God, the Atonement, and the LGBT Community
What view of God did you have while growing up and going through adolescence? Did you have the image of a loving Father that wanted to be with you, despite how you identified yourself and how badly you messed up? Or did you have the image of this pious being who sat at the judgment seat...and you had to tell this mighty deity why you should go to heaven? Growing up, these two images collided in my mind and caused me much confusion. People would tell me that God loved me, but whenever I thought about why I should be let into heaven, I never came up with an answer that seemed good enough. Once entering into college, I became disillusioned with this wrathful and vengeful God and found solace and peace in a God who loves and cares for me despite my failures and struggles. Since beginning seminary almost three years ago, I've had to wrestle again with such topics as the wrath of God and the theodicy of God...trying to put the pieces together in how these things fit with salvation, the