Christianity Today on Exodus

If you haven't already, at least read the last three paragraphs from Tim Stafford's article in Christianity Today. We couldn't really ask for a more honest accolade of the work God is doing through Exodus. (An Older, Wiser Ex-Gay Movement: The 30-year-old ministry now offers realistic hope for homosexuals, Oct 07)

Which sums up much of ex-gay ministry today. No hype. Limited faith in techniques. No gay bashing. No detectable triumphalism, religious or political. Just serious discipleship. This may be the only group in America that realizes all the way to the bottom that when you decide to follow Jesus, you don't always get to do what you want to do.*

The ex-gay movement runs against the cultural tide. Given adverse public opinion, the ambivalent support of conservative churches, and the common assertion that ex-gays condemn themselves to a life of frustration, you would think the movement would shrivel. Yet Exodus affiliates have doubled in number over the last 18 years. Many of its leaders have been in the public eye for 20 to 30 years. They show every sign of stability.

They live by radical ideas about sexuality—that we are not, as our culture would have it, defined by our desires, heterosexual or homosexual. Rather, we are defined by our Creator and Savior. Our attractions, always disordered to some extent, must be submitted to Christ, who alone can redeem us. For those who feel strong same-sex attractions, that task is especially difficult. But it is the same basic struggle every Christian must face.

* Emphasis added.

Entire Article: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/october/6.48.html

Comments

[Joann]

While I think it's wonderful that Exodus International and other organizations like it are reaching out to people who no longer want to be gay or lesbian and choose to follow Christ instead (I myself recently overcame homosexual lust), I question the tactics that these organizations use in trying to help these people. Are these organizations trying to impose heterosexuality on us, then pressuring us into getting married and having children so that we can "prove" that we are healed? In other words, do we have to be something we're not in order to follow Christ (an alcoholic is still an alcoholic even if they never drink again; likewise, a homosexual is still a homosexual even if they give up their lifestyle for Christ and never live a life of immorality again)? Or, are we truly being helped and allowed to be who we are without being forced to or pressured into becoming something we're not, married hetrosexuals with children?