My current "dialogue"

 · 9,704 like this

15 hours ago · 

• Like & share--Day of Dialogue favorite Scripture: ”Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example …in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” I Timothy 4:12

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      Person #1 That is very true. Just because someone is older than you here doesn't mean they are older than you in Heaven.
      

      
      
      
      
      
      
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       ME: Will this definition of "dialogue" include listening to the LGBT youth that you will be talking to/at or will the "dialogue" merely be sharing your opinions/beliefs and side of the story and attempting to refute their reality?
      

      
      
      
      
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      Day of Dialogue: Yes, Day of Dialogue encourages a free exchange of ideas & honest conversations among students. Of course, an honest conversation would necessarily involve listening on the part of each student. No student should be forced to accept another's viewpoint against their will. Day of Dialogue is simply about creating a safe place at the table for students of faith who want the freedom to share their thoughts in a loving & respectful way.

      
      
      
      
      

      
      
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      ME: How will you address the very real concerns that FOTF's stance and Day of Dialogues belief system does NOT create a safe space at any table, but rather one of hostility and opposition to a LGBT persons very existence?
      
      
      You are setting aside time and space to communicate to individuals unlike yourself that their innate identity and humanity is centrally flawed, broken and needs to change, according to your faith. How could you possibly construe this as a "safe" space for LGBT students?

      
      
      
      
      

      
      
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      Day of Dialogue: It sounds as if you are in favor of banning anyone who holds a religious/Biblical viewpoint on marriage and sexuality from expressing their perspective in the public square. Labeling/stereotyping an entire people group as "hostile" based on their religious viewpoint can be a very effective way to censor different perspectives. As for your second pt, We take issue with the phrase "unlike yourself". Actually, those who support our effort are informed by a biblical worldview that every human being is equally flawed and equally in need of God's salvation---including ourselves. There is no difference. There is no hierarchy in our deep need for God's grace. We've also made it repeatedly clear that we believe all students, including those who identify as gay and lesbian, have innate dignity and worth & are sacred lives created by God--and therefore should be protected from harm.

      
      
      

      
      
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      Person #2 AMEN, D OF D!!!!!!!
      
      
      
      
      

      
      
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       ME: That is an eloquently written response of double speak and a great straw man argument, but it fails to address the real fact that your "religious/Biblical viewpoint on marriage and sexuality" demands not only that an LGBT person not express their perspective in a public square, but also, that in order to be accepted by God, by church, by their families, by your organization and by peers who hold this perspective that they completely alter their natural born orientation and commit to a life of singleness, celibacy, reparative therapy, denial of love and relationship with the whom they emotionally and physically are attracted to, enforced heterosexuality and to joining your religion. THAT is the hope that you offer them? Putting censorship onto the table is a great way to shift the argument to something you can emotionally manipulate people with, but you are asking people to change their identity, something they did not choose, in order to be accepted, affirmed and allowed to be a part of the communities they find themselves born into and living with. THAT proposition, which you so eloquently mask with your "love, dignity and worth" rhetoric is one that you will not admit to.
      
      LGBT young people are not killing themselves because of your excellent example of God's love towards them. They are not committing suicide due to the amazing outreach and support they receive from the Church and their families. They are not making the tragic decision to end their lives because of the fair and understanding dialogue that concerned peers and authority figures are having with them about acceptance and affirmation of their worth. They are choosing to die due to the fact that from their spiritual leaders, their religious families, their peers and from society steeped in rejection of anything that doesn't fit their "Biblical viewpoint" that they are NOT worthy of love, acceptance, relationship and concern. Instead, in the pews of their churches, the dinner tables at their houses, the circle of friends talking, the hallways of their schools, the locker rooms and the sport playing field they are hearing that to be an LGBT person is an abomination, a curse, a special breed of sinner that God despises and that those who follow him must shun, reject, demonize, spew vitriol at and change, fix, save and alter at any coast...at the expense of their eternal soul. That you "love the sinner" but "hate the sin". All that phrase means is that you hate them and they MUST change in order to gain acceptance.
      
      I am a gay Christian. I attended a Christian, fundamental, Baptist, evangelical private school. My Dad is a Baptist preacher. I was raised in church. I am college educated and have served my country in the United States Navy. I am not an uninformed person. I am aware of your teachings, your doctrines, your perspective on the Bible, the ministries and churches that support your views as well as the very real needs in my own communities that have been shunned, damaged, broken and abandoned by the very families, churches and ministries that support your "Day of Dialogue." You have chosen to observe your event as a counter attack and retribution for the affirming "Day of Silence" that is observed by some, at great expense to themselves, and are now seeking to espouse your religious viewpoint to those that have not solicited it. Haven't you done enough damage to your children, peers, communities and fellow citizens? Why can't you simply leave LGBT people alone? They did not ask for your "help". They simply ask for your love. Love is not asking someone to change to suit your beliefs. Love is not sharing with them the news that they are not worthy, not acceptable, not valued until they alter their very identity.
      
      You beg the question of censorship. I ask you, if you are willing to engage in meaningful dialogue with LGBT students on this day, will you listen? Will you listen and hear their pain? Will you keep your mouths shut, if only for a while and hear what they have to say, look into their eyes and accept what they have to say about themselves? I understand you want to share what you believe is truth to them. I know that you believe it is your calling and duty from God. Dialogue is not listening to you can refute their arguments. Communication is not pausing a bit so you can ask someone to reject themselves, change their orientation and join your religion. Listen to them. Talk with them. If they want to know what you believe (and they already do, they have heard it enough at church, home, school and elsewhere) let THEM ask those questions. Give this a chance. Do what you say you are going to do.
      
      In closing, if you are asking them to come to the table as themselves to talk about and listen to what you have to say, to share their worlds and reality, then I ask you...will you join them on the Day of Silence? Will you meet them where you are asking them to meet you? Love doesn't ask someone to change. Love accepts people as they are. Consider it...