As I studied the passage in my little office that day, I realized that my same-sex attraction wasn't a mistake or something I chose, the best way to describe it is that I had an epiphany regarding myself and how god created me and at that moment I knew that being queer was beautiful and not something to be ashamed of.

So here we have Kim who has a belief in god, and they have a belief in god where it said that god creates humanity in his image and so Kim had the epiphany that their same-sex attraction wasn't a mistake it was something beautiful that is inherent in the creative process and reflects the divine.

Now, just to be clear, I don't believe in a external deity in the same way I think Kim does, but we can understand this in another way when it says that god created humanity in his image. What we can understand is remember we can look at things metaphorically and we look at things
symbolically.

What this really means is that WE ARE ALL ETERNAL SHARDS and REFLECTIONS OF THE DIVINE, WE ARE ALL MIRROR'S OF THE DIVINE, WE ARE ALL NODES IN THE COSMIC MIND.
So I say that “We are made in gods image” if we understand this metaphorically and symbolically, it dasent mean that a Creator god literally created us it means that we reflect the divine within ourselves, we are the image of god.

We can understand reality as god or in our terms, the absolute coming to know itself through us so we are god coming to know ourselves through our various manifestations through our various expressive modalities. So we are" created in the image of god" meaning we are the essence of the divine we are the Divine image of god, we are the Divine Mirrors of god meaning that we are God that's how we interbred it that's how we understand it. But you can see how we can draw parallels here.

KIM SAYS: When I decided to embrace my queer identity I know that I would have to walk away from my church. 

Now that is said. So Kim still believed in god and Kim just had the idea that HEY IF I'M CREATED IN GODS IMAGE THEN THIS ISENT SOMETHING THAT I SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF or SOMETHING THAT'S WRONG WITH ME, ITS SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, but Kim knew in accepting that, she would have to leave the church.

And just to be clear being queen is NOT on IDENTITY it's an ATTRACTION It's what you are attracted to. Sex and Gender is the same thing.

SHE SAYS: if there's anything I know for certain about Christianity IT'S THAT RULES AND EDICTS ARE CREATED TO CONTROL THE FLOCK.

See this common theme that we are encountering here? So Kim say that THEY HAD A HIGH LEADERSHIP ROLE in the church. Now I don't know exactly what that means, but it sounds important.

Kim is saying that if there's something she knows for sure about Christianity It's that rules are created to control the flock and that's the exact something that an ex pastor named SAL because he was asked not to mention things that would cause disruption or people to question, people need to be kept in line, and so we see this common thing.

It's a system of control that's what it is, and the last thing the church wants is a messy version of Christianity that embraces gray areas.

KIM SAYS: I fully believe that god loves and embraces queer people full stop.

See if we had this interpretation, if Christianity had the interpretation of god that Kim has it would be a much more progressive institution, and we could start to lead to a more loving and inclusive and harmonious and united world.

Unfortunately that's not what Christianity is about, It's about control.

KIM SAYS: I fully believe that god loves and embraces, I know from my experiences that many churches do not which meant that I needed to walk away from my local church. Once I came out, I held on to my relationship with god, but I ditched religion.

That's a positive attitude, hare.
Let me tell You, that's something that is extremely traumatic and difficult to do.  Here's the thing your whole life has been centered around this religion and these people around you the community, the church community, probably many friends and family who are involved with the church you have a connection, you have a relationship with them.

Though, when you realize that who you are means that You have to step away from them and the church community, you begin to realize that PEOPLE DON'T LOVE YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE. They love you only in the context of that religion.

So what I'm trying to say here is that Kim had to leave the church because she realized that being queer being who she really was, she would not be accepted by the church.

So really think about that.
You're coming out fully bring who you are, and you have your intimate Community saying HEY WE DON'T ACCEPT YOU, WE REJECT YOU.

Now of course, they don't explicitly say that, they would go OH WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH BUT YOU'RE LIVING IN SIN, YOU NEED TO REPENT THIS IS WRONG THIS IS AGAINST GOD etc.

Therefore, it amounts to the same thing YOU ARE BEING REJECTED FOR WHO YOU ARE with the most intimate ties that you have made in your life, that's EXTREMELY TRAUMATIC and DIFFICULT to DEAL WITH, when its like okay THESE PEOPLE NEVER ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT ME or LOVED ME, THEY ONLY LOVED or CARED ABOUT THE PARTICULAR RELIGIOUS CONTEXT THAT LAYS OUT HOW ONE MUST BE.

© ETLW💖