Religious Backgrounds

.....bullying of ANY kind is INTOLERABLE, be it due to color, religion, or orientation.

Stupid, heartless, and cruel.

TOO MANY kids have had to endure the senseless wrath of unfeeling bullies.

Sad to say, I have a lot of experience, there, believe me.

Mom always said "ignorance is bliss".

If that is the case, there are FAR TOO MANY "blissful" people in the world......

 

thepapasmurph.......

So much for "the man of the cloth" who treats ALL God's children equally, with compassion and love.

Religious, selt-righteous hypocrite.

I cannot even begin to imagine the rough, rocky, and rutted roads you have traveled on your long and often painful journey.

Believe me, good friend, you are a FAR better Christian than many "good Christians" who attend services every Sunday.

And, I've long believed, that: "Jesus loved the lost lamb most of all"........

 

That's really heartfelt Papa. You had to relive a painful chapter in you life to tell that story and that's not easy to do.

Being raised in the Baptist church I saw things like that happen. The hypocrisy was so bad at times and being the pastor's kid I wasn't suppose to say a cross word against it or the church members that looked down their noses at people that they felt were beneath them. The holyer than thou attitudes and guilt tactics were not palpable in any way shape or form. It was the basis of many an argument, behind closed doors of course with my mother. In her mind her middle son was/is going to hell. I know she believed that till the day she died.
I'm sorry you had to endure that kind of hate my friend. No one should have to deal with that from any organized religion.

 

thepapasmurph:

Humbling.

Enlightening.

Thank you you for posting this "Message From A Higher Authority".

As you know, I was born and raised a Catholic, but have been "lapsed" many, many years.

Like so many "organized" religions, there was too much condratiction and hypocriscy to deal with.

One thing that ALWAYS irks me is that the Catholic Church is forever touted as "The One True Church".

So, I guess that Episcopal, Protestant, Lutheran, etc. churches are NOT "true churches".

Of course I know (and believe) that there is a "Big Man Upstairs"; I know this well, as, over the many, many years, I have frequently "argued" with him over WHY He made me GAY, and had to suffer so greatly, both phyiscally and emotionally.

Of course, I never received a "direct" answer; but, one day, I said, "What the hell? I'm a good, decent man, who has tried to live his life humbly and quietly. I guess being a "good" man counts for SOMETHING."

What is Heaven like?

Being part Irish, I love to imagine it as a lush, rolling, green landscape, like Ireland.......perhaps I'll even get to have a good "heart-to-heart" with St. Patrick Himself.......

 

Mom was very opened-minded, religion-wise, though being a devout Catholic.

When I was about 11, a dear older German lady we knew (she was Lutheran) asked Mom if i could attend her Sunday School.

Mom asked me if I would like to attend, and I said "yes".

So, every Sunday after Mass, I would walk the few blocks to the little basement church for Sunday School (all were German, and so very kind)

I even won an award for best recitation (on Mother's Day), and was given a leather-bound Bible by "Tanta Lena", Mom's friend, and my Sunday School teacher (she wrote on the flyleaf before presenting it to me; I still treasure it today)

Mom had told me the story of her one aunt, as a young girl, was aked by a Lutheran girlfriend to attend her church one Sunday.

When she asked permission, her mother (my great-grandmother) said: "Of course, God is in ALL churches."

She was VERY much ahead of her time, for certain!

 

Lol everyone's church is the one true belief. To my parents it was the Baptist and not any Baptist, it had to be the Southern Baptist. LOL, I used to roll my eyes everytime I heard that. Don't get me started.

 

.....sounds a lot like pro sports; EVERY fan thinks HIS team IS the ULTIMATE, no others need apply.........

 

Yep, I was in Tennessee for a year back in the 80s and went to an Independent Baptist briefly and it was constantly stated to be “The only true church”. Later in life I attended a Plymouth Brethren church and it was the same thing. It’s ridiculous. No church for me anymore.

 

Thank you, John!

And you are so right on both points: Jesus would never hate a gay or bi man or woman--never--and no homosexual or bisexual person would ever CHOOSE same sex desires and activities. They're only living the truth that they were born into--that is, if they stop allowing the internalized homophobia programmed into them by our bigot-run communities and society.

 

You are QUITE welcome, my friend!

Many years ago, Sunday School children used to sing:

"Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so!"

Jesus loves ALL of us; he most certainly would not turn his back on a gay or bi person......ALL would be EQUAL in HIS eyes!

Sadly, homophobic bigoted "Christians" seem to have forgotten that, in the Bible, it also says:

"Judge not, lest ye be judged."

That Bible quote indeed speaks MANY volumes; sad that so many so-called "Christians" never seem to take it to heart......

 

Since you asked, I thought I would share the following. But I'm not trying to proselytized whatsoever, but just explaining a little bit because the details of Buddhism are not generally known. As I've mentioned, I was born and raised Catholic, and still very much love Jesus and His actual and true teachings, but I have been a Buddhist for almost 30 years now, in a tradition with its immediate roots in Tibet but also part of an unbroken lineage all the way back to Buddha Shakyamuni 2600 years ago in India. But these teachings were brought to the West in the 1970s (but we now have centres and temples throughout the entire world), and presented in a form for people of the Modern World to understand and practice.

