LGBTQ
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How the ace and aro community subverts the hetero and mono norms
Read more: How the ace and aro community subverts the hetero and mono normsAs I sit down and write this, I need to start with a confession. It is very hard for me to truly understand what it is like to be asexual or aromantic as it is so very far from the reality I live in. Because of this, I do not fully understand the complexity of…
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Holy censorship or mistranslation?
Read more: Holy censorship or mistranslation?I was given a book the other day, as I was leaving my talk on SA and HBTQ. Honestly I didn’t expect much but it looked interesting enough. The book was “Holy censorship or mistranslation?” By K. Renato Lings and I learned once again that you should never judge a book by it’s cover. The…
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Healing, long overdue…
Read more: Healing, long overdue…Yesterday I was invited to speak at EKHO (A swedish organisation for Christian LGBTQ+ persons). The talk was held at “Ågesta kursgård” which is also the site of the Salvation Army Officers school in Sweden and the place where I did both my application conference (for becoming a Salvation Army officer) and later my captains…
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The refugee crisis is more important than LGBTQi rights, sexuality, tantra and spiritual nonsense
Read more: The refugee crisis is more important than LGBTQi rights, sexuality, tantra and spiritual nonsenseI have had this expressed to me, maybe not in those exact words but the sentiment is there. Why focus on LGBTQi rights and human sexuality when there is poverty, war and other atrocities going on in the world? Coming out of the closet and breaking up with shame Coming out of the closet, owning…
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Freedom
Read more: FreedomFor freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 (NRSV) It is a pertinent question, why did god give us freedom? Why where we burdened with choice? Hindsight being 20/20 it seems that it was a mistake to allow the human race…
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I am Queer!
Read more: I am Queer!I remember last time I walked with the pride parade in Malmö, I had walked the parade many times before but last time was special, it was the first time I felt that I was walking not just in solidarity, not just a straight ally but this time I was walking for myself. I was…
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Coming out …
Read more: Coming out …Yesterday was a bit of a coming out process for me. The minute after I hit the publish key on my blog post was filled with a sense of immense release and freedom followed by “Oh my god, what have I done?”. For a moment I thought maybe not so many people would read it…
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Being queer – The censored post
Read more: Being queer – The censored postThis post was originally posted in september 2012 and taken of the blog that same month as requested by the Salvation Army national leadership. I am now reposting it as it was an important step on the journey. This post in itself was an experiment in being open, authentic and vulnerable. The post pushed a…
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There is no us and them
Read more: There is no us and themSomeone once told me that all dichotomies are false dichotomies. And maybe this is the most sinister but also the most widespread of them all. The very idea that there is us and them, the idea that we are somehow different *better” that them, whomever they are. In what may have been one of the…
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Kiss me, I am a Christian!
Read more: Kiss me, I am a Christian!So I was looking at one of my favourite geeky webpages when I found this T-Shirt that said: “Kiss me I’m elvish”. Which of course is a rip-off of the old “Kiss me I’m Irish” slogan. And it got me thinking… Today Christians are so afraid of any physical contact, because we have fallen into…
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Before you “come out” as a LGBTQ ally in church…
Read more: Before you “come out” as a LGBTQ ally in church…I am watching a fellow Salvationist lament on the LGBTQ oppressive teaching they are getting at a Salvation Army event. I grieve with here and cringe inwardly at the damage being done in yet another Bible study where no consideration is being given to the possibility of HBTQ people in the room. At the same…
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In god’s queer image …
Read more: In god’s queer image …A dear friend and mentor wrote: You ask whether your post will make you an outcast from the Christian community. I hope it does not because we could do with a dose of clear thinking, careful theological reflection, and honesty on this subject, and others. Of course, the Christian community cannot bear such questions because,…
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The sacrament of coming out of the closet …
Read more: The sacrament of coming out of the closet …The biggest problem with wearing a mask is that as long as we wear it only the mask receives love. The psychology is as simple as it is diabolical, I know that what I am presenting is not real me, therefore I also know that the person you are loving is not really the real…
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Sex at dawn …
Read more: Sex at dawn …I have just finished reading Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan. It may be the first time in a long while that I read a book that so persuasively and thouroughly deconstructs one of the often unspoken meta-narratives of our contemporary culture, namely the hetero-normative monogamy centred narrative of human sexuality. I also realize that this…
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Love is where the rubber meets the road …
Read more: Love is where the rubber meets the road …I recently received the following IM from one of my soldiers in the corps. I can’t or don’t want to continue as a Soldier … I feel that I want to fall in love, love and feel loved back. Therefore I wan’t to become an adherent. Personally this is one of the most heartbreaking messages…
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Jesus in drag
Read more: Jesus in dragWhy are you doing this? Why do you take such an interest in the LGBTQ and sexuality? The question has been asked of me many times. By my leaders, by the people in my congregation and by my family. In fact I think it was my brother who asked the million dollar question one day…
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Getting down and dirty with god.
