Is God A Bully?

(CHRISM NEWS/ WADE RYAN)

Is God a Bully?

I first heard it when I was in high school.

It came right along with the filthy words, accusations, threats and beatings I received as the "school faggot."

It was "common knowledge" and every good Christian knew it: "God hates homos, and they're all going to Hell."

Keep in mind that I'm putting this in the past tense, because it was in my youth that it began to be said. But it's still being told today.

I believed it, thinking that if Christians preached and lived by it, it must be true. At least true about the "Christian God."

So, if He hated me, I hated Him right back.

I even helped spread it during my time as a "Gay Lib" activist. (Many of my "gay folksongs" included the phrase "2000 years.")

Oh, I still sort of looked for God (in all the wrong places) but it was fruitless. I'd pretty much given up even caring about God.

When my beautiful conversion happened 14 years ago, one of the first things I did was to look up the topic of homosexuality in the Catechism. Not a word there about God hating homos!

It was a lie. A big lie. And I'd wandered in the dark, angry confusion that the big lie engendered for over 30 years. As the song goes, I'd lost my religion.

Admittedly, at first glance the Catechism’s statements about homosexuality seem overly harsh. They're not, but that's a topic for another time.

In answering my recent calling to step up, and tell of my life before and after God's dramatic intervention in my conversion, I've delved deeply into my memories.

I was surprised to discover it. I hadn't noticed it before. I had just assumed it. And I'd never thought to ask about it.

Not one Catholic priest or religious ever told the big lie to me. If they had, I'd certainly remember, because despite my hateful anger toward Him, I still yearned for Him, and I was still drawn to things Catholic.

I'm telling you about the big lie, because it's still bought into by a majority of homosexuals; it's one of the main factors for the adamant defensiveness against even the slightest mention of Christian sexual morality.

Oh sure, there are "gay positive” churches, and some homosexuals are drawn to them. But it's a false comfort. It's a way of avoiding the weight of the Cross of this orientation, a Cross that, if carried well, becomes an instrumental factor of redemption.

When the gay rights movement began, we called it "Gay Lib." It was known as the Gay Liberation Front.

It came to me just the other day: the ultimate Gay Liberation Front is where the big lie has no place – the Catholic Church!

Our Holy Church's teachings, doctrines, sacraments and practices – all drawing us closer to God – are the things of real liberation, leading us from dark, angry confusion into the redemption, mercy and freedom of Truth. Blessed be God (Who is NOT a bully) forever!

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Wade Ryan was a prominent gay rights activist in the early days of the movement, writing and singing his songs, supporting the perceived "normality" of the homosexual orientation and activities.

In 1999, a dramatic Conversion experience led him into the Catholic Church, where he was Confirmed at Easter Vigil 2000.

He now lives a joyous lifetime of holy chastity, speaking on behalf of the Church's compassion and graces offered to homosexuals, and in support of the sanctity of Holy Matrimony.

#opinion