agreed with youJust acknowledge, realize, and accept you know nothing, quit caring and worrying about religion (atheism and theism), focus on your life, your desires, and release your potential.
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I am in desperate need of help...
- Thread starter JeremK
- Start date
sageowl
Member
Wow, sorry to hear you are having to wade through all that. I wish there was something I could do other than express some sympathy from a complete stranger (me).
My guess is that if you think you are suffering from some kind of clinical depression, there is a good chance you are. Professional help can be helpful, but be picky when selecting a counselor, don't be afraid to fire the first two or three if you dont like em, for any reason. Good ones exist, but they can be hard to find. (experience speaking).
Do you have any sort of family support structure? It sounds like probably not so much? That really sucks (again, experience speaking.)
It sounds like religion was a positive force for part of your life, but also had a serious negative component as well. It is difficult, trying to keep the good, healthy bits of an imperfect faith, while throwing out the bad ones.
The only way I know to find out what is healthy and what is not for your life is to try things out. (Carefully, and intelligently, of course. Somethings are obviously destructive, without experimentation.) Good luck.
My guess is that if you think you are suffering from some kind of clinical depression, there is a good chance you are. Professional help can be helpful, but be picky when selecting a counselor, don't be afraid to fire the first two or three if you dont like em, for any reason. Good ones exist, but they can be hard to find. (experience speaking).
Do you have any sort of family support structure? It sounds like probably not so much? That really sucks (again, experience speaking.)
It sounds like religion was a positive force for part of your life, but also had a serious negative component as well. It is difficult, trying to keep the good, healthy bits of an imperfect faith, while throwing out the bad ones.
The only way I know to find out what is healthy and what is not for your life is to try things out. (Carefully, and intelligently, of course. Somethings are obviously destructive, without experimentation.) Good luck.
JeremK
Member
My family is quite dysfunctional, to be frank. :^/
Aupmanyav
Be your own guru
So, good and evil exist everywhere. Intelligence also is not determined by religiosity and non-religiosity. Percentage wise, there are less atheists in jail than the religious. What you have been through is indoctrination. Kindly cite some of the prophecies in Bible that have been fulfilled.
Well, the Christian God is that. He said, "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me."
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Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
You would be surprised on how natural it is to overplay into things. Your own mind can be your own worst enemy causing ever progressive complications that in turn magnify your present circumstances to be far beyond what It really and actually is.
It might be beneficial to return to neutrality and just let things, at least for a bit, ride by and pass, of which you can gauge for yourself weither it's actually prudent to go in any particular direction, mental or physical, by the very act of letting any and all issues and circumstances settle without further entangling into them.
A calmer mind makes better decisions.
You don't know what the "Christian" God is, only what other people have said about God, which is not necessarily true.
sageowl
Member
Eh that sucks, but is unfortunately not all that uncommon.
I think NoWhere Man has given you the best advice yet. Take some chill time. You aren't going to get all your major life questions answered in an instant. Figuring this stuff out takes time. Nothing wrong with that at all.
Also, if you really are going around feeling that God hates you... then somebody has been lieing to you bigtime, for a longtime.
Sex between males was specifically outlawed for Jews living in Israel. The reasons are not perfectly clear. Most English translations of the Bible indicate homophobia on the part of the translators as well as sex-phobia. Everywhere possible, anything (in English translation) that could remotely be considered sexual is mostly discouraged. A lot of people get the impression that sex is for reproduction only and even that sex is evil. Translation is originally a mathematical concept and doesn't perfectly happen between languages, so the translator also acts as commenter. Translation is sort of like cutting cookies out of dough. There's usually some left over.
Scholars who read the original languages give a different impression than the English translations. Also some work with concordances and lexicons can reveal that the translations are a bit slanted. As a lay person without knowledge of the original languages there is no substitute for reading books about the Bible and being very familiar with at least one translation. Otherwise you just won't be able to form an informed opinion. Many parts are cryptic, and also the Bible was never written to be a textbook about how to be a Christian. There is a lot that is not explained and that people interpolate. The subject of homosexuality is one of those areas where there is a lot of interpolation. Divorce is another one.
