Posted on 06/19/2012 8:09:51 PM PDT by presidio9
A self-described homophobic Christian posed as a gay man for an entire year, even “coming out” to family and friends in the process, all to reform his beliefs.
“[I wanted] to see if there was any justification in the fear I had,” Timothy Kurek, of Nashville, told MSNBC.
Kurek, 26, who says his religious upbringing taught him that homosexuality was a sin, launched the experiment in January 2009 after a close female friend broke down in tears and admitted she was gay.
“She had just come out to her family and been brutally disowned,” Kurek said. “She had been excommunicated from her entire life and two words changed it all. Two simple words. I’m gay.”
His friend’s plight caused Kurek to question his faith, and so he began his journey as a fictitious homosexual, beginning by telling his family members he was gay.
“My family was very supportive initially,” he told MSNBC. “They treated me with the love and respect I expected. I don’t think they quite knew how to react to having a gay family member, but, you know, that was the religious barrier there that we are all kind of captive to.”
Kurek began to spend less time with his religious circles and hang out in Nashville’s “gayborhood,” mingling with the LGBT community at bars, coffee shops and bookstores.
All the while, he was writing a book about his experience, to be released in October. Kurek is currently running a campaign to raise money through pre-sales of the untitled book, at Indiegogo.com.
He told the Daily News the book will include details about how he interacted with the LGBT community, whether anyone could sense he was actually straight, and what his parents said when he admitted to them that he wasn't really gay, and that his "coming out" was only an experiment.
Kurek admits his less-than-authentic journey cannot match that of an honestly gay man.
“I will be the first one to say that my experience is severely limited,” he told MSNBC. “There is no way I could possibly understand what it’s like to be actually gay.
“And the book itself is not at all about what it is like to be gay, but only about how the label of gay impacted my external life and how those things kind of altered my faith and challenged my beliefs.”
I think the title speaks for itself...who uses the term “homophobic”?
Well let's just see how much "twisting" this takes.
Homosexuality is a condition contrary to the Created nature. It is therefore a state of mind, or thought. A matter of continuous or obsessive thought is how a man is in his heart.
Done.
It is because he KNEW that it was both unnatural and immoral and CHOSE to continued to pursue those thoughts rather than to focus upon doing what glorifies the Father. That makes it sin.
It’s possible. Unfortunately, one would have to buy the book to find out, and personally, I have better things to spend my hard earned on.
Well in this case, Rheana Murray, the writer for the paper. The man himself may not use the term at all. I suspect he hasnt in fact.
I agree with your interpretation here.
Nobody would describe himself as “homophobic” unless he had a pro-gay agenda.
THE WORD of GOD is clear. I’m not interpreting anything.
“Coveting is not an act, but a thought, a desire. Elsewhere in the Bible it is written that there are sins of thought:”
Active thinking, daydreaming about what it must be like to have or to do something with those things that you have no business with...that is covetousness.
Satan may plant leading thoughts that our intellectual “imaging” sections in our brains and souls that our inner active “selves” can flesh out... from hence comes the “active sin” but when a simple thought (that we can see that will lead to sinful covetousness) occurs; if we instantly quash it, then this is not sin in and of itself, nor has any occured in the sight of God. The real truth of course is that for as long we exist in our fleshly bodies, thoughts formed and halfway formed will always occur; some good some decidedly evil, as they emanate from our deep fleshly hearts. “For the heart is desperately wicked, who can know it...” and it doesn’t cease being any less so for the new convert and old salty saints for as long as we inhabit our fleshly bodies. Yet we have the hope that Paul wrote of when he said “For the outer man perishes but the inner man is renewed day by day...!”
The Holy Spirit renews our inner man and we have a relationship with God thru Christ Jesus but he doesn’t always take everything sinful out our deep hearts all at once. Paul had his “thorns of the flesh” that were never removed, so he had to be content with the grace Christ had supplied for him
The key comes from Proverbs where a man is to “guard the heart for out of it flows the issues of life”! Our active inner man, enlightened by God, becomes the “gate keeper” of those thoughts that may arise out of our flesh, that if given further consideration, may lead to sin, either of thought or deed.
Coveting arises out of the conscious and active thought and the feeding and building of the desire for those things that don’t belong to one as well as the consideration as to how to obtain those things not belonging to one! Covetousness is an act, an act of mentality, but still an act and there-fore sin...hence the commandment not to covet!
My wise old grandmother explained it this way. “Thoughts are like bats that fly thru your belfry...but YOU don’t have to let them make a nest!” When YOU let them MAKE a nest, or even help build the nest for them...that is where the sin occurs and how covetousness arises!
LOL. Yeah, you and the 20,000 other Protestant denominations just “clearly” reading the Bible.
Nothing you posted from Scripture makes your point sinful tendencies are themselves sin.
See my post at 69 and you’ll know that one “protestant” agrees with you!
And it is appreciated. Well said.
Homosexuals are homophobes. They insist on being called ‘gay’ instead.
/So I can covet my neighbors wife and ignore that commandment now? As long as I don’t actually act out on it, I can desire her as much as I want?/
I don’t know about that, but I do know you will be allot less likely to get a shotgun blast to the face if you do not act on it!
I don't think it was a 'Christian' thing to do at all. He was in no way acting like he knew God's word - as he violated more than one of the 10 commandments.
20,000?
Collectively the Protestant vote is anti-abortion and anti-homosexual agenda, and the largest Protestant denomination votes about 80% anti-gay agenda, anti-abortion, yet Catholics vote majority for the pro-gay, pro-abortion party. Somebody is getting something from the bible.
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