Videos!

I just added a side bar that has links to some of my favorite (relevant) videos on the internet. They're all related to Christianity and being gay, and they are all pretty amazing. It was a tough decision, but I didn't put any of my favorite but irrelevant videos up. But if you were wondering, Corey Gray, Sam Tsui and Tyler Ward are all cute and they can all sing well. What more could you want?

The "Broadway Singing 'It Gets Better'" one is just because I love music and I love "It gets better", so what better thing than to combine them! There wouldn't be enough space to put all of my favorite "It gets better" videos, but I'll probably add some of my favorite ones.

Want some inspiration as well as some perspective? The "Gay Rights Movement" video is a moving collection of clips that illuminates the gay rights movement.

What happens when you put a bunch of gay men together? A musical, obviously. It is kind of long, but worth every minute. The GCN Musical is funny as well as conveying the difficult pull between two poor choices that gay Christians experience, and the freeing choice that GCN represents.

Any other videos you think should be included? Just let me know through a comment.

Biblical Reflection (Psalm 119:176)

So, this blog isn't just about being gay, but also about being Christian. I'm going to start doing some posts that are just some reflections on some verses that have meant a lot to me throughout my life and my walk with God. The verse that this post will focus on is Psalm 119:176, which is by far the most important verse in my life.

"I have gone astray like a lost sheep;

seek your servant,

for I do not forget Your commandments"

Let’s face it; we're all pretty screwed up. We will all go astray, we will all fail and we will all continue to sin for as long as we are alive. That’s a pretty depressing outlook on life. But we have a promise, we have a hope: God will seek us out for as long as we remember him and his commands. This passage was written by King David, but I always read it in a slightly different way, as if God were saying it to me:

"You have gone astray like a lost sheep;

but I will seek out my servant,

for you have not forgotten me in your time of need"

Now that is a love that I cannot begin to understand. If it were me, I would have grown tired of seeking out servants who will never cease to go astray a long time ago. But God loves us so much, that He will always seek us out, as long as we remember Him. That is the kind of hope we can rest assured in, that will keep us going through the worst times of our lives.

"And now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 24

The Gay Christian Network

In the great debate occurring in the church right now, there are three common Christian stances on the GLBT issue. The first stance is that a loving monogamous homosexual relationship is moral and acceptable under the Bible. The second is that homosexuals are called to celibacy, and the third is that homosexuals should go through “reparative therapy”. Wouldn’t it be amazing if there were a place where all three of these views could gather, love each other, and acknowledge that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ? Well, there is. It is called the Gay Christian Network (GCN), and it is an amazing place. I only discovered it a little over a month ago, and it has already influenced my life in a significant way.

According to their website, “The Gay Christian Network (GCN) is a nonprofit ministry supporting Christians worldwide who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT). Our mission, "sharing Christ's light and love for all," is carried out in 5 primary directions, to impact individuals, families, communities, churches, and the world.”

GCN has been, for me, a support system. It’s a way to realize you are not alone and that other gay Christians are out there, even if you don’t meet them in person. I have posted in threads over there ranging from topics such as “I feel gay when…” to “I feel straight when…” to “Metaphorical Internet Pillow”, and no matter the seriousness of my post, the very fact that I am interacting with people who can understand me in a way that most people cannot is reassuring. Now, if you read my post entitled “Loneliness” it may sound as though GCN solved all of that. It hasn’t, but it is an amazing start. If you are a gay (or straight ally) Christian, I really want to encourage you to head over to GCN and sign up.

GCN has a general discussion place where everyone can post, but it also has forums that people sign up for that caters to the specific needs or beliefs of its members. GCN has also created terminology to refer to the different views on the LGBT debate, which are Side A, Side B and Side X. Side A is gay affirming, Side B believes in celibacy and Side X promotes “reparative therapy”. Side A and B are both well represented on the site, but Side X doesn’t seem to want to love anybody that doesn’t agree with them, so they tend to stay clear (it also seems to be 99% straight people, maybe us gay people know something they don’t)*. Regardless of your view on the issue, you will be loved there and you will be accepted there. In short, GCN is, in my opinion, one of the closest things to Christ’s love I have ever seen.

*If you are side X and are loving and accepting, I am sorry for that sentence. I just have never met one yet.