#tricky stuff

[queenlucythevaliant]

Leading a Bible study on OT prophecy is an exercise in the deft handling of exposition dumps. Writers should have to do this as part of their training

[the-brunos-underwear-blog]

https://encanto-for-the-gays.tumblr.com/post/673907607993516032/hey-just-a-heads-up-this-popular-encanto-blog

Before I start, I need to ask you all to please not go harass this blog or anything. The last thing I want is to start fandom drama. I do feel, however, that I need to address this.

I thought about this…a lot. I was pretty nervous to even reply to the anon that asked me about my views on the LGBTQ+ community. I did lose followers for that post, and I don’t think this is going to be the only person that blocks me for what I believe.

I considered taking my post down. But I’m not going to do that. I expressed my beliefs in what I hope was a clear and respectful way. I know my post may have hurt people, and I am sorry for that. Feel free to unfollow or block me.

There’s a story in our early history about a Roman noblewoman and Christian named Perpetua, who refused to deny Jesus and was sentenced to death for it. Her father, who wasn’t Christian, begged her to renounce her faith, even if she only did it to save her life- if not for her own sake, then for the sake of her newborn son. Perpetua’s answer was simple. She pointed to a nearby jug and asked her father what it was. When he replied that it was a jug, she answered, “You cannot call a jug by any other name than what it is. How can I call myself by any other name than what I am? I am a Christian.”

To the blog who made the post about me, to the anon who told them about me, to everyone who follows me, to every single person who saw my post:

I am a Christian.

You can unfollow me. You can block me. You can say whatever you want about me.

It will not change what I believe, and I will be open about those beliefs if I am asked about them. I won’t start posting sermons on Sundays and adding Bible verses to the ends of my posts. But if I am asked about my faith, I will answer. In the words of Timothy, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.”

My blog is labeled Christian for a reason. My faith is so important to me that it comes before everything else. I hope I expressed my beliefs in the best way possible. But ultimately, the fact that those are what I believe? That comes first. I’m not pretending to be blameless. I made it very clear in my post that I am a sinner, too- I am no better than anyone else. I’m not standing on a soapbox shouting about the evil LGBTQ+ community. I’m not on this earth to be hateful. I’m here to be a light and a witness, and I’m doing that the best way I know how.

I don’t blame anyone for blocking and unfollowing. I understand why you would. I’m less understanding of the nuance in my post being ignored, and I wish that blog would actually read my post before putting me on a blocklist. But I understand if they do it. I understand if people block me. I understand if people unfollow me.

I know who I follow. I am not ashamed.

[firethatgrewsolow]

I assume you are aware that our boys were kinda disrespectful to the women they were with. How can you love them either way? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to shame anybody here, I’m just struggling with have two contradicted feelings towards them. On one hand, I really love them and respect them, while on the other, I feel the need to acknowledge that what they did is terrible.

I think you answered your own question. :-)

[the-brunos-underwear-blog]

are you okay with LGBT+ people and relationships IRL? Or does that go against your religion?

Well, if being LGBTQ+ goes against my religion, then we’ve got a problem, because I’m definitely not straight.

I did struggle with this for awhile, especially when I was still in the closet. I was raised in a very legalistic church- looking back now, I was raised in a cult. Dancing, movie theaters, swimming pools, songs with drumbeats- all banned. We had one version of the Bible that was the true version- everything else was misguided. Women were forbidden to cut their hair shorter than their ears or wear pants, and their main goal in life was to be a God-fearing, stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. The ultimate dream for a girl was to be a pastor’s wife.

And heaven help you if you didn’t conform. A woman was asked to leave the choir once because she wore a nice pantsuit. If you missed a church service- there were three a week- they sent people to your house to talk to you about backsliding and falling behind. After one particularly disastrous message that made a group of people leave the church, the pastor preached a sermon about how God had “cleared out the trash.”

They weren’t the kind of church to go out and wave signs reading GOD HATES GAYS or anything. What they did was pretend that sexuality didn’t exist. I didn’t know you could be anything but straight until I was sixteen and we left that church. And then I found out that oh, hang on, me crying hysterically in my mom’s lap after getting The Talk is not a Normal Straight Person thing to do and I am absolutely not straight.

I was terrified for a long time. I was raised thinking that anything but straight is a sin, and that God’s plan for good Christian girls includes marriage and childbearing. It took me a long time to realize that God made me this way for a reason, and that my sexuality is not wrong (there’s actually evidence that the Apostle Paul was asexual!)

It does get a little tricky with homosexuality, gender identity, that sort of thing. My beliefs on it are a little complex, but I’ll do my best to explain.

I am completely fine with the LGBTQ+ community. While I don’t choose to call myself a part of it, even though I’m ace/aro, I’m okay with people using that label for me. I’ve had friends who are everything from transgender to genderfluid to pansexual. I’ve even written a bisexual character before.

Where it gets complicated, though, is that I do believe that homosexuality is a sin. The Bible is very clear on that point, and I agree.

