Happiness and Bullshit
Happy birthday, lakeguy!!!
I had toally forgotten about this bullshit until today. This shit really pisses me off. This morning, right on the front page, is this article:
Some groups offering gays opportunities for ''recovery''
The words "It's not a Choice," were painted on the sign at Norfolk Garden Baptist Church after the Rev. David Hillis promoted his "sexual-healing" ministry, which claims to convert gays to heterosexuality. More Christian groups are creating similar programs. MORT FRYMAN / THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 14, 2004
When a friend invited him to a church singles group that met Tuesday nights in Virginia Beach, Brandon Stoy, 23, agreed to come along.
Wednesday through Sunday, he spent his evenings partying at gay clubs. But Mondays and Tuesdays, the bars were closed. So, yes, he was free.
What Stoy didn't expect was the feature event one night in January: a man and a woman testifying about their "recovery" from homosexuality with the help of Sought Out, a Christian organization in Virginia Beach. Their stories of promiscuity and unhappiness were startlingly close to his own.
"One guy described his soul as a black hole, and I felt just like that! There was this huge void inside of me, just longing for something, someone, anything, to fill the loneliness," Stoy said.
So, after years of embracing homosexuality, Stoy said, he chose to leave it by enrolling in a 20-week faith-based program that Sought Out says can help people "heal" from sexual compulsions.
Stoy said that his emotional void became filled by Jesus' love and the friendship of others in "recovery." And now, he said, he is returning to his "true identity" as a heterosexual, the condition that he believes God planned for all humankind.
"I realized I don't have to be a slave to my sin of homosexuality," he said.
It's a comment out of step with a society that increasingly views homosexuality as neither immoral nor abnormal. The current debate raging around whether gay marriage should be legal is the latest stage in an overall trend toward acceptance.
But within evangelical Christianity, a contrary trend is rising - one whose adherents contend that homosexuality is not only sinful and unacceptable, but that it doesn't even exist as a natural state of being in the first place.
"Every homosexual or lesbian is really a latent heterosexual," writes Andrew Comiskey, whose California-based Desert Stream Ministries tries to steer gays away from homosexuality. "Even those struggling with homosexual desires are part of God's heterosexual creation."
In this view, men and women can describe themselves as gay or lesbian, but their immutable nature is heterosexual, even though they are attracted to the same sex.
Christian groups such as Desert Stream, Sought Out and Florida-based Exodus International say even the most powerful same-sex attractions can be overcome, especially among people who become "born again."
There are no statistics on the number of people that such ministries have claimed to convert, locally or nationally. Like most groups involved in such efforts, Sought Out doesn't compile numbers.
But the gays-can-change movement gained momentum in the past few years when two evangelical heavyweights - the Colorado-based Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Convention - began promoting "gay redemption" ministries. The movement is winning acceptance among conservatives for a couple of reasons, said Alan Medinger , who founded Regeneration, a Baltimore-based ministry, in 1979 after being "healed" of homosexual behaviors.
First, homosexuals' broad success in becoming socially accepted has convinced evangelicals that they need to take countermeasures.
Secondly, Medinger said, more conservative Christians are overcoming what he called the "ick factor" - that is, their immediate reaction of revulsion toward homosexuality.
The notion that gays can be healed is repudiated by the American Psychiatric Association, which states that there is no evidence that conversion therapies can lead a homosexual to change orientation.
"Any person who seeks conversion therapy may be doing so because of social bias that has resulted in internalized homophobia," the association said. The American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association also reject therapies aimed at changing orientation.
"The reality is that homosexuality is not an illness. It does not require treatment and is not changeable," the American Psychological Association has stated.
But Katherine Allen, who founded Sought Out 17 years ago, said there is a place for ministries like hers.
"Some people believe the rhetoric, if you will, that change is not possible," said Allen, who said she herself has never had same-sex attractions. "But the person in conflict who wants to change should not be denied that opportunity and option."
It's a kinder, gentler attitude compared with some Christians' traditional hostility toward gays - an antipathy that hasn't entirely disappeared.
In April, for example, a Baptist clergy group representing more than 100 predominately black churches in South Hampton Roads held a news conference to decry homosexuality as "fiendish" and "abominable."
But even a more mild-mannered approach can be contentious , as the Rev. David Hillis found out after he posted the message, "Helping Gays Change," on the lawn sign in front of Norfolk Garden Baptist Church on Azalea Garden Road. One night in July, someone scrawled across the sign, "It's not a Choice" in big, red, spray-painted letters.