Read more: Getting down and dirty with god.“God is not sexual” my friend stated matter-of-factly. It is odd that he did because he also does not believe in god. How the god he does not believe in can be, or not be, anything is beyond me. It is a common notion though to separate the divine from the worldly. It is even…
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Meeting an adulterous god
Read more: Meeting an adulterous godI don’t know how I never saw it; One of the tenets of classical biblicism is faithfulness, I mean I even have it tattooed on my body, inked onto my skin so as to never forget. It is a label given to me by the voice of god on top of a mountain in wales.…
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The centrality of sexuality
Read more: The centrality of sexualityWhy is this such a big deal? Why does it matter? It should be a non issue! This is what both right wing and left wing, conservatives and liberals are saying all over the place. In churches people are taught that their sexuality, while important, is not essential. Sexuality does not define you, or who…
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How I became a queer theologian a desert journey
Read more: How I became a queer theologian a desert journeyLast week my friend Samuel decided to reblog one of my posts on LGBTQ and the church. Promptly someone questioned if I really had written the piece as I had taught a very different gospel at said persons confirmation camp. I had to reply that I have been (am still) on a long theological pilgrimage.…
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LGBTQ part 12 – coming out
Read more: LGBTQ part 12 – coming outSitting here pondering and reflecting on some of the discussions that have come out of LGBT posts here on the blog. The first thing that strikes me is that there are so few persons leaving comments in relation to the high number of visitors. I think that fear may be a large factor, both for…
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LGBTQ part 11 – Continued conversation
Read more: LGBTQ part 11 – Continued conversationFollowing many words and much wrestling with the scriptures, doctrines, and my own faith, I have come to find, that no matter how I read the biblical text, I can never escape from my commission to love the Lord with all my soul, with all my heart and with all my strength. And to love…
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LGBTQ part 10 – Recommended reading
Read more: LGBTQ part 10 – Recommended readingRecommended reading Andrew Marin – Love as an Orientation – Elevating the conversation with the gay community. (Paperback – Amazon UK, Kindle International) Jay Bakker – Fall to grace – A Revolution of God, Self & Society (Hardcover – Amazon UK, Kindle international) Walter Wink – Homosexuality and Christian Faith: Questions of conscience for the churches (Paperback – Amzon UK, Kindle…
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LGBTQ part 9 – The Salvation Army
Read more: LGBTQ part 9 – The Salvation ArmyThe problem persists in the Salvation Army, of today. In which way can we include LGBTQ persons in our fellowship without creating groupings; an A team and a B team? How can the Corps offer (church) membership in the Salvation Army in a positive manner that allows LGBTQ persons to feel valued, appreciated and loved…
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LGBTQ part 8 – Four possible approaches
Read more: LGBTQ part 8 – Four possible approachesThere are probably as many ways to approach LGBTQ issues as there are people with opinions. What follows is a summary of the second half of “One family’s story” written by Bishop Paul Wenner Egertson and found in Walter Wink’s book: Homosexuality and the Christian Faith (pages 28-30). Bishop Paul Wenner Egertson depicts four different approaches to…
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LGBTQ part 7 – Pastoral care
Read more: LGBTQ part 7 – Pastoral careThe LGBTQ issue has always created friction between the way we understand and interpret the Bible’s view of holiness and how we as pastors are to preserve order, caring for and counselling LGBTQ people. The greatest dichotomy is perhaps between whether we are called to “liberate” LGBTQ people or to have a conversation with LGBTQ…
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LGBTQ part 6 – Double standards
Read more: LGBTQ part 6 – Double standardsThe church in general and the SA in particular (at least for the moment) in the aftermath of the Eyewitness News program “Cold Facts” – followed closely in FSAOF blog) is under constant attack from the public where the Church is called to account for the prevailing double standards and selective biblical adherence. There are…
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LGBTQ part 5 – Jesus
Read more: LGBTQ part 5 – JesusAfter a review of the scriptures that have traditionally been used to describe and condemn homosexual acts, it’s deemed important to consider Jesus’ awkward silence on the issue. It is not unimportant to note that Jesus did not speak out on this issue. Jesus is the head of the Church and the individual disciples’ headmaster.…
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LGBTQ part 4 – Scripture
Read more: LGBTQ part 4 – ScriptureOf course, one must carefully consider the scripture portions that deal with homosexuality. It may be interesting to take into account the fact that there are six Bible verses (three OT and three NT) and two Old Testament stories traditionally associated with homosexuality. Set this against the more than 600 Bible verses that talk about…
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LGBTQ part 3 – Science
Read more: LGBTQ part 3 – SciencePart 3 -2012 LGBTQ and Science Before moving to and delving into the depth of the biblical text, we might want to look at what science has to say on the GLBT issue, primarily to clarify the position (starting point) on which the following texts are based. An entire dissertation could be written on what science…
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LGBTQ – Prelogos
Read more: LGBTQ – PrelogosI have written an extensive blog series (12 posts) on my Swedish blog about LGBTQ issues within the church in general and the Salvation Army in Sweden in particular. I was undecided whether or not I should post it in english as well, but when Sven Jungholm asked last week if he could translate and post…
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