In Today's Mail

"Bishop Jim I just finished reading your new book about Good News. Wow thank you for your openness and transparency...It was so refreshing to read your thoughts and inspirations. Thank you, thank you for being real! When I got to the story of your first love at age 11 before Wed. Night church I just wept driving my car with my mother-in-law and my drummer just looking at me. I turned the kindle off and drove the rest of the way in silence to church. You brought me back to Love! It has opened a place in my soul to love like when I was 11. I have spent so many years as an out gay affirming minister helping our community reconcile their love for God and the Bible that I truly had lost the tender innocence of love. I have been singing a song all year in my private worship time by Amy Grant called "innocence lost"...Thank you for being obedient to The Lord and writing that painful chapter. I am amazed and thankful at the gentle work of Christ in our lives."

JW
 

Thanks so much...your message really did make my day! As I said in the book, that chapter was really hard to write, but I included it for the sake of all the straight people who think that orientation is a choice, or that being gay is just a sexual aberration or some kind of fetish or perversion...I get so much mail from people who tell me they have similar stories of non-sexual, first-love...some people call it puppy love, but that kind of love is very real to the puppy...many of the gay teen suicides aren't about being victims of bullying, they're about relationships, and kids trying to understand their innate, emotional feelings...

 

Thanks again for your kind words...I took the liberty of including them on the blog...may God continue to bless you in all you do!

 

JES

RE-POST: Yes, Jared Swilley is My Son! Part II

This was originally posted in May of 2011, and until recently was the most-read article on the blog...Jared turned 30 last week...the pic is from the birthday party he shared with Jonah (my youngest who turned 20 a few days before)...so much has happened since he originally wrote me this letter, and a lot has changed...but none of the important things have changed...I am so thankful for all the relationships in my life, but especially the ones with my kids and grandkids...God is good!

8/11/2013 - Judah Swilley, Jim Swilley, Jonah Swilley, and Jared Swilley

CLICK HERE FOR ORGINAL POST: JUST AS I AM: Yes, Jared Swilley is My Son! Part II: A couple of hours ago I spoke to Jared (my oldest son) in Manchester, England, where he and his band are currently playing. They are doing v...

GOD LOVES LEFTIES

Today is INTERNATIONAL LEFT-HANDERS DAY, and on this auspicious occasion, I would like to take the opportunity to wish all of my leftie brothers and sisters a Happy Holiday...I am also including a pertinent excerpt from my book FIRST THE GOOD NEWS: The Positive Truth about God, The Gospel, and What it Really Means to be Gay (available at https://www.amazon.com/Swilley and www.jimswilleybooks.com) about being left-handed in this very predominately right-handed world...it's a piece that I think many gay people who have experienced religious intolerance will relate to...

One other thought...

It was suggested by someone...maybe more than one person, actually...that over the last few years I "created" a theology for myself that would make it easier for me to come out as a gay man...in other words, I just did away with hell, entirely, so that I could say I was gay with no fear of being sent to that bad place where all the gays go, according to conventional church-wisdom.

When I first heard this accusation I deeply resented it because what I believe about the Scriptures and about Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the result of years and years of my own prayer and study and revelation.

Preaching the Ministry of Reconciliation....the saving of the whole world by Jesus Christ on the cross...is not a theological fad for me.

I don't believe in it because someone else taught it, or because it's a popular teaching (because it's not...)

I am not a devotee of any other preacher or teacher...what I believe and preach is what I really and deeply believe to be true.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the accusation may not be entirely untrue, and I came to terms with it.

I can say that with no apology.

As I already said, I'm left-handed...I was born that way...I know I didn't choose it...but there was a time in history (and not really that long ago) that left-handed people were burned at the stake by the church because they were thought to be demon-possessed.

Had I lived in that time, I'm sure my left-handedness would have forced me into a deeper study of the Scriptures...that is, if I had time when I wasn't running for my life!

I'm sure I would have thought that God just couldn't be so impossibly unfair as to create you as you are, but then send you to hell because of the very way He created you!

And even though the right-handed people couldn't understand why some people "chose" the evil left-handed lifestyle, I would want to make them understand that even if left-handed people forced themselves to write with their right hands to please God, by nature they were still and always would be left-handed. They could write with their right hands, but it would always feel wrong (unnatural) to them.

I have blue eyes, but if I had read in the Bible that all blue-eyed people go to hell, I think it's safe to say that I could not have accepted that. My biological reality together with my belief in God would force me into a deeper study of the Scriptures...because if God's that mean and unjust, then we're all in big trouble.

So did my being gay force me into being open to interpreting the Scriptures differently than in the way I had been taught about salvation and grace and eternity and all that?

