Whosoever: Self-Inflicted Terrorism

The dictionary definition of "terrorize" is "to fill with fear or anxiety: to scare;" "to coerce by threat or violence." Homophobia is the product of spiritual and religious terrorism. GLBT people are subjected to continuous terrorist assaults, by which established abusive religions seek to undermine self-esteem and drive GLBT people into extreme self-destructive ideas and actions.

The "Ex-Gay" industry is one of the chief terrorism weapons used against GLBT people. I know of many gay men and lesbians who have been driven to suicide and suicide attempts because they failed to change their sexual orientation as they tried to meet the demands and endure the discredited methods of "Ex-Gay" therapy. I know of no one who has been through the "Ex-Gay" program and experienced a change in sexual orientation.

Religious Terrorism

The threat of hell and God’s judgment has penetrated into the inner mind of countless GLBT people throughout the world. Genocide is the systematic use of terror and abuse to eliminate a particular group of people. The religious terrorism against GLBT people is the most pervasive attempt at genocide in our culture today.

You do not have to kill people that you hate. If you can just teach your enemies to hate and destroy themselves, you can blame them for their own destruction. Religious homophobic conditioning from an early age has been the cause of death of thousands of gay men and lesbians in recent years.

Perfect Love Dissolves Terrorism

The love of God has been given to you through the Holy Spirit of Jesus (Romans 5:5). See all of 1 John 4:1-21 and notice 4:18: "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment (could be rendered "terrorism"), and the one who is afraid is not yet brought to maturity in love."

God loves you and accepts you. God made you who you are. You are created in the image of God. God does not reject God’s own self. Lay aside your cloak of fear and self rejection. Move on into the light of God’s perfect love, which is available to you. See John 3:16.

Freedom From Terrorism

Fully accepting yourself and enjoying who you really are can be a kind of resurrection from the dead! Recovering your own personal self-esteem and peace of mind through accepting God’s love for you is a new beginning, a new creation, and a new relationship to God as God’s child. Don’t let anyone rob you of what you already have as a gift of love from God.

The conclusion of 1 John is that because God loves you, you ought to love yourself and each other. The most effective weapon against religious terrorism against you is simply to accept and enjoy God’s love, which already has been given to you. The simplicity of your victory over self-hate and self-destructive thinking is hard to grasp for most people who have been brain-washed by traditional abusive religions. You do not have to climb any mountains, cut through any jungles, learn any system of doctrines, search for yourself outside yourself, seek the advice of "experts" or go to a special building to listen to the prevailing "truth" about who you are. You already have God’s love without any intervention or necessary explanations.

Freedom From Religion

Freedom from religious terrorism has been a hard fought struggle for survival and the abundant life throughout the history of Christianity and the Church. Twisting the love of God revealed in Jesus to create an absolute threat and final destruction for certain people is the prevailing heresy of organized religion. Why have we learned so little from the religious history of inquisitions, crusades, persecutions, genocide, witch burnings, and other forms of religious terror?

The Protestant Reformation was set into motion by Martin Luther in 1517, when he was enraged by the terrorism that was being inflected upon his people as church representatives raised money to build St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome by threatening and scaring the people into buying "indulgences" that promised to set them free from the torments of hell.

My website and book exist as a response to "religious terrorists who have distorted the Bible and used it to abuse, oppress, and hold hostage the spirituality and sexuality of gay, lesbian, bisexual and Transgendered people."

One Person at a Time

This week one of my pastor friends in Atlanta wrote to tell me he is beginning a one year weekly study of my book and website material for his congregation. He asked for my permission to use my material. Of course I told him to use whatever was helpful. The reason my website and book are out there is to be used by individuals and small home study groups to change our world one person at a time.

Terrorism is the same whether fear is wrapped in the holy mantle of religious doctrine or is expressed in violent suicide bombings of innocent people. Perfect love casts out fear, because fear terrorizes people.

For more information:

Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse

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