Over the years, according to gay activists who know him, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Barack Obama’s controversial ex-pastor in Chicago, has largely supported gay rights and welcomed gays into his 8,000-member congregation at Trinity United Church of Christ. Now that he has been thrust into the limelight regarding controversial statements made in the past on several issues of race and the African American experience in America, it seems that all aspects of his past conduct within that church are being called into question. With respect to gay rights, however, it appears, quite rightly, that Wright had the reputation of being supportive of gay rights, but not “open and affirming” of homosexual relationships. Indeed, while 80 percent of the church’s General Synod voted to approve a same-sex marriage resolution, giving all United Church of Christ congregations authority to perform same-sex marriages — with the resolution explicitly allowing each church to decide on its own whether or not to endorse or perform such unions — it appears that Wright spoke out against the Synod’s position, which prompted several LGBTQ parishioners to leave the church. Clearly, Wright understood the concept of "Love the sinner. Hate the sin," which must translate to serving others without compromising one's Christian values and spiritual integrity.In another scenario, just prior to the Eliot Spitzer prostitution mess, Oklahoma Congresswoman, Rep. Sally Kern became the target of a "seek and destroy" mission, seemingly activated by over zealous gay rights activists seeking her head. The Washington D.C. based political action committee, The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, claimed responsibility for releasing a secretly recorded address made by Kern, which documented some of her ramblings and concerns regarding homosexuality. "The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation; it's just a fact," Kern is heard saying, among other things. "I'm not anti... I'm not gay bashing, but according to God's word that is not the right kind of lifestyle. It has deadly consequences.... Homosexuality is more of a threat to the United States than terrorism..."
It is not clear whether the congresswoman's comments were made in an official capacity— not that it should matter either way. But what is clear is that there are several gay rights factions within this country that, through sheer political bullying, are becoming more and more aggressive in their attempts to intimidate and silence anyone voicing opposition to their beliefs, and their agenda. "While this speech is remarkable in its statements, it is not unique," The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund declared on its web site upon releasing the recording of Kern to YouTube. "For every bit of hateful rhetoric we hear, scores of other anti-gay statements go unchallenged." True to form, by virtue of the pack mentality pervading the American media today, just about every media outlet moved in for the anticipated kill. Over several days, we witnessed a virtual onslaught that threatened to drown Kern in political morass, even as Ellen DeGeneres, perhaps the most highly visible lesbian comedian entertainer in the U.S. today, used the national platform of her eponymous talk show to get in on the fray.
To be sure, Rep. Kern's statements were neither the most sensitive nor the most politically correct in our day. But "hateful rhetoric"? Hardly. There was no subtext of hatred aimed at the homosexual population, or any incitement to riot or harm anyone. Quite simply, Mrs. Kern was exercising her constitutional right to free speech in expressing what she believes is a very real "internal threat" to the stability of our nation. Whether or not we agree with her, it is her right to voice her opinion and to stimulate discussion in the public square on matters she deems relevant, especially in her capacity as a lawmaker who can affect public policy. If her constituents do not believe she represents their interests accurately then, surely, they too have the right to exercise their vote to remove her from office at the next election! The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund has accused Rep. Kern for making her remarks "when they think we're not listening," which, in and of itself, sounds rather ominous and would be even more foreboding were this a police state. Regardless, it is irrelevant whether, in her recorded address, Kern was addressing 50, or 50,000, people. This country still celebrates freedom of speech, even insofar as some of our, well, more intellectually challenged calling our president a "F*****g Idiot in Chief". Moreover, since when did talking to 50 people, privy to opinions and remarks that are already a matter of public record, constitute a private conversation?
Indeed, closer scrutiny of this Sally Kern incident is more likely to reveal a portentous, well-orchestrated, well-funded campaign by over reaching gay rights activists to further their cause in having opinions that speak against their lifestyle criminalized as "hate speech" and, thereafter, silenced by law. For, to be sure, the gay rights movement has mastered obfuscation techniques, including the ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: "argument to the man", "argument against the man"), which consists, essentially, of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument, or producing evidence against the claim. The process of proving or disproving the claim is thereby subverted, and the argumentum ad hominem works effectively to change the subject. Hence, dissenting voices to the homosexual lifestyle and agenda are reduced to "homophobic bigots" and "haters" and the real issues at hand fall by the wayside, including the well documented facts, even by our own national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that homosexual activity is unhealthy and ultimately generates health risks for the rest of the population.