Hillis was undaunted. "If you don't have Bible-believing churches reaching out to gay people, it's tragic," he said.
"Sexual-healing" ministries say no one is born homosexual. Instead, they argue that a combination of personal traits and childhood events such as abuse or an unloving parent can inflict emotional wounds, and even "gender confusion," that foster same-sex attractions. But acting on such attractions, they contend, is a personal choice and a sin.
Mark Yarhouse, a psychologist and professor at Regent University, a conservative Christian school in Virginia Beach, specializes in studying and counseling people who think they are confused about their sexual identity . He said he tells clients that the simple fact they are attracted to the same sex does need not be the trait that identifies who they are. Indeed, a devout Christian can decide that "Christ, or God, has a pre-existing claim on their sexuality" that trumps same-sex attractions, Yarhouse said.
In practice, that may mean learning to avoid situations that kindle same-sex desire. Some people may adopt celibacy. Some might "progress" to the point of marrying and having children, he said. At the same time, Yarhouse said, "even with success in managing their sexual identity and in freedom from compulsive sexual behavior, they may still experience same-sex feelings."
That's no surprise to the many Christians who disagree with evangelicals' depiction of homosexuals as sinful and confused heterosexuals. "What many of the religious right fail to do is to realize that God has not made all persons heterosexual, and that God has made some persons gay and lesbian," said Daniel Maguire , a Catholic theologian at Marquette University in Milwaukee. "The desire gays are manifesting nowadays to enter into lifelong, faithful, exclusive, committed marriages is something Christians should welcome."
At New Life Metropolitan Community Church, a Norfolk congregation with many gays and lesbians , the Rev. Marty Luna-Wolf said she views gay-change groups as one more form of church persecution of homosexuals. She also disputed the idea that Christianity and homosexuality are incompatible.
"I claim Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and I claim that I'm as forgiven and cleansed as you are," said Luna-Wolf, who is lesbian. "I believe Christ died for me just as I am."
But to hear Stoy tell it, his own life story proves how right the change ministries are about the origins and evils of homosexuality. An unloving parent is a feature of many "gay-recovery" testimonies; Stoy said his own father was cold and emotionally absent. "I grew up craving that male attention, longing for an older male to just love me, father me," he recalled.
With puberty, he said, his yearning for male attention became sexualized and at 17, he had gay sex. "I thought, 'Well, this craving is so strong inside of me, this homosexual craving inside of me, let's fill it.' " Casual sex and multiple partners became the quick-fix to his emotional emptiness, he said.
All the while, Stoy stayed active in his family's nondenominational, charismatic church - singing in the choir, attending services, keeping up appearances. "I was definitely playing two different roles," he said.
Now and then, Stoy said, he had "God encounters," spasms of spiritual remorse where he forswore gay life. One moment of self-doubt came after he contracted gonorrhea.
But by his 20s, Stoy said, his life had become a shambles of heavy drinking, promiscuity and depression. Barely hanging onto his job in a retail store, kicked out by his roommate, Stoy said, he was living in his car when his parents told him late last year to move back with them in Virginia Beach.
His discovery of Sought Out a few weeks later was, he said, "a divine appointment." Joining a support group, he found that other men struggled with gay feelings. He accepted Sought Out's premise that homosexuality represents "false masculinity."
And even though he'd been "saved" as a Christian years earlier, Stoy said that for the first time, he met "Jesus, the healer."
"He has set me free," Stoy said. "I've found peace and contentment, happiness and joy, in what I call my true identity."
Reach Steven G. Vegh at 446-2417 or steven.vegh@pilotonline.com.
The original article
The accompanying poll asks:
Do you think gays and lesbians can be ''converted'' to heterosexuality?
As of 1:00pm today, the results are as follows:
Yes: 26.88% No: 64.85% Maybe: 8.27%
Votes: 1886
There's a guestbook with the article, asking, "How should churches respond to homosexuals? Can sexuality be changed?"
So far, there are only two responses that state we are wrong and should be changed/can be changed. There is one response that I thought was quite simple, but exquisite:
No it can not be changed. I would like one Christian who feels that it can, to put the shoe on the other foot and imagine someone trying to convince them to be a homosexual. As a heterosexual male, I remember looking and girls and being naturally attracted to them, it is no different when you are homosexual. Can you imagine going against your internal, natural feelings. I don't promote anything here, but to use your head. A good christian would do what Jesus did and accept and love everyone.
I'm looking for your thoughts and opinions. I'm making this a public post so that I can get everyone's opinion, however anonymous posting is disabled.
