“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”— John 13: 34-35, thoughtcatalog.com
“Kids are killing themselves because they have been convinced that they fundamentally don't have a place in this world. If you think that God prioritizes caring about what gender someone likes to kiss over that, then you've somehow gotten so off track that the religion you are practicing bears no res…”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“I don't have to have internal struggles with my morality, my sense of self, or my worthiness. I just am. In that way, being gay is both irrelevant and critically important in my life. And maybe that's how God sees it, too. I suspect that people's sexuality is irrelevant in terms of the theology but…”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“Having a sexual orientation should not exclude you from said religion. Being gay and being Christian should not be exclusive objects. They should not be black and white.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“I became happy when I came out. I became happier when—I admitted I was gay, when I finally accepted and found peace in myself. Eight years ago, when I prayed to God wishing to be happy, I was unknowingly praying for the courage to come out.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“My homosexuality does not merely coexist with my religion—it is dependent on it.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“'Many people claim Paul condemns women serving in church leadership...but what they are missing is what he did do. He urged the church and people to treat women with levels of respect never heard of before in the ancient world. Only few today would interpret that as a condemnation of women serving i…”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“Changing identities is hard. Trying to bend key characteristics of yourself away from preconceived notions and toward reality feels quite a bit like bending sheet metal. It poses quote a bit of opportunity for breakage—especially heart breakage. Change is hard. Change is scarring. Change can be pain…”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“If St. Paul saw what existed today, I'm quite confident he would not write the same words again. If he saw loving relationships between two men or two women who loved each other and wanted to experience life together, I think he would see that merely as another expression of God's love.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it. [Ezekiel 16:49] There's nothing in there about having lov…”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah had little to do with loving, same-sex relationships and everything to do with inhospitality and greed. Their evil had little to do with their sexual orientation and everything to do with their hearts.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“Jesus did not speak a word against gay people in loving same-sex relationships because loving relationships were the very essence of his business.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“Jesus would ask: What is the Bible fundamentally teaching about compassion, about love, and about radical acceptance? Jesus would stand up for those who are being oppressed by what are clearly man's laws—not his laws—and he might even question why people are so keen to be literal with the passages r…”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“The modern-day suggestion in certain Christian circles that trying to interpret the Bible, or diverting from a plain-text reading is "watered down" or "lukewarm" Christianity is totally bogus. Only in modern times have we succumbed to the blind worship of plain text.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“The Bible was not written directly by the hand of God. It was written by mortal men who transcribed the word of God through the context of their time period. Reading the Bible without understanding that context is like reading Huckleberry Finn without knowing what slavery was or reading The Great Ga…”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with me nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”— 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, thoughtcatalog.com
“Depression crept back into my life the same way winter slowly creeps out of autumn, choking the remaining tree leaves and late-blooming plants.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“I write this book to all those out there who truly believe that homosexuality is something abhorrent. I write this to all those who believe God condemns gay people. I write this to tell you that that is not my experience with God.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com
“My casual repression of myself did untold damage to my self-esteem and sense of self-worth. It was only in discovering my sexuality that I accepted love from my fiends, my family, my God, and myself.”— Jacob Geers, thoughtcatalog.com