Quite likely, we would not have commented on this teacup tempest were it not for other, more recent reports regarding the attempted smack-down of yet another American's religious beliefs and moral convictions— this time, those of a private citizen. Accounts indicate that San Diego developer Doug Manchester and other prominent San Diego County businessmen have recently given significant financial support to an initiative that aims to ban same-sex marriage, which is targeted for the November 2008 statewide election ballot. Manchester said he was motivated to become involved in the gay rights debate by his strong Catholic faith, and decided to donate because he had come to realize that schools that teach that marriage is between a man and a woman could be sued for discriminating against gays and lesbians. “I personally believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman,” he said. “I don't want to offend anybody. But when they say that we cannot say that a marriage is between a man and a woman, that's where I draw the line.”
Does it matter to gay rights activists that they have their own "money men" with clout, including such luminaries as Quark Inc. Founder Tim Gill, billionaire Pat Stryker, former Colorado state Board of Education member Jared Polis, and software entrepreneur Rutt Bridges who have all, unapologetically, funneled millions into independent political gay rights groups? Apparently not. Consider the fact that Manchester's "paltry" $125,000 donation to the ballot initiative, which, by the way, would rightly take the matter before the electorate in due democratic process, has now prompted gay-rights activists to urge a boycott of the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Manchester-owned San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina despite the fact that Manchester has made it clear that his hotels and restaurants have welcomed gays and lesbians as both employees and as customers. Quite likely, targeted recriminations and chastisements will follow the other identifiable businessmen, who, like Manchester, have made significant donations to the ballot initiative. But, is there also a covert plan of action to marginalize the other private San Diego residents whose donations make up a significant part of the $1 million raised for the initiative?
All of which begs the more fundamental question: How can Christians and conservatives in America today — those desperately trying to walk the tightrope cliché to "Love the sinner. Hate the sin" — find balance in this homosexuality/gay marriage debate? To be sure, we don't have all the answers. However, we believe there is much wisdom to be garnered from a powerful address given by Joe Dallas, Founder of Genesis Counseling at a Love Won out conference in Orlando, Florida. A former homosexual and gay rights activist with the Metropolitan Community Church,** a well known, well funded pro-homosexual organization, largely staffed by openly gay and lesbian clergy, Dallas has authored three books on homosexuality. He has worked with hundreds of men and women struggling with homosexuality and related problems. Dallas says many Christians are afflicted with the "Jonah Syndrome," meaning they hold homosexuals in contempt and resist demonstrating to them the love of Christ. Indeed, says Dallas:
". . . When we talk as though homosexuality is the preeminent, most heinous sin in the scripture, and while it is clear that both Testaments unequivocally condemn homosexuality in any form — and any attempt to get around that is wildly self-serving and deceptive — it is also true that you will find more about pride, idolatry and gossip in the Bible than you'll find about homosexuality. . . "
Dallas, correctly, calls upon the Church to repent of this sin and to reach out to the gay community with "bold love" and a message of grace that is compassionate, consistent and clear. He points out that, unfortunately, many homosexuals feel that evangelicals hate them as people because of their sexual preferences. "The gay and lesbian community is looking to the church for some verifiable evidence that we love them as we say that we do... that we value them as people, not just as objects to be converted," Dallas declares. How, specifically, has the church failed in responding correctly to the gay community? Dallas cites several examples. He also describes how Christians can achieve the proper, balanced approach of showing Christ's love to gays and lesbians, while still declaring the biblical truth that homosexuality is a sin. At the same time, however, Dallas also admonishes the Church:
". . . I believe that, if we are to respond effectively to this issue, the Church must repent of being intimidated by the gay rights movement. . . . Martin Luther King said, "The Church must be reminded that it is neither the master of the state nor the servant of the state, but rather it is the conscience of the state.
