Client Rights and Government Wrongs, Parts 1–5

A New Low? A Look at Bans on Pro-Heterosexual Therapy and the Threats They Pose to Religious Liberty and Client Autonomy

Client Rights and Government Wrongs, Introduction

Harm doesn’t come from a therapist who operates with compassion and a desire to help a client who is seeking help. Harm comes as a result of being told we have to live with these unwanted desires and have no hope of change! In my case, therapy was an important part of my journey but real change happened when I truly surrendered my life to Christ.
—George Carneal Jr., author of From Queer To Christ: My Journey Into The Light—

Key points: The good news of the temporary delay in the push to impose a ban on any and all pro-heterosexual therapy or counseling in California should not overshadow the ominous implications of an increasing number of bans on such therapy for minors. Most people don’t realize—but they should—that advocates of therapy bans undermine their own arguments with their own research!

All the articles in this series are available here.

Advocates of religious liberty and freedom of speech received good news on Friday, August 31. California Assembly Member Evan Low, a homosexual and the author of Assembly Bill 2943, withdrew the bill for this legislative session. Assemblyman Low had met with religious leaders who expressed serious concerns about the proposal. Pulling the bill, Low said, “I left those productive conversations feeling hopeful. I believe every person who attended these meetings left with a greater understanding for the underlying reason and intention of this bill to create a loving and inclusive environment for all. However, I believe there is still more to learn.”

Low added, “The best policy is not made in a vacuum and in order to advance the strongest piece of legislation, the bill requires additional time to allow for an inclusive process not hampered by legislative deadlines. With a hopeful eye toward the future, I share with you that, despite the support the bill received in the Assembly and Senate, I will not be sending AB 2943 to the Governor this year. I am committed to continuing to work towards creating a policy that best protects and celebrates the identities of LGBT Californians and a model for the nation to look towards.”

With the withdrawal, the proposed legislation dies for the time being. Many Californians and others are grateful to Low for his action. Even so, similar legislation is certain to be introduced in the future.

We reported on AB 2943 in an earlier post dated April 14 of this year.

Currently, in ten states, with a good possibility that Maryland will become the eleventh, minors cannot legally receive professional counseling from a pro-heterosexual perspective to help them deal with same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria. Such counseling has been outlawed! Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX), explains part of the reason: Gay activists have misrepresented and demonized legitimate counseling approaches (also go here)—often called reparative therapy—to help encourage heterosexuality. They have overtaken many professional groups and insist on pro-homosexual counseling regardless of the clients’ desires. The American College of Pediatricians stands out as the rare exception.

And now, things are growing even worse. The gay lobby has become a powerful and arrogant player in American life—so powerful and arrogant, in fact, that it is in the process of imposing it’s own “absolutes” on society at large.

For some time, California has been futile ground for coercive LGBT legislation. Now it could become the first state in the nation to ban reparative therapy for everyone! If payment is involved, all forms of this kind of therapy, even counseling given through the sale of a book and in a religious setting from a religious perspective, would be outlawed. In a Facebook post [the content of which is now available here], former Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon calls the proposal “the biggest effort at book banning, the banning of counseling services and church conferences, the banning of academic courses, and a general banning of free speech in the history of the United States.” He warns, “Any counselor that suggests to clients that homosexual practice or transgender identification is in any way wrong or unhealthy, irrespective of whether they offer ‘orientation change’ services will become a criminal in the eyes of the state.”

Any counselor that suggests to clients that homosexual practice or transgender identification is in any way wrong or unhealthy, irrespective of whether they offer “orientation change” services will become a criminal in the eyes of the state.
—Robert A. J. Gagnon—

On television, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Matt Sharp sounded the alarm.

Before considering where we go from here following Evan Low’s withdrawal of AB 2943, we do well to take a step back. It is critical for us to understand the efforts to pass AB 2943 against the backdrop of an increasing number of bans on pro-heterosexual therapy for minors experiencing same-sex attraction.

In this post we will look at the bans on counseling minors, and next time consider the future, as efforts to enact AB 2943-type legislation certainly will occur.

Bans on Therapy for Minors

Since I wrote and published the April 14 post, the number of states banning reparative therapy for minors has shot up to 14, as of 9/6/18. They are listed below in the order of the date each ban took, or is set to take, effect.

New Jersey
California
Oregon
Illinois
Vermont
New Mexico
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Nevada
Washington
Hawaii
Delaware
Maryland (takes effect October 1, 2018)
New Hampshire (takes effect January 1, 2019)

Maine would have become the 15th state to ban reparative therapy for minors, but on July 6, 2018, Republican Governor Paul LePage, to his credit, vetoed legislation that would have criminalized it. The bill would have prohibited “any practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, including, but not limited to, any effort to change gender expression or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same gender.”

Governor LePage said in a veto statement,

LD (Legislative Document) 912 was overbroad and bad policy.…

[A]s the bill was written–“any practice or course of treatment”–can call into question a simple conversation. This is so broad that licensed professionals would be prohibited from counseling an individual even at the individual’s own request.

We should not prohibit professionals from providing their expertise to those who seek it for their own personal questions like, “How do I deal with these feelings I am experiencing?”

The Democrats won’t let a 14-year-old start the workday before 7 a.m., but, under this bill, a medical professional could not have open conversations with minors considering hormone therapy about the potential and irreversible effects of delaying puberty.

There are other issues. Per recent rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, regulations on the content of clinical speech may violate the First Amendment. The bill could also be interpreted as a threat to an individual’s religious beliefs.

No evidence was presented during public hearings that indicates licensed professionals in our state are practicing conversion therapy as described in the bill.

Because their standard of practice already prohibits any therapy amounting to physical or mental abuse, what LD 912 attempts to regulate are private, consultative conversations with a client.

Use of pro-heterosexual therapy with minors also is banned in the following areas.

the District of Columbia
Cincinnati, Ohio
Miama Beach, Florida
Wilton Manors, Florida
Seattle, Washington
Miami, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
Bay Harbor Islands, Florida
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Boynton Beach, Florida
Lake Worth, Florida
El Portal, Florida
Toledo, Ohio
Key West, Florida
North Bay Village, Florida
Columbus, Ohio
Tampa, Florida
Delray Beach, Florida
Riviera Beach, Florida
Wellington, Florida
Dayton, Ohio
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Greenacres, Florida
Athens, Ohio
Pima County, Arizona
Boca Raton, Florida
Oakland Park, Florida
Palm Beach County, Florida
Reading, Pennsylvania
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Broward County, Florida
State College, Pennsylvania
Erie County, New York
Yardley, Pennsylvania
Gainesville, Florida
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
New York City, New York
Albany, New York
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Madison, Wisconsin
Ulster County, New York
Rochester, New York
Albany County, New York

Like a steamroller, it seems, the homosexual lobby’s version of “tolerance” is running roughshod over the rights of young people and their parents. Keep in mind that these bans prohibit this kind of therapy regardless of the wishes of potential clients!

Therapy Bans—Unscientific and Coercive

The American College of Pediatricians, which apparently is the lone professional organization that has refused to bow to political correctness, states,

Pediatricians, mental health providers, educators, and policy makers need to know there is no evidence that psychotherapy for UHA [unwanted homosexual attraction] is any more or less harmful than the use of psychotherapy to treat any other unwanted psychological or behavioral adaptation. Therefore, science does not support laws that prohibit minors with UHA from receiving psychotherapy in accordance with their personal goals and values (emphasis added).