God is not a person, so God does not hate or love individuals. God's love is like rain. It falls on everyone. To quote "God is no respecter of persons." People experience both good and bad luck, and this is not personal. For example if you're born with no legs it does not indicate God hates you, and if you're born with super strength it doesn't indicate that God loves you more than other people. You simply had good or back luck.
Sexuality can be changed, but no one knows how. No one knows what causes one person to desire one sex over another, but what we do know is that there are some detectable characteristics chemically and physically. We don't know what most of them are. For example one scientific study indicates homosexuals may tend to have a slightly larger hypothalamus in their brains, have a different hormonal balance etc. Its actually not an easy thing to study, so there are numerous studies going on all the time. Just one study is never enough to conclude anything about physiological differences. Most indications are that brains are plastic but that some changes are irreversible. Its not known which ones.
Hello! I don't know the type of Christian (protestant, orthodox etc) you are and your background but i will only state my personal opinion. I completely understand where you are coming from. I know that there is a lot of debate about whether being gay is morally right or wrong and whether evolution cancels the bible ect. I’m still doing my research and I do not claim to know everything biblical and scientific but I will still answer you. I too struggled with feelings of homosexuality. I also have struggled with ocd and i am still struggling with types of thoughts from time to time. I understand the mental confusion, the frustration the stress and helplessness that comes with everything you’re talking about. Personally I believe that these are temptations and I feel this way because when I have resisted certain thoughts and feelings and choose not to dwell on them they simply leave me alone. As a Christian my true identity is in Christ, not how society shapes me, not who Joe blogs tells me who he thinks i am. Personally I urge you to keep being a Christian, try your best, rely on Christ’s forgiveness, if it helps seek professional help, it’s always good to talk about things. As a Christian the more i learn the more i become aware of my own selfishness, sinfulness and weakness but the positive is I can always rely on Christ’s forgiveness and love. Also Christianity is about love not fanaticism. It’s not about reading 1000 religious books a day but really living love. I too am trying to achieve this. Hope your day is better.
TheSounding
village idiot
In a TED Talk titled "Simply Happy" the speaker mentioned that it is people who are grateful are happy, and not that people who are happy are grateful. Being grateful is the key. Theism allows for this gratefulness to a greater extend than atheism.
TED Talk
David Steindl-Rast
Want to be happy? Be grateful.
As for God, believe that the only way to know him is by what he created, what is around you and what is evident. It is evident he created you like you are, so won't you be thankful. People want to hate and make their groups to feel proud and special about. They are truly lost. They exclude others because it inflates their delusional sense of righteousness. They make up their own rules about how God can act and who likes and doesn't. Like I said, God is only what is evident. God is sovereignty, reality and certainty. Can't you see how God loves you? It is evident.
Try it out, it won't cost you anything but a little time. Wake up and be grateful to God for your beautiful face, for your strength to walk and the protection against what harm you could face. Glorify him for everything and thank him, morning, noon, and night. The more gratitude the more blessings. What is evident is that he has a place for you, otherwise he would have ended your life. I guarantee that relatively soon you will feel better. Does God exist? What practice yields the greatest good? I would say God does exist because glorifying Him and being grateful to Him bears good fruit, like Jesus said. Let me know if you witness those good fruits. I hope you find happiness.
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Hi, JeremK! I can't say that I understand what it is you're feeling. Though, I can speak from my heart:
1) YOU ARE NOT AN ABOMINATION! You ARE a human being, created in the Image of God. A beautiful reflection of a Creator who truly cares for you. You are infinitely loved by Him. Don't you ever let your mind tell you any different!
2) In everything you are, and everything you do, remain ever true to YOU. Keep your head up.
3) Don't allow bad experiences with one particular church or denomination colour your perception of Christianity. There are Christian denominations and individuals (including myself) who are welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ+ individuals. Some groups include the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Quakers, the United Church of Christ, and (though we're not a specifically Christian group) the denomination to which I'm proud to say I belong, the Unitarian Universalists.
(Just a side note, UU's welcome both Theists and Non-theists of all strands, so they'll always be happy to have you!)
4) Having OCD is not a bad thing, man. A good portion of friends of mine from high school have OCD. It'll be OK.