"Perhaps, the only thing more frightening than the concept of a man without a conscience is a state without a conscience— a sociopathic state that will do whatever is expedient. A state that will, if it is expedient, murder its young, euthanize its elderly, do whatever is expedient for the "welfare of the state." A sociopathic state. A state without a conscience. That's a real Orwellian nightmare. . . . . And if the conscience of the state can be silenced, which it can, then the prospect of a sociopathic state is not just terrifying, it's inevitable. Which brings up a two-fold problem, the first being that there are forces within the gay rights movement seeking to silence the conscience of the state, which brings us to the second problem, which is perhaps larger in that much of the Church has been all too willing to accommodate those forces by consenting to being silenced.
"Listen to Kirk and Madsen, the two gay authors that were being quoted earlier in Dr. Carpenter's address on the promotion of gay ideology in the schools. From their book, After The Ballthey have this to say, "In regard to those (you and me) who feel compelled to adhere to an authoritarian belief structure that condemns homosexuality, our primary objective is to silence them. We know exactly what we want. And we'll do whatever must be done to secure it. . ."
Dallas challenges us to examine what has happened in any county, state, or nation, where gay ideology — the normalization of homosexuality — has come into ascendancy. He advocates that, wherever gay ideology has become prominent one will likewise see, simultaneously, more and more restrictions imposed on freedoms of speech, freedom of conscience, and freedom of religion. Indeed, where gay ascendancy exists, he articulates, one will also see intolerance for all opposing viewpoints:
". . . Look at the "slash and burn" tactics that are used in America against anyone who takes a public, conservative position on homosexuality— Dr. Laura Schlessinger, The Boys Scouts of America, any group or individual that takes the traditional position in the public arena. Look at what becomes of them, their careers and reputation and you will see something that you don't want to believe but that you are going to have to acknowledge, and that is that the gay rights movement is no longer just seeking freedom. It is seeking tyranny— the tyranny of levering any means to silence the conscience of the state! "We know exactly what we want. And we'll do whatever is necessary to secure it." Terrifying. And that is, to me, the scary part of the gay rights movement— not the normalization of homosexuality, but the almost rabid intolerance for anyone who opposes that normalization. . . ."
We urge you to listen to both MP3 broadcasts by Joe Dallas in their entirety, and to read another of his articles that we have posted below. They are well worth the time spent since they give an unadulterated view, not just from a formerly practicing homosexual — who provides living proof that one can successfully leave the gay lifestyle, as many did in biblical times — but from one who was an insider within the gay rights activist community. Without doubt, they can help hone our responses to issues that are shaping themselves into the next civil rights frontier in America, and which are fundamental to our freedoms. Moreover, it is the time to answer the unmistakable call— the compelling call that is righteous in its truest sense: Love the sinner. Hate the sin.
EDITOR'S NOTE: (03-26-2008): Here's an alert from Mission: America regarding a national Day of Silence to celebrate homosexuality in our public schools that you may find relevant to our discussion. The Day of Silence is scheduled this year on April 25, 2008. Is your child's school on the list?
** Correction made (03-31-08): Joe Dallas is no longer a member of the Metropolitan Community Church. He and his family are currently members of Newport Mesa Church, a local Assemblies of God congregation in Orange County, CA. (See his comment posted for more. . .)
RELATED MP3 BROADCAST: How Should We Respond to Homosexuality? Part 1 Speaker: Joe Dallas, Focus on the Family.org, March 18, 2008
Full pdf transcript- Part 1
RELATED MP3 BROADCAST: How Should We Respond to Homosexuality? Part 2 Speaker: Joe Dallas, Focus on the Family.org, March 18, 2008
Full pdf transcript- Part 2
RELATED ARTICLE: Responding to Pro-Gay Theology By Joes Dallas, Leadership U,
This three-part series will address the pro-gay theology by dividing its arguments— or tenets —into three categories: social justice arguments, general religious arguments, and scriptural arguments. Joe Dallas, Founder of Genesis Counseling, is the author of three books on homosexuality: Desires in Conflict, Unforgiven Sins, and A Strong Delusion: Confronting the "Gay Christian" Movement.
RELATED SITE: Love Won Out
35 comments:
Kudos on a very informative piece. Nothing glossed over here. Glad you used the George Orwell analogy too, because without bold voices like yours this country is certain to descend into homosexual tyranny...as Canada is fast becoming.
I thoroughly enjoyed your well documented and articulated commentary. The impressive array of links are informative in aiding more a intelligent discussion of the issues in a reasonable debate. A fresh wind compared to what the main stream media offers on this particular subject... without being too preachy or alienating.