::mw
I had toally forgotten about this bullshit until today. This shit really pisses me off. This morning, right on the front page, is this article:
Some groups offering gays opportunities for ''recovery''
The words "It's not a Choice," were painted on the sign at Norfolk Garden Baptist Church after the Rev. David Hillis promoted his "sexual-healing" ministry, which claims to convert gays to heterosexuality. More Christian groups are creating similar programs. MORT FRYMAN / THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 14, 2004
When a friend invited him to a church singles group that met Tuesday nights in Virginia Beach, Brandon Stoy, 23, agreed to come along.
Wednesday through Sunday, he spent his evenings partying at gay clubs. But Mondays and Tuesdays, the bars were closed. So, yes, he was free.
What Stoy didn't expect was the feature event one night in January: a man and a woman testifying about their "recovery" from homosexuality with the help of Sought Out, a Christian organization in Virginia Beach. Their stories of promiscuity and unhappiness were startlingly close to his own.
"One guy described his soul as a black hole, and I felt just like that! There was this huge void inside of me, just longing for something, someone, anything, to fill the loneliness," Stoy said.
So, after years of embracing homosexuality, Stoy said, he chose to leave it by enrolling in a 20-week faith-based program that Sought Out says can help people "heal" from sexual compulsions.
Stoy said that his emotional void became filled by Jesus' love and the friendship of others in "recovery." And now, he said, he is returning to his "true identity" as a heterosexual, the condition that he believes God planned for all humankind.
"I realized I don't have to be a slave to my sin of homosexuality," he said.
It's a comment out of step with a society that increasingly views homosexuality as neither immoral nor abnormal. The current debate raging around whether gay marriage should be legal is the latest stage in an overall trend toward acceptance.
But within evangelical Christianity, a contrary trend is rising - one whose adherents contend that homosexuality is not only sinful and unacceptable, but that it doesn't even exist as a natural state of being in the first place.
"Every homosexual or lesbian is really a latent heterosexual," writes Andrew Comiskey, whose California-based Desert Stream Ministries tries to steer gays away from homosexuality. "Even those struggling with homosexual desires are part of God's heterosexual creation."
In this view, men and women can describe themselves as gay or lesbian, but their immutable nature is heterosexual, even though they are attracted to the same sex.
Christian groups such as Desert Stream, Sought Out and Florida-based Exodus International say even the most powerful same-sex attractions can be overcome, especially among people who become "born again."
There are no statistics on the number of people that such ministries have claimed to convert, locally or nationally. Like most groups involved in such efforts, Sought Out doesn't compile numbers.
But the gays-can-change movement gained momentum in the past few years when two evangelical heavyweights - the Colorado-based Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Convention - began promoting "gay redemption" ministries. The movement is winning acceptance among conservatives for a couple of reasons, said Alan Medinger , who founded Regeneration, a Baltimore-based ministry, in 1979 after being "healed" of homosexual behaviors.
First, homosexuals' broad success in becoming socially accepted has convinced evangelicals that they need to take countermeasures.
Secondly, Medinger said, more conservative Christians are overcoming what he called the "ick factor" - that is, their immediate reaction of revulsion toward homosexuality.
The notion that gays can be healed is repudiated by the American Psychiatric Association, which states that there is no evidence that conversion therapies can lead a homosexual to change orientation.
"Any person who seeks conversion therapy may be doing so because of social bias that has resulted in internalized homophobia," the association said. The American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association also reject therapies aimed at changing orientation.
"The reality is that homosexuality is not an illness. It does not require treatment and is not changeable," the American Psychological Association has stated.
But Katherine Allen, who founded Sought Out 17 years ago, said there is a place for ministries like hers.
"Some people believe the rhetoric, if you will, that change is not possible," said Allen, who said she herself has never had same-sex attractions. "But the person in conflict who wants to change should not be denied that opportunity and option."
It's a kinder, gentler attitude compared with some Christians' traditional hostility toward gays - an antipathy that hasn't entirely disappeared.
In April, for example, a Baptist clergy group representing more than 100 predominately black churches in South Hampton Roads held a news conference to decry homosexuality as "fiendish" and "abominable."
But even a more mild-mannered approach can be contentious , as the Rev. David Hillis found out after he posted the message, "Helping Gays Change," on the lawn sign in front of Norfolk Garden Baptist Church on Azalea Garden Road. One night in July, someone scrawled across the sign, "It's not a Choice" in big, red, spray-painted letters.