David Pickup is a professional counselor who specializes in reparative therapy. A ban on therapy for minors has gained support in Massachusetts, where a number of his clients live. He communicated with a reporter for the North Andover, Massachusetts Eagle-Tribune about his work for an article the paper published July 2, 2017. He does not use the techniques that therapy-ban supporters say are true of “conversion therapy.”

David Pickup, a family counselor with offices in Texas and California, said he uses “reparative therapy” on teenagers from Massachusetts and other states whose parents want them to “address unwanted homosexual feelings.”

“We only do therapy for clients, a lot of which are in Massachusetts, who believe that for them, homosexual feelings arise because of emotional wounding, sometimes sexual abuse,” he said in a written statement. “We don’t treat people who [believe they] are born that way.”

Thus, when we speak of therapy, we are not talking about a coercive approach that shames clients and runs roughshod over them. (You can learn more about David Pickup’s approach here.) While therapy to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction can be intense and challenging, it is not automatically harmful and can be very helpful and effective.

Additionally, in locations without bans, no one forces another to receive any type of counseling or therapy. Yet where bans do exist, those who want therapy are forced, against their wills, either to find it where they can receive it legally (in some cases many miles away) or to abandon efforts to get it altogether. Thus, the bans themselves are coercive!

Did You Know?

The truth about therapy and counseling must get a hearing! So many myths are out there, perpetrated by LGBT activists. Don’t be taken in!

The Family Research Council is committed to proclaiming the truth. Not many people know this, but in a significant number of instances, pro-LGBT sources undermine their own arguments for bans on therapy, and they do so with their own research! FRC’s Peter Sprigg exposes these inconsistencies in an important document titled “The Hidden Truth About Changing Sexual Orientation: Ten Ways Pro-LGBT Sources Undermine the Case for Therapy Bans.” The document is available from FRC here, or you can download it here.

In a number of instances, pro-LGBT sources actually undermine their own arguments for bans on therapy, and they do so with their own research! Here is proof!

Moreover, with or without formal therapy, many thousands of former homosexuals have changed. For many of these courageous men and women, the core reason they’ve experienced change is found in their relationship with Jesus Christ. In early May, a group of them met together in Washington, DC to publicly celebrate their transformations and share their stories. A similar gathering of former homosexuals is planned on November 4, 2018 in Los Angeles.

Here’s the point: Change is possible, and the men and women who have experienced it and are sharing their stories are living proof!

Visit the Freedom March Facebook page.

Protect the Innocent!

While we can be grateful that the threat of AB 2943 motivated the church and other concerned citizens to speak out favor of clients’ rights and religious liberty (also go here), we consistently must sound the alarm regarding the harmful effects of banning therapy for minors. After all, children continue to be targeted by LGBT activists in public policy decisions around the country. Consider the bills that did pass in California and that await Governor Brown’s signature or veto pen.

Church, Wake Up!

Jesus had strong words for people who tempt young ones to do evil. He said, “Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:4-6).

But I’m not tempting anyone! someone will say. Maybe you aren’t directly, but if you fail to speak out and act to protect and help those who are being tempted, you are complicit in their being led astray! Keep in mind that temptations to explore one’s sexuality and to embrace a gay identity are nearly everywhere in our culture, especially among the young.

The church must repent of its inaction in this area, educate itself, and act to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Among other things, the church should be a place where God’s design for males and females is affirmed and celebrated. Masculinity, femininity, heterosexuality, man-woman marriage, children, and the importance of the family unit are all a part of this mix.

Next time, as we have said, we’ll consider the future of AB 2943-type legislation.

Make sure you return!

This article is an introduction to a series titled “Clients’ Rights and Government Wrongs.” Part 1 is available here.

top image credit: Photo by Emma Goldsmith on Unsplash

Engage!

Client Rights and Government Wrongs, Part One

Water of Life [Community Church in Fontana, CA] seeks to bring hope, healing and transformation to individuals through the power of the Gospel, including those who struggle with same sex attraction and gender confusion. Through AB 2943, Legislators are seeking to declare all fee-based resources offered to these individuals as consumer fraud. This means our counseling centers can no longer minister to these individuals and employees in our bookstores could face liability for guiding a person to books or other resources that address same sex attraction from a Biblical perspective. This is a direct threat to the religious freedom of Christian counselors, ministries, and churches. And it is also a direct threat to the freedom of individuals facing unwanted attractions or identity confusion to find help from a licensed counselor or support group. I could not sit silently by and watch this bill pass.…I am writing this letter to encourage you to get involved, while we still have a voice in the State of California.
—Water of Life’s Senior Pastor Dan Carroll, in an open letter to California’s Christian leaders, released to the public on Wednesday, July 25, 2018—

Key point: Church involvement in the public policy arena helped turn the tide on AB 2943, proposed legislation that would have outlawed all counseling and therapy to address unwanted same-sex attraction and homosexuality. Likewise, preserving clients’ rights and religious liberty in the future will require an involved and engaged church.

All the articles in this series are available here.

Last time we highlighted the good news that AB 2943, a proposed ban on pro-heterosexual counseling in California where payment is involved, is dead for this legislative session. Evan Low, author of the bill, pulled it at the last minute. In a statement, Low, himself a homosexual, wrote of how writing AB 2943 was a profoundly personal experience. Serving as an “elected official” at events such as weddings and hosting blood drives and Boy Scout merit badge award ceremonies were all scenarios that reminded him he didn’t quite fit in. In his younger years, finding support and understanding, he indicates in the statement, was difficult. He was “confused” about his feelings of attraction to members of the same sex and “was afraid of what others would think.” He felt “scared, alone, and even suicidal.”

Then, significantly, Low writes, “I wondered if I could change.”

I hid myself and my feelings because I was afraid of what others would think of me. This left me feeling very lost, scared, alone, and even suicidal. I wondered if I could change.
—Evan Low—

Low decided to come out as gay, which, he admits, was “not an easy experience.” Even so, he says, he is thankful his

community embraced me as I was, a gay man. Many fellow members of the LGBT community are not as fortunate and do not have the support I did and have been subjected to the harmful and fraudulent practice of conversion therapy.

Low continued,

I authored Assembly Bill 2943 to ensure a remedy for those who are deceived by this deceptive practice. As the bipartisan bill progressed through the Legislature this year, opposition began to speak out against the legislation. I knew this was an emotionally charged issue, so I spent the past few months traveling up and down the state meeting with a wide variety of faith leaders.

The interactions Assemblyman Low had with religious leaders encouraged him. He went away “feeling hopeful.” Some in the faith community with whom Low talked “denounced conversion therapy and recognized how harmful the practice is while acknowledging it has been discredited by the medical and psychological communities.” Low affirmed his belief that “every person who attended these meetings left with a greater understanding for the underlying reason and intention of this bill to create a loving and inclusive environment for all. However, I believe there is still more to learn.”

Low went on to say,

The best policy is not made in a vacuum and in order to advance the strongest piece of legislation, the bill requires additional time to allow for an inclusive process not hampered by legislative deadlines. With a hopeful eye toward the future, I share with you that, despite the support the bill received in the Assembly and Senate, I will not be sending AB 2943 to the Governor this year. I am committed to continuing to work towards creating a policy that best protects and celebrates the identities of LGBT Californians and a model for the nation to look towards.

It is my obligation as a Legislator to make this difficult decision in the interest of finding common ground. The path towards full equality is a long journey, but a journey best traveled together. I invite you to join me.”

The Road Ahead

Against the backdrop of Assemblyman Low’s action—an action for which, by the way, we are intensely grateful—we must not let down our guard. In the future, and perhaps the very near future, the debate will heat up again. We need to be ready. In the next few weeks, we will examine five ways Christians need to respond. They appear below. In this post we will consider the first of these items.

