Looking for Answers

Utter frustration and defeat was what Ceil and I felt after we left the first Evangelical church in 2005. Lamenting over the injustices and questioning the purpose of it all eventually lead us on a deep search for the Truth.

Would we have been treated differently and accepted as part of the church family had we been heterosexual? Would we have had opportunities to minister had we been males in that organization? Would those people have taken time to know us had there been no walls of religious doctrine separating us from them? Sadly, the answer to those questions were YES for both of us.

At this point, however, that was only our assumption and opinion, and not our truth. Neither one of us had ever experienced life as male nor heterosexual. With a burning passion and conviction to find Truth, we embarked on a social experiment to get some answers. Ceil and I would alter our physical appearances and become what we perceived as "acceptable" by church leadership standards. We wanted to see if the Evangelical church would get to know us and connect with us, perhaps even love us, if we looked and acted just like them.

It was unbelievable, some of the things we witnessed and experienced as a man and woman inside the inner circle of a powerful Evangelical church. It's all recorded in the documentary. The most heart-breaking truth we discovered is the fact that many religious leaders in both communities, gay and straight, have lost sight of the most noble purpose of humanity - to build up one another through love.

4 comments:

T. Laurel Sulfate said...

I look forward to seeing your film, and I admire your bravery. I also wish I knew how to convince those who could learn the most from the film to watch it.

Eric Schansberg said...

I'm an evangelical who is critical of both the Religious Right and the Religious Left in my book, Turn Neither to the Right nor to the Left.

Commenting on the trailer to the documentary, the Bible is clear that we are adopted into God's family and that we *become* children of God. That said, it is usually argued/believed that children (before an age of accountability) are within that family. So, using pictures of children to make that point is not accurate. If you showed pictures of adults instead, that would be consistent with Christian theology, and presumably, what is being said from these pulpits (although perhaps not!).

Grace and peace to you and yours, eric

Han said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Han said...

Eric,

Don't Evangelicals teach their people to interpret the bible literally? The Senior Pastor, highest authoritative figure of this mega Evangelical church, stood up in the pulpit and said "Do you realize that not all humans on the planet are God's children?" Should his congregation make exceptions and not take his teaching literally?

Religion has lead many to judge individuals based on their "outside packages" and make justifications for their judgement. It's a bit more difficult to make such judgements when you're staring at the face of innocence.