u/ElongatedNeck

So I hope this is a good place to reach out. I'm what could be labeled as a Christian and a Conservative. I believe in small government and I don't believe the law should be involved in interpersonal relationships.

But I do view marriage as a sacrament of the church and between a man and woman. However.. I don't see lgbt love as bad. I don't care what people do. Maybe it's because I struggle with my own same sex attraction. I don't use that part of me as a hammer to beat down others.

But how do you connect your faith and support for LGBT marriage? I can't see how it does and I want to understand. I believe in the teachings of the first millenia church. But at the same time, I don't have a right to call two people together as sinful IF there's love involved. (I'm still very much a pro monogamy person and won't change.)

I guess I'm just reaching for something because I can't exactly talk to other Christians about this issue as I run in very conservative circles. I don't want to see gay marriage overturned. The state doesn't get to dictate that part of a person's life.

Thank you to anyone that reads this. I just don't want to lose my faith and I want to find something to hold on to. Lord knows I could use it.

Edit: I'm overwhelmed by the comments and I'll definitely be reading through them after work. I really appreciate the kindness.

Edit 2: Thank you all for your comments. It's giving me a lot to think about, read and pray over. If it's not too much, and if someone is up to it, I would love to have a personal discussion with an affirming Christian. Dialogue is important for me. God bless you all!

So this happened about two years ago.

I go to Church every Sunday. I started going regularly three or four years ago.

One Sunday, I went to church. Afterward, I left and went to get some lunch. Something about Sunday lunch after church that hits the spot.

So I went, ordered and ate my food. I left and headed home. I drove into my driveway and walked into the house.

I live with family. So my mom is sitting at the computer. As I walk in she laughs and says "Very funny. What did you go downstairs and go outside from downstairs?" I didn't know what she was talking about. "No. I just got home from Church." My mom turned around and gave me this look that was hard to shake. "No.. You got home like 30 minutes ago. I saw you come in." But that wasn't possible. I had just driven up the driveway and came in.

I told her that I had in fact just gotten home. She swore up and down that I came home 30 minutes ago, dropped a bag off in the fridge and went down to my room. "I talked to you and you just mumbled something and went downstairs."

My mom had seen my doppelganger come into the house and head to my room. She was genuinely confused and felt like she was going nuts. I ran downstairs and opened the door to my room but there was no one there and there was no bag in the fridge.

Needless to say it was a very weird day and she spent two hours sincerely telling me, over and over, that she saw me come in.

I have never been able to figure out what happened but thankfully my doppelganger hasn't shown up since then.

And this is a very real story. It still creeps me out when I think about it .

Hi there. My name is Leland. I'm 32 and live in Florida. I don't own a pet alligator, though the thought has occurred to me. 😂 Born and raised.

I'm a little bit country but mostly a nerd. I love reading and technology. Big into punk rock and ska. I work full time in a warehouse ATM but I am working on my Bachelor's in IT.

I love to spend time tinkering with different pieces of technology and learning about new things. I love reading Japanese literature and my favorite writers are Osamu Dazai and Haruki Murakami.

I'm looking for my partner in crime and someone I could build a life with. I'm future focused. I'm a homebody but I love going out to concerts and seeing movies in the theater.

I'm happy to share a photo. Just not sure how to link it here. I'm 5'8" and a big bearded, tattooed guy. I just got two new tattoos done. One is of Ghost Face from Scream and the other a traditional mom one.

I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for taking the time to read.

(I'm open to dating women who are trans. That doesn't bother me. Just in case that needed to be said.)