Going back 2 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams would’ve imagined I’d come out as gay considering that I was so passionately involved in a Pentecostal church that, at the time, was everything in my life!

I grew up in an Anglican family, but left for a Pentecostal church when I was 19. There I stayed for about 20 years, secretly enduring my own painful repression of same sex attraction to men, not knowing what was happening to me, or why, until fairly recently when I finally gave in after a falling out with the church, and decided to do some “soul searching” to try and discover the real me, and from there at last identifying as being gay.

My journey along this road has thus been relatively short, and in some ways I am still unsure of my belief systems, having left a church that was quite fundamentalist and insular by nature.

I am now slowly rebuilding a circle of friends and companions, and hope to meet many more on this forum

I know the feeling……never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be out, happy, have such wonderful friends…..and never….no never imagined I’d start a group to support GLBT people from Pente backgrounds.

Thanks Anthony for your encouraging words It’s been 12 months now since I left that Pente church – haven’t heard a peep from anyone there since but hey … I’m looking forward, not back

Was listening to 103.2 FM radio this morning for the first time since Heaven knows how long! I used to listen to it all the time. I guess I just shut down my Christian belief system to cope with the pain caused. I still believe in love (1 Corinthians 13 – one of the best chapters in the Bible!!!) healings and miracles. Still working through some of the more spiritual aspects though

as I think you’ve read already……I shut my belief system down for 6 years. Actually never planned to go back there.

If someone mentioned the word god…..I’d have a pannick attack…..literally.

If you can begin to look or even talk about any of that stuff I think shows the healing is beginning.

Yes indeed, onward and upward and a time of refreshing

Thats an awesome place to be How encouraging.

Healing, Peace and Love……how simple yet profound and powerful

Yes indeed, and they are not exclusively Christian principles, but are Universal in their nature regardless of faith or denomination. Everyone in the GLBTIQ community has the right to experience these at some point in their journey.

At the risk of uh… overreacting Can I just point out that concepts like peace, healing and love are determined generally more by context and the individual than by any kind of universal definition.

Generally agreed, and I’ll clarify so you have a better idea of my context As a gay Christian, I see so much and have experienced a lot of discrimination and bigotry towards minorities such as the GLBTIQ community. The concepts of Healing, Peace and Love can (and should in my personal opinion) act as a type of bridge to bring people of different backgrounds together in mutual friendship and respect for each other. In a simple Christian way, love your neighbour as you would yourself

Hi all, I thought I’d post an update on my journey thus far …

It’s been just over a year since I started participating in Freedom2b[e], and during that time I have connected with many GLBT friends. can also honestly say that my understanding of GLBT issues has greatly increased my appreciation for those of us who champion equality and acceptance amongst the wider community and in the churches.

I have also come to appreciate that being double-minded about things doesn’t really get me anywhere … much It’s also not scriptural But it’s great to know that I can make a difference in peoples lives, and that God accepts me and my sexual orientation no matter what.

thats very encouraging mobilegiuy……does the username mobileguy mean you will move a lot….

its always very rewarding to observe peoples journeys…..you are doing well. Funny you should mention the double minded thing….I often quote that myself….and feel that it is something I’ve been experiencing myself for way tooooo long.

Today I went on a journey to a far, far away place … and something wonderful happened … I realised for possibly the first time … that the journey is part of the destination … it was like a microcosm of selected life experiences … people speaking in foreign languages (where have I heard that before ) … identifying significant milestones along the way … places I’d been to before in my earlier childhood … the whole (train) journey was nearly as good (if not as good) as the destination itself …