Each Tree is Recognized by its Own Fruit

Have you seen "Jesus Camp", American documentary film of Evangelical brain-washing summer camp for kids? - Relly horrible stuff, I can tell you! It shows how prejudices are transferred from one generation to another.
Little girl is explaining how only the worship where people are jumping, shouting and swinging is the real worship. In fact, those people are pulled out of themselves; they are manipulated by suggestions and led to mass hystery. And "speaking in tongues"? It's not different from spiritism - spirits are working indeed, but the Holy Spirit? I don't think so! Lucifer appears as a beautiful angel of light. The same crowds that shouted on Palm Sunday "Hosanna!" just a week later shouted "Crucify him!"
God works within silently and in secret. But the peace of Christ won't leave us in peace, it will always disturb us! "If they ask you, 'What is the evidence of your Father in you?' say to them, 'It is motion and rest.'" (The Gospel of Thomas) Active peace, peaceful activity: Through peace which is active quality comes Love which is Action. Nature of the Holy Spirit is movement. It's not static, it's constantly changing. We are moved. And then we have this movement of Religious Renewal.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Mt.11:28-30) We've had a brief moment of rest for our souls and we go back to our worldly business; But this time yoke is easy and burden is light, because we're no longer carrieng it alone! Mountains are moved - the greatest obstacles in our way.
It is not the Faith of the heart to allow oneself to be overwhelmed by emotions, to take what you are told for granted, or to adopt this or that code of conduct! What has religion got to do with nationalism, war-mongering or politics?!
It seems paradoxical, that in Finland Church and state are not completely separated - even the season of the parlament is opened with the Lutheran Mass - yet religion is not such a frightening political force as it seems to be in the United States! Abortion might be a murder, I can't deny that, but still women must have a free choice! Should we give up our God-given reason to please God?

"Each tree is recognized by its own fruit" (Lk.6:44); Then fruit of fundamentalism is rotten: On one hand it's intolerance and judgementalism - fear and distress on the other.
It is often the fact that when people live by the strict rules, they become judges for their fellow men. I've been there and seen that! A minor "sin" occationally is good for you. Just as Oscar Wilde pointed out, Jesus liked sinners - not self-righteous people. You may even get the impression that those people are avoiding life itself. Man has freedom to be willingly imprisoned. If you think celibacy is a choice, then try it yourself, don't push it to others. Everybody has right to make up his own mind, and so have I a right to select my friends: 100 % of acceptance is the absolute demand, the less is just not enough! When it comes to humanity, there is no room for compromises. To tolerate someone is just to try to bear one no matter how hard it may be.
Also "Be what you are, but keep quiet about it" is not a good attitude. I've been quiet long enough: It's time to shout it out from the roof tops! If some people are disturbed, perhaps they need to be wakened up from their ignorant sleep. The world will never change if those people don't even know they know glbt-people, who might be their friends or own children.
I'm sure fundamentalists turn more people away from Christianity than they succeed to convert. I would rather go to hell for my love than to heaven inhabited by fundamentalists: That's exactly my idea of hell! Imagine being in earthly paradise with Jehovah's Witnesses - it is precisely the same thing!

Evangelicals even think that the climate change won't matter, because they will be taken out of this world anyway. How wrong they have got it! I don't believe human being has evolved from apes - however, I do believe in spiritual evolution - far from earth being created in six days 6000 years ago: Our evolution didn't even begin in this current state of planetary existence, but our future destiny is related to that of the earth! It is our task to transform earth by our work; We left from the motherly womb of the wild nature, garden of Eden, and our destination is creation of the highest human efforts, the heavenly city of New Jerusalem made of precious stones - new earth born of spiritualized substance, same substance as our resurrection bodies will be. Solid matter will be gone and the curtain between the realms of the living and the dead will be no more.

Christianity - Islam; Yahweh - Allah; Atheism - Fundamentalism; Faith - Reason

I believe pre-christian religions were preparation for the coming of Christ: it's not making sense to think that there ever was any nation without God's guidance. To see God's work in history of all humanity just makes Him ever greater! In different ages and in different cultures Godhead was seen differently. Before Christ it was essential what religions taught, in christianity "Word became flesh"!
I think christianity is for the modern western world, but Christ as an objective fact is for the whole world. Christian religion in its present form is merely a vague shadow of its true potential yet to come. Through His death and Resurrection Christ Jesus sowed a seed in Earth: when His blood was bleeding on the cross and His body was lowered into the grave of the earth, the earth itself as a living organism received the spiritual alchemy of the cosmic communion!

Jesus Christ promised to send us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and he said that "the time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth". (John 4:23) After Father and Son we need a religion of the Spirit. The Spirit works from within and draws all together as one.

I consider myself a tolerant person and quite liberal minded in religious matters. Yet there is one thing I can not tolerate and that is intolerance! Sadly, I must say I think islam is dangerous religion under luciferic influence. Danish cartoons, Pope's speach... as misunderstood as they might have been, muslims, however, have proved our prejudices right by their violent reactions. And though it's said that 9/11 had nothing to do with true islam, it's not justified to claim that islam had nothing to do with it: no other religion in present day world could have caused that! Sure christian history contains such tragic events as crucades and inquisition, but they are - literally - past history! In its golden age islam was ahead of christianity at the time - there's no doubt of that - but since then it has declined, not developed!
And I have known muslims personally; I have read a lots of books concerning islam, by scholars, muslims, ex-muslims, christians... so, no one can claim I woudn't try to understand!