Be gracious, but also wary, informed, and involved.
Expect similar proposals in the future.
Don’t compromise!
Acknowledge that some therapy and counseling Is beneficial, and support it. Affirm the rights of clients to get whatever therapy, treatment, or counseling they want. Don’t buy “conversion therapy” rhetoric and propaganda.
Stop misrepresenting what the Bible teaches about homosexuality—and stop being taken in by misrepresentations

Please note that the information in the following statement will be prominent in each of the articles we present covering this issue. These are vital facts for Christians to hear, understand, and be able to share.

When we speak of pro-heterosexual counseling and therapy, we are not referring to efforts that have homosexual attractions and activity as their exclusive focus, even though the client’s ultimate goal certainly can be to move from homosexuality to heterosexuality. When a client has other objectives, no competent therapist ever will push the goal of heterosexuality on him or her. Yet when client and therapist agree that heterosexuality is the goal, counseling efforts that achieve it, or that help a client move toward it, focus primarily on the underlying causes of same-sex attraction. These causes often involve deep emotional wounds. When the wounds are addressed, healing occurs over time, and homosexual attraction automatically tends to diminish, often with a corresponding increase in heterosexual attraction. It is in this sense that such counseling is pro-heterosexual. Another important point: Effective counseling never, ever shames or coerces a client.

Experts at choosing words to maneuver for advantage in a debate, LGBT activists use the term “conversion therapy” to demonize and malign all pro-heterosexual change efforts: Sadly,

those who profess to want to protect children from abuse, and relieve their suffering, actively advance legislation whose outcome is just the opposite. Many children want to be cured of same-sex attraction or being transgender. But because activists in our society a) refuse to accept that these are disorders, and 2) therefore, refuse to accept that such therapy can rightly be considered cures, they vigorously seek to outlaw such activities.

Be sure of one thing, whether or not electrical shock is employed is irrelevant. But don’t expect to hear that admission.

In other words, people who seek bans on “conversion therapy” aren’t primarily targeting shock treatments or other really harmful approaches. They are targeting any and all efforts to help people with unwanted same-sex attraction. The Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg expresses it well. After noting that bills like AB 2943 don’t just outlaw harmful techniques, he exposes supporters’ real intent: “When pressed, sponsors [of therapy bans] must admit that they seek to outlaw ordinary talk therapy as well. What these laws and bills target is nothing more or less than a goal: ‘to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.’ This is extraordinary.”

Thus, driving therapy bans is the reality that effective therapy is a threat to gay activists’ narrative. Anyone who has moved from homosexuality to heterosexuality, by his her very existence, counters the notion that gays are “born that way” and cannot change.

A copy of this statement on a single webpage is available here.

1. Be Gracious, but also Wary, Informed, and Involved

While we are indeed grateful for Assembly Member Low’s recent action, we must understand we cannot trust him. Just look at his statement announcing that he’s pulling AB 2943 from consideration. In the quotations below where emphasis appears, it was added. We are citing Low’s own words.

First, Low predictably refers to all pro-heterosexual encouragement, counseling, and therapy as “the harmful and fraudulent practice of conversion therapy.” As we have said previously (here and here), “Gay activists have misrepresented and demonized legitimate counseling approaches (also go here)…[that] help encourage heterosexuality. They have overtaken many professional groups and insist on pro-homosexual counseling regardless of the clients’ desires. The American College of Pediatricians stands out as the rare exception.”

How do we know that Low was referring to “all pro-heterosexual encouragement, counseling, and therapy” when he spoke of it collectively as a “harmful and fraudulent practice”? We know because of what the bill would have done had it become law. It was extremely broad: “The bill prohibits every individual, whether a pastor, clergy, or licensed therapist, from advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts.” It also could have been used to ban certain books, including, some have suggested, the Bible itself. Yet, even if the law wouldn’t have been used to ban the Bible, using it to ban any book at all would be worse than unconstitutional. It would be totalitarian. So would banning therapy!

Second, Evan Low was “heartened” that “[a] number of religious leaders denounced conversion therapy and recognized how harmful the practice is while acknowledging it has been discredited by the medical and psychological communities.” In a future post, we will explore just how dangerous and wrong it is for Christians to buy into the lie that pro-heterosexual counseling “harmful” and wrong.

Third, Assemblyman Low remains “committed to continuing to work toward creating a policy that best protects and celebrates the identities of LGBT Californians and a model for the nation to look towards,” even as he, ironically and deceptively, describes the “underlying reason and intention of this bill” as an effort “to create a loving and inclusive environment for all” (emphasis added).

Former seminary professor Robert A. J. Gagnon said this in a Facebook post about Low’s withdrawing the bill.

Surprising news, an answer to prayer that happened because the church mobilized. My guess is that the combination of potential voter fallout and US Supreme Court developments (recent cases, plus the appointment of Gorsuch and a replacement for Justice Kennedy to come [Kavanaugh]) led to some erosion of support for the bill among legislators, which in turn precipitated the withdrawal. Low is not to be trusted. Imagine Low loosening the noose around the neck of Christians but neither removing the noose nor pulling down the gallows.…Low will draw on the gratitude of the church for his “gracious” withdrawing of the bill this year so that he can get their support for a revised bill that will lay the groundwork for the whole ball of wax. My concern is that next year many Christian leaders will buy the argument that “this is the best you are going to get” and they will support the new bill on that basis. Christian leaders should not support any version of the bill.

Engage!

Dr. Gagnon is right! Note carefully what he said at the beginning of his Facebook post: “Surprising news, an answer to prayer that happened because the church mobilized” (emphasis added). We are reminded of this statement by Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

Christian leaders, as well as rank and file believers themselves, must be involved! If anyone knows this well, Dan Carroll, the Senior Pastor of Water of Life Community Church in Fontana, California, knows it. The top of this post carries a quote from a letter he wrote to Christian leaders in his state. In the same letter, Pastor Carroll indicates that when he saw the threats to religious liberty and the gospel that AB 2943 posed, he felt compelled to speak to the issue publicly at his church. He encouraged his congregants to get in touch with their Assembly Member, Eloise Reyes, and oppose the bill. “This was the first time in 28 years I has ever spoken publicly about politics,” he admits. His efforts bore positive fruit. Assemblywoman Reyes contacted him and requested a meeting to discuss the proposed legislation. Three thousand Californians associated with Water of Life Community Church had reached out to her by phone or email expressing opposition to AB 2943!

Pastor Carroll gladly met with Assemblywoman Reyes and spoke with her for more than an hour. Subsequently, she invited him to accompany her to Sacramento to meet personally with Assemblyman Evan Low to further discuss his bill. He gladly did so. Pastor Carroll writes,

The whole experience has been way out of my comfort zone, but it has shown me that if we get involved, and walk this out thoughtfully and kindly, we can make a huge difference in our state and help stop legislation that undermines our ability to share the Gospel.
—California Pastor Dan Carroll—

Frankly, I was shocked at both Assembly members’ willingness to thoughtfully sit and discuss this bill. Low even agreed to delay the bill, until there were further discussions with the opposition. The whole experience has been way out of my comfort zone, but it has shown me that if we get involved, and walk this out thoughtfully and kindly, we can make a huge difference in our state and help stop legislation that undermines our ability to share the Gospel.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” Moreover, Paul wrote, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how to answer each one.”

Kudos to Pastor Dan Carroll! We need hundreds, even thousands, of pastors like him across America. If you’re a pastor or other church leader, will you be involved?

