Jennifer M. Loewenthal, MA, LMHC, CDPT

This Month's Article:

GLBT Christianity

Christianity is the spiritual tradition I come from and one I have found the most profound unconditional love and acceptance as well as the most conditional love, misunderstanding, and spiritual abuse.  My journey includes sacred discoveries of how expansive and inclusive God’s love truly is as well as how naïve I once was regarding the version of Christianity I gave my heart and loyalty to.   James Fowler’s model of the stages of faith development helped me to heal and reconcile my Christianity while James Dobson’s messages helped me to become more educated around issues of biblical scholarship due to the pain I felt from what he said and taught about non-heterosexual people.  The pain served as a miraculous catalyst which led me to the 2005 edition of the “Living the Questions” video series and to versions of Christianity that were open and affirming towards non-heterosexual people.  I am extremely grateful for both of these men and the teaching I received from their beliefs. 

In my counseling practice, I offer support for other GLBT people who want to explore what led them to Christianity, what they learned within the version of Christianity they abided by, and how they have found peace with their sexual and relational orientation and God.  Usually the peace has been lost and I work to help restore this.  My own experience with this involved examining what I had learned and allowing myself to be open and brave to see other alternatives.  I did some counseling as well as biblical study for three years with pastors and biblical scholars.  From this work, I am now able to offer to those seeking it a place of recovery and restoration through the counseling process.  If you are a GLBT person interested in healing from pain or confusion associated with your Christianity, I encourage you to pray for wisdom on how to respond and if you feel led, to reach out for some counseling.  It would be an honor to join with you in your process of healing and growth into your authentic self.

Available Articles:

What is Codependency Anyway?

Eating Disorders Recovery and Healing

GLBT Christianity (Current)