Highlights from "What God Has Joined Together" - part 2

if you haven't yet gone and picked up a copy of this book, go go go! it's amazing. see my first posting on highlights from the book and you will hear my praise for this brilliant book. 

more things that stood out to me in this writing:

in response to james dobson's erroneous quote that hundreds of thousands of gays are being "cured" and becoming straight, i give you Clint Trout's account found on p. 76 of "What God Has Joined Together?" :

"Confident and determined to become heterosexual, I began my five years of reparative therapy. My counselor acquainted me with Exodus International.... The cornerstone of their psychotherapy is the theory that people are gay because of a breakdown in the relationship with their same-sex parent... My life was centered on becoming straight. I went to therapy twice a week and group once a week. I read approximately 50 books on the subject. I attended about five conferences on reparative therapy. I had hundreds upon hundreds of prayer sessions, some of which lasted all night. I confessed every fantasy and experience of attraction. I was bathed in holy water and holy oil. I was baptized twice. [Four and a half years later] I was still gay. Though I had never even kissed a man, my longing for both emotional and physical intimacy with one was almost overpowering. Despite all of the prayer, confession and therapy, nothing changed that fact... Of the several hundred people in "ex-gay" ministries I have met, at conferences, groups, and my own fledgling ministry, I never met anyone who had overcome his or her desire to be with people of the same sex."

WOW. i wonder what dr. dobson would say in response to that account. 

i found it interesting that the New York Times posted an article about how james dobson decided to withdraw from the team that was overseeing Ted Haggard's therapy because "the reality is i don't have the time" said dobson. interesting. yeah, of course he doesn't have time, because it would take all the time in the world! if Ted is gay, he's gay. i don't know the guy, but tons of studies show that reparative therapy is fruitless and damaging. 

see the following link comments on this article: www.queerty.com/queer/news/dobson-cant-take-the-heat-20061108.php

ok, enough of that. i can't really get started on mr. dobson because it makes me sad. but also, i can't really judge him because i used to be like that: really dogmatic in my beliefs about the sin of homosexuality. so i'll try to let it go in prayer. and i hope to God that He will reveal to james the error of his beliefs. 

i loved that the author of "What God..." used this verse in talking about changing sexual orientation: "'Can leopards change their spots?' asked the prophet Jeremiah (13:23)'"

nope. this leopard's spots aren't going anywhere. 

i sure tried. i only had 2 years of therapy, but it didn't change me. i read books and listened to talks and ordered resources from exodus. and it just left me feeling guilty, ashamed, and hopeless. i'm sure they have the best intentions, but alot of these "ministries" are hurting alot of people. i think it sets one up for failure. 

you know who changed me? God. He changed my from beating myself up over something i can't control, and He changed me into a woman who has finally embraced who she really is and who God created her to be. and i've never been happier, more fulfilled. this is truly the abundant life. 

moving on... here are more highlights from the book:

one of my favorite chapters in the book was "What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say"

here are a few excerpts i found enlightening:

"The word homosexuality is never used in Scripture. In fact, the word didn't even exist until late in the nineteenth century." - not in the original language! it was a man-made word. interesting. 

not to mention the fact that JESUS CHRIST Himself never said 1 word about it. not one word. He sure did say alot about caring for the poor though. where have we gone wrong? fundamentalist Christians talk til they're blue in the face about how bad homosexuality is, while they let children die in poverty all around them. while people like dobson take some scriptures literally especially concerning what they think the Bible says about homosexuality, they don't take them all literally. i would like to see dobson (with his 500 million dollar per year salary) give everything he has to the poor. that was in the Bible too, ya know. 

i digress...

the authors of this book deal with every single scripture that is used to attack us GLTB folks. and they deal with the verses beautifully. you'll have to buy the book to read it in detail (did i mention it's amazing?), but here are yet some more highlights about what the Bible really says:

the sodom account: (speaking of neglecting the poor)

"Sodom's sins were pride, laziness, and gluttony, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and did loathsome things, so I wiped her out, as you have seen" - Ezek. 16:49-50

hmm... nothing about homosexuality. it was about power and lots of other things, not homosexual intercourse. 

the authors admonish, "We need to be cautious about taking a few carefully selected verses out of context and absolutizing them for all time, unless we're likewise ready to insist that all the other regulations be followed as well." 

they (the authors, who are both straight, married with children by the way) go on to say, "We don't honor the Word of God by insisting on an erroneous translation because it's familiar or fits preconceived notions or prejudices." AMEN!

i could go on and on, but those of you reading this are probably blind from reading all this. i know my blogs can be long, and for that i don't apologize :) that's why i started the blog! to get out what's inside my head and heart. but i will stop here, and tell you that if you want to see more from this brilliant book, go get it! you can buy it cheap on amazon! then, after that, read Rob Bell's "Velvet Elvis" more on that later...

Blessings to you blog readers...