Speaking of Orwell, he also got it right when he said that "the most revolutionary act one can do is to tell the truth when everyone else is living a lie," which is what you (and precious few others in the main stream media) have succeeded in doing. Thank you.
As the gay rights activists want it, it is already less and less "politically corrrect" and, therefore, more and more difficult to tell the truth on this particular issue in a public forum with your name attached to it. So your commentary is dead on. Look at the witch hunt that took place a few months back after Gen. Peter Pace, and Colts coach Tony Dungee made known their faith-based views and convictions that homosexuality is immoral.
Besides, I wish homosexuals would just give up on this delusional lie already that homosexuality is not a choice. Because, unless it is rape, the decision to have sex any at all, whether it is homosexual or heterosexual sex is always a choice. We are not aniamls without free moral agency. That's why there are "40-year old virgins" and those that lose their virginity at 13.
There are many intellectuals today (many of whom are still closeted homosexuals) that would like to convince John-public through their high-falluting sounding arguments that homosexuality is quite normal. However, if a being a part of their "modern and enlightened society" means having the kind of moral base that would enable me to descend into sexual perversion and depravity, then I guess I would rather be one of the ignorant, superstitious goat herders from the Ark Age. That said, however, I am quite happy to report that having good morals and being part of "modern and enlightened society" are still, thankfully, not mutually exclusive occurences.
I am happy you brought into your article the perspective of someone who has demonstrated quite clearly that homosexuals can, very successfully, leave the gay lifestyle. I was happy also to follow the link to the story of Charlene E. Cothran, the Publisher (no less!) of Venus Magazine. Imagine, an African American magazine that was launched to provide support for homosexuals, that is now leading them out of that mess! Such sweet irony. Ms. Cothran's story and her true mission now shows so clearly that God not only has a sense of humor, but also that, unlike what the Fred Phelps crazies preach from Westboro Baptist Church, God does love homosexuals!
I pray that your article helps countless others that are still struggling with the issues to find their Peace too. For those that didn't see it, check out that story at http://www.venusmagazine.org/cover_story.html
Brilliant.
I am amused by those who advocate this absurd notion that morality requires thinking homosexuality is wrong (which goes hand in hand with the idiotic argument that if you don't reject homosexuality you must be a "moral relativist"). I am the furthest thing from a moral relativist, but I do not believe that homosexuality is even a moral issue at all. There may be moral issues that are related to homosexuality, but they are the same moral issues that are related to heterosexuality and in precisely the same manner. It would be morally wrong for someone to have homosexual relations with someone against their will, or without informing them that they
have an STD, for instance, but that is equally true of heterosexuals having heterosexual sex. But the question of what two consenting adults choose to do with one another, or how they feel about one another, simply is not
a moral issue in my view, any more than the question of whether one masturbates is a moral issue. If it does not harm another person against their will or infringe on them in some way, then a given action is neither moral nor immoral.
Anonymous wrote: "...It would be morally wrong for someone to have homosexual relations with someone against their will, or without informing them that they have an STD..."
Sir, you contradict yourself that you are no "moral relativist". WHO decided that the things you've outlined above are "wrong". YOU? That being the case, you would have set yourself up as arbiter of everyone else's morals, which makes you what? God of your own universe? That's the sin of idolatry, by the way, according to the real God.
A very thorough piece with good links. I find the Ellen Degeneres link with comments interesting...It shows how separate people have become from what is taught by the same religion(eg ten commandments...deadly sins etc)that I am sure they would say they follow.
The state needs to realise the separation of religion and country is what is going to be its downfall. Already we can see with the recession looming that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil as these paper companies collapse because of greed...
In an age of political correctness, there is no greater fear than that somewhere, somehow, someone may be offended. Therefore I loved the opening joke of Joe Dallas' address. Magazines like Time and Newsweek, even Oprah's for God's sake, keep pussyfooting around the real issue, which is that, no matter how wonderful homosexuals may be as human beings and best friends, and co-workers, and family, and church members, we cannot, as a society, "normalize" homosexuality or endorse it as anything but immoral and UNHEALTHY...period! In any civilized society, the good of the few can never be considered over what's best for the majority.
