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Connecting back with God?? Is that even possible??????

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magsdee
Disabled
Joined in 2006
January 23, 2008, 18:12

Having become disabled in the last 10yrs myself, I certainly can think of better ways of learning perseverance. The one thing I do believe is that God didnt put this one me nor did he allow it, its a part of the imperfect world we live in as imperfect human beings but the one thing I know, without me believing in God I would never have made it through this long and because of him I have learnt how to deal with it and be positive and although I am not healed yet completely, I have had many healing episodes that my doctors are amazed at and its ongoing. Why it doesnt happen the same for everyone, I dont know and I guess I may never know.



Craig_Maynard
 
Joined in 2007
January 25, 2008, 01:25

I actually believe for me being Deaf was God’s way of separating me from my family and protecting me from their damaging words. God used my Deafness to protect me from the verbal abuse that’s historically part of my mum’s dysfunctional family. 😯


Through my Deafness I was able to learn another language, Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and I was able to accellerate my acquistion of learning via a visual language. 😀


I’ve been gay as long as I can remember so in the Christian world my deafness and use of sign langauge also protected me from being found out and attacked or put into a re-orientation camp.


But who knows? Like Mag said at one time… God’s thoughts and purposes are higher than ours and as Sandy pointed out that we only know in parts.


Proof… well I am the only born again Christian in the family, and the only one with a disability who also recently got a Bachelor of Education majoring in Habilitation. Living with a partner of 13 years etc.. so that in itself is proof to the community about God’s abundance provision of love and acceptance.


I think being Deaf has enabled me to be very stubborn and insist on getting answers so that’s where perseverance comes in.

😆



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
January 25, 2008, 17:51

It just occured to me that ‘if’ homosexuality is psychological then it could be much like other psychological conditions like anorexia or alcoholism. It never really goes away completely, you can control it, you can learn to live without it, you can even live a full and happy life and not ‘need’ those behaviour pattens, but you are never truely free of it.


Dunno it was just a random thought that occured to me.



magsdee
Disabled
Joined in 2006
January 26, 2008, 14:13

Its an interesting line of thought but an alcoholic isnt born alcoholic, as many alcoholics know, its an addiction, a crutch when things are going bad and so you get dependant on it mentally and then the body also goes into addictive mode too, same as drugs and all for many reasons. A person becoming anorexic can be for a number of reasons and for a few its something in the wiring. My homosexuality isnt an addiction, my sex drive could be if I was using it to compensate for anything or just out of addictive behaviour toward physical pleasure (im not this at all) but my homosexuality isnt. An alcoholic cant ever touch alcohol once on the wagon because they will trigger off the thing in their body addicted to the substance. Homosexuality isnt a substance I put in my body, its a part of who I am and been their as far as I can remember. Personally I wouldnt class it in an addictive catagory of either substance or psychological dependancy.


Its still and interesting line of thoiught and from where a lot of ex-gay ministery was founded (from what I have read) When I attended counselling for being a lesbian they called it “my lesbian addiction” I could kick the habit of women and the taste for women if I did x,y & z. Its kindve like “spit that lolly out of your mouth young lady and never touch it again, its bad for you”……….My being attracted to women is not a habit.


January 26, 2008, 14:47

Its an interesting line of thought but an alcoholic isnt born alcoholic, as many alcoholics know, its an addiction, a crutch when things are going bad and so you get dependant on it mentally and then the body also goes into addictive mode too, same as drugs and all for many reasons. A person becoming anorexic can be for a number of reasons and for a few its something in the wiring. My homosexuality isnt an addiction, my sex drive could be if I was using it to compensate for anything or just out of addictive behaviour toward physical pleasure (im not this at all) but my homosexuality isnt. An alcoholic cant ever touch alcohol once on the wagon because they will trigger off the thing in their body addicted to the substance. Homosexuality isnt a substance I put in my body, its a part of who I am and been their as far as I can remember. Personally I wouldnt class it in an addictive catagory of either substance or psychological dependancy.


Its still and interesting line of thoiught and from where a lot of ex-gay ministery was founded (from what I have read) When I attended counselling for being a lesbian they called it “my lesbian addiction” I could kick the habit of women and the taste for women if I did x,y & z. Its kindve like “spit that lolly out of your mouth young lady and never touch it again, its bad for you”……….My being attracted to women is not a habit.


Exactly. An alcoholic can choose not to buy a drink, an anorexic can choose to eat. I cannot walk down the street and choose not to be attracted to a man that I pass. What I do with my sexuality is another matter. That’s where integrity comes in.



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
January 26, 2008, 19:43

Hmm I dunno if anorexia or alcoholism are as simple as that raskdog… I get your point and I agree to an extent, like I said it was just a random thought that popped into my head not a well constructed theological argument. Thousands of young girls die from anorexia every year if it were as simple as choosing to eat I think impending death would be enough of a motivation wouldn’t you? Same with alcoholism that causes liver cancer and a myriad of other conditions. Pyschological factors condition these people into these forms of behaviour, its not the anorexics fault that she is anorexic; its not something she is able to control on a whim yet no one goes around proclaiming its a normal, natural lifestyle choice… I still get your point, its not a dirrect correlation there are some differences between the two which I failed to realise upon first posting I’ll have to give my comments more thought next time.


