Kinky Christian Slut

Hi. My name is Angela, or Galiana, or PlaySmart, depending on the context, and I'm a Kinky Christian Slut.

I think it's time to admit it. Out loud. Here on my blog, which purports to be about my life, and yet, has remained heretofore silent on the topic of my religious beliefs.

My Christianity is clearly non-traditional, utterly different than the Christianity portrayed in most 21st century American mass media, very complicated to explain, and deeply personal to me.

It's Easter today, a big deal in my Christianity. So to help me contemplate, I looked up the words that moved me to first truly commit myself to following Christ.

It was Winter Quarter 1989. I was in a comparative religion class. Our textbook was then called "The Religions of Man" but has since been retitled to "The World's Religions" by Huston Smith, and since it has sold over 2.5 million copies, I assume everyone else's comparative region class used it, too.

Six pages in the Christianity chapter changed my world completely. I excerpted them here: The Good News.

When I re-read those words today, I was also inspired to finally get around to reading a Biblical interpretation of the issue of homosexuality, which I was delighted to find I agree with 100%, which concludes that the Bible does not indeed condemn loving, committed, consensual homosexual romantic partnerships. The video & transcript are here: http://www.matthewvines.com/transcript

Together, those two pieces of writing pretty accurately sum up the emotional and intellectual cores of my faith, with one addition: I believe the conclusions reached by Matthew Vines about homosexuality extend to loving, consensual sex of all types, even outside the confines of a lifetime monogamous commitment, because I don't fundamentally believe that the cultures represented by the Bible had the context for non-exploitive, consensual, respectful sexual engagement in the way we do in the US in the 21st century.

I don't want to preach to anybody. What you believe is between you and you, and your higher power if you have one.

But I don't want to hide my beliefs anymore, either.

If my vertigo clears up enough, or even if my Summer-2012-to-Spring-2013 anti-concentration fog clears up enough, I may launch a podcast, or an advice column blog, or something like that.

I see non-monogamous advice on the web and podcasts, polyamorous advice, swinger advice, BDSM advice, kink advice... But never from a Christian.

I see Christian advice on the web, progressive Christian apologetics, Christian relationship advice... But never from a kinkster.

I don't see my own voice out here. Not yet.

So if I do manage to crawl out of the hole which has been waylaying me, I have slowly become convinced that I need to include both my non-monogamous kinkster truth and my Christian beliefs, and let my really freaky flag fly.

I plan on incorporating my beliefs as part of my opinions, for context, to explain why I would approach a situation in a certain manner. I hope I won't get obnoxious or pushy about. Y'all will help keep me in line, keep me honest, keep me respectful, right? Thanks. I knew I could count on you.

So you know how 12-step programs start with you saying your name, and then admitting your addiction, like, "Hi, I'm Angela and I'm an Adult Child of an Alcoholic", and when you do that, the others in the room with the same reason to be there answer back, "Hi, (your name)!" and when it happens, you realize that at the very least, for this one moment, you're not alone?

Well, this is my first step:

Hi. I'm Angela, or Galiana, or PlaySmart, depending on the context, and I'm a Kinky Christian Slut.

... deep breath in ... deep breath out ...

I wonder how long it will take for someone to answer me back.