We also need millions like the members of his church who were responsive to his leadership. Will you do your part?

Liberty’s survival depends on you!

Part 2 is available here.

photo credit: California State Assembly Chamber
photo credit: California Senate Chamber
top image: lightstock.com
photo credit: Robert A. J. Gagnon

Expect Additional Therapy Ban Efforts

Clients’ Rights and Government Wrongs, Part 2

I am committed to continuing to work towards creating a policy that best protects and celebrates the identities of LGBT Californians and a model for the nation to look towards.
—California Assemblyman Evan Low, in the statement he issued on August 31, 2018, explaining that he was withdrawing a bill he authored, AB 2943, which would have banned therapy and counseling for all people wanting to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction—

Key points: LGBT activists will be back in full force to ban any and all therapy typically sought by individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction. Their appeals will be emotional and forceful, no doubt. Yet their words will lack credibility to anyone paying attention to people who’ve left homosexuality and who publicly affirm the changes they’ve experienced. Change is possible! Just ask the people pictured above! All of them are real people, by the way—not actors!

All the articles in this series are available here.

California Assembly Bill 2943, which would have banned all paid pro-heterosexual counseling and therapy for everyone in the state of California, met an unexpected demise on Friday, August 31. In the aftermath of this good news, how should Christians respond? This post is part 2 of a series of articles that seeks to answer this question.

In our introductory article, we recounted what happened with AB 2943 against the backdrop of a growing number of bans nationwide on therapy for minors experiencing unwanted same-sex attraction.
Last time, in part 1, we presented a five-point strategy for Christians and others who want to preserve religious liberty and clients’ rights. We also discussed the first item. Momentarily we will consider the second.

Be gracious, but also wary, informed, and involved.
Expect similar proposals in the future.
Don’t compromise!
Acknowledge that some therapy and counseling Is beneficial, and support it. Affirm the rights of clients to get whatever therapy, treatment, or counseling they want. Don’t buy “conversion therapy” rhetoric and propaganda.
Stop misrepresenting what the Bible teaches about homosexuality—and stop being taken in by misrepresentations.

What Legitimate Therapy Is, and Isn’t

It is critical for people to know what legitimate therapy is and is not. In part 1 we released a statement on pro-heterosexual therapy and counseling and the efforts that are underway to ban it in all its forms. The statement made these six points, among a few others.

Effective therapy for people experiencing unwanted same-sex attraction does not focus primarily on the attraction but seeks to deal with its underlying causes.
These causes often involve deep emotional wounds. When these are addressed and begin to heal, homosexual attraction often decreases, typically accompanied by a corresponding increase in heterosexual attraction.
Effective therapy respects the client’s own desires and objectives. Before therapy begins, therapist and client mutually agree on the goal or goals toward which they will aim.
Effective counseling and therapy never, ever shames or coerces a client.
People working hard to ban “conversion therapy” aren’t primarily interested in banning shock treatments or other coercive and manipulative approaches. Instead, they want to ban all types of change efforts that point people in the direction of heterosexuality. The Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg expressed it well. After noting that bills like AB 2943 don’t just outlaw harmful techniques, he exposed supporters’ real intent: “When pressed, sponsors [of therapy bans] must admit that they seek to outlaw ordinary talk therapy as well. What these laws and bills target is nothing more or less than a goal: ‘to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.’ This is extraordinary.”
Pro-heterosexual change therapy is a threat to the LGBT agenda because individuals who’ve experienced change from homosexuality to heterosexuality are living proof that people aren’t born that way and that change is possible.

Again, you can access a copy of the statement here. Why are these items important to know and understand? Because a tidal wave is coming, and people who love freedom and liberty need to prepare for it.

Among other things, we must realize that ban advocates will be back.

2. Expect Similar Proposals in the Future

Legislation with provisions similar to those in AB 2943 will be introduced in coming months. Evan Low himself indicated this in his statement. Read again the quote at the top from Assemblyman Low. The goal of the homosexual lobby to ban all kinds of pro-heterosexual therapy has not changed. Never mind that these efforts would deny people the freedom to pay for and receive therapy they want! Never mind that therapy bans trample on individuals’ rights in the context of a free market economy! Government has absolutely no business interfering! Where is the tolerance these people claim to uphold?

On April 28, 2018, California pastor Paul Chappell declared,

Politicians have no place telling a counselee what his or her counseling goals should be. If a person is struggling with an issue and wants help, since when does the government get to decide what that help looks like?

In fact, during the hearing in the California Assembly chamber, many people testified that they struggled with sexual orientation issues but that they changed, through counseling, to heterosexual relationships or to their biological gender and were thankful and glad they did. The testimony of these people, however, was completely ignored by our intolerant state legislature. If this bill is passed, it would make it impossible for people like those who gave testimony to receive the help they sought if any money were exchanged in the process.

If any group of people should have been heard and heeded in the debate, former homosexuals should have been! You can read some of the stories of once-gay individuals at www.oncegay.com. Their being ignored says a great deal about the determination of those behind AB 2943. Yes, they will be back, and in full force!

Find living proof that homosexuals can change at www.oncegay.com.

Emotional Propaganda

There’s more. Brace yourselves! Two new movies debunking “conversion therapy” and portraying its horrors are setting the stage for strong emotional appeals against all pro-heterosexual counseling/therapy practices, even legitimate ones.

Yet, even as therapy and counseling to overcome unwanted same-sex attraction is misrepresented, maligned, and even outlawed—right now in 14 states and 45 localities—“U.S. Doctors Are Performing Double Mastectomies On Healthy 13-Year-Old Girls”! The reason? Unbelievably, yet predictably, it’s “gender dysphoria (“transgenderism”)—the girls now identify as boys and therefore want to look like boys.” This is the kind of practice that ought to be outlawed!

We truly live in an upside-down world.

Will you do your part to set it right once again?

top image credit: California Family Council, used by permission

Don’t Compromise!

Clients’ Rights and Government Wrongs, Part 3

Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.
—G. K. Chesterton—

Leftists are not about live and let live. They are about wholesale control. Their movers and shakers see society as their project, and they can change everything and everyone through government and their domination of the culture. There is no live and let live in their bones. In view of all this, it is amazing that so many conservatives, traditionalists and Christians are blind to the hostile, aggressive and unquenchable appetite of the leftist movement. It is chilling to me that they don’t realize this trend is going to continue until there is either a cultural or legal confrontation or the left stamps out all dissent. The left is never satisfied even with winning; they must stomp out the opposition.
—David Limbaugh—

Key point: On the issue of banning therapy that assists people in overcoming unwanted same-sex attraction and homosexuality, compromising with ban-supporters will amount to surrender. Just as we wouldn’t abandon someone who is drowning, we cannot cut off the possibility of therapy from those who want to pursue it!

All the articles in this series are available here.

We are in the midst of a series on attempts to ban therapy that addresses unwanted same-sex attraction. The introductory article examined the large number of bans already in place that prohibit therapy for minors. Parts 1 through 5 either have covered or will cover the following items below. What must Christians do to preserve liberty and freedom? In this post, we’ll see why we must never compromise on this issue.

Be gracious, but also wary, informed, and involved.
Expect similar proposals in the future.
Don’t compromise!
Acknowledge that some therapy and counseling Is beneficial, and support it. Affirm the rights of clients to get whatever therapy, treatment, or counseling they want. Don’t buy “conversion therapy” rhetoric and propaganda.
Stop misrepresenting what the Bible teaches about homosexuality—and stop being taken in by misrepresentations.

