Beloved Arise

Hello Beloved!

Above are some resources if you need to talk to somebody if you are in a crisis. Please use them if you need to, it isn’t weak to reach out for help.

Alongside these resources, Beloved Arise has partnered with The Christian Closet to provide counseling for queer youth of faith. You can learn more about that here. On that page, we also provide some resources for learning about mental health issues in the queer community for both youth and people of faith. 

Your mental health is important, and we believe that your faith and your queerness are important factors. For this reason, we find it important to address these things when tackling mental health. That’s why we have partnered with the Christian Closet, who focus on your faith, your queerness, and your mental health all at once.

Hello Beloved!

In honor of Pride Month, Beloved Arise has released an album for Queer Youth of Faith. This album includes artists all across the queer spectrum with all different relationships with faith. But they all share the same message: Queer Youth, you are BeLoved.

Find more information on the artists and Serenade as a whole at the link above.

OF COURSE this includes: Aromantic Pansexuals Asexual Panromantics Pan-Oriented AroAces Pan folk anywhere on the Asexual and Aromantic Spectrums Pangender friends Trans Pansexual and Panromantics Nonbinary Pansexual and Panromantics Closeted Pan folk Out and Proud Pan folk He/Him Pan folk She/Her Pan folk They/Them Pan folk Pan folk who use neopronouns Disabled Pan folk Autistic Pan folk Pan folks with ADHD Pan folk with any mental illness Christian Pan folk Jewish Pan folk Muslim Pan folk Pan folk of all faiths BIPOC Pan folk AAPI Pan folk

OF COURSE, this includes: 

Trans Lesbians Nonbinary Lesbians Asexual Lesbians Aromantic Lesbians Lesbians of Color Older Lesbians Younger Lesbians Butch Lesbians Femme Lesbians Closeted Lesbians Out and Proud Lesbians Christian Lesbians Muslim Lesbians Jewish Lesbians Lesbians of All Faiths

ALL YALL AMAZING LESBIANS!!

All Women deserved to be celebrated: Trans Women Asexual Women Aromantic Women Bisexual Women Pansexual Women Lesbian Women All Queer Women Black Women Indigenous Women Latina Women All Women of Color Christian Women Muslim Women Jewish Women Women of All Faiths

OF COURSE this includes:

Asexual Aros Allosexual Aros Trans Aros Nonbinary Aros Lesbian Aros Gay Aros Bisexual Aros Pansexual Aros Autistic Aros Disabled Aros Aros of Color Closeted Aros Out and Proud Aros Romance-Repulsed Aros Romance-Indifferent Aros Romance-Favorable Aros Younger Aros Older Aros Christian Aros Muslim Aros Jewish Aros Aros of All Faiths Aros across the Ace-Spectrum Aros Across the Aro-Spectrum

Is It Okay For Christians To Doubt?

Many of us are taught that in order to be a strong Christian, we must have unshakable faith and be certain in our beliefs. But this creates a culture of shaming doubt, and millions* of Christians who experience doubt fear that they can’t be open about their faith. Maybe this is you. But what does the Bible really say about faith, doubt, and questioning?

*One 2017 study from Barna indicated more than half of Christians!

What Do These Words Even Mean?

In the New Testament, the word “believe” is a translation of Greek [image 3] (pisteúŌ, meaning to trust).

Like how you “believe in” or “trust in” your friend. Similarly, both “belief” and “faith” are both translations of [image 4] (pistis, meaning trust).

The words “belief” and “faith” aren’t wrong, but we’ve been using them so long they now have specific religious connotations that can limit our understanding. Thinking about it as our TRUST in God offers us a fresh perspective: it’s less like a thing we can possess (faith/belief) and more like a RELATIONSHIP WE LIVE (trust).

The Bible is a Communal Text

Speaking of relationship, there’s a relational contrast between Scripture’s original readers and us: while we today are extremely INDIVIDUALISTIC, they were a COMMUNAL culture.

The peoples in the Bible used their Scriptures to question and discuss how to worship God and live a good life AS A COMMUNITY. Of course it’s still good and fruitful to read the Bible on your own, but they knew the fruit is riper when harvested collectively. And while we often assume Scripture has the single unchanging answer, they quoted it to voice various perspectives within their communities, which changed with the changing times.*

*Just like healthy relationships do!

Biblical Examples

We see Jesus doing this reinterpretation among his own communities. He raises questions about how the Scriptures are interpreted and often disagrees with his fellow Jewish scholars. 

Paul also does this, in one instance arguing strongly with Simon Peter,* which shows us that from the beginning of Christianity, questioning how we should live our faith (and even disagreement!) is a part of the tradition!

So how does doubt fit in?

*Galatians 2:11-14

The Wisdom of Doubt

It’s been said the opposite of faith isn’t doubt, it’s certainty. Doubt calls our attention to what doesn’t feel right, urging us to challenge what we think and look deeper than what’s on the surface. Doubt offers us questions which we can voice in a community* (just like Jesus and Paul and those before them!). And when we listen to our doubt, we give our TRUST opportunity to grow.

*ideally in a safe, open, curious community

A Nonbinary Way of Faith

The same binary way of thinking which dictates that everyone must be either male or female — this same binary mindset demands we choose between doubt and faith. But maybe our doubt is the Holy Spirit’s whisper that Christ’s good news is more inclusive and nonbinary than we ever imagined. God loves us all for our genders, our sexualities, and our curious questions, doubts, and changing beliefs. 

Divine and Human, Trust and Doubt

When we (mis)use the Bible like proof that we’re right or an emotionless instruction manual, we miss so much of it’s nuanced wisdom and cheapen it’s artistry. The complex beauty of Scripture is that it’s a DIVERSE LIBRARY OF BOOKS, INSPIRED BY GOD AND WRITTEN BY PEOPLE. It is profoundly divine and thoroughly human, and contains many perspectives: some confident, some questioning, some harmonious, some disagreeing — all inviting us through doubt and trust in community to love God.

Practical Tips for Doubting

Find a safe, open, curious community to question with. (join our weekly youth group here.)

Start following experts. While anyone can benefit from reading the Bible regardless of education, we also need historians, scientists, archeologists, linguists, theologians, philosophers, and many other sort of experts to help us interpret what we read. Many have podcasts, books, and social media! (some listed in picture 4)

Trust that God isn’t tallying your failures or loving you because you believe X, Y, or Z. God loves you. Invite Them into your journey of doubt and faith.

The Bad News: The week of the attack on the Capitol, Trump rolled back protections in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that allows for any social-service provider that receives federal funding to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This impacts LGBTQ+ lives in ways from adoption and foster care to HIV and AIDS services. Source.

The Good News: On Day One of his presidency, Joe Biden signed an executive order that ensures that all anti-discrimination laws, from workplace to housing and education, also include sexual orientation and gender identity. This comes after, in June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1964 Civil Rights Act also protects people based on gender identity and sexual orientation in the workplace. Source.

Rachel Levine (she/her), Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, is nominated by President-Elect Joe Biden (he/him) to be the assistant secretary of health. This will make Levine the “first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.” In 2020, Levine has been handling the coronavirus in her home state of Pennsylvania. Although she has experienced transphobia in previous years, this last year has seen an increase in transphobia as her enforcement of masks and lockdowns angered individuals.

Hello Beloved!

Beloved Arise has partnered with Our Bible App, a community that stands for diversity in Christ. With this partnership, Beloved Arise has founded a free shelf of daily devotionals for queer youth around the world as a means to support this often forgotten (but extremely important) part of our community. This week, 3 more devotionals were added to this shelf.