The Old Tin Shed

I have spoken many many times on this blog about my spiritual journey and I have spoken about my early life within a church that at the time, would have kicked me out.  I have spoken about the more recent incident where I was banned from attending services because I was gay. Then just now I found this http://www.news.com.au/world-news/pope-francis-says-he-wont-judge-priests-for-being-gay-as-he-returns-from-brazil/story-fndir2ev-1226687806050 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-29/pope-francis-says-it-is-not-his-place-to-judge-homosexuals/4851802?section=australianetworknews Are we seeing a monumental change in church doctrine.  Is this the beginning of the renewal ?  Im sitting here in tears, I cant believe what has been said.  my favorite line in all of this is And when someone sins and confesses, he said, God not only forgives but forgets. "We don't have the right to not forget," he said. I have waited half a life time to hear those words.  Now h...

Now surprising for me I know but I like to read   http://boundless-salvation.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/reinventing-religion.html In the post listed above you will note the talk about change and how difficult it is even within the organisation.  I started off writing a reply but found I had far more to say on the topic that I could safely put into a comment so below is a response to his post. For faith to survive it must modernize in some way.  Im not talking about the removal of structure or core beliefs but an acceptance that the world has changed and therefore the people in it.  We are far more education and connected than any other generation in history.  Ideas and information move around the world at the speed of light.  Books are read on digital readers not on paper (well for some of us).  We are reaching out to the stars, and understanding our world better than ever.  I feel as many do that the church has not kept up and as such holds l...

In a couple hours it will be Christmas here.  Once that would mean getting dressed for midnight mass.  I however stopped many years ago now, im not one to be a hypocrite and attend only for the major occasions   I don't feel I should so I don't.  Though it has been made perfectly clear by our local church I am not welcome anyway. I have not lost the main reasons for Christmas, and that is the belief of many that man's saviour was born.  I don't consider myself a Christian any more, and although many would see it as a bad thing, I don't.  You see when my Church banished me and my kind and then actively campaigned against us, I was left with no choice.  You see my point for acceptance has always been that everyone is made in the image of God.  Each of us is therefore perfect, so how can being me be wrong. With all my mental health issues to carry on with, I could not fight to reconcile with the differences.  In...

Todays post was inspired by Sharon at Jeweling the Elephant . She recently made a post called Everyday - Grace is Gone.    In it she talks about the comfort others have in their faith and how she envy's that. I to have issues with faith, in my younger days I was a strong believer in God and his church, I believed in the teachings and how to apply it to your daily life.  But things changed.  I changed.  It all started when I was about 16.  My close friends father committed suicide.  I thought or assumed that the local church and its leaders would be there for the family.  They weren't. They abandoned my friend and his family when they needed him the most. I remember thinking at the time, that I needed to pray for the church leaders so they could see the error in their ways, but sadly that prayer was left unanswered.  I however maintained my faith confident that God would look after me and my family, even with dads cancer I thanked God that...