Hey There!

[XMaverick]

Lol, you guys all seem fantastic. Thank you for all the welcomes!

[East]

Hey Mr X Welcome to GS...pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable

[z3ro81]

Hello and welcome, your story sounds very familiar 😃

[XMaverick]

Hello and welcome, your story sounds very familiar 😃

Is that so? Maybe we can compare notes. : -)

[z3ro81]

Is that so? Maybe we can compare notes. : -)

Sure, I'll drop you a message (if we have permissions to do so with being noobs) 😀

[XMaverick]

Sure, I'll drop you a message (if we have permissions to do so with being noobs) 😀

I had this long response typed out in response to you, but apparently I don't have enough posts to send you a PM. So, i'll put my experience here for all to see, not that I mind. : -P

Well, I should first mention that I was raised Christian and had strong Christian influences throughout my life. Ever since I was very young, i've always been very keen to the fact that I was attracted to others; especially to other boys. But as you could imagine, my beliefs had me fight against this tooth and nail.

Long story short, I spent my late teen years praying for something to change. I'm sure many of you have heard of praying the gay away. Anyway, that didn't work. After learning of the experiences of a gay friend of mine, I came to the conclusion I was going about this all wrong.

And so, I immersed myself in a ton of study. After I came through it, I was more confident in myself and I accepted the fact I was gay. Accepting this had more benefits than one would think. Many Christians would say to me that I sought to justify my "immoral lifestyle."

That wasn't it at all. I didn't justify anything; it was my faith that justified my sexuality.

This was the gist of it, but I could add many more details to my experience. This was supposed to be a minor introductory topic, but it seems i've added far more about myself than I thought I would lol.

I should add that I was going to wait until I had ten posts to respond to my fellow poster Zero, but I didn't want to post any nonsense just to hurry and get to ten. I also wanted to respond to Zero as soon as possible, and so, I just posted it here.

If there are any Christian gays here that still have this guilt pertaining to their sexuality, I would love to help in having you overcome any self condemnation. It can be very tough growing up around people that use their own biases as the basis for their vehemence toward something that just cant be changed.

Anyway, I don't want to ramble on. As I said before, thanks for having me, GS. : -)

[Wolfpack]

Welcome to the forum.

[CellarDweller]

welcome to the forum

[dynamodean]

Welcome to GS. I am happy for your self-acceptance...it certainly goes a long way.

[XMaverick]

Welcome to GS. I am happy for your self-acceptance...it certainly goes a long way.

Thanks, Dynamodean. Accepting yourself for who you are certainly does go a long way. : -)