He quoted the bible, so I picked it up and read it
In 1982 or 1983, I was in church in Newfoundland as the minister was telling us about the United Church wrestling with the ordination of gays and lesbians. This minister was against it. He evern quoted biblical passages from Leviticus to support his position.
I remember being very surprised that the bible would mention homosexuality. I thought the whole “gay” thing was very recent. There were bibles in the pews, so I looked up the passage and read it. Then I kept on reading. There were alot of rules. Some of them (like eating pork and shell fish) the church did not have a problem with. So I decided that as long as we can pick and choose what to follow, that we could choose not to follow the rules about homosexuality.
Since then, I have come to understand that sexual oreintation is not a choice. It’s how you are wired, just like if you are left-handed or right-handed.
Signed, Sam
at McClure United Church in Calgary, Alberta
(Shared with permission. Photo: Wix.)