{"id":10591,"date":"2016-09-22T10:50:35","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T14:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/?p=10591"},"modified":"2016-09-22T10:50:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T14:50:35","slug":"my-story-catholic-lesbian-celibate-the-journey-to-self-acceptance-im-in-the-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/evetushnet\/2016\/09\/my-story-catholic-lesbian-celibate-the-journey-to-self-acceptance-im-in-the-deseret-news.html","title":{"rendered":"“My story: Catholic, Lesbian, Celibate, & the Journey to Self-Acceptance”: I’m in the Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

doin\u2019 my thing! (a much more personal, less Charles Williams-y version of my Charles Williams piece<\/a>):<\/p>\n

\u2026For a long time after my conversion I focused almost exclusively on accepting church teaching. But there is another struggle for acceptance, which for many gay Christians will be even more challenging: the struggle for self-acceptance.<\/p>\n

The self too is a gift from God. Your life, with all its weirdnesses and inexplicable longings, is a gift that it is your duty to receive with gratitude, trusting that God has given it to you for your own good. Self-hatred, self-rejection, self-deception are all ways of rejecting that gift.<\/p>\n

And yet when I finally started meeting more gay Christians, I found out how many of them had been trained by their Christian upbringing to hate themselves and fear their deep longings for love and intimacy. I was lucky: It was easier for me to know God as a loving, cherishing Father because I didn\u2019t<\/span> grow up Christian. That should be an indictment of our churches.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

doin\u2019 my thing! (a much more personal, less Charles Williams-y version of my Charles Williams piece): \u2026For a long time after my conversion I focused almost exclusively on accepting church teaching. But there is another struggle for acceptance, which for many gay Christians will be even more challenging: the struggle for self-acceptance. The self too […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7,10],"tags":[1264,11,30,1265,123],"class_list":["post-10591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-catholic-whatnot","category-mackerel-snapping","category-self-obsessed","tag-gay-catholic-whatnot","tag-his-banner-over-me-was-love","tag-mackerel-snapping-2","tag-self-obsessed","tag-we-make-an-idol-of-our-fear-and-call-it-choice"],"yoast_head":"\n"My story: Catholic, Lesbian, Celibate, & the Journey to Self-Acceptance": I'm in the Deseret News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"doin' my thing! 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