Volume 2, Issue 3

Let Us Give Thanks and Praise!

Cover Stories

Whosoever Readers Give Thanks and Praise
The holidays are traditionally a time when we stop and give thanks for the blessings in our lives. Some of our readers took the time to share with us what they’re thankful for.

On Being Thankful
By Rev. Paul M. Turner
There is far, far too much to do to be thankful right now; our enemy is strong and if we stop even for a second we will be overcome

I Thank You God, For The Rainbow
By Carol Stabel
I thank you God for the Rainbow! And for your and All Unconditional Love — S/HE which saves me from the stigma of mental illness that some people still associate with persons of same-gendered, bisexual, and transgender human identities.

An Editor Gives Thanks
By Candace Chellew
Stopping to be thankful has been hard. I’ve said to myself the past few days, I’ve got to slow down, I’ve got to stop and write about what I’m thankful about. I’ve asked my readers to do it, so I should do the same! It’s been impossible!

Homospirituality

God Through Gay Eyes
By Dr. Rembert Truluck
On the basis of my own years of study and teaching the Bible, I can assure you that the Bible nowhere says that gays and lesbians can or should change their sexual orientation.

Queer and Christian
By Ron Chaplin
For many, this is an oxymoron. How can I consider myself Christian, they ask, and still be a “practising homosexual”? Isn’t homosexuality at odds with the basic tenets of the Christian faith?

Keeping God First
By Randy
She also said during that time: “Keep God first in your life and everything you do and you will come out shining.” As I sit there I was just thinking how much I was going to miss her. It always Mom that stood beside me.

Ex-Gay Experiences

Back From The Dead: One Gay Christian’s Journey
By Donna Brooks
I feel like I’m alive from the dead! I have a faith which is my own, and an optimism about the future because I’ve seen time and again how God uses “bad” things to bring about our growth and ultimate good.

Bisexuality

The Holy Leper and the Bisexual Christian
By Amanda Udis-Kessler
Jesus does not appear to have spent much energy worrying about the impossibility of his status, since there was too much Kingdom work to do and since his experience was that nothing was impossible with God. If I am to follow Jesus in this way, I can and must relinquish my concerns and anger about people who deny the existence of bisexuality.

Features

Gay Christians: Uncle Toms or Fools For God?
By Candace Chellew
Why be part of a church society that oppresses our GLBT brothers and sisters with such zeal? Are we as GLBT Christians really Uncle Toms to our community at large?

Hope for the Homophobe
By Rev. Dr. Jim Bilbrey, Ph.D., D.D.
Born in 1954, and raised in the home of ardent fundamentalists, I was pretty sure we represented The True Church. And, The True Church preached that gays were evil. I figured I would be able to recognize gays by their cloven hoofs, pointy tails and horns.

Love Between Women | Book Review
By Gip Plaster
The central argument of Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoerotism, is simple: Both Christian and non-Christian writers in the Roman world were aware of sexual love between women, and nearly all rejected it.

Counting Ambiguous Blessings: A Short Story
By Neil Ellis Orts
Brian looked up from the dog and down the road on which his mother had just driven away. “So, Doug. Are you queer or what?”

The Refugee and the Refuge
By Mark Mobley
I don’t think Raul’s name will ever find its way onto a square in somebody’s quilt. Here’s your square, my friend.

From the Pulpit

The Heart of Gratitude
By Dan Chambers
Giving thanks for people in our lives and for the many blessings of our lives is very important. It is good for our relationships. It is good for our soul.

Beyond Belief: “Light & Life to All Who Live”
By William D. Bouton
This is a popular heresy, that if we can force ourselves to think a certain way, then we have “faith.” But Jesus’ whole point was that faith is not a “head trip”; it’s a “heart trip.” Faith is not words; it’s a relationship.

Bible Study and Inspiration

The Truth About Sodom And Gomorrah
By Don Reasons
Most people seem to “know” that the cites of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God because of homosexuality. Well, I haven’t been able to find the phrase, “homosexuality” anywhere in Genesis or Judges or anywhere else in the Bible referring to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Holy Humor

MS God

The Pit

A Bible Quiz