I Frustrates Me When People Saychristianity Doesnt Allow Questioning Because Almost Every Church I Have

i frustrates me when people say “christianity doesn’t allow questioning” because almost every church i have attended (both mainline protestant and catholic) have allowed for me to question doctrine. that is not to say that indoctrination doesn’t happen within christian spheres… it does. however, not every church is founded on far-right fundamentalism. and questioning scripture and such is often used as a teaching tool in a christian context.

more female saints with angry faces! 

i’ve been thinking about the midrash today that says before all babies are born, they are told of all of the pain and hardship in life, but also the beauty and love. once they are told of this, every single soul chooses life and to be born.

it’s interesting to me because i know that many depressed and suicidal people aggravate over this idea of “why do i have to be alive, i never asked for all of this!!!!” i definitely had that mindset for years. maybe the work for ppl like us is to travel backwards and re-learn life, ourselves, and the world until we are once again in agreement with our unborn selves that accepted the conditions of living, that there will be suffering and ugliness, but the reward of life is inherently worth the agonies that come alongside. and maybe we could not fully appreciate and understand the sublime moments in life if it werent for the moments of pain

girls in catholic school studying the saints. girls pouring over pages in libraries, reading about st catherine and st monica and st clare, being drawn in by their grace, poise, and kindness. girls composing sonnets for st cecelia, the patron saint of music, girls exchanging roses in honor of st elizabeth, girls falling in love with the beautiful joan of arc and weeping for her tragic fate.

Annunciation, 1527, Jacopo Pontormo

Medium: fresco

“You can’t call yourself a christian and torment LGBT people at the same time. If you act against the commandment to love your neighbor, then you act against the christian way of living.”

— me (Mixon)