From the Dallas Voice, April 13
No matter what causes a person to be gay, Living Hope Ministries, which is based in Arlington, has one thing to say about it. According to executive director Ricky Chelette, “Either God can change a person’s sexual orientation, or he isn’t God.”
Chelette collected about $2,000 in admission fees for a one-day conference where he taught 100 people that:
- homosexuality is “demonic” work
- gay is a “learned” behavior
- gays suffer from emotional wounds that can be healed by pursuing God — Chelette’s way
- “It’s a sin to be gay because it’s an illegitimate way to meet a legitimate need for affirmation, affection and attention”
- “85 percent of lesbians have been abused sexually as a child”
- if a lesbian hasn’t been sexually abused, it’s likely that she has an emotionally weak mother and gravitates toward the father. That’s what fires up this need to do masculine things like, “fix the truck”
The article profiles four testimonials — three exgays and one confused parent. None of them report much change in attractions. And none of them seem to have paused to think about their social responsibilities as Christians to discourage antigay prejudice and discrimination.
It’s always refreshing to catch up on the latest missives from Randy Thomas’ alma mater. Looking through the speaker list it fairly plain that these “conferences” are a welcome contribution to busy lives of former directors et al.But with so much (absurd) emphasis on gender confustion etc, it rather peaked my curiosity to note that one of those speakers — Mr. Eddie Traughber — got his qualifications from the Texas Woman’s University. Huh? No, really, Huh???Shades of Mr. Bob Knight, a Concerned Woman of America…And if I want solid medical and scientific advice about sexuality, I normally don’t seek out “a professional calligrapher”. (But we may rest assured, I’m sure, that all of the graduation certificates were hand-drawn in a perfectly charming Copperplate)It’s all too tiresome.—-You may, if you have time to blow off, wish to mp3 yourself with testimonies from the mother/daughter and (presume) the John mentioned in the article.
The sad thing about these conferences is that they mostly attract parents and grandparents who spend thousands of dollars because they are looking for “hope” that their gay kids can get changed. Who else has $2000? So, what happens is these conferences only deepen the divide between parent and child by filling the parents’ eager minds with false hopes and lies about sexual orientation.
“Either God can change a person’s sexual orientation, or he isn’t God.”
Let me say this: God could care less if I am heterosexual or homosexual. Any “god” who was hung up on such insignificant details of the life of but one out of 6 billion people living on this one planet among the trillions that exist in the universe has too much time on its hands and is not doing its job!
Quite frankly, I think that this guy has accidentally told us a truth about his belief system: his “god” is not God. The long and failed record of Exodus’ “conversions” alone should be enough to dissuade him from making such an absurd claim.
My impression of most fundamentalist/evangelical “Christian” ministries and churches is that they use Jesus’ name and go on and on about being “saved”, yet the deity they seem to worship is Yahweh, not God and not Jesus. They seem to long for the days of Mosaic law – yet fail to reconcile that with their belief that Jesus came to liberate us from those old ways and to bring us grace and forgiveness without the “legal rules” of the “Old Testament”.
How sad that the message of unconditional love, kindness and charity that Jesus taught is being ignored by those who claim to be his followers.
I think these people seem to be a bit gender confused about GOD.
Either God can make monkeys fly out my ass, or he isn’t God.
The fact that God hasn’t shown any inclination whatsoever to change my sexual orientation (or make monkeys fly out my ass) should tell me something about God. The fact that I’m treating God like Santa Clause should tell me something about me.
That’s what fires up this need to do masculine things like, “fix the truck”When Nicki, the Second Wife on HBO’s Big Love, pulled out the garbage disposal on last night’s episode, it just made her all the more boy-toy-fantastic to me!
This reminds me of two things:
a satirical deconstruction of the Decalogue I read years ago that included the phrase,
“. . . For I, the Lord thy God, am a small and
petty God, concerned much with small and petty
things. . .”
and second, how enormously grateful I am to have had the parents I had, and not some of the well-meaning but deeply deceived people who flock to these snake-oil hucksters.
Sorry, I did not mean to suggest that each conference attendee was paying $2,000.
There were about 100 attendees, each of whom paid $20. That’s still a lot of money to collect for the purpose of feeding people the same ole pack of stereotypes.
“It takes all kinds,” my grandmother use to say, but some folks, like these, are farther out of touch with reality than most. Where do they come up which such nonsense? Don’t bother, I know.
Jesus did a lot of healing in His day, caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, but near as I can tell, He never cured anyone of being gay. Perhaps it’s because God loves gays the way they are, like He loves all His children, otherwise, why would He keep making so many? Please don’t think all Christians are like these.
Oh, well, so many idiots, so little time to post.
None of Living Hope’s key claims have any scriptural basis:
–homosexuality is “demonic” work
The Bible does not say that. It says that men lying with men (perhaps meaning male-to-male anal sex) is ritually unclean and/or an abomination. The Bible makes only limited references to demons, none involving demons and homosexuality. Some of the modern fundamentalist pre-occupation with demons may be due not to the Bible itself, but to influence from post-Biblical apocrypha and non-Christian religions.
–gay is a “learned” behavior
The Bible says nothing about the cause of same-sex attraction and romance, and nothing about “learned behaviors.” Living Hope seems unable to distinguish between the Bible, and certain followers of the secular atheist Sigmund Freud.
— gays suffer from emotional wounds that can be healed by pursuing God
Again, the Bible says nothing of the sort. The Bible does not cite any emotional wounds, nor how homosexuality in particular might be healed.