An Important Reminder

“Conversion therapy” isn’t what ban supporters say it is! Effective therapy to help clients with unwanted same-sex attraction…

primarily addresses the underlying causes of the attraction, not the attraction itself;
seeks to facilitate healing of any emotional and developmental wounds that might be in the client’s past;
respects the client’s wishes and desires, as therapist and client aim toward mutually-agreed-upon goals;
never shames or coerces a client;
does not involve treatments that are condemned as part of “conversion therapy”; and
is a threat to the narrative that homosexuals cannot change their sexual orientation—because with the help of effective counseling and/or therapy, many homosexuals have!

A longer statement emphasizing these points is available here.

3. Don’t Compromise!

Compromise with LGBT activists is not possible. “Compromise” actually would amount to surrender. Advocates of the gay agenda have demonstrated they have no idea at all what true tolerance means. Specifically, they are threatened by the very people they ignored in the debate over AB 2943.

Ex-gays remain the most discriminated against minority in the country. Yet without the input of former homosexuals on legislation of this nature, all claims of diversity, inclusion, and fairness ring hollow.

Let’s put it another way. Ex-gays remain the most discriminated against minority in the country. Yet without the input of former homosexuals on legislation of this nature, all claims of diversity, inclusion, and fairness ring hollow. Remember that in his statement explaining that AB 2943 would not go to the governor’s desk this year, Evan Low said, “I believe every person who attended these meetings [I held with California’s religious leaders] left with a greater understanding for the underlying reason and intention of this bill to create a loving and inclusive environment for all” (emphasis added).

A Persecuted Minority

Yes, the most maligned minority in the country is the ex-gay community. Michael Brown declares,

Why…can’t the LGBT community accept it when someone says, “I was once out and proud as a gay person; now I’m out and proud as an ex-gay person”? Why, instead, do LGBT’s commonly mock and attack and ridicule those who identify as ex-gay (or ex-trans)?

The reason is simple: If it is possible for someone to change from gay to straight, either through the gospel or through counseling (or both), then the whole “innate and immutable” argument goes out the window. (The same can be said for someone who is ex-trans.)

In other words, one of the foundations of LGBT activism is that “We’re born this way, and we can’t change. Gay is the new black. (Or trans is the new black.) This is who we are. Our sexual identity is as innate and immutable as our skin color.”

That’s why those who say, “I used to be gay, but I’m free today” must be maligned. Their existence must be denied. Their ultimate failure must be assured.

One of the foundations of LGBT activism is that “We’re born this way, and we can’t change.
—Michael Brown—

Squelching the Threat in Whatever Ways Possible

It has become abundantly clear that were LGBT activists to listen to and include former homosexuals in the discussion about therapy bans, this would undermine activists’ core reason for proposing this kind of legislation! We can be grateful that former homosexuals, many of whom say they have been helped by pro-heterosexual counseling and/or therapy, are not giving up. They rightly are demanding a seat at the table.

While not all former homosexuals are Christians, a great many are. They are becoming vocal, as is their right! They’re not only standing up for the truth, they’re also giving the rest of the body of Christ an example to follow. Francis Schaeffer’s words of long ago describe their tenacity and courage. Schaeffer said, “The ‘little man,’ the private citizen, can at any time stand up and, on the basis of biblical teaching, say that the majority is wrong.¹ Few insights could be more important than this one in our day!

The “little man,” the private citizen, can at any time stand up and, on the basis of biblical teaching, say that the majority is wrong.
—Francis Schaeffer—

What Has Evan Low Been Up To—Really?

Daren Mehl is president of Voice of the Voiceless, a group that represents former homosexuals and contends for recognition of their rights. On September 4, 2018, Voice of the Voiceless issued a press release in which Mehl challenged the notion that Evan Low’s withdrawing AB 2943 was the main reason for its demise.

Mehl is keen listener and an astute observer of events and behavior. Moreover, he has an ability to understand what they mean. Of Low’s decision to pull AB 2943, and of his statement announcing the decision (which we have quoted above in part), Mehl said,

I don’t see any evidence of Low traveling up and down the state. Could he please elaborate? Please publish your agenda, the locations, and the people you met with. Why didn’t you post any of these meetings or summaries of the discussions you had on social media? Which faith leaders? Ones that were opposing or supporting the bill? Were you driving around to gather support, or to work across the aisle? I see no evidence of the latter. Low says he was “heartened by the conversations he heard in these meetings” because it ensured that those people he spoke with understood all the “trauma he went through as a child, and the personal reasons why he was pushing this bill.” So in essence, his meetings were not to listen but to sell members of the faith community on how the intention of the bill is to create an inclusive LGBT community as the defacto, only answer to anyone who questions their sexuality. But that’s not inclusive!

I’m not sure Low is in a place that he is willing to learn from our former homosexual community of Christians. The vacuum left by his pride is preventing an entire community from participating in conversations. For example, he has not mentioned once, anywhere, about the formers in the “once gay” community. Until all of our issues with this bill are addressed and the narrative around “conversion therapy” is cleaned up from being the straw-man it is, his efforts will always lead to a weak piece of legislation, one that strong arms people into his own LGBT community identity and lifestyle choices.

By stating the bill requires additional time, Low is committing to bring it right back instead of acknowledging that he simply ran out of time to jam this bill through. He was not expecting the organized and highly engaged church communities and ex-gay community to be so vocal and politically engaged. The evangelicals showed up and it proved too much for the Democrats that he didn’t want to run with it before mid-term elections. In fact, when the hundreds of former homosexuals and members of the faith community showed up in Sacramento to testify, staff at the Capitol remarked they had never seen so many people show up to oppose ANY issue. Low’s path towards “full equality” needs to also include former homosexuals and the rights of individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions and gender identity conflicts to receive the help they desire. Otherwise, his words are simply empty rhetoric.

Are Some Christians and Christian Institutions Caving Already?

Mehl and hundreds of other former homosexuals have taken a stand for their rights and for liberty and freedom. We can rejoice in this, but we must do more. We must follow their example. Thankfully, they are not about to compromise on the issue of therapy and counseling. Unfortunately, certain others in the Christian community apparently already have!

Meet Kevin Mannoia, Chaplain at Azusa Pacific University (APU), a university located in Azusa, California that claims to be “a community of disciples and scholars preparing to impact the world for Christ.”

Over the summer, Low met with Mannoia. Dr. Mannoia apparently was exactly the kind of Christian leader for which Evan Low had been searching. In an article dated September 6, 2018, the editors of Christianity Today reported,

“Some would say this [my decision to pull AB 2943] is crazy,” Low, who is gay and the chairman of the legislative LGBTQ caucus, told The Los Angeles Times. “Why would you pause when you don’t need to, when you’re in the driver’s seat?”

One answer was Low’s relationship with Kevin Mannoia, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and a leader in the Free Methodist Church.

Over the course of the summer, Mannoia met with and developed a relationship with Low. Last week, Mannoia wrote an op-ed for The Orange County Register expressing his opposition to the bill—and to reparative therapy. Low dropped the bill the next day.

The current chaplain of APU was president of the National Association of Evangelicals briefly, from 1999-2001. His tenure was controversial and raised concerns. Fast forward to 2018, when, as Chaplain, Mannoia wrote this in his op-ed:

Mr. Low’s central purpose as I understand it, is one which I and many other Christian leaders can support. Reparative therapy is without evidence as to its efficacy and is inconsistent with Christian living. We support Mr. Low in his opposition to practices that cause harm in people. This is contrary to the nature of the Christian message, which, while calling for change in all people to be oriented toward Christ even at great sacrifice, neither favors nor supports any practice that causes harm.

