The past few days I have been studying on how in the past, or even in the present, men who are religious (i.e. Christian) who have same sex attraction, may have found/find an outlet for their attraction Thur their devotion to Jesus.
This came about a while back when I saw one of those "Real Men Love Jesus" bumperstickers. Now I don;t know what they mean when they say "Real Men" but I assume they are excluding other men, but I digress. This got me to thinking of the tearful faces I have seen on services televised from the great mega churches of the land. There does seem to be an undercurrent of male bonding/devotion to Jesus of Nazareth, and it is totally accepted and/or not talked about. This is not meant to incroach upon the believes heartfelt desire for personal salvation.
The hymnals are full of songs of praise and love and devotion to the man, and when you consider the male dominated field the church has traditionally been and that men were writing the songs, like this one, which anyone from down south has heart at the funeral parlor on an organ played by a woman named Mabel:
IN THE GARDEN
Words & Music: C. Austin Miles, 1868-1946
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
Refrain
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
He speaks, and the sound of His voice,
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.
Refrain
I’d stay in the garden with Him
Though the night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
Refrain
Now I have checked out C. Austin Miles, he has living descendants, so he was not an old bachelor living in a an apartment over a butcher in Philly. But the words, read them with an open mind, what love he has. How many men have sang them on sunday, standing next to their wives and families, concentrating on Jesus, and blocking out whoever it is they are trying not to remember.
Or maybe it is my over active imagination, wanting to rewrite history and make everthing a little bent. What do you think?