Here's the backstory: For years, as we've tussled back and forth regarding religious issues, and whether it's a "sin" for people to be gay, the one thing that I have said is that gay people -- homosexuals - are never actually discussed in the Bible. Though the word "homosexual" appears in a couple of places in English translations, there is no word or concept for "homosexual" in the original Greek or Hebrew texts. For them, everyone was just born straight, and somehow, got "bent" along the way.
Well, we know better now. Though there hasn't been proof with 100% certitude that homosexuality is "caused" genetically, there is sufficient evidence that there is a VERY strong genetic factor in being being straight or gay or lesbian, bisexual or transgender, or any combination of the above. We also know there are some environment factors involved, which could be certain hormones produced by the mother while still in the womb, etc.
But the plain fact is -- and anyone who is gay, or has raised a gay or lesbian, bisexual or transgender child will tell you -- we don't "change" into what we are. We pretty much come out of the womb like this. I can tell you that I have always been gay my entire life. I knew I was gay even before I knew what sex was. I didn't have a name for it, but I can look back and see that I was always like this.
Now, the Exodus types have always disputed this. They have insisted from the git-go that "homosexuality" is RIGHT THERE in the Bible. They tend to ignore the original languages and use the excuse that "God" certified these translations, etc. But they have always fought to the mat, insisting that it's right there in the Bible (or "Babble," as they usually pronounce it) and that we're just grasping at straws to believe otherwise, despite the fact that one can go to the original source and learn otherwise.
So, today on ExGay Watch, they mention that perennial "give me money and I'll get the homos cured" huckster David Kyle Foster has started a TV show with Exodus President Alan Chambers as co-host -- oddly called "PurePassion." (Wasn't that a porn film?) And what's the first thing they declare?
You know, a great place to start when talking about homosexuality is to define the word. What is homosexuality? Well the first thing that should be said is that homosexuals do not exist.
You see, the word homosexual is not found anywhere in the Bible. Why? Because it was not even a word until modern psychology invented it.
Well, thank you! "Modern psychology," in fact, DID invent the word. And do you know why they invented the word?
BECAUSE HOMOSEXUALITY EXISTS.
The ExGay Watch investigators drilled down onto their websites and discovered another startling statistic:
As God heals those things that made you seek other men for sexual pleasure, your natural heterosexuality (which has been there all along, suppressed) will naturally begin to emerge, and like millions of other ex-gays...
MILLIONS of exgays?? You know, when Dr. Spizter, a few years ago, decided to do a phone survey to find out how happy these "ex-gays" are in their marriages and post-gay lives, it took him over two years just to find the bare handful that were surveyed. And almost ALL of those names were supplied by ministries, and most of them were on salary.
Where ARE all these "millions?" I can find you millions of GAYS. But, I guarantee you that the number of supposed "exgays" are so statistically miniscule that it's THEY who don't actually exist (unless they're getting paid for it). That's why, when you read testimonies, it's always the same 10 people, time after time. Alan Chambers frequently cites numbers. First it was "thousands," then I heard him say, "tens of thousands." Suddenly, it's millions? Why not just say billions?
(The Exodus movement also refers to Spitzer's survey as a "study," which, in fact, it wasn't. He called them up, asked them a few questions and then delivered the results of the phone survey. There was no follow-up study; no way to verify the results of the survey. He has also denounced Exodus for misappropriating the results and wrongly reporting his results. Funny how people who claim to "love Jesus" need to continually lie in order to get their message across. Folks, if you have to lie to yourselves and to the world, that should tell you something about your so-called "movement.")
I have news for these political animals and phony hucksters who are "ex-gay for pay."
We most certainly do exist. But you did get one thing right. We are not discussed in the Bible. At all. Healthy, gay relationships, unknown in that world, are never talked about in scripture. Now, readers who don't care about all this religious stuff may wonder why I bring it up. It's simple. Because RIGHT NOW, there are tens of thousands of otherwise healthy gay men and women being brought up in evangelical Christianity who are being fed the lies of Exodus and worse, their well-meaning parents believe it all, too.
Right now, there are gay teenagers who are sitting on the edge of suicide and/or family rejection because they think "God" doesn't love them AS THEY ARE. They cannot figure out why their prayers haven't changed them "back" into heterosexuals. Their lives are being destroyed because of the militantly homophobic theology being pushed by the religious right who is funding Exodus ministries merely to get votes for the Republican Party by demonstrating that gay people do not exist.
This crass and cynical commecialization of hate never stops. And unless you are growing up with these lies circling around you head constantly, you can never truly understand how deeply destructive they are. Thank God -- yes, God -- for intellectually honest websites like ExGay Watch. These brave men and women take time from their day to comb through the religiously-based crap to deliver the healing message that WE EXIST. And God loves us EXACTLY as we are.
And the best thing about "our" side of the "argument?" We don't have to lie to justify who we are.
TAGS: exgays Exodus Alan Chambers Christianity homosexuality ExGay Watch
4 comments:
Steve, I can testify that you exist, I mean I saw you, had lunch with you, we even hugged.
This concept that homosexuality doesn't exist, that we are just "straights gone wild" comes from some of the early Love in Action teaching. I mean if they cannot prove the cause of lesbians and gays, they just say that it is all an urban legend.
Of course that is easy if one parades around with an imaginary Friend and all the while you refuse to see Jesus in the queer people you meet. Instead they choose to see us a broken and dangerous people who need to be cured, contained and legislated against.
If we let them go on auto-pilot, will they just self-destruct???
Hey! And you exist, too! I saw you eating Japanese. So, I know the Japanese exist, too.
It's sad, really, what their "movement" has come to. Long ago, they told me they only wanted to "help" people with "unwanted" same sex attraction. But either they were outright lying (to me or to themselves) or they simply can't tell the difference between true and false. That's the consequence of religious fanaticism dipped in the money-rich inkwell of James Dobson's political machine.
Sad.
Amen.
And for the record, of all the figments of my imagination, you're one of my favorite!
:)
Brian
Hey, you're one of MINE! Thank, Brian.
Post a Comment