Confused about religion....Can anyone help me?

[SkinnyBoi87]

Okay, so here's the story on how things went. My mother, father, brother, sister-in-law, and I went to see a church program yesterday at the church my grandmother goes to, because my grandfather had saw it, and he asked us to go see it (This was before he passed), so we promised him we'd go see it. It was a very moving and such.

Well, after the end of the program, church was over. And I was feeling very emotional about everything, because I had gone to church off and on since I was younger and everything, and my grandfather had always played the Bass guitar in church, but since he passed, they had someone new doing it.

Anyways, on to my point, sorry for getting sidetracked. We were getting ready to leave, and I was standing in between the pews, and I just started crying. Then my grandmother asked me if I wanted to go to the altar, and I thought it would help, so I went to the altar and said the Sinner's prayer and got saved.

And ever since yesterday, I've been kind of confused. Since I had gotten Saved, does that mean I have to try and be straight now, or can I still be myself? Please, if anyone has any advice or experience in this area, could they please reply, because I need some guidance, and I'm so confused.

(I'd go to my family for support, but I already know their answer to this one, since they are against the gay thing)

And by the way, if anyone is interested in the program I saw, it's up on Youtube:

​

 

[cityboy-stl]

Just my opinion

Any religion that tries to make you into something you are not is wrong. It's not about following other peoples rules, it's about following God and following your heart even if other peoples rules don't like it.

Since I had gotten Saved, does that mean I have to try and be straight now, or can I still be myself?

No! It does not mean you have to be straight. It means you can be and should try to be the best gay man you can possibly be. Trying to be something other than yourself is false and therefore a sin... and also futile.

Peace.

/Just my opinion

 

[SkinnyBoi87]

Thanks for your input Cityboy, you helped clarify this issue thanks

 

[hotatlboi]

yes as cityboy said, if you try to be something you are not, you will end up miserable and it won't work anyway.

If you want to be a part of a church and they are not supportive, find another church. There are churches that respect and welcome gay people.

 

[FrankLeeMyDear]

Cityboy-stl -

Any religion that tries to make you into something you are not is wrong.

Very well stated. Succint and truthful statement.

Skinnyboi87- you have a lot to think about. I wish you peace in holding true to your feelings.

 

[Beanstalk]

I it much, much easier to find God in the garden, where I cultivate my fragrant roses and propagate plants by cuttings and seeds. Organized Religions seem to be established for the purpose of separating people so that they can go to war with one another.

I find it much simpler than that. I find God at the Center, where all good things converge. The closer you get to that point, the more you life will be balanced and you will feel clear. Your personal and business affairs will prosper, and you will begin to love everyone.

Movement in the opposite direction takes you away from clarity and balance out towards, first, novelty and complexity, but then to confusion and chaos.

So this makes spiritual concerns very easy -- just try to go closer to the center, which is where you will find God. The closer you get to that center the more you will love everyone.

If I asked you "What does it mean to be straight?" and "What does it mean to be gay," and you replied that "straight men don't like other men, and gay men don't like women," of course you would be all wrong. A gay man (the way I think of it) is anyone who loves men, whether he loves women or not. And a straight man is a man who loves women, whether or not he loves men.

So if you feel any desire to get closer to God, the more you love people of any gender, age, sexual orientation or whatever, the closer you will come to the presence of God, and everything in your life will begin to get better and better at an ever increasing rate.

To put it another way, "You never lose points by loving people; you only lose points when you don't love them." So relax and try to discover a way to love more and more people, rather than fewer, regardless of any gender they may happen to be.

If you want God to love you, love other people, and don't worry about their gender or their species.

 

[Nishin]

"Saved" from what?
Do you think you will never "sin" ever again?
What exactly is a sin?

My two cents :

Don't give credit to what's told to you by another man that you can't think through and agree with.

Don't let anyone decide for you what is good or wrong.
Live your life by your standards, do what YOU think is good, don't do what YOU think is wrong.

When you have thought and set your own morals, ethics and golden rules, you will be at peace with yourself because you will no longer be in contradiction with yourself.

If He doesn't exist, then you will have lived a worthy and honorable life and will have no regrets (actually if there is nothing, you will not be aware of it since you will be nothing anymore)...

If He exists, then you should have trust in him because He is the only one who can judge you.