I don't think Allah is same as God of christians, yet all christians don't seem to know their God either. Some scholars say Allah was originally pre-islamic Moon god (crescent moon symbol!). Same has been said about Yahweh, and I find it easy to believe that Allah and Yahweh - the vengeful God of Israel - are essentially the one and only being: But the loving heavenly Father of Jesus Christ he is not! The heretic of the early church, Marcion of Sinope, made a good point here.

There is one important exception worth to mention: Finnish researcher of islam, Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, has made an excellent study of sufism, the esoteric branch of islam. His final conclusion was, that in both religions, islam and christianity, mystical experience seems to be very similar. Sufism was often regarded a heretical movement among mainstream islam. It's individual in nature and goes beyond strict doctrines and rules.

Finnish theosophical writer, Väinö Valvanne, points out that Jesus did not speak of "God", except when he was quoting the Old Testament ("Love the Lord, your God..."); instead, he used the name "Abba", Father (or "Daddy" to be more precise). Thus he was not referring to Yahweh with all cruel ideas connected to him. The Tempter who appeared to Jesus in wilderness and offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he worshiped him, was in fact the personification of the old ideal of God - "the ruler of this world". "Be pleased with the same God as everyone else and don't bring any new ideas to people, and I will make you powerful" he said. And Jesus answered: "It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" - that is, the voice of the truth within you, even if the whole world was against it!
Sometimes Jesus said the Father is in secret, meaning, that man-made images can't describe this reality. Also he said that no one has seen Father, but Yahveh had been seen by Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abidu, and the seventy elders of Israel (Exodus 24:9-10).

According to German theologian, Adolf von Harnack, keeping of the Old Testament in the christian Bible may lead to impress "the righteousness" and legalism instead of grace and love. Similarly, American scholar Robert Jewett thinks that the wrath of the Lamb described in the Book of Revelation has ousted the redeeming love.

I see both fundamentalism and atheism as two opposites, two etremities. We may remember here Afganistan under Taleban rule and the late Soviet Union. Atheism is a kind of spiritual deficiency desease... (atheism often seems also a kind of religion of science, and very fanatical one - close to fundamentalism) Man is a spiritual being born of God, citizen of two worlds, so religion is a natural realm of life: re-ligio, to reconnect to Divinity, that's what we have to do while living here on earth, or else we enter afterlife as blind because we didn't develope higher senses.
In between goes the narrow path of balance between faith and reason.

Forerunners of the Humanity

A human consciousness is evolving and so should his religion. Yet we see how religious institutions and their authorities stumble far behind, trying to hold on to the past and prevent the inevitable. Therefore they are fighting against the Truth, but they can only slow down that which is to come, because it is the part of the Great Divine Plan!
It is quite understandable that many glbt-people give up organised religion because they are disappointed in dogmatism, or in a worsed case they give up religion. Period. For me it was never an option: In my eyes fundamentalism and atheism are just two extremes, just like Christ was crucified in the middle of two wrong-doers. If you belong to the church where you have to hide your true identity and listen to the preachers questioning your faith, I can't see much chance to become a whole, balanced individual.
Real wholeness is just that: balance between your faith and your identity. To love God - as he loves you - and your neighbor as yourself! By denying and suppressing your God-created nature, you sin against your Creater! Sexuality is sacred, a gift from God, not to be shared with just anybody and not for your own satisfaction only, but to make your partner happy! We can all be "fruitful" and grow the fruits of the spirit. No lighted candle is covered with a vessel, so let your light shine before men.
It's very important to know people who already have walked that road: support and exchanging experiences can make everything so much easier, though in your heart you still need to deal with it by yourself. Religion is a private matter, a matter of consciense, what comes to the way of thought and the way of life, but it will lack much of its potential without community, without sacraments. Christianity can not be practised alone: it's all about "love one another" and "OUR Father"!
It's outrageous that some people have a nerve to question my relationship with God, which is only between me and my Lord! Only he can see my heart and judge me. I think many who call themselves christians, would gladly burn us at the stake, and if Christ Jesus walked on earth today as in Palestine 2000 years ago, he would be crucified again by those so-called christians (as he is still crucified in the spirit!).
Often I get the impression that even if a person said he believes in God, he repels the Supernatural! We can even talk about "spiritual materialism". The next step logically is to throw away the Bible, too. If the "Word of God" was "finished" and "complete", it would be just a relic of the past. But the Word of God is Christ, not the book, and christianity is not teaching. Christianity is a living, spiritual impulse which wells up from Golgatha and flows to the future. That stream of the vital light-blood of Christ's radiant love is made active in eternal present through the mystical act of the Mass. The Mass is a wonderful instrument to help us to develope our intimate relationship with Christ within. Only then we can fully comprehend the Christ's sacrificial deed for us!
This Christ-impulse can not be owned by churches, nor chained by dogma, neither imprisoned in the Bible. Intellectual faith, thinking with a heart, "gnosis"; that's my kind of faith.
I think glbt-christians should boldly participate the Pride parade, standing out and testifying for the Lord who loves us with unconditional love! So what if people mock us and hate us?
Jesus said: "Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. Fot that is how their fathers treated the prophets" (Luke 6:22-23. NIV). Think about the early christian martyrs who died because of their faith! We are unlikely to be killed, but why fear those who can kill the body but not the soul.
Along the years I have become more radical in my theological thinking. No longer I merely think that we glbt-people have a right to be what we are, but we have a specific mission - we are the forerunners of the humanity!