Thank you for a balanced piece that sets the framework for how we should be approaching this issue. I had never heard of Joe Dallas before, but who better to gain perspective from than a former homosexual and gay rights activist? I am going to forward your blog to my church! They need a wake-up call. Because, saying nothing from the pulpit becomes "consent" by default!
Typically, writings on homosexuality are emotionally charged... of great cathartic value to the homosexuals who've likely written them, I am sure, but generally lacking in educational value. That was not the case here, however. Your arguments regarding the gay rights activist movement and agenda are indisputable, and I am grateful for the links you have provided.
I am realizing my own guilt in remaining largely silent on the issues out of fear of reprisals. But when you consider the indisputable facts you have presented... that we are descending into homosexual tyranny... you get to the conclusion that this kind of "tolerance" comes at a serious price to all of us.
Your comments are right on point in defining the true issues behind the homosexual contoversy we face today as a nation. Accepting behavior which could have negative consequences for the individual as well as society as a whole is not an act of love or respect, but of cowardice and fear. A true act of love is doing what you have done with this piece. It is confronting the issue through thoughtful commentary that does not attack indivuals. There are two extremes we need to avoid, the first being the one wherein we discriminate and punish people based on their sexual orientation and the other being where we accept all of their actions without even voicing our opinion as to why we disagree with their choice. In the middle we are all able to address the issue both privatley and publicly in a reasonable thought out manner. This is the freedom our forefathers fought to leave us which we must continue fighting for. I encourage you to continue what you are doing and pray that one day we can have this discussion on a mainstream media outlet.
"...Indeed, closer scrutiny of this Sally Kern incident is more likely to reveal a portentous, well-orchestrated, well-funded campaign by over reaching gay rights activists to further their cause in having opinions that speak against their lifestyle criminalized as "hate speech" and, thereafter, silenced by law..."
I looked at the links you provided in the excerpt higlighted from your article, and, man, what an eye-opener! I guess I just never consciously realiized how coldly calculating the gay rights movement is being in their efforts, and that basically we are being sold a bill of goods just as Madison Avenue sells us peanut butter! No wonder so many of us are being convinced that their product (homosexuality) is just another normal lifestyle and we should all just be willing to play in the sandbox together as (their) God intended.
I am definitely going to buy David Kurpelian's book "The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom" because as Rebecca Hagelin says in her article: "The plain truth is, within the space of our lifetimes, much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped and sold to us as though it had great value. By skillfully playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity and tolerance, these marketers have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive -- in a word, evil.”
I have no desire to proselytise for homosexuality or to convince "religious" people that homosexuals are born that way. However, I respect the fact that you mention the growing faction within the Church that uses shameful rhetoric to conduct their arguments to deride gay people as freaks of nature, which I did NOT find in your piece, so thank you at least for that. Because we need to stop dead in their tracks those voices that disrespect gays as human beings. We have a right to live however we wish because, for all the talk of "conscience", what church people really want is to tell us how to live.
Tommy Miller- UK said: "I have no desire to proselytise for homosexuality or to convince "religious" people that homosexuals are born that way..."
You may not Tommy but I gotta tell you the truth in love, bro, which is that homosexuality is a moral quicksand, and the further it goes is the more it becomes deeply compulsive, escalating enslavement. Unfortunately, those that are caught in its snare are typically left with little else but to justify and rationalize what they KNOW deep in their conscience is wrong.... hence, all of the references in typical gay discussion forums and groups that reduce our humanity to the level of Bonobos chimpazees and whiptail lizards that exhibit "homosexual tendencies". This also explains the homosexual quest for public approval of their lifestyle through legislation like gay "marriage"...as if that would make it right anyway.
Check out the links provided by this blog, man, and you'll see that many, many homosexuals do find their way out of this bondage, which some call a "lifestyle." Thank you Real Proposal! Kudos to you!
At my workplace there are a few homosexuals, I talk with them and I also get along with them. They know not to bring that “homo” stuff to me, because I don't play that. Yes, I have a problem with their lifestyle and behavior. As I pointed out to one of my gender-confused coworkers, you are a man who prefers to be intimate with another man, yet here you are acting like a woman, what’s up with that??? He said that he was born that way, but like I told him, no dude, that a choice that you made, and to prove my point, your behavior is as you say, I will curse anyone that looks at us like they don’t approve. I wanted to talk with them/him about their life choices in a positive way and I do I confess that I didn’t know how to, and a friend forwarded your blog, and I just said wow. This was an answer to what I needed, especially that link to Joe Dallas a reformed homo. I was able to give them the link so thanks for your work. It is an eye opener.
