Wednesday, November 14, 2007

not afraid of hell

Today I we talked about how our CPE group deals with conflict. Part of it is that I know we have significant theological disagreements (or at least I have disagreements with some of the others), and I wasn't sure what to do with that. I didn't particularly feel the need to express them--but I wasn't sure why.
So I went ahead and talked more about my theological differences, and it was fine.
The great thing is that I realized I'm not afraid of condemnation. I'm not afraid I'll be told I'm going to hell or that I'm demonic or whatever (I know there are people who believe that). I know I'm not, because I seek to live as true as I can to what I believe is true and good. Not saying I succeed all the time, but I try. And if I go to hell for that, the only thing to do is organize and yell about injustice.
I'm not sure what keeps me from saying my opinions or voicing my theological disagreements. I don't necessarily want to change the minds of the people in my CPE group (I don't even really want to change the minds of people who say I'm going to hell--though I do want to hold them accountable for the pain their hatred causes). I wonder if I'm afraid of my own anger. I wonder if I'm afraid in voicing my disagreements I'll come across as intolerant as the theologies that hurt me personally. We'll see how that goes.
The other thing that's funny is when I talked about how some people use theological language and concepts that are associated with theologies and religions that hurt me...my supervisor asked me for a concrete example. And I talked about my enjoyment of nature and how that wasn't considered spiritual because it wasn't connected to church. I talked about when I studied in Ghana and I had an Ifa divination and consulted with a shaman who was channeling an ancestor. When I consulted with this, the person said some things that touched me spiritually. This is considered witchcraft and demonic by the church I grew up in, but for me it was really positive.
It didn't even occur to me to talk about the most obvious example--that I'm gay. Reflecting on this later, I realized it's because I assume that it's fine. I assume that no one in the group has a problem with it. It's funny. And kinda cool.

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