Perhaps.

Probably.

But if that's what it took to move me into a discovery of the fullness of the Truth, then so be it.

I would hope that I would have come to my theological conclusions had I been born heterosexual, but who knows?

One way or the other, it's all good.

It has brought me to the conclusion that, in the big picture, all that really matters is the GOOD NEWS.

OK, enough about that...I have other questions to answer...


But, yes, Jesus is the way...


Jesus is Lord...

Reflections On a Chicken Sandwich

This is a great article written by my friend, Howard Blount...

 

 

So today marks a year since thousands of Christians waited in line for hours in fast food chicken sandwich outlets across the nation to support the COO's First Amendment right to freedom of speech. But this show of support did not feel loving, compassionate, or tenderhearted as one might expect from Followers of Jesus. It smacked more of "mob rule," not unlike that of historical inquisitions, witch hunts, and lynchings. I remember sitting at my computer that day in shock and awe, as I watched the Body of Christ show its true colors.


I was incredulous.


Painful pictures and posts from people I loved, people I thought were my friends, family members, and church leaders rolled across my screen.

"I waited in line for four hours!"


"Cars were lined up around the block . . . ."


"I finally got mine!"


I do not believe any Christians who participated in this shameful event paused for even a moment to ask themselves if Jesus would have waited in that line, or held up a bag of fast food in triumph. WWJD was thrown out the window. Not that we all don't fail to show love in some regard on a daily basis. But this was different. This demonstration was corporate, offensive, and intentional.


And what was the effect of this militant public display? Did any marginalized person feel God's love? Was anyone drawn closer to Jesus? Were the church altars packed the following Sunday with repentant sinners?


I think not . . . .

But I do believe some good—other than record-breaking sales for a fast food chain—was accomplished that day. In addition to its status as an infamous day in Church history, August 1, 2012, was an effective polarizer. Although there will always be those who stand by in apathetic silence, most Christians were put in a position where they were forced to choose sides. Unfortunately for most, the side of love did not win the day. My prayer, however, is that in the past year many Christians who demonstrated un-Christlike behavior that day have "considered their ways" and perhaps even repented of their actions.


The commands of Jesus are two-fold and simple: Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. If waiting in line does not show love, then it's time to step out!


I like the way the Phillips translation of the Apostle Paul's words in Romans 2: 1-4 puts it:


"Now if you feel inclined to set yourself up as a judge of those who sin, let me assure you, whoever you are, that you are in no position to do so. For at whatever point you condemn others you automatically condemn yourself, since you, the judge, commit the same sins. God’s judgment, we know, is utterly impartial in its action against such evil-doers. What makes you think that you who so readily judge the sins of others, can consider yourself beyond the judgment of God? Are you, perhaps, misinterpreting God’s GENEROSITY and patient MERCY towards you as weakness on his part? Don’t you realize that God’s KINDNESS is meant to lead you to repentance?"


So, should Christians ever defend the First Amendment right to freedom of speech? Absolutely! I am exercising that right even now, as I write this note. But before we take action, we should examine the content of the spoken words we endorse. Are they words that build up, or words that tear down? We must never abuse our freedom by condoning speech that pronounces judgment upon a sister or brother, nor should we ever support hate speech directed at others, even when we disagree.

Jesus said it BEST, "By this EVERYONE will know that you are my disciples, if you LOVE one another . . . .”


https://www.facebook.com/notes/howard-blount/reflections-on-a-chicken-sandwich/10151843465635439

HUFFINGTON POST: Inspiring LGBT Religious Leaders

I'm very honored today to be included among these 91 religious and spiritual leaders from around the world...

Click here for the article and slideshow (I'm #55):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/lgbt-religious-leaders-most-inspiring_n_1022043.html

This Just In

Dear Mr. Swilley,

I want to thank you and commend you you for being brave and coming out. You have already saved some young child from harm by letting them know there is nothing wrong with being gay. I wish in my day I had more role models like yourself so my self loathing would have never appeared. I tried numerous times to kill myself and thankfully I did not succeed. I am not a Christian nor a church goer but, I do know the higher spirits are thankful for you and the world is a better place with you in it.

   

Happier days for everyone,  - T.B.

Grace and peace to you Bishop. I met you at the vision church during our convocation. I want to first say your a blessings to the body of Christ and it was an honor serving you during the service. I am launching my church next year and I have been in prayer for a great mentor and The Lord gave me your name. I pray that God would revel the same to you. Don't have much to say but I really thank God for you Bishop. Blessings upon you and your family.