Whatever your decide for your life, just remember, God loves you very much, and so do I. Peace and God bless you.
Unification
Well-Known Member
You're in hell right now by worrying, and in fear, and not feeling good enough, trying to please mankind. Be yourself. Be your own lighthouse. "God" can only be found within yourself, not in any church building, not a sky daddy. The temple is your mind, and "homosexual" is mistranslated when it should have been "temple prostitute." The entire bible is about your spirit, mind, brain, and body personified by names of people, places, pronouns, and things.
Don't "try" to change yourself. No man can teach you or change you but only by yourself having a still mind, open mind. "God" gives the growth.
Marriage in scripture has nothing to do with a literal man and woman, husband and wife. They are metaphors. It is unnatural for any kind of anal sex, but natural in any other way to love. Humble yourself as much as possible and grow in strength to overcome and ignore the judgers, accusers, hate. If what you're doing is wrong, you'll naturally hate what you're doing and it would become repulsive and repelling... If it doesn't, then be yourself. Peace and many blessings to you, friend.
I don't believe you.
Ditto. I feel a bit like this is hard to accept just out of the blue from somebody who's not even a regular. Its kind of strained.
locowood
New Member
===Not all religions are anti-gay. Not even all Christians are. It's the people who are ignorant not you who is in error. I think you are reacting to the turmoil they are putting you thru as most would. Please stay strong and find peole who will love you and support you on your journey. God is love and you were created as you are for a purpose.
Angel1
Angel
In light of Reincarnation and Karma, our gender is indeed a matter of personal choice. It is just one of the conditions and situations that we will encounter here on Earth that will enable us to move forward in our spiritual development.
There is no reason for you to despair. Now, you can begin to understand why you are the way you are.
Excerpt from http://secrets-of-the-kingdom.blogspot.com/2006/11/reincarnation-and-karma.html:
“Still another unique advantage (of living and studying on Earth) is the illusion of sex. In the Highest Realms, there is no sex. We will be as the angels, complete in one. The male and the female principles correspond to the positive and negative aspects of a single entity. Earth society has assigned specific roles to each of the sexes. The male focuses on wisdom, knowledge, justice, fairness, responsibility and decision-making, among others; while the female usually centers on love and understanding, bringing up children, sympathy, affection and the like. The male is the more dominant, while the female is the dominated, though, not always. The subsequent union of all of these attributes into one produces a more perfect and balanced individual.
Sometimes, it is determined that for greater spiritual progress, both roles, the male and the female, have to be undertaken in the course of a single lifetime, then, the third sex results. This is true in the case of those who have undergone operations to alter their sex as well as for the hermaphrodites. This alternative lifestyle, far from being unreasonable or illogical, is actually the most advantageous condition in certain cases, because it enables a spirit entity to have a more balanced development, being afforded the opportunity to develop both male and female aspects of its character without having to wait for another incarnation.
The choice of sex depends on the traits one desires to develop. We should take on the sex which will afford us the means to become strong where we are weak. However, when a spirit entity has a strong personal preference for one particular sex over another, usually, certain traits become more developed than others. And, when the time comes that we are required to incarnate as a member of the opposite sex than that preferred, our dominant traits tend to exert too great an influence resulting in the homosexual or lesbian condition.
Such an imbalanced state, however, is not at all abnormal. Until we are able to attain to perfect development, which is not possible for those who are still here on Earth, we will all be suffering from a similar imbalance. However, eventually, these, too, will be resolved.
And in addition, other spiritual benefits similar to those available to all who find themselves discriminated against, as will be discussed later, can also be available. Therefore, even these seemingly undesirable conditions from the worldly point of view are really desirable and advantageous from the point of view of the spiritual.”
Hi. I think the best thing a person can do is to come to know the true God, and learn of his loving purpose for the earth and mankind. That requires time and effort to read and understand what the Bible really teaches. But it is worth the effort, IMO. I have found answers to all life's important questions there. (2 Timothy 3:16,17) The Bible has helped millions of people learn the truth about God. I have found most churches teach false doctrines rather than what the Bible teaches, so we need to find those who are worshipping God "with truth." (John 4:24) Best wishes in your search.