The Cross in the Closet

In his Nashville Christian church, Timothy Kurek was taught the lesson of God's wrath in the Biblical story of "Sodom and Gomorrah," and he believed that homosexuality was a sin.

"You learned to be very afraid of God," said Kurek. According to the preachings of his church, "The loving thing to do is to tell my friend who is gay, 'Hey, listen, you are an abomination and you need to repent to go to heaven.' I absolutely believed in that lock, stock and barrel."

But about four years ago, when a lesbian he knew from karaoke night confided to him that her parents had disowned her when she came out, Kurek felt that he failed her.

"It finally clicked," he said. "I needed to empathize and understand."

Now 26 and no longer homophobic, Kurek writes about his journey — one that included hanging out in gay bars and facing the disappointment of his family and rejection of his friends — in his memoir, "The Cross in the Closet."

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Evermyrtle

Not to stand up for GOD'S teachings is a terrible mistake. We do not promote" hate people" in any way, we promote hate in the things that GOD hates. If there is any gentle way to persuade a person that the evil that they are practicing should be done away with, please use it. To allow the to turn away you from your GODLY beliefs means that you were not very dedicated in the first place. There is no harm in being a friend with a homosexual, BECAUSE if you are a fiend you will let him know exactly how much GOD hates this evil, that it is an abomination to GOD.That is what friends are for, to help not to hinder anyone, in their relationship to GOD.
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- fliteking
  
  Agreed yet again.
  - evermyrtle
    
    Thanks, Christians usually think alike!!
    - fliteking
      
      :)
petroskhan

I think, after reading the whole article, the only thing "in the closet", is Timothy Kurek. This guy is so lost, I am truly in awe.

People like him, who try to hard to "feel", are doing serious damage to true faith. God has given us His laws and His judgments; this man seems to think that he knows better than God, that he can come up with a better way?

Like I said…lost.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=58215905 Wesley Woods

homosexuals are still man in the image of God even though it is more broken than in others. Jesus came so he could heal the sin-sick souls of mankind. the church should show more compassion for these lost souls then many do. the church needs to show them the love of Jesus Christ that reached out to themselves when they seemed unlovable. the homosexual is like the leper of our day needing to experience the true love of God. the love of God is so powerful that it can break all the powers of sin in these lives. they deserve the right to be treated with dignity and as a human being. there is a whole ex-gay ministry based on how the love of God won out in their lives and transformed them.
John J Flanagan

One does not need to hang out in gay bars to be empathetic towards homosexuals. One does not need to affirm the gay or lesbian lifestyle out of guilt because our Christian faith and Holy Writ state it is immoral. Do I need to become a drunkard in order to "understand" and "relate" to those with drinking problems? The answer to these questions is a resounding "No!" Christians are not hateful because in conscience and conviction they do not accept homosexuality as a normal lifestyle option. If a Christian father and mother discover their child is gay, and unwilling to see it as wrong, most will not cease to love their child. Most Christian parents will pray for their children. A Christian parent unwilling to articulate what the Bible declares about sexual immorality usually becomes either tolerant towards this behavior, or allows it to take place in the family home with the son or daughter having gay friends in their rooms. This is unacceptable. Being a parent is an important role, but one does not abandon one's principles to affirm the immoral behavior of a wayward child.
fliteking

Labeling someone as " homophobic" is indeed bigoted, and meant only to elicit feelings of guilt in the hope of making the person change their public attitude toward the homosexual community.

Liberals in favor of labeling others as "homophobic" feel guilt related to their behavior and yet have a need to "normalize" their perversions.

Liberals are generally poor moral examples and confused about the roll of sin in their lives, thus they revert to name-calling.
- Evermyrtle
  
  Amen and amen!!
http://twitter.com/ounbbl ounbbl

The Bible does not say 'homosexuality is sin' any more than 'humanity is sin'. However, it definitely tells us all the things of homosexual behavior, practice, life style, and their agenda – all is sin, no less than many other ways we live out. Sin of homo hedonicus, departed from the very image of God as we have been created.
- Evermyrtle
  
  There are many "abominations to GOD." Depending on the number of times a particular sin and the extreme circumstances of GOD'S wrath, is mentioned in HIS WORD, homosexuality is the one most despised. We all make our choices, we are all weak in some way, we all have evil temptations, we can overcome them or they will overcome us. It is not up us to decide who is the greater sinner. It is our duty to live for HIM overcoming whatever evil that tempts us. I believe the difference in the Christian and those who chose not to live for HIM, is Christians do our best to advise, teach and assist others to live for HIM. Those who do not chose to live for HIM ridicules, and do anything they can and in any way that the can come up with to shame us into turnings away from CHRIST.
  
  By the way, what do you mean by "humanity is sin and homo hedonicus?" I only deal with things in every day common people language.
http://twitter.com/ounbbl ounbbl

The Bible does not say 'homosexuality is sin' any more than 'humanity is sin'. However, it definitely tells us homosexual behavior, practice, life style, and their agenda – all is sin, no less than other ways we live out. Sin of homo
hedonicus, living against God's image we are created after .