[Engaged] Call Me Kuchu: For the LGBT Community in Uganda

[Troy]

Call Me Kuchu: For the LGBT Community in Uganda

My message here is aimed at my follow Christians out of my personal frustration with Christian theology being used to justify atrocities like the one going on in Uganda. My understanding is the bill in question capitalized on a general belief in Uganda that homosexuality is anti-Christain and harmful for African families. The bill that was originally submitted for vote in the parliament recommended the death penalty for being homosexual. The death penalty?! It has sense been "toned down" to a punishment of up to life in prison. I normally do not discuss Christianity here because I know it is a sensitive subject, but this thread, in my mind, was clearly about Christian fueled persecution of gays.

I get where you are coming from about the commandment to love God and our neighbors. How can love be forced? I agree it can't be. The greek word used in this verse is entole meaning an injunction, precept or commandment. The word entole comes from the greek word entellomai which can be interpreted as foundation. So the verse could also be read as the foundation of life is to love God and our neighbors. I believe this verse not because it was written in a book but because I have felt it at a spiritual level. It is something I intimately connect with.

I do not believe in hell, and there is Biblical support for that belief. I must add that I do not take the Bible as literal as many Christians. The Bible contradicts itself over and over and can be interpreted in so many different ways. I believe it is a book written by man, over thousands of years, to express their understanding of God. It is beautiful when understood that way. It is not perfect because we are not perfect. It is a reflection of our humanity. Jesus told us the Spirit of God is sent to guide us not the Bible. I do not say this to devalue the Bible because I believe it does have value within it's context.

Something I became to believe because of my Buddhist studies is the Christian scriptures are like a finger that points at the moon. Obviously one book can not contain all there is to know about the boundlessness of God. It does not even make logical sense. The moon in the Christian sense being a spiritual connection with God, our fellow humans, and all of creation.

Perhaps, my beliefs put me on the fringe of both Christianity and Buddhism. I am OK with that. I share this not with the expectation that anyone else will believe as I do, or that I have all the answers, or that I am even right. They are just my understanding. Like the the Bible can not contain the boundlessness of God neither can my understanding.

Is being gay a sin? I don't know. I don't understand why it should be because I see nothing wrong with it. My understanding of sin is something that separates us from a spiritual and loving connection with God and that is deeply personal.

I too have family and friends that are homosexual. I love them deeply, especially my brother. I accept all people with open arms. What I hope for is all my brothers and sisters put love first in whatever relationship they are in.

Deepest bows, Troy

[Daitetsu]

Thank you, Troy, for your open words.
There is really no need to justify your belief (nobody needs to do that) and I did not mean to attack it per se - did not mean to step on your toes.

I just wanted to share my opinion on that commandment.
It is obvious for me you have a good heart and only want the best for all.
I thank you for that - if only more saw their belief in such a (critical) way!

Gassho,

Daitetsu

[Daitetsu]

Sorry, it's me again, but since I have read your post one thing popped into my mind as you really appear to be "on the fringe of Christianity and Buddhism" as you stated above.

I think there is a way to somewhat consolidate them (but only for those who don't take things too literal).
It is when you realize that there is no difference between the Holy Spirit/God/Jesus and yourself, but that you are "him" (as is everyone else). There is no separation, no God vs. Troy - there is just God and nothing else.
But when you see it like that, there is no need for words like God or Buddha-Nature or Christian or Buddhist - in fact there is no need for any words at all.

Just my 2 cents.

Gassho,

Daitetsu

[Troy]

Hi Daitetsu, that is a beautiful way to think about it. Yes I believe the Buddhist concept of non-self applies to our connection with God, each other and all creation. My understanding is through this connection Jesus taught us how to be the children of God. We only need faith to understand we already are.

John 14:20
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

My favorite gospel is the Gospel of Thomas. It is not canonical, but it spoke to me in a way others didn't. It focused more on the Kingdom of God being now in our present life through faith. It is in this Gospel the connection between Buddhist and Christian thought can be seen the most. IMHO

[Joyo]

Hi Daitetsu, that is a beautiful way to think about it. Yes I believe the Buddhist concept of non-self applies to our connection with God, each other and all creation. My understanding is through this connection Jesus taught us how to be the children of God. We only need faith to understand we already are.

John 14:20
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

My favorite gospel is the Gospel of Thomas. It is not canonical, but it spoke to me in a way others didn't. It focused more on the Kingdom of God being now in our present life through faith. It is in this Gospel the connection between Buddhist and Christian thought can be seen the most. IMHO

Posts like this one help heal my anger towards my childhood religion. Thank you, deep bows

Gassho,
Joyo

[Tiwala]

Sorry, it's me again, but since I have read your post one thing popped into my mind as you really appear to be "on the fringe of Christianity and Buddhism" as you stated above.

I think there is a way to somewhat consolidate them (but only for those who don't take things too literal).
It is when you realize that there is no difference between the Holy Spirit/God/Jesus and yourself, but that you are "him" (as is everyone else). There is no separation, no God vs. Troy - there is just God and nothing else.
But when you see it like that, there is no need for words like God or Buddha-Nature or Christian or Buddhist - in fact there is no need for any words at all.

Just my 2 cents.

Gassho,

Daitetsu

Hi,

I have the book Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit by Fr. Kennedy S.J. who is also a roshi in the White Plumb lineage. I would like to share a relevant passage from there. In the section titled Christ, he says this:

"'From the outset our nature is pure,' says the Sixth Patriarch, and if we see this nature then we do not abide either inside or outside; we are free to come or go. Readily we cast aside the mind that clings to things, and there is no obstruction to our passage. Does this teaching of the Patriarch correspond with much of our own Christology? If we agree with Augustine that there is only one Christ loving himself, then cannot we also say that for the deluded, Christ is an individual being, and for the awakened, an individual being is Christ. The risen Christ is not another being somewhere else, but rather the risen Christ is the being right in front of me, the same Christ that I am.

Teilhard de Chardin takes up this same theme in the Divine Milieu:

'In a real sense, only one man will be saved: Christ, the head and living summary of humanity. Each one of the elect is called to see God face to face. But his act of vision will be vitally inseparable from the elevating and illuminating action of Christ. In heaven, we ourselves shall contemplate God, but, as it were, through the eyes of Christ.'

...

There is practical conclusion that follows from seeing that there is only one Christ. The reader may say, I need not imagine myself kneeling before Christ. I need not pray for salvation, I need not ask for virtue or for anything else as if it were not already given. The spirit of Jesus is fully poured into my heart. With all my limitations, I am Jesus in this world. I have been given all that I need to live out the spirit of Jesus in all the circumstances of my life. Salvation is given here and now. I am not to let any gap open between Jesus and me if I share the experience of St. Paul: 'I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.'"

Of course, firstly, I'd like to add that this dichotomy between awakened and deluded need not be perpetuated. There is ultimately no wall separating saint and sinner. And that the very act of sitting as it reveals itself through walking, standing, lying down, and all our daily life, is itself seeing our true nature.