The link to the Rebecca Hagelin article was incredible. I guess I just never realized how much we're being "sold" homosexuality, or that there was actually a game plan so to speak to actively market the gay agenda. I guess we've all been too busy with the really important "news" of the day being fed to us by the mainstream media: Britney Spears and the other Hollywood "role models" flitting about without panties or being dragged back to prison, or rehab.
Rebecca Hagelin from her article :
"Take homosexual activists. It looked as if the AIDS crisis of the 1980s would set their cause back, but the activists weren’t about to let that happen. Some 175 of them met at a conference in February 1988 and hammered out a master PR plan. Two Harvard-educated researchers, Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, laid it out in book titled After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ’90s, noting that they would counter negative publicity with “a program of unabashed propaganda, firmly grounded in long-established principles of psychology and advertising.”
That meant relying on established manipulation techniques such as “desensitization” (inundating the public with positive, gay-related advertising) and “jamming” (attacking and intimidating critics in order to silence them). As marketing expert Paul Rondeau of Regent University explained, “If you can get [straights] to think [homosexuality] is just another thing -- meriting no more than a shrug of the shoulders -- then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won.”
Homosexuality is nothing new and has been recorded time and again in history...in Judeo Christian history, as far back as Abraham's nephew Lot in the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. That story recorded in Gen 19 shows the spirit of homosexuality in the fullness of its reality...and it IS a demonic spirit that attaches itself to people....hence the deception and delusion and aggression that's usually intertwined with the behavior of homosexuals in defense of their actions. Some people think the Bible is a just a bunch of "stories", but it's funny how true they ring. In that biblical story, it was the ENTIRE city that descended on Lot's house in a rabbid attack to get at what they thought was "fresh meat" to sodomize. I repeat that story not to alienate anyone but to show the striking similarities in that account to what is happening today. Today we have become just as barefaced in our perversions and just as shameless in our depravity...and I am not just talking about homosexuality. As you say in your piece, homosexuality is just another sin... we have become so greedy in our "pursuit of happiness" that so many people appear on reality shows like "Moment of Truth" to "share" their tawdry secrets that devastate and embarrass their families and husbands... secrets that are better left unspoken for money....an "indecent proposal" for sure. If history repeats itself, as Orwell tried to warn us, how long then before we all pay the consequences?? Already we have descended into homosexuality and other behaviors in this country that were once unspeakable... and we circle around the real issue with all the psychobabble to call it everything else but what it is, which is SIN....
Without doubt, homosexuals are entitled to human and civil rights, but this does NOT include marriage or other privileges that aid and abet their perversion being entrenched into law.
What homosexuals do in the privacy of their bedrooms between consenting adults is their business...and their right... but they have no right to expect special protections that end up silencing those that still recognize sin as sin. Law is based upon morality....and the real problem is we have lost our moral compass in this country as politicians pander to people for votes that give them access to resources and special interests that rape us. Cynical maybe. But it's hard to find a politician today that anyone can point to as upright and righteous...
Great articles. Thanks for shining the light on such a critical subject as homosexuality. I'm also a believer that as the people that adopt this lifestyle attempt to bully their way for acceptance of this lifestyle into our society, it threatens the moral foundation on which our society is built. Keep shining the moral light on this very dark issue.
Very bold piece, Real Proposal!
According to Orwell, "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." In this age of "political correctness," to make the distinction between what is right or wrong is "arrogant" and "intolerant." But as any psychologist recognizes, the first step in fixing a situation is recognizing that there is a problem! To deny this fact only prolongs one's misery.