Hillis was undaunted. "If you don't have Bible-believing churches reaching out to gay people, it's tragic," he said.
"Sexual-healing" ministries say no one is born homosexual. Instead, they argue that a combination of personal traits and childhood events such as abuse or an unloving parent can inflict emotional wounds, and even "gender confusion," that foster same-sex attractions. But acting on such attractions, they contend, is a personal choice and a sin.
Mark Yarhouse, a psychologist and professor at Regent University, a conservative Christian school in Virginia Beach, specializes in studying and counseling people who think they are confused about their sexual identity . He said he tells clients that the simple fact they are attracted to the same sex does need not be the trait that identifies who they are. Indeed, a devout Christian can decide that "Christ, or God, has a pre-existing claim on their sexuality" that trumps same-sex attractions, Yarhouse said.
In practice, that may mean learning to avoid situations that kindle same-sex desire. Some people may adopt celibacy. Some might "progress" to the point of marrying and having children, he said. At the same time, Yarhouse said, "even with success in managing their sexual identity and in freedom from compulsive sexual behavior, they may still experience same-sex feelings."
That's no surprise to the many Christians who disagree with evangelicals' depiction of homosexuals as sinful and confused heterosexuals. "What many of the religious right fail to do is to realize that God has not made all persons heterosexual, and that God has made some persons gay and lesbian," said Daniel Maguire , a Catholic theologian at Marquette University in Milwaukee. "The desire gays are manifesting nowadays to enter into lifelong, faithful, exclusive, committed marriages is something Christians should welcome."
At New Life Metropolitan Community Church, a Norfolk congregation with many gays and lesbians , the Rev. Marty Luna-Wolf said she views gay-change groups as one more form of church persecution of homosexuals. She also disputed the idea that Christianity and homosexuality are incompatible.
"I claim Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and I claim that I'm as forgiven and cleansed as you are," said Luna-Wolf, who is lesbian. "I believe Christ died for me just as I am."
But to hear Stoy tell it, his own life story proves how right the change ministries are about the origins and evils of homosexuality. An unloving parent is a feature of many "gay-recovery" testimonies; Stoy said his own father was cold and emotionally absent. "I grew up craving that male attention, longing for an older male to just love me, father me," he recalled.
With puberty, he said, his yearning for male attention became sexualized and at 17, he had gay sex. "I thought, 'Well, this craving is so strong inside of me, this homosexual craving inside of me, let's fill it.' " Casual sex and multiple partners became the quick-fix to his emotional emptiness, he said.
All the while, Stoy stayed active in his family's nondenominational, charismatic church - singing in the choir, attending services, keeping up appearances. "I was definitely playing two different roles," he said.
Now and then, Stoy said, he had "God encounters," spasms of spiritual remorse where he forswore gay life. One moment of self-doubt came after he contracted gonorrhea.
But by his 20s, Stoy said, his life had become a shambles of heavy drinking, promiscuity and depression. Barely hanging onto his job in a retail store, kicked out by his roommate, Stoy said, he was living in his car when his parents told him late last year to move back with them in Virginia Beach.
His discovery of Sought Out a few weeks later was, he said, "a divine appointment." Joining a support group, he found that other men struggled with gay feelings. He accepted Sought Out's premise that homosexuality represents "false masculinity."
And even though he'd been "saved" as a Christian years earlier, Stoy said that for the first time, he met "Jesus, the healer."
"He has set me free," Stoy said. "I've found peace and contentment, happiness and joy, in what I call my true identity."
Reach Steven G. Vegh at 446-2417 or steven.vegh@pilotonline.com.
The original article
The accompanying poll asks:
Do you think gays and lesbians can be ''converted'' to heterosexuality?
As of 1:00pm today, the results are as follows:
Yes: 26.88% No: 64.85% Maybe: 8.27%
Votes: 1886
There's a guestbook with the article, asking, "How should churches respond to homosexuals? Can sexuality be changed?"
So far, there are only two responses that state we are wrong and should be changed/can be changed. There is one response that I thought was quite simple, but exquisite:
No it can not be changed. I would like one Christian who feels that it can, to put the shoe on the other foot and imagine someone trying to convince them to be a homosexual. As a heterosexual male, I remember looking and girls and being naturally attracted to them, it is no different when you are homosexual. Can you imagine going against your internal, natural feelings. I don't promote anything here, but to use your head. A good christian would do what Jesus did and accept and love everyone.
I'm looking for your thoughts and opinions. I'm making this a public post so that I can get everyone's opinion, however anonymous posting is disabled.
::mw