intimacy.

The only thing that truly bothers me with the Christian gay and lesbian movement is that they are willing to accept their sin. God is the same yesterday as He is today and will be tomorrow. He has made it clear that the acts performed in a gay relationship are immoral and are sin in His eyes, not mine.

Anyone who says God hates fags is truly hateful. Anyone who says that God hates their sin is correct, no different then God hates every sin I commit. No man, gay or straight should deceive themselves about sin. There are many straight men who are believers who have given up the fight against their thought life and in return lack true intimacy with God, their wife, their children and their friends.

I’m only thankful that I have been covered by Christ’s blood and have been justified by His wondrous work on the cross.

Larry Fox

Darrell Grizzle Responds:

Larry,

I’m glad you enjoyed the article, despite our obvious disagreements. I’m glad we can agree that waving signs saying “God Hates Fags” is a hateful act.

I’m touched by the concern you have regarding my “struggles with homosexuality.” I wonder why you assume I have such struggles. To be sure, I did have such struggles at one time, but now those struggles are over. By God’s grace I have learned to stop struggling against the way God created me to be. I was able to “gain victory,” as you put it, by learning to love and accept myself as God loves and accepts me. Indeed, to reject God’s love and acceptance — by trying to deny God’s gift of homosexuality in my life — is nothing more than a form of spiritual pride. You can read about my journey of faith and self-acceptance in earlier article I wrote for Whosoever: https://www.whosoever.org/v4i5/journey.html

You are clearly very passionate about this topic, and I sincerely hope that someday soon you will be able to find God’s grace and peace in your own struggles with this issue.

Your brother in Christ, Darrell

Editor:

Let me first say that I am not a Christian, nor would ever profess to be (inasmuch that I do not believe Jesus to be divine, but a great teacher, healer, and spiritual leader, though I believe his example of love for all should be always followed).†

I am a Deist.† I am also queer.† Most of the Bible I write off as contained sexism, racism, homophobia (much of the Old Testament appears to contain the first two).† You have shown me that that is not the case.† I have always known that different Christians interpret verses different ways.† I also knew that the different translations changed the original meanings of what Jesus and his disciples taught, though I never knew the specifics.† Your site has given me the ammunition necessary to make sure that no Chrisitan Fundamentalist will ever attempt to condemn homosexuality and go unchallenged.† Thank you…thank you so very much.†

As a Deist, it disgusts me when people demonize others for who they are.† It simply goes against all Reason (which, I believe, is the greatest gift God gave to man).† Your matter-of-fact translations of the original Greek of the Bible show another story than any modern-day translation.† As a Psychology major and Sexuality Studies minor (hopefully you’ll see me on TV someday or read one of my future books), I am overjoyed to see the breaking-down of bigotry perpetrated by the Moral Majority (funny how they are neither moral, nor the majority).†

In a word, thank you (well, in two, you get my drift). May the Deity always shine the light of Reason on you (in Christian terms, tred righteously in the footsteps of Christ),

Aaron Alexander

Editor:

Thank you for this balanced and sensitive article [Love the Sinner, Forgive the Sin by Candace Chellew].

For such a long time, I have been uncomfortable with the notion of “love the sinner, hate the sin.” Coming from a conservative evangelical background, I found this expression was used frequently to justify otherwise repugnant, bigoted standpoints and attitudes. Your article shows this in a far more generous and intelligent way than I have ever been able to express.

I am not gay, but have found this Web site and have enjoyed what it offers (primarily intelligent thought and compassion). That is something that has been lacking in many of the fellowships I have been part of, and is in part why I currently find the Quakers a more reasonable and acceptable place to worship.

To finish, it is good to find Christians who focus on love, compassion and forgiveness. Without these, there is no Christianity.

Thank you again for your essay.

Ian