Deleted Forum Message
Here is a message we received yesterday on the Forum that I didn’t post:
“Get a grip, girls. I think this is going toooo far! Christ does not
have any issues with the “people” whom are homosexual, BUT HE Does
directly speak out against Acting upon such urges.
Do Not be fooled into thinking that it is “OK” because you have all
these nice buds who agree with you… DO NOT mistaken all the agreement
you are receiving! – It is the devil, himself, who is prompting you.
Please seek help. This partner thing Must Go Away to Save your Souls.
God Bless you.” The post was signed, “T. Ruth.”
As I deleted it I wondered is “T. Ruth” a man or a woman (I think a woman although most of the negative comments we receive sound like guys); and why on earth would she would bother – first in finding our site, and then spending the time to write such a post. But what really sends me is that “T. Ruth” tries to justify her pissy message by adding “God Bless you” at the end – as if that makes everything all right.
Here’s how I would respond if T. Ruth didn’t post to the Forum but sent us an email message instead:
Dear T. Ruth,
Thank you for your “concern” but please don’t spend time worrying about us. If you really did care, your tone would have been quite different.
Instead of cruising the web for lesbian and gay forums to post anonymous notes for your own edification, I suggest you spend a quiet quarter hour in church or your bedroom and pray the rosary.
Years ago, when my company was going through a terrible crisis, one of the salesmen made a rosary for each Catholic he knew. With his gift he suggested we pray a decade every morning to center ourselves and find peace in our hearts if nowhere else. Finding that peace inside would help us to face whatever came that day. Hopefully, Christ’s peace will replace the obvious anger and frustration in your heart.
Give it a try,
Karen
BTW – Jesus said nothing about homosexuality. St. Paul did, but Jesus did not. Are you confusing the two?
August 13th, 2007 at 6:16 am
Karen, If you write to T. Ruth again, please tell her I will pray for her. I was probably one of the most homophobic persons ever just before I came out to myself. And I am wondering if that is what is going on with her angry little heart. A very sad place to be….
Mary
August 14th, 2007 at 5:51 am
Mary, if I ever get an email message from her I will. We do get mail from a few people who are sincere in their wish we would change for the good of our souls. Those people are sent a polite respond. Other people who write in with nasty messages saying we’re all going to hell get deleted. One of more memorable ones was from a priest, who sent increasingly vitriolic emails every day until he finally gave up. Some pastor!
The other woman who runs the site with me–who is also named Christine!–actually had an ongoing dialog with a sister on this topic. If there is any chance of a dialog we like to keep the door open.
And yes, I agree with your comment about homophobia. I was very homophobic, too. The fear of being different and possibly shunned is very strong. I think a lot of women who are lesbian, bisexual or questioning don’t try to “live the life” because of their fear of social rejection and the consequences. Sad. Karen
June 7th, 2008 at 9:52 am
People who tell us that we have to change because the devil is making us believe our lifestyle is ok are at bottom arrogant. Ruth T. believes she/he has a pipeline to God. I’m working in a school that’s in the middle of the Bible Belt in Florida, and our gay kids have learned to shrug off the warnings they get from their fundamental classmates.
Going to Mass of a Sunday began to make me crazy, and I have no CCL group around me, so I church shopped, like most Protestants do. I found a nice place filled with mainly older folks in a United Church of Christ congregation. One Christmastime, a woman at church asked if a bunch of us would like to go to the Christmas choir event at a nearby Baptist church. I was somewhat reluctant. When I was in junior high a Southern Baptist classmate tried to “save me from the whore of Babylon,” which I learned meant to save me from the R.C. Church. I haven’t fully trusted Baptists since. I decided to go because I like choir music.
Well, the event at the nearby Baptist church started out with a traditional choir singing carols, but the program morphed into a stage presentation our “Christian values” or their version thereof. Most of it was silly until I guy showed up on stage with a hardhat, bare chest, leather vest and jeans. He began to sing about all the people God didn’t approve of, and of course, we were the stars of that production number. I got so mad I thought my head was going to explode. Then, on the multimedia screens on either side of the stage, the images of a bald eagle and the American flag flashed, followed by a picture of George W. Bush and Jesus Christ. A woman from my church who was sitting next to me gasped at the same time I did at the notion of equating George W. and Jesus Christ. Then, I had to start laughing, which puzzled my neighbor. It’s really hard to take seriously people who think George W. is in the same league with Jesus. They all need our prayers. Barbara