In this tradition, homosexuality and bisexuality is completely fine and accepted equally with heterosexuality. There is also complete equality between men and women, and ordained monks and nuns (but I am a lay practitioner, as most are). And everyone is welcome to come to classes, whatever their religion or lack thereof. Buddha only deeply wishes to bring the teachings of love, compassion, and, in particular, wisdom to each and every living being without exception, and is only interested in freeing beings from suffering permanently and helping them achieve permanent peace and happiness. Buddha recognized that all living beings share one universal motivation, to be free from suffering and to be happy. The problem, Buddha said, is that we're looking for this in all the wrong places. A fully enlightened being, or a "Buddha" in Sanskrit, has universal love and universal compassion for each and every living being without exception, and has their sole mission to benefit others in any way possible, but ultimately to help them realize the true source of happiness, a peaceful mind, and the methods to get there.

But everyone is a unique individual at any point along their spiritual progress, even if it has not begun. Everyone has their own inclinations, aptitude, and capacity, so some individual organized religion, spirituality, or personal faith simply speaks to that individual where they are at, and that is wonderful. So the Buddhist tradition I'm practicing accepts all religions and faiths of the world, as long as they're motivated towards benefitting others.

But there are many Buddhist traditions in the world not as open as our modern one, because they are catering to their individual societies and customs, with the presentation of the teachings customized to their individuals, just like all the other religions and faiths in the world are doing. I just personally believe that in general Buddhist teachings have survived the ages, unlike some other religious traditions that have been corrupted through ordinary human delusions, such as ignorance.

All this is why I personally was drawn to Buddhism, and this particular tradition. But to each his or her (or their) own.

 

EXCELLENT commentary.

I've read that, in the past, some Buddhist sects taught that homosexual love between two males was both purer and more fulfilling than sex with a female.

King Mongkut of Siam (the King depicted in "The King And I") once said : "....Buddha teaches us that life is not for destinations....it is for journeys......"

We ALL must follow the path that life has set before us.......NO DETOURS.

IF gay and bisexual men are so EVIL, then WHY did God CREATE us THAT way?

We certainly did NOT choose our sexualities......

 

Think about this, if you will............

ALL religions are MAN-MADE.

Is it any wonder, then, that virtually EVERY "organized" religion has its bigots and its hypocrites?

WHEREVER man is to be found, you will, most certainly, encounter HATRED and BIGOTRY.

What we must do is to sift through the ugliness and pettiness and glean the HONESTY and the TRUTH that we avidly seek.

It is also that, in ALL religions, we are are ALL seeking a spiritual connection with a Supreme Being (Jesus, God, Allah, Buddha); in this, EVERY religion is alike.

Let's take Manhattan; so many from the city itself, and surrounding suburbs, are all (during an AM rush hour) seeking ONE common destination......Manhattan.

Some drive, others take buses, subways, commuter trains, and ferries.

ALL these commuters are heading to ONE destination....Manhattan.....BUT, they are arriving at this common destination via many different routes and modes.

The same with religions......we all are seeking that "higher spiritual plane", but ALL arriving at that COMMON DESTINATION via DIFFERENT "roads".

In short, my friends, I think we would all be much better off if more of us thought along these lines.....

 

I was raised in a very conservative Christian household. But lo and behold one night while I was still in high school I found myself on my knees sucking off my same age next-door neighbor. That continued often on for the next four years. I never considered myself by sexual. It was just more of a outlet for both of us since we didn’t have real girlfriends yet. I think in the Bible, and I believe it’s in Leviticus, it says homosexuality is an abomination. Then I started feeling guilty, especially after the act. I take a step back for a while, until my young hormones got the best of me again and we do it again, and again! Our family eventually moved away and I haven’t done it again since. Now 40 years later I’d like to do it again, but I don’t see that ever happening.

 

I was not raised in a particularly religious way, and my family of origin moved around frequently enough that I was never snagged by a particular church. Even in the limited contact I had with Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics, and Methodists, I had been taught that sex was bad and should only be reserved for procreation purposes among heterosexual married couples.

That being said, my first sexual experience as a young adult was with a progressive minister. He was studying the Urantia Book at the time I met him while hitch hiking through central California in about 1970. He basically seduced me during a massage at his home in a guest house at a ranch, but in the end, I was a willing participant.

I had been so inhibited about sex with others up to that point in my life and had only masturbated. He brought me to the most thunderous orgasm of my life. Praise God!!!

 

Like human society itself, religion (ANY religion) is complex, intricate, and, at times, unfathomable.

There are many Bible passages that can be tricky to decipher, while others ring loudly with powerful chords of crystal-clear clarity.

Sadly, as I've mentioned previously, ultra-conservative "holy rollers" can be (and usually are) the most dangerous and the most bigoted religious fanatics of all.

Strange (and sad) how so many of these highly-misguided religious zealots preach loudly against homosexuality, but not a word on heterosexual pedophila or heterosexual infidelity.

Again, yet again, "As long as it's not gay, it's OK".

I am certainly no Bible authority, nor a dedicated theologin; however, even I know that, in far too many instances, the Bible is used as a weapon of HATE, instead of as a symbol of goodness, humility, and love.........