What I loved about this piece is that you exhort Christians to proclaim truth - IN LOVE. As a practicing Christian, I believe what the Bible teaches on homosexuality: in the eyes of a holy God whose plan for creation was one man and one woman for life, the homosexual lifestyle is a perversion of this plan. Yet I feel it is high time that the body of Christ - the church - stop making homosexuals feel like they are anathema. After all, Christ died for the world, not for the "saved". He came to save the sick, not those already well. Far too many homosexuals feel like Christians simply see them as signs bearing their orientation, not as human beings. They see the judgment but do not see the love. Yet these people are precious in the eyes of God. According to Paul, "when we were still in our sin, Christ died for us." And we have to reach out to homosexuals in the same way that Jesus would: "Come just as you are," but upon their recognition of their sin, encourage them to "Go and sin no more."
Brilliant insight. Somehow I had never quite equated the gay rights activist strategy with "ad hominem" arguments, which now that I think about it, lawyers use all the time in cases that they need to discredit the testimony of key witnesses so that juries wont really look at key facts that could lose their cases...Interesting indeed.
FYI: Came across these 2 lists of "Famous Homosexuals" and "Famous Out-Of-The-Closet Lesbian, Bisexual or Gay People" which shows how far reaching the tentacles of gay rights activism is... We are being influenced by them and most times we don't even know it!
http://www.gaybiz.com/say/history/
http://www.ncf.ca/ip/sigs/life/gay/history/famous
Love it. FINALLY, a balanced, well-documented, articulate argument that states the facts, baby, just the facts. Your links are a service to the rest of us. Thank you.
I consider myself widely read, but your article made me google the book "After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the '90s" written by the 2 Harvard-educated MARKETING professionals Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen. And it really is a handbook that urged that gay activists to adopt the very strategies that helped change the political face of the largest nation on earth-- China. Turns out their strategies to normalize the abnormal through a variety of brainwashing techniques are well documented in Robert Jay Lifton's seminal work "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China".
Kirk and Madsen claimed that what was needed here was enough media, and enough money, to put these same strategies to work. And they are succeeding through processes known as "desensitization", "jamming" and "conversion". First, the idea is to desensitize the public by SELLING the notion that gays were "just like everyone else," which would make the engine of prejudice run out of steam, i.e., lull straights into an attitude of indifference. Second, they would jam the public by shaming them into a kind of guilt at what should be perceived as their own "bigotry." The result of these 2 strategies/processes would end in what they called conversion, a mass public change of heart that would follow, even among bigots "if we can actually make them like us." They wrote: "Conversion aims at just this...conversion of the average American's emotions, mind, and will, through a planned psychological attack, in the form of propaganda fed to the nation via the media."
And isn't this what is happening now in the media? You can hardly watch a television show now without the inclusion of some gay plot line, or that does not include some overtly gay interviewer (a little Cojo anyone?), commentator, or host. Isn't it scary that we're being so subversively manipulated? A real Orwellian nightmare as Joe Dallas says. Wake up people! Wake up Church in Jesus' name!
Maybe Paris Hilton is using the same strategies and techniques as Kirk and Madsen. Recent reports say that Paris Hilton sees herself as a role model and an "inspiration" for young women....no, seriously.
After looking at some of the links you provided, I read an article by David Kupelian entitled "How Ohio State University Is Marketing Evil." In it, Kupelian discusses the strategies of gay rights activists, Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, whom you mentioned in your piece. I was alarmed by the clear strategies of sheer manipulation being postulated by these men to indoctrinate mainstream society into accepting their views. As a college student myself, I found this section of the article particularly chilling:
"For young, college-age adults – smart, energetic, idealistic, but also inexperienced, immature and insecure, and with a powerful emotional need for acceptance – this is so very easy to accomplish. As a student, once you've spent a few months watching dissenting Christians portrayed as maniacal skinheads or drooling extra-X-chromosome fundamentalists, after you've been assailed with in-your-face appeals to 'fairness' and 'tolerance' toward behavior you once knew was wrong, and upon realizing that you too will be reviled and persecuted – and made to fail in class, and thus in life – if you dare utter the moral convictions you once held, you change. You could call it adaptation for the purpose of survival, and it's usually unconscious, because you rationalize your conversion as 'the right thing to do.'"
"You develop a new, more 'tolerant' identity, one for which you are rewarded and loved. You're no longer in danger of being called 'homophobic' or 'judgmental.' You find yourself looking down on those still clinging to traditional, biblical values as ignorant at best, dangerous or evil at worst. You've been brainwashed – and your parents have paid tens of thousands of hard-earned, after-tax dollars for this 'service' of turning you against them."
