Day 8 of 365 - the moment a full stop (period) turns into a question mark

Sadly, I am sure that many of you were like me, and the first teachings you received from faith leaders about LGBTQ people, and same-gender relationships were bad. They probably did not affirm people of non-majority sexual orientations and gender identities. When we have consistently received the same bad teaching, over and over, it can be hard to imagine that there is a different way of understanding what the Bible says about this. Often the openness to the possibility of hearing and believing something new does not come from our minds, but from our hearts, or our experience. At some point, the emphatic…

This is wrong.

that we have clung on to so tightly, as if our whole faith in Jesus depended on it, shifted to…

Is this wrong?

The full stop (period) got changed to a question mark.

For me, honestly, the change that happened was based on experience. After years of following every single piece of teaching available on how to change my sexual orientation, I accepted that it simply was not working. Despite all my very best efforts, nothing was changing. The question entered my heart… is it possible that God does not mind so much about me being gay? For most of us this moment of shift in thinking was not prompted by extensive Bible study, but by experience, either our own or witnessing the life of someone we know and love. Our openness to being ready for a new, affirming teaching came when we saw that the old teaching did not align with our own experience, or the experience of a loved one.

Action: When did your “ . “ turn into a “ ? “ Is there someone you know at your church, or Sunday School class who might be in that moment of shift in perspective? How can you help them continue that journey to a better teaching?