Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 17 (How Ridiculous Can a Denomination Be?)

More fun and festivities today. Went on a hike up Mt. Baldy; the view from the top is amazing! You can see Berkley and San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge from up there. There's also a really great view of Mt. Tamalpais, the "sleeping lady", which I was able to make out, but the image is pretty "abstract" and one of the guys with us just couldn't see it.

Then we had a community pot-luck where several students, faculty and family members put on a show displaying their musical talents. It was absolutely spectacular and makes me wish I was talented in that area. I tried to learn how to play guitar for a very short time, but it hurt my fingers too much, so I gave up, LOL.

Afterwards, I caught up with a friend that I hadn't seen in a while and we talked for hours. He started school a semester ago and we discussed classes and the church and jobs and studying. I found out that another guy that goes here has to actually change churches because his church in San Diego, apparently the most conservative presbytery in the United States, will not support him if he goes to this school! Seriously, this is the only Presbyterian seminary in the state, and it's been around since the 1800's, and they don't like how liberal this school is. We're all part of the same denomination people!

So, we talked some more and I told him about the problems I was going to run into with my presbytery, since it is the second most conservative presbytery in the United States, being a gay man trying to get ordained. I know this is a fight that God wants me to bring back home. He then proceeded to tell me about his own experience with his presbytery and how they asked questions to make sure that he wasn't gay before they would support his decision to come to SFTS. The more I learn, the more sickened I am by this whole situation.

The conservative branches of this presbytery have been fighting against the ordination and marriage of homosexuals for the past 50 years, spending BILLIONS of dollars in the process. Can you imagine the good we could do as a church if we had used that time and energy and money in a good and constructive way? How many hungry people could we have fed? How many homes could we have built? How much evangelizing could we have done to try to save our dying denomination? This is the height of arrogance and stupidity, no wonder God wants me to get in everyone's face! It just makes me so angry when I think about it! *breathe.........*

Anyway, I found one more fun Harry Potter thing: there's an asian girl here with an actual British accent because she is from England. How cool is that!!!