Failing to Understand and Uphold the Truth

What?? Without evidence? Not so. Here is evidence! Here is additional evidence—a number of personal testimonials regarding change. While not of them involve therapy or counseling, some do. It is irresponsible and wrong to berate all therapy as Kevin Mannoia has done.

Will Mannoia be touted as a spokesperson for all Christians when other therapy-ban proposals are introduced? Don’t be surprised! This is why it is so important for those who disagree with him to speak up and to refuse to budge on therapy-ban legislation. Just as we wouldn’t abandon someone who is drowning, we cannot cut off the possibility of therapy from those who want to pursue it!

Just as we wouldn’t abandon someone who is drowning, we cannot cut off the possibility of therapy from those who want to pursue it!

Perhaps not surprisingly, just weeks after Kevin Mannoia’s op-ed appeared, APU announced it was changing its policy regarding same-sex romantic relationships on campus: Azusa Pacific Removes Ban on LGBTQ+ Relationships, Creates Program for Students.

A Perilous Path

What’s wrong with APU’s new policy? Many things, but here I’ll name four.

First, it equates romantic same-sex relationships with romantic opposite-sex relationships, and the two are not the same. The latter align with God’s design for humanity, and the former are contrary to it.
Related to the first item, APU’s policy upholds a gay identity as a neutral or even a good thing, when in fact it stands in opposition to a believer’s identity in Christ. We highlighted the dangers of attempts to merge these two identities when we discussed the Revoice Conference held in St. Louis earlier this year.
Third, the guidelines assume that the desires involved in same-sex romantic relationships are not sinful as long as they are not acted upon. Just as this isn’t true with heterosexual lust (see Matt. 5:27-28), it cannot be true with homosexual lust, either. But there’s more. Someone might make the point that same-sex attraction isn’t sin—just temptation; and in certain cases, they are right. But setting the stage for same-sex attraction, or to feed it, is sin. It cannot be otherwise. Paul wrote to the Colossians Christians in Colossians 3:5-6, ^{5 “}Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.” It isn’t just sinful acts that incur God’s wrath, but also evil desires! APU’s new policy is fertile ground for these kinds of desires to flourish and grow.
Fourth, is it really that difficult for people to see where this is headed? APU already has accepted the false teaching that same sex relationships can be romantic without being sinful. How much much further can it slide before hitting bottom? Can the school really be that far away from claiming homosexuality itself isn’t sinful?

Do you see what really is at stake? The truth of God’s Word is at stake!

We cannot budge! We cannot compromise!

As Christians, we must uphold the truth. This includes the truth about both therapy and homosexuality!

Next time, we’ll discuss in greater detail the importance of a client’s right to receive the therapy he or she desires. Then, following that, we’ll focus on what the Bible actually says about homosexuality.

Stay tuned!

Update: Posted Saturday, September 29, 2018. Apparently the Board of Trustees at APU is backtracking regarding the new policy change. In a statement issued on Friday, September 29, the Board issued this statement. It says in part,

Last week, reports circulated about a change to the undergraduate student standards of conduct. That action concerning romanticized relationships was never approved by the board and the original wording has been reinstated.

We see every student as a gift from God, infinitely valuable and worthy in the eyes of our Creator and as members of our campus community. We believe our university is the best place for earnest and guided conversation to unfold with all students about every facet of life, including faith and sexuality. We embrace all students who seek a rigorous Christian higher education and voluntarily join us in mission.

We pledge to boldly uphold biblical values and not waiver in our Christ-centered mission. We will examine how we live up to these high ideals and enact measures that prevent us from swaying from that sure footing.

The full statement is available here. This is a developing story, but I wanted you to be aware of this update, since this article carries information about APU released earlier.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture passages have been taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Note:

¹Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1976), 110.

top image: Lightstock

Support Therapy for those Who Want It

Clients’ Rights and Government Wrongs, Part Four

It’s a lie that you can’t find fulfillment and joy after you leave homosexuality—that all you can do is repress parts of yourself and white-knuckle your way through. That’s not what Elizabeth [Woning] and I and many of our friends experience. Yes, there are some people who seek change, don’t find it and are miserable. But for many of us, that’s not the story at all.
—Ken Williams, a former homosexual and co-leader of Equipped to Love, a ministry seeking to help people heal from sexual wounds and brokenness—

Key points: The idea that homosexuals cannot change is grounded in the false notion that they have been “born that way.” Moreover, when Christians deny the validity of counseling or therapy to help same-sex attracted individuals—especially Christians—overcome unwanted homosexual tendencies, they effectively are denying the power of God to use such an approach to facilitate change. God is not so limited.

All the articles in this series are available here.

In 14 states and 45 localities in the United States, therapy to help clients overcome unwanted same-sex attraction has been banned, by law, for all minors. Having called such therapy pro-heterosexual therapy, we must be crystal clear about what we mean. Effective therapeutic approaches to address unwanted same-sex attraction are pro-heterosexual in the sense they seek to address the underlying causes of same-sex attraction and homosexuality. In other words, they don’t directly address homosexuality itself, or we might say they address homosexuality indirectly by focusing on factors that could have triggered same-sex attraction. When these factors, which often involve emotional and developmental wounds, are competently dealt with, healing begins. With healing, the homosexual attraction often tends to diminish, and heterosexual desires very well may increase.

Effective therapy never shames clients. Instead, therapists respect them and their autonomy. Therapist and client work together to achieve mutually-agreed-upon goals.

Because counseling and therapy to address same-sex attraction often are effective, they are a threat to the LGBT narrative that gay people are “born that way” and cannot change.

Because this kind of therapy often is effective, it is a threat to the LGBT narrative that gay people are “born that way” and cannot change. This is why LGBT activists seek to malign and outlaw all pro-heterosexual change efforts—not just the harmful practices they say characterize what they derisively call “conversion therapy.”

You can read a slightly more detailed statement about pro-heterosexual change efforts here.

Get Ready! An Onslaught of Misinformation and Propaganda Is Coming

As we already have said, in 14 states and 45 localities in the United States, it is illegal to use any pro-heterosexual therapy to help minors overcome unwanted same-sex attraction. The introductory article in our series on therapy bans explored these prohibitions and the growing hostility to clients’ and parents’ rights.

Against the backdrop of bans on therapy for minors, California almost became the first state to ban counseling for everyone. However, Evan Low, the author of the therapy-banning bill (AB 2943), withdrew it at the tail-end of the legislative session. Even so, Low is committed to bringing back similar legislation. What must Christians do to preserve liberty and freedom? Already we’ve examined three of the following five items. Today we’ll explore why we must understand and openly support therapy for those who want it.

Be gracious, but also wary, informed, and involved.
Expect similar proposals in the future.
Don’t compromise!
Acknowledge that some therapy and counseling is beneficial, and support it. Affirm the rights of clients to get whatever therapy, treatment, or counseling they want. Don’t buy “conversion therapy” rhetoric and propaganda.
Stop misrepresenting what the Bible teaches about homosexuality—and stop being taken in by misrepresentations.

4. Acknowledge that some therapy and counseling is beneficial, and support it. Affirm the rights of clients to get whatever therapy, treatment, or counseling they want. Don’t buy “conversion therapy” rhetoric and propaganda.

Sadly, it isn’t just the broader culture that ignores former homosexuals; it’s the church as well! However, as the voices of former homosexuals coalesce and intensify, they increasingly will be heard above politically correct rhetoric. Luis Javier Cruz, a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016, spoke at an anti-AB 2943 rally in June. He affirmed that through that terrifying ordeal in Orlando, he discovered “that Jesus is the only man in my life who would die for me. The government should not dictate to us how we choose to live our lives. If we can celebrate going” into homosexuality, “we should be free to celebrate coming out of it.”