If it is yet something else, then you will not have lived a life ruled by lies of a man-made afterlife.

 

[Txgoodoldboy]

You might like to checkout these books below:

If God is Love: Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World, by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland.

If Grace is True: Why God Will Save Every Person, by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland.

What's So Amazing Abour Grace, by Philip Yancey.

____________________________

The key of most religions is "To love one another".

 

[David DeVour]

Keep in mind that straight people killed Jesus while all gay people did was flirt with an angel.

Study them in your own life before trying to become one. Read the papers and watch the tv news before assuming that they are better than you.

If Jesus can see into all our hearts and he walked among gay and straight people, I don't think he would believe in absolute heterosexual superiority.

Not that all straights are inferior, of course.

 

[Deandbn]

I agree with the poster who said "saved from what" - they probably mean from going to hell.

The problem for them is that we are all sinners and we will sin again over and over.

The Lord said he would forgive us our sins (all of them) provided we believed in him.

So there - you can sin all you like and as long as you believe in him, you are going to heaven.

So enjoy life and have fun bud. Just try to do good things and not bad things. Im sure you can.

 

[MLoveless]

Confused? Don't be...

Look, there is no "God" - There is no "Higher Power"

You're on this ride once, so make the most of it - here and now, baby...

Once the lights go out, the party is over...

 

[Beanstalk]

All we have to do is just "believe" in Him? Oh, no -- I think there's more than that! We have to listen to His message and then do something -- love one another, for example. The couch potato who "believes" and thinks he is going to Heaven may have another think coming.

It's like taking a "fat pill" so you can lose weight while you sleep. Or a penis enlargement pill, for that matter!

By their fruits shall ye know them.

 

[bankside]

One of the biggest lies ever told by the many religious manipulators and hucksters in this world is that there is something wrong with us as we are and that being ourselves is bad.

Nobody is perfect. We can all try to be better. Pretty much everybody has done something at one time or another when they knew better. But almost no one is inherently evil. People are being themselves when they try to do better and be better and be kinder. People are being themselves when they recognize their mistakes and try to correct them. It is natural to want to be a better person. It is natural to want to treat others better. And it is natural to do those things even as a gay man. There is nothing wrong with giving your love to another guy.

Being yourself also means trying to honour the memory of your granfather and taking time to try to see things from his point of view. It is respectful to think what he would have wanted for your life. But being yourself also means you get to have your own point of view. It means you get to have your own life, even if it is something he would not have agreed with.

As far as being saved, if you think about this for a while and it is still making you uncomfortable, you can forget about it. You have to be yourself. You don't have to be "saved" to please your family or live the life your grandfather wanted you to live, even if you love him and miss him very much. If you are supposed to act like somebody else entirely, then who do they think is getting "saved" anyway? And if you are gay, you are gay.

 

[Royal Heart]

If you were to "go straight" you would be deceiving yourself, which is the epitome of lying. Avoid that sin and be true to yourself, always tell the truth of who you are.

 

[closet case]

You will still be yourself, even if you try to change in whatever way you think you should change because you're "saved". You are who you are, period.

 

[Spensed]

Notions of saved and not saved are just that. They aren't consistent between the different religions and they presuppose a belief in a God, who creates some beings so that, OK through their own choice, they are damned for eternity.

This makes absolutely no sense, unless you can believe in this stuff through faith, assertion or whatever. I suspect it's just outdated thinking, like blood letting to cure disease.

But, if one chooses to think in those terms, the idea is that what God wants for you represents you truest nature and that, a failure to stick with your best self misses the mark and misses "salvation". Obviously, in our time based dimension, that's a constant choice.

In those terms, I'm not sure one need theist metaphysics to live a "saved" life.

 

[SkinnyBoi87]

Why exactly did you have this divine inspiration? Are you under stress? Are you out, proud, and living your life on your own?

What made you cry about seeing this production?

Honestly, I'm not really sure. I mean, I'm out to my parents, and grandparents, and my family, so there's no confusion there. Although my Dad still has problems with it, and I'm still living at home, so that may have something to do with it, I'm not sure.

Also I've been under some stress since my grandfather passed away on the 28th of July, things have been kind of rough for me emotionally. It could be just a culmination of everything that's happened this year. I'm not really sure.