— “It’s a sin to be gay because it’s an illegitimate way to meet a legitimate need for affirmation, affection and attention”
Again, the Bible says nothing of the sort. Different Bible verses variously assume that anal sex is unclean, lustful, or violent. The Bible says little or nothing specifically about oral sex, lesbian sex, and celibate same-sex attraction and affection.
— “85 percent of lesbians have been abused sexually as a child”
Apart from that being a statistical fabrication, the Bible also says nothing of the sort.
— if a lesbian hasn’t been sexually abused, it’s likely that she has an emotionally weak mother and gravitates toward the father
Again, the Bible says nothing about the various possible causes of lesbian sexual attraction.
"Perhaps it’s because God loves gays the way they are, like He loves all His
children, otherwise, why would He keep making so many? Please don’t think all
Christians are like these"
Perhaps it’s because God loves Murders, rapists, pedophiles the way they are,
like He loves all His children, otherwise, why would He keep making so many?
Please don’t think all Christians are like these!
Ah, Whoever, you are making the old classic mistake of convoluting attributes with actions.
If a person never murders, he isn’t a murderer. “Murderer” is defined by the action he performs.
But whether a gay person ever has sex in his life, he is still gay. His attraction is to the same sex.
I’m not surprised at folks like you who are unable or unwilling to see the difference. And I’m not shocked that you come on this site to try and compare being gay with murder. But I am saddened that once again the anti-gay folks have to drag the name of Christianity in the mud to make their little bigoted remarks.
I think that the real confusion is between what we actually ARE versus what we DO.
Many “Christians” simply refuse to recognize that homosexuality is an innate, unchosen and naturally-occurring variation of sexuality. Homosexuality is present in almost all vertebrate species, but perhaps is most visible among mammals and birds.
Religion, on the other hand, IS A CHOICE! One is not born a Christian; one must become a Christian. One must CHOOSE to live according to the teachings of one’s religion. Such conformity is not natural – it is a learned behavior.
Bottom line for me is that I refuse to be held to religious laws from a small Middle Eastern Bronze Age tribe that lived several thousand years ago in a very different time and place from where I am today. When “Christians” throw Leviticus in my face and say that I am an “abomination”, I ask them about their clothing (can’t be made from more than one fiber), what they had for lunch (can’t mix dairy and meat; can’t eat shellfish), how long they made their wife stay away from them (during her menstrual cycle when she is “unclean”), and so on and so on. The hypocrisy is astounding.
Chelette says “It’s a sin to be gay because it’s an illegitimate way to meet a legitimate need for affirmation, affection and attention”.
The only illegitimate way to meet the legitimate need for affirmation, affection, and attention is one that harms others. LGBTs involved in loving supportive relationships help each other and harm no one, there’s nothing illegitimate about that. What’s illegitimate is Chelette trying to stop others from having whatever loving relationship they choose when it does not harm him.
“Bottom line for me is that I refuse to be held to religious laws from a small Middle Eastern Bronze Age tribe that lived several thousand years ago in a very different time and place from where I am today.”
The baby and his bath water come to mind 😉
David
True David.Nevertheless, it is important to both hold the baby… AND throw out the bathwater 😛
Or maybe David sees no validity in that baby, and thus is not throwing out anything but
bathwater.
Let’s remember that not believing in Christianity is a valid position—and there is nothing wrong or inherently disrespectful in stating such.
I think there’s agreement about what some of the bathwater is that should be thrown out, but what is the essential baby, or goodness that Christians would ask non-believers to take from their religion? Anyone willing to summarize that?
Robis said:
Let’s remember that not believing in Christianity is a valid position—and there is nothing wrong or inherently disrespectful in stating such.
Absolutely, I would agree. I have, however, noticed that such statements do often come with editorials which one might indeed consider disrespectful. In this instance though I was referring to the idea of “throwing out” God entirely because of other’s misuse of the Levitical Code. In many cases this is the unfortunate byproduct of constantly clubbing people with Lev 18.22.
David
David, let me give you some perspective on my comment to which you replied above.
I do not call myself “a Christian” because I do not believe that Jesus was a “christ” or messiah. A careful reading of Jesus’ alleged words in the New Testament do not support the notion that Jesus fancied himself the literal “son of God” that his followers believe him to be. Jesus was a remarkable individual whose teachings have survived the thousands of years since his death. I do strongly believe in the teachings of Jesus and do my best to live according to them, but I do not pray to him nor do I consider him to be equal to God.
Neither do I believe that the “god of Abraham”, otherwise known as Yahweh or Jehova, is God. The Old Testament deity could not possibly be the one, true God. Hebrew scriptures describe a very petty, jealous and vengeful god who behaved more like a human being than a supernatural entity. Frankly, the Old Testament god is just too small and too anthropomorphized to be God.
So when I say that I reject Mosaic law I don’t see it as “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” because “the baby”, i.e. God, and “the bathwater”, i.e., the draconian Levitical laws, are not one in the same nor are they compatible. A better analogy would be cleaning out a clogged sink and finding a diamond ring. I only truly connected to God once I walked away from the whole concept of “Christianity” as it is practiced in most churches.
God is so much bigger than any one book. God cannot be human in personality and at the same time the supreme being of the universe. Yahweh/Jehova/Allah is not God any more than Mammon is God.
Jonathon, are you…could it be…you must be my separated at birth identical twin brother! (I’m a girl now, though, okay?). No, I’m kidding – I believe in fairness not god. I’d like to hear more about your concept of god, though. If you have something written could you email it to me at randi.schimnosky@sasktel.net
I believe that homosexuality is a conditioned response, but I also believe that there is a spirit of homosexuality that posseses people, that distorts their perceptions, and blinds them to the truth. I believe that this demon does this to pervert creation. Also I believe that ultimately the force behind this may lead to the exinction of humanity, and to choas.