“If we can celebrate going” into homosexuality, “we should be free to celebrate coming out of it.”
—former homosexual Luis Javier Cruz—

Another former homosexual, Drew Berryessa, said, “If AB 2943 were enacted as law when I was a young person, I would not have found hope in my life.”

I have some strong words, but I believe they need to be said. Christians are ignorant, wrong, unwise, foolish, or a combination of these, to deny that some therapy has benefits, and that therapy has benefits for some people. Dr. Joseph Nicoholsi, Sr. was a pioneer in effective therapy to address the root causes of same-sex attraction in his clients.

Christians are ignorant, wrong, unwise, foolish, or a combination of these, to deny that some therapy has benefits, and that therapy has benefits for some people.

Celebrating Change

Dan, a 16-year-old client of Dr. Nicolosi’s, described some of the benefits of the therapy he received.

My OSA (opposite-sex attraction) is a lot stronger, definitely. It’s to the point where my SSA was when I started therapy; that’s where my OSA is now. It, like, switched. The more l got myself thinking about what the SSA was all about, and what it was based on, the stronger the OSA got. I don’t have a girlfriend yet but female images can get me aroused, like the gay guys used to. I know I can get married some day, which was out of my mind before.

Another client, John, said,

My name is John; I pursued therapy with Dr. Nicolosi because my sexual life needed special attention and I wanted the best I could find. I am now 40 years old and was in reparative therapy for just over two years.…

I would advise anyone struggling with SSA [same-sex attraction] to give therapy a try. It doesn’t hurt to try out three sessions and at the beginning, don’t really worry too much about focusing on SSA, BUT FOCUS ON THE HURT AND THE SSA WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF IN SOME WAY. You will be more healthy. Focus on improving your overall health. Again, just work on places where you need healing and the rest with take care of itself. I was NOT attached to results, and improvement happened in regard to SSA in an awesome way I could not have imagined. Things are not perfect but I have confidence for the future and a groundedness. I am continuing to heal and learn at a more deep level. I’m more in touch with my true authentic self and deepest desires. I have come a long way and am excited about the future.

Dr. Nicolosi passed away in 2017, but his son, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, Jr., continues his work.

Meet Stephen Black

Stephen Black, who heads First Stone Ministries, uses a pastoral counseling model to help those wishing to overcome same-sex attraction achieve their goals. The approach emphasizes a relationship with Jesus Christ and the transformation He brings to those who come to Him for salvation and forgiveness of sins. Black, a former homosexual himself, has been involved in this type of ministry for many years. A year ago he published Freedom Realized: Finding Freedom From Homosexuality & Living a Life Free From Labels. More recently, in July of 2018, he published a report on the effectiveness of his ministry. One hundred eighty-five former clients who had received help from First Stone during a period of of 25 years (1990-2015) were surveyed.

In the report, Black writes,

Our survey yielded results about the reality of change that were more promising than I had believed possible. The outcome revealed that not only do people change, but they also can find lasting freedom. It’s a message that goes untold and unappreciated far too often. This is why I wrote my book Freedom Realized and this full report.¹

Here is one of the survey’s findings. For more, visit this page.

Stephen Black Is not Alone

Additional studies have been conducted on efforts to address same-sex attraction and homosexuality and to overcome these urges in clients’ experiences. The Family Research Council [FRC] analyzed six of these, including Stephen Black’s First Stone Ministries report. FRC states,

“Sexual orientation change efforts” (or SOCE) are efforts to help people with unwanted same-sex sexual attractions overcome those attractions and/or abstain from homosexual behavior. SOCE may include professional therapy or less formal (often religious) counseling. Critics of SOCE make two claims—that it is ineffective, and that it is harmful. Six studies or surveys from 2000 to 2018 are reviewed, all of which show that SOCE can be effective for some clients in bringing about significant change in some components of sexual orientation. Few harms were reported. Older reports, including 600 studies and five meta-analyses, showed the same. One widely-cited report on harms, with a sample selected for that purpose, offered almost entirely anecdotal rather than statistical evidence. These studies make clear that the evidence for the effectiveness of SOCE far outweighs the evidence of its harm.

SOCE [sexual orientation change efforts] can be effective for some clients in bringing about significant change in some components of sexual orientation.
—Family Research Council—

You can download a summary of FRC’s analysis, as well as the full version, from this page.

Blind to the Evidence

Despite such evidence, including testimonies from former homosexuals crediting help and therapy with delivering them from bondage, many Christian leaders are denying the validity of therapy, counseling, and other activities AB 2943 would have outlawed.

Kevin Mannoia is the chaplain at Azusa Pacific University, a Christian school in Azusa, California. In an article he recently wrote, Chaplain Mannoia refuted the notion that therapy has any value at all. We cited this quote in part 3 of our series.

The Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University in Los Angeles, a private Christian university with a conservative reputation theologically, has a position statement on sexual orientation change efforts. Amazingly, it opposes such therapy, in part because of its belief that “there is no adequate scientific evidence that SOCE are effective in changing a person’s same-sex attraction.”

What? Why can’t Biola and its School of Psychology believe studies that indicate therapy is effective? Additionally, why can’t they believe Christians who have experienced the benefits this kind of therapy/counseling in their own lives and testify to it?

Will We Leave People Without Hope?

Dr. Robert Lopez

Dr. Robert Oscar Lopez authored a resolution titled “On Ministry and Counseling to Lead People from Homosexuality to Heterosexuality” and submitted it to the Resolutions Committee for the 2018 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas. The resolution should have been considered and passed, but it was not even allowed to come to the floor of the Convention. Dr. Lopez has strong convictions in favor of pro-heterosexual counseling and therapy for people dealing with unwanted homosexual attraction, if indeed they want such therapy. In particular, he is extremely frustrated, and rightly so, with Christian leaders who denounce the validity of change therapy. If they truly support a ban on such therapy, then these leaders actually

serve the LGBT community, regardless of what they may claim. They want gay people to remain identified with that community, even if they may take on some other name like “same sex-attracted.” They want to block strugglers from identifying as straight so that the gay community can continue to have a large constituency deprived of any exit strategy.

In the article from which the above quote comes, Lopez frequently uses the term “conversion therapy” to refer to legitimate change therapy for those who desire it. It is clear from his piece that Lopez is using the term generically, although he would have done well to avoid this term.

Even so, his points still are well made. To his eternal credit, Lopez understands what a great many other Christian leaders apparently do not. If we don’t encourage Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction to move toward heterosexuality, we effectively are saying they must remain in bondage to their temptations and lusts. This stands contrary to 2 Corinthians 5:17, where Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Moreover, we deny them the possibility of obeying the admonition of Paul to the Colossian believers in Colossians 3:5: “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

If we don’t encourage Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction to move toward heterosexuality, we effectively are saying they must remain in bondage to their temptations and lusts.

