Progressive Christianity - Tumblr Posts
If Jesus were preaching in America today just as he did in Palestine two millennia ago, here is how he would tell the story of the Good Samaritan.
There was a man who found a need to travel to another side of town, and on his way there, he fell into the hands of a gang. They beat him, robbed him, and left him unconscious in an alleyway.
A pastor drove by him, saw him, and rolled his eyes. "I'm so sick of all these drug addicts passing out on our streets and getting free narcan," he said. "I hope he's found and arrested for his illicit drug use."
Next a bishop drove by. He had a more compassionate reaction, but he also did not help the man. He lived in a safe suburban neighborhood, and never stepped foot down in a bad part of town if he could help it. He said a silent prayer for the man and kept driving.
Along came a group of undocumented Mexican immigrants on their way home from working in the local orchards, driving an ancient, rattling truck with a fake driver's license. They'd just been paid their week's wages, a pittance really, under-the-counter in cash due to their undocumented status. When they saw the man, they pulled over and went to see what the deal was. Finding him unconscious but alive, they lifted him together and got him into the truck, and then drove to the nearest emergency room. Speaking broken English, they managed to explain that they didn't know him and had found him unconscious. He had no money or form of ID, having lost it in the robbery, and his insurance information was unknown. The group of immigrants pooled their hard-earned wages to cover the copays for his emergency treatment, and went home. The next day, the group came back to the emergency room and asked how the man was, and were relieved to learn that he was stable, conscious, and had insurance for the rest of his medical bills.
Which of the people in the story was a friend to the man?
Trans-inclusive language in religious texts is SO IMPORTANT. There is nothing in some young people’s lives that can either validate or dehumanize them so quickly as how they see themselves represented in the words of their religion.
May all who need to see these words find them.
i feel like there aren't nearly enough resources for people who leave a high-controlling religious environment and still want to seek God/spirituality in their own way without the toxicity of their previous religion.
most of the stuff out there is "your new life without God," "leaving God behind," etc...
people act like the natural next step from leaving a controlling religion is staunch atheism.
that might be the most common outcome, considering the trauma associated with God that such an upbringing can result in. and if that's the path you choose, that's perfectly valid. you process your trauma however you need to, as long as you're not hurting anyone.
but it's not the only possible outcome, and it doesn't work for everyone.
some people still feel the need to seek spirituality and feel as though they're not alone on a cosmic scale. (i'm one of those people.)
i feel like people fail to acknowledge this sometimes.
From a recent conversation with my mother, I got this idea from her into my own wording while talking about labels regarding spiritual beliefs.
« In spirituality, we can borrow from the LGBT community the idea that we can define ourselves not from the expectations of others nor the pressure to ultimately knowing ourselves in a given time, but a journey in which we remember that labels were never the most important thing. Even in the queer community, there exists the words and descriptions for people who feel that none of the current labels describe them, and they can exist freely without defining themselves through them.
» The LGBTQIA+ means "the existent" (the letters) and "the more" (the plus), all and everything it is, in which people recognize the limitation of language, words and labels. To use labels means navigating ourselves, since what comes most is that the interpretation of ourselves can change… and we ourselves can change, feel that a label doesn't suit us anymore, and that is completely normal and ok.
» In relation to this, of your worries as a teenager in a world were things can feel above you, living with that intellectual frustration, letting that pressure in the youthful mind of wanting to know and control everything can be hard. But in there is the Good News which means that in confusion there will come light and something greater, recognizing that it's reaching beyond common perceptions of the Good and the Right, but the Wholeness in the Beauty of our existence, beyond morality, beyond any notions of free will and devoutness, but of progress, of keeping going and just live and be.»
I am a queer christian, so the whole time I was "ermm… ofc mom, I understand that :)" however I'm incredibly glad she has gotten to the point of understanding that basic aspect of the queer community that is often so misunderstood, something that it was going to prove to be really hard to explain that to her myself, which makes me think that she's fond of gay people now (in reference to the homophobic dog meme, which she was once).
Perhaps she's been doing all of that for me, perhaps it's also for her close queer family members, I don't know, but it's a beautiful and relieving sight; knowing how hard it has been for me to reconcile my identity this has been transmitting into my mom in one way or another, God bless us 🤍🙏
Thank you. Couldn't have said it better myself. Opening up about my sexuality and gender identity to people is hard as fuck. Thanks for the support, it means a lot. God bless. No, I'm not being ironic.
so i just found out about that "the devil can scrap, but the Lord has won" trend on tiktok.
basically people post old photos of themselves when they were openly queer, wore alt fashion, did cosplay, etc... captioned "the devil can scrap," followed by current pictures of them wearing the most basic, milquetoast clothes ever captioned "but the Lord has won"
it's basically giving the message that you have to give up your identity and individuality completely in order to truly be a Christian.
this honestly breaks my heart. like... i'm not exaggerating.
as someone who's always been a bit of an outcast, and is a nerdy, progressive, queer Christian, i don't believe people should have to surrender what makes them unique or happy in order to "please God."
did we forget that Jesus was the ultimate outcast? did we forget how he hung out with the "undesirables" of society?
if you're a queer, nerdy, alt-fashion, etc. person of faith, and you're wondering whether or not your identity is pleasing to God... please erase any doubts from your mind right now.
God knows your heart, and God loves you as you are. please continue to be the wonderful and unique individual that God made you to be. 💖