- ESM

Bishop Swilley,

I guess I am coming late to the party because somehow I just now found your coming out video online. I do not know how I have missed your story all this time, up until yesterday in fact, but I just finished watching it for the third time and in the words of Elton John, "Someone saved my life tonight".  
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
- JTK

A Letter to a Fundamentalist Homophobe

Dear Fundamentalist,

Please stop sending me passages of Scripture that you think are applicable to my life, in an effort to vent your homophobia upon me, and sit in judgment of me or of things about my life that you couldn't possibly understand. I've read the Bible throughout the entirety of my life, and have studied at length the handful of statements made by Moses and Paul that people like you continually use to try to manipulate people like me, and I understand them in their proper context, so your efforts to rebuke me are in vain.

I am a Christian, and I know that Jesus was completely silent on the subject of sexual orientation, so don't even try to go there with me, because what matters most to me as a follower of Christ is what He said.

Don't tell me about Sodom and Gomorrah, because the weird account in Genesis of those ancient, barbarian people wanting to gang-rape angels ("strange flesh") in the streets has no more relevance to my life than it does to yours. Besides, according to Ezekiel (16:49), the "Sin of Sodom" was arrogance and indifference to the poor.

Read your Bible.

And don't quote me the two statements Moses made in Leviticus about two men lying together. You don't live by Levitical Law, so don't try to impose it upon me, either...unless you also think it's wrong to eat shrimp, lobster and pork, shave, wear blended fabrics...or you stand for a law that says that kids who have bad attitudes should be stoned to death by the elders of the city, or believe that when your wife is on her menstrual cycle she should sleep outside, or that if your daughter is raped you should be able to sell her to the rapist at a reduced price. If you're going to play the Moses card, then play the whole deck!

And please don't cut and paste the first chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans to me. Whatever rites of pagan temple worship involving prostitute-priests that is described there is no more applicable to me than it is to you. Besides, I do retain God in my knowledge, I am very thankful, I do worship the Creator, and believe that He is the Creator of all things, and I certainly have not been "turned over to a reprobate mind". People like you really like to use that one because it can be so intimidating to people like me, but I assure you that I know I have the Mind of Christ, and my knees bow and my tongue confesses to the glory of God that Jesus Christ is Lord! You should read the rest of the chapter and look at all the kinds of people who are listed there, and you may find that YOU have, in fact, been turned over to a reprobate mind! Then go read the first part of the next chapter and see what it says about the people who judge the people mentioned in the first chapter! You may be surprised.

Paul I know...

And I know what he said to the Corinthians in his first epistle to them (Chapter 6). Don't try to keep me out of heaven with that one because he was talking about who he personally thought would not inherit the kingdom, and it wasn't just people with same-sex attraction. And, by the way, if you're such a devotee of Paul's, then you better have short hair if you're a man, and long hair if you're a woman (and cover your head in church and submit to men), you better be cool with slavery, and you better not get married for any other reason than to keep yourself from burning with lust!

Paul was a great man who was mightily used by God, but even he himself said that some of his words were just his opinion, and not the commandment of the Lord. The Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it was written by straight men to straight men, and is therefore limited in its scope of understanding of the issues of same-gender loving people.

And don't call me a "dog"...I am a Son of God, and that word (translated into Elizabethan English) was used for any one who was perceived to be "different". And in the last chapter of Revelation, John says that the Spirit and the Bride say "Come" to all who are outside the City of God, including the "dogs"!

And don't cite stupid platitudes to me like "God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve", or tell me that you "Love the sinner, but hate the sin", because I know the Genesis story, and I know that you don't love me, or people like me, you just have a need to mind the business of other people for some reason, or you fear what you don't understand. Perhaps you are dealing with your own sexual orientation issues and need to deflect on people like me. Whatever the case, you're wasting your time in trying to clobber me with the same 5 or 6 Bible verses. I wear the helmet of salvation, and am immune to your silly mind games!

And I've heard it all before.

The bottom line is that you don't own God or Jesus or the Bible or Christianity. He's my God, too, and I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. He's my Jesus, too, and He is my Lord. It's my Bible, too, and I love it as much as you do, even though I know that it must be rightly divided, because the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life! I've always been gay because I was born gay, and I am fine with who I am, just as I am ("Can the thing formed say to Him that formed him, Why did you make me thus?"). I am God's workmanship!

How about just minding your own business, and try concentrating on doing what JESUS actually said...and what He didn't say. He didn't say a thing about homosexuality, but He did say a whole lot about walking in LOVE!

Oh, one more thing...King James, the one who authorized the version of the Bible you like to quote so much was an openly gay man.

Just thought you should know.

Sincerely,

A Gay Christian