The Ominous Implications of Denying the Validity of Counseling and Therapy

Like Dr. Lopez, Stephen Black also comprehends the ominous implications of denying the validity of efforts to alter one’s orientation from homosexuality to heterosexuality. The “gay Christian” movement (on display at the Revoice conference in St. Louis a few months ago) will say things like “the goal isn’t heterosexuality, but holiness,” but then use this as a basis for remaining content with a gay identity. In his First Stone Ministries Effectiveness Survey Report: Freedom Realized, Black writes,

Please pause here and really think for a moment about what the promotion is in the Church from these victim-minded “gay Christians” and their advocates and what they are asking Church leaders to embrace. They are asking us to embrace a belief that God Almighty cannot, or rarely will, change a person’s sexual attractions, desires, and lust. You will soon be surprised by scholarly teachers of the Word of God who are embracing this relativism in sinful unbelief by promoting “gay Christianity.” I adamantly disagree with these highly academically and theologically educated people. In fact, they are truly uneducated in heaven’s transformative power, and it seems that they unknowingly mock the Creator. I want to hope that they are unaware of how offensive this is to many surrendered Christians. They are merging “gay” with Christlikeness as acceptable. It is truly offensive to the sincere “ex-gays,” who have known God’s power to deliver by their many years of faithful surrender to God’s grace for change.²

The truth is that for Christians coming out of homosexuality, the goal is indeed holiness. Holiness doesn’t trump heterosexuality, however. Instead, it includes it—or moving toward it, with God’s help. This is because heterosexuality is part of God’s design.

Next time, we will explore what the Bible really teaches about homosexuality.

Stay tuned!

top image credit: Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash

second image: Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Notes:

¹Stephen H. Black. The Complete First Stone Ministries Effectiveness Survey Report Freedom Realized (Kindle Locations 411-413). Redemption Press.

²Ibid. (Kindle Locations 2010-2017). Redemption Press.

Know and Uphold What the Bible Says About Homosexuality

Clients’ Rights and Government Wrongs, Part 5

Discernment is not a matter of simply knowing the difference between right and wrong, rather it is knowing the difference between right and almost right. I would not give a penny for your “love of the truth” if it is not accompanied with a hearty hatred of error.
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon—

Key point: We in the Christian community cannot effectively oppose therapy-ban proposals if we do not understand what the Bible and nature teach about homosexuality. This doesn’t mean we make our best case in the public square simply by quoting Scripture. It does mean that we must be anchored to God’s truth to effectively contend for it in the culture and society.

All the articles in this series are available here.

Effective therapy that helps clients overcome unwanted same-sex attraction

DOES NOT ever shame, coerce, or force a client into anything.
DOES NOT look anything like the “conversion therapy” ban advocates describe.
DOES address homosexuality indirectly, by focusing on its underlying causes.
DOES seek to facilitate healing of emotional, developmental, and relational wounds that may be a part of the client’s past. When these wounds begin to heal, often clients see their attraction to members of the same sex diminish, and their attraction to members of the opposite sex increase.
DOES respect the client’s wishes and autonomy. Therapist and client work together on mutually-agreed-upon goals.
DOES, by its very effectiveness, threaten the LGBT narrative that homosexuals are “born that way” and therefore cannot change.

You can read a slightly more detailed statement about pro-heterosexual change efforts here.

The War on Therapy

Already, in 14 states and 45 localities in the United States, therapy to help clients overcome unwanted same-sex attraction has been banned, by law, for all minors. In addition, the Eau Claire School District in Board of Education in western Wisconsin voted unanimously on September 24, 2018, to adopt a policy that states the district will not “enter into agreements with health clinics and/or providers that endorse or engage in the practice of conversion therapy.” Thus, now, schools are adopting policies banning therapy.

The introductory article in our series describes this landscape. With AB 2943, California was on track to become the first state to ban pro-heterosexual change efforts for adults as well. Thankfully, this bill was withdrawn by its author, Assemblyman Evan Low, before it reached Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. Perhaps other factors were involved in the bill’s demise as well. Ban advocates, however, will be back in full force. How should Christians respond? This post emphasizes the importance of point 5: Uphold biblical teachings about homosexuality. To do that, we must have clear understanding about what the Bible actually says.

Be gracious, but also wary, informed, and involved.
Expect similar proposals in the future.
Don’t compromise!
Acknowledge that some therapy and counseling Is beneficial, and support it. Affirm the rights of clients to get whatever therapy, treatment, or counseling they want. Don’t buy “conversion therapy” rhetoric and propaganda.
Stop misrepresenting what the Bible teaches about homosexuality—and stop being taken in by misrepresentations.

5. Stop Misrepresenting What the Bible Teaches About Homosexuality—and Stop Being Taken In by Misrepresentations

Confusing the Issue

In the midst of all the misinformation and even propaganda that surrounds us about homosexuality and same-sex attraction, Christians—and Christian leaders in particular—must be very clear about these and related subjects. I’ve heard well meaning pastors say things like this: “I don’t know why we make such a big deal about homosexuality. It’s a sin, but it’s a sin like any other sin. Why, I rank homosexuality right up there…with gluttony!” Comments like these confuse and mislead people. You’ll see why as our discussion unfolds.

Many other well-meaning but damaging statements about homosexuality could be cited here, but let’s consider just two more.

Misleading Statement #1: Heterosexuality does not get you to heaven, so how could homosexuality send you to hell?

When he was interviewed by David Eisenbach in 2008, well-known pastor Tim Keller asked this rhetorical question. “[H]eterosexuality does not get you to heaven…. So, how in the world could homosexuality send you to Hell?”

Let me be clear—Rev. Keller does believe that homosexuality is a sin. He makes this plain in the same interview. Even so, his widely quoted statement leaves one to wonder. Rev. Keller explains that a person goes to hell because of Pharisaism or self-righteousness—an insistence on being one’s own savior. Here is the immediate context of Keller’s comment. A You Tube video that includes this portion of the interview is available here.

First of all, heterosexuality does not get you to heaven. I happen to know this [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER/CLAPPING]. So, how in the world could homosexuality send you to Hell? And actually…uhhh…The Bible…Listen…..This is…this is true. Jesus talks about greed 10x more than he talks about adultery, for example. Now, one of the problems Christians have here is partly…let’s be nice to Christians. You know when you’re committing adultery. I mean you don’t say, ‘Ohhh, you’re not my wife’ [AUDIENCE LAUGHTER]. I mean you know when you are committing adultery. But, almost nobody knows when they’re greedy. Nobody admits…thinks they’re greedy. You know cause everybody is comparing yourself to other people and so, it’s a frog in the kettle kind of thing. Ahhh….however, the fact of the matter is…the Bible is much harder on greed/materialism. It’s a horrible sin, terrible sin. Will greed send you to Hell? No! What sends you to Hell is self-righteousness – thinking that you can be your own savior and lord. What sends you to heaven is getting a connection with Christ because you realize you’re a sinner and you need intervention from outside. That’s why it is very misleading actually to say, even to say, ‘Homosexuality is a sin’ because most people…Yes, of course homosexuality is a sin because greed is a sin, because all kinds of things are sins. But what most Christians mean when they say that and certainly what non-Christians think they hear when they hear that is ‘If you’re gay, you are going to Hell for being gay’. It’s just not true. Absolutely not true.

I have some questions for Rev. Keller. If a murderer dies in his sins, does he or she go to hell for being a thief? If an adulterer dies with his or her adultery unconfessed, does that individual go to hell for being an adulterer?

Scripture Is Very Clear

The following Scripture passages are quite clear, and they’re completely unambiguous about what happens to an unrepentant homosexual when he or she dies as well.

^{1 Corinthians 6:9}Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Note: Please keep this passage in mind, because we will return to later in this post.
^{Galatians 5:19}Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).
^{Ephesians 5:3}But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; ⁴neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. ⁵For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷Therefore do not be partakers with them (Eph. 5:3-7).
^{Colossians 3:5}Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. ⁶Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. (Col. 3:5-6).
^{Jude 5}But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. ⁶And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; ^⁷as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. ⁸