Another stop along the path (moral, Creator, homosexual, hell)

[exl2398]

Hello! My name is Leslie and I'm new.

Hmmmm. A little about myself? I am 26 years old and live in Ohio. I hold two degrees. I have an associates degree in humanities, where I did about 3 months of study on the Israel-Palestine dispute and the history of the Israeli people. I have a BA in Philosophy, where I mastered the ability to question everything and critically look at morality in actions. I also slaughtered Aristotle, Hume, and Heidegger in a few papers, to my own personal satisfaction. Woo!

I'm a lesbian (a seemingly trivial point of interest). This part of who I am has, in the past, been an obstacle in my journey towards God, not because it is wrong to be gay, but because I let myself be duped by those claiming that God hated me for who I was. This is, of course, ridiculous, and I often ponder how many homosexual atheists there are in the world that would be believers if not alienated by misguided "soldiers of God". I bring this up not to argue, just to lay it all out. I am here primarily to learn and to hone my own religious and moral views, and those views will go hand in hand with who I am.

I was not raised religious. My mother is a baptist, but non-practicing, and my father is one of those people who believes God exists however he defines Him. I sometimes feel the blessings and the curses associated with having been brought up absent of formal religion. Largely, I feel this was a blessing. The years and years of study I've done and experiences I've had that led me to believe in God as my creator and natural end have made me feel as if, naturally, I'm being born again, able to experience the unabashed joy of discovering new truths, and the inevitable growing pains associated with aligning oneself to those truths. Children raised in religion, though there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, don't, I've noticed, remember the utter rapture discovering such great truths brings. Still, other times I feel at a loss or too "young" religiously, to understand or get some major religious concepts.

So. Hi

[Sunstone]

Welcome to the Forum! Great bio!

[Guitar's Cry]

Welcome! I look forward to seeing your posts.

[Willamena]

Welcome to the forums!

[Quagmire]

Hi Leslie, and welcome to RF.

I love your intro! Sounds like you''ve been on quite a journey and (and I think this is rare) you truely seem to be enjoying the quest. I hope you feel at home here.

Excuse a bit of shameless self-premotion on my part, but I think this thread addresses some of the things you were talking about;

Where Homophobia Comes From; a poem in memory of the great Oscar Wilde

[exl2398]

Quagmire, that's quite the interesting poem you've penned, there. Thanks for sharing!

So, where does one start 'round here? Or, is it more customary to just jump right in?

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by exl2398

Quagmire, that's quite the interesting poem you've penned, there. Thanks for sharing!

So, where does one start 'round here? Or, is it more customary to just jump right in?

Please jump right in!

[exl2398]

Jumped right on in

[Todd]

Nice to meet you Leslie and welcome to the forum.

You should feel welcome here regardless of your beliefs. Let us know if you have any questions.