My point really wasn’t the addiction side of it, I get the difference between addiction and sexuality. What I was suggesting were the psychological factors behind the addictions, anorexia in particular. Its not merely a addiction to exercise or an out of control desire for the perfect body. Many anorexics come from backgrounds where their lives are out of control, esepically during their formative years and their bodies become the only subject they can control. Its a complex disease and I’m not explaining it very well. I wasn’t expecting reams of support for the idea of course I realise that you believe homosexuality is not psycholgcal but natural. All I intended to say was that to me, it looked like all three conditions, homosexuality, anorexia and alcoholism have psycholgical components that develop over long spans of time in reaction to social and enviromental stimlus… I probably should have said that in the first place, my bad 😆


January 26, 2008, 20:46

Hmm I dunno if anorexia or alcoholism are as simple as that raskdog… I get your point and I agree to an extent, like I said it was just a random thought that popped into my head not a well constructed theological argument. Thousands of young girls die from anorexia every year if it were as simple as choosing to eat I think impending death would be enough of a motivation wouldn’t you? Same with alcoholism that causes liver cancer and a myriad of other conditions. Pyschological factors condition these people into these forms of behaviour, its not the anorexics fault that she is anorexic; its not something she is able to control on a whim yet no one goes around proclaiming its a normal, natural lifestyle choice… I still get your point, its not a dirrect correlation there are some differences between the two which I failed to realise upon first posting I’ll have to give my comments more thought next time.


My point really wasn’t the addiction side of it, I get the difference between addiction and sexuality. What I was suggesting were the psychological factors behind the addictions, anorexia in particular. Its not merely a addiction to exercise or an out of control desire for the perfect body. Many anorexics come from backgrounds where their lives are out of control, esepically during their formative years and their bodies become the only subject they can control. Its a complex disease and I’m not explaining it very well. I wasn’t expecting reams of support for the idea of course I realise that you believe homosexuality is not psycholgcal but natural. All I intended to say was that to me, it looked like all three conditions, homosexuality, anorexia and alcoholism have psycholgical components that develop over long spans of time in reaction to social and enviromental stimlus… I probably should have said that in the first place, my bad 😆


I certainly wasn’t saying it is easy for them to choose. My niece suffers from anorexia so I know first hand how hard it can be. Having said that, if a person wants to badly enough it can be done. A person’s anorexia or alcoholism does not define who they are. It defines a problem they have. A gay man no matter how hard they try cannot choose to be attracted to women. Homosexuality is intrinsic to their very being.


January 26, 2008, 20:46

double post



Sandy
 
Joined in 2007
January 26, 2008, 22:45

Well I still disagree with you about choosing anorexia… when the consequences are death it seems highly unlikely that the motivation to choose food would not be high enough to elicit change… what higher motivation is their if not to save your life?? Should we conclude that in some perverse way these girls ‘want’ to die because that is what they are choosing over food? Seems a pretty dire assessment to me.


I have said this is previous posts so I won’t go into it all again but you have pin pointed exactly the way I see homosexuality, as something we have not something we are. The choices on this one are pretty dire too. If homosexuality is innate then eaither God created us with something sinful already inside us or he accepts homosexuality. The bible (which I understand holds less appeal to you than dirty socks but bear with me) confirms neither assessment so it ‘must’ be concluded that homosexuality is not innate. If its not innate then it is not apart of who I am as a child made in Gods image, he did not create it. Therefore homosexuality is something I have, its not an identity for me. It was once and I get why people like Rob are so keen to get some kind of adgenda going to save the minority group but thats not the way I see things. My identity is in Christ and homosexuality, in my opinion, is not ‘in Christ’ or so to speak.


I do understand where you are comming from with everything but your personal opinions on anorexia (which isn’t really the point of the discussion so lets let it drop). It all boils down to how we each see homosexuality and since they are pretty different views naturally we will come to different conclusions.


January 26, 2008, 23:26

Well I still disagree with you about choosing anorexia… when the consequences are death it seems highly unlikely that the motivation to choose food would not be high enough to elicit change… what higher motivation is their if not to save your life?? Should we conclude that in some perverse way these girls ‘want’ to die because that is what they are choosing over food? Seems a pretty dire assessment to me


Their deaths are tragic but the fact that is that there are lots of survivors of eating disorders out there. It can be overcome. There are no survivors of homosexuality out there. There may be a few who claim to have been but there is no evidence and frankly I doubt their sincerity.


I have said this is previous posts so I won’t go into it all again but you have pin pointed exactly the way I see homosexuality, as something we have not something we are. The choices on this one are pretty dire too. If homosexuality is innate then eaither God created us with something sinful already inside us or he accepts homosexuality. The bible (which I understand holds less appeal to you than dirty socks but bear with me) confirms neither assessment so it ‘must’ be concluded that homosexuality is not innate


.


You are basing your conclusions on the assumption that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant word of God. There is no evidence that this is the case and therefore it is a false premise. The bible is not like dirty socks to me. I respect the bible as a book which contains a lot of truth and wisdom but I do not see it as inerrant or infallible.


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