Leaving My Former Homophobic Religion and Re-analysing Their Scriptures

[NZthrower]

Hi everyone! Today I want to discuss the internalised homophobia that I have, likely because of my religious upbringing in a faith called Falun Gong (FLG for short). Before we get started, please notify me if you are a former follower of FLG, or if you are familiar with or heard of it. Basically, FLG teaches that when you perform good deeds, you gain white matter called ''virtue'' in your body; and when you perform bad deeds, you gain black matter called ''karma''. ''Karma'' is gained when you hurt others, which gives them ''virtue'' and transfers their ''karma'' to you. Both as far as I recall act in another parallel dimension, since they believe that other you's connected to you in this universe manifest in other dimensions. They also assert that being gay, not just having gay relations, create ''karma'', since they believe that even your thoughts can create ''karma''. Needless to say that this concept does still cause me to fret out quite a bit, especially since I don't immediately remember enough of the whole FLG theology to be able to logically ascertain how it all works.

In addition, the founder of FLG also asserts that if he wasn't preaching his faith, that the ''gods'' first target for elimination would be LGBT people in a 1998 lecture he gave in Switzerland. Given the fact that most people associate deities with benevolence and justice, and that my religious upbringing, as is with most, codifies this association, it is still hard for me to see the injustice and tyranny belying this claim. What isn't helpful is the copious usage of loaded language and thought-terminating cliches throughout the founder's texts, which serve to control and shut down my reasoning and critical thinking abilities. This isn't helped by the fact that such beliefs return whenever I'm in my ''normal state'', where my sleep cycle is in accordance with the day/night cycle, where I can properly pass bowel movements, where I feel like I want to pursue my passions and ambitions etc...

I honestly hope that you guys can help me out of this mess. Tips on combating internalised homophobia would be helpful (though I'm straight).

If you people are curious about the lecutre, you can Google 'Falun Dafa lecture Switzerland 1998'

[Helarctus]

Hello NZthrower,

It sounds like you have a lot of data that needs to be organised into information. You have identified one persons interpretation and teachings within a faith structure and can see discrepancies between that and your own understandings. This is normal, everyone sees the world through their own lens and some variation on emphasis is bound to occur. (Think of the Oxford comma, the William Shatner comma, and the Christopher Walken comma 😉 )

A lot of religions can be oversimplified down to the Bill and Ted, "Be excellent to each other" which is good, where people disagree is on _how_ to be excellent to each other.

Another factor to consider in your readings and study is the timing of the writings and presentations vs the current cultural environment. The lecture was "only in the 90's" but that is now nearly 30 years ago, homophobia was big news with the world still trying to wrap its head around AIDs, gay bashings and killings were making headlines and world leaders struggled with how to integrate and welcome the LGBTQ+ community openly without alienating the majority (Don't ask, don't tell policy) .

Thus I suggest checking if there are any more recent lectures, papers or journals to review to see what the current prevailing attitude is. Hopefully things will have improved.

Regards,

Helarctus