On campus, homosexuality is no big thing to the majority of students. But as Kupelian explains, this is part of the process of desensitization.
Quoting Kirk and Madsen, he states, "'The main thing,' they confide, 'is to talk about gayness until the issue becomes thoroughly tiresome,' adding: '[S]eek desensitization and nothing more. … If you can get [straights] to think [homosexuality] is just another thing – meriting no more than a shrug of the shoulders – then your battle for legal and social rights is virtually won.'
Thank you for such an insightful and in-depth piece on this particular matter that seems to be the hot topic in our nation today, and for revealing the power struggle of manipulation that has been taking place behind the scenes.
I was forwarded your blog by a friend and have read your article and the posts people have left and I am amazed at my own ignorance on this issue snd to tell you the truth, this is very frightening. But it's like a lightbulb went on. Thank you.
I deeply appreciate your inclusion of my articles, and quotes from my address on homosexuality, in your very well written piece. One serious error, though - in your article, you describe me as being a staff member with the Metropolitan Community Church. I am in fact a FORMER staff member with that church, which is a well known pro-homosexual church, largely staffed by openly gay and lesbian clergy. I left that church in 1984 when I repented. My bio info may state that I was FORMERLY with the group, but I'm sure you can see how confusing it would be to your readers if they were to look up the Meteropolitan Community Church, thinking I am on staff there, and find that it's a huge, well funded gay rights organization.
Please correct this as soon as you're able, as it could be very damaging and, as I said, confusing. For the record, my family and I are members of Newport Mesa Church, which is a local Assemblies of God congregation here in Orange County, CA.
Thanks for correcting this. And many thanks and prayers for your important work.
God bless.
Sincerely,
Joe Dallas
Our sincere appreciation to Joe Dallas for his kind comments and, more importantly, for this very important correction. We have made the correction to the relevant paragraph and as an Editor's Note to reflect the changes.
I am a college student with a very close friend who is convinced he is gay but who has yet to act upon his urges. I am glad someone forwarded me your blog, because he needs to see the clear evidence from this Joe Dallas guy that gays can successfully leave that lifestyle. If this Joe Dalls person has "repented" since 1984, and turned away from that lifestyle after being so entrenched in it, I would call that a success story!
It's sad reality that people give in to what are clearly unhealthy sexual activity that can literally kill them spiritually, emotionally and physically. Nobody with any compassion or real love for humanity enjoys watching others "[receive] in themselves the due penalty for their perversion," which is what Roman 1:26-27 guarantees will be the end result of a homosexual lifestyle.
That said, it's one thing for people to have the free will to live (or die) with the choices they've made. But it's an entirely different proposition when their behaviors place others at risk...and it should not — and must not — be "tolerated."
I checked out the link you provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and it is a fact that current U.S. health regulations prohibit men who have sex with men ("MSM" as they are referred to) from donating blood. Studies conducted by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) categorically confirm that if MSM were permitted to give blood, the general population would be placed at risk.
There is nothing "gay" about homosexual pathology and we need to wake up to the real agenda being sold to us by homosexual activists. Either we wake up and be bold enough to speak out now, or die later by default. Thanks for a very informative article.
I am very glad that you brought attention to the use of the "ad hominem" argument by gay rights activists because that is precisely their strategy as I am now beginning to observe and more clearly define thanks to your article. For a long time I just couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly was not quite right with their arguments. Keep up your excellent work!
The links you provided to show that the homosexual lifestyle is unhealthy and provides health risks for the rest of the population led me to that BBC report about what has been taking place in South Africa since 2006 with militant homosexual activists there protesting their nation's blood donation policy by deliberately and deceitfully violating that nation's blood ban. AND I AM VERY ALARMED. With HIV- AIDS so rampant, that isn't a protest; it's an act of violence.
Rep. Sally Kern seems to have it right when she said that the homosexual agenda is destroying this nation and poses a greater threat than terrorism. Reasonable people can debate that opinion, but the actions of gay activists in South Africa show their rabid intolerance to reason! That example is even more scary now in light of the recent call by Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest and most radical homosexual pressure group, to end what he calls "discriminatory" practices that stop gay men from giving blood. This whole thing is getting crazier by the day!
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