Where mine differs from the stereotypical Christian view is that I don’t see that as a problem. I’m fully comfortable with people of every sexuality and gender identity under the sun. Is it a sin? Yes. Does that matter to me? No. It’s no worse a sin than the ones I commit. Sins are all equal in God’s eyes. And why should someone who isn’t part of my religion adhere to the principles of that religion? Every person on the face of the earth sins at some point. That’s the entire point of Christianity- we’re not perfect, we’re not blameless, we’re not inherently righteous. That’s why we need Jesus in the first place. I’m saved, yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t sin. Everyone does, and I have no right to judge someone for their sins as a sinner myself.

To sum up, anon, while I do see homosexuality as a sin, it’s not any worse than any other sin, and I certainly won’t judge people for it. It goes against my religion, but I don’t expect people who aren’t part of that religion to follow its principles. I’m fully, 100% comfortable with people of any sexuality, gender identity, you name it.

[the-brunos-underwear-blog]

re: your opinion that homsexuality is a sin.

i was raised christian, so i understand where you're coming from on this.

but i need you to understand how detrimental it is to say homosexuality is a sin, especially for young people in the church who are confused about their sexuality. sexuality and love are so intrinsic to our beings and they cannot be changed, thus, like skin colour, are not subject to sin or sainthood. they are inherently neutral.

love in any form is not sinful. love is pure, whether that love is between a man and a woman, a man and another man or a woman and another woman.

to say homosexual love is sin is harmful. i implore you to consider the number of lives that have been cut short by this mindset, whether it's used benignly or malevolently. because even if you say

'but all sin is equal' you are demonizing a person for something they cannot change, just as you can't change being ace.

this is the mindset that has led to the forced conversion, self-harm, suicide, abuse, sexual assault and murder of lgbt+ people.

i beg you, in the name of god, consider your words.

Thank you for this, first of all.

I’ve had a few more people reach out to me on this, and I do think I should have phrased my initial post differently.

Regarding that, I don’t believe that being sexually or romantically attracted to the same sex is a sin. I didn’t make that clear in my post, and I’m sorry. I know sexuality cannot be changed. I learned that when I discovered my own sexuality, and I’ve had problems with people implying that before. I should have worded my post differently.

I’m still struggling with my views on acting on those impulses. I know of multiple Christians who are sexually or romantically attracted to the same sex. Some choose to remain celibate. Others have overcome those desires and married the opposite sex.

At this point, I feel very conflicted- I know multiple gay people in real life, they know my views, and we get along like a house on fire. I don’t avoid media with LGBTQ+ representation. I’ve even written a bisexual character.

I need to pray about this and probably do more study on it. If you aren’t Christian, I can’t hold you to Christian standards of what is sinful and what’s not. I, personally, believe that an active homosexual lifestyle goes against what my God says. But my beliefs are not your beliefs, and I can’t fault you for that. You don’t follow my God, and I can’t expect you to obey Him. It doesn’t change the fact that you are a person, and you deserve rights just like everyone else.

Let me clear one thing up very quickly: I do not, and will never, support forced conversion or conversion therapy of any kind. I believe that sexuality is intrinsic and cannot be changed, and that there is a difference between temptation and action. I’d also like to say that my choosing not to use the LGBTQ+ label for myself does not change the fact that people on the asexual spectrum are part of the LGBTQ+ community. That’s why I’m comfortable with people using that label for me- I don’t use it for myself, but I do realize that most people do use it for my sexuality, and I’m okay with that.

I’m still learning where I stand on some aspects of this issue. I’m very conflicted and tired right now- this is new for me. I don’t often have to go so public with my faith, since most of my close friends right now are Christians themselves. I’m not used to this kind of argument, and I’m going to get things wrong, phrase things badly, make people angry and hurt. To the people I did hurt, I apologize.

[the-brunos-underwear-blog]

PROSHIPING👏 IS👏ABOUT👏FICTIONAL👏CHARACATERS👏”PROBLEMATIC”👏CONTENT👏IS👏FINE👏IF👏IT’S👏FICTIONAL

Implying that proship content is bad and “fweaks you out uwu” is harmful to all proshipers, we’re already fuckin oppressed enough

…Anon, what exactly am I supposed to say here? It does freak me out. Like, that is a reaction that happens to me when I see those kinds of ships. I’m not implying that, it’s a literal thing that happens in my brain. I get freaked out and very uncomfortable.

As for the rest of this ask- we’ll agree to disagree.

[the-brunos-underwear-blog]

Are you proship? :o

Another tricky issue. I’m not proship, I have all the incest and pedophilia tags I can think of blocked. But I don’t block proship blogs. I don’t like proshipping- the kinds of ships involved in that freak me out. But I don’t actively try to avoid proshipping blogs, short of not following them. I don’t look at posts involving those kinds of ships. But I’m okay with being followed by and interacting with proship blogs.

[the-brunos-underwear-blog]

hi, this is the same anon who sent you the discourse message about homosexuality

i'll be honest, i haven't had a lot of positive interactions with christians regarding my sexuality and it's really nice to see there are still christians who are willing to at least listen.

thank you for hearing me out.

I’ll always listen! I can’t promise I’ll change my views, but I’ll definitely listen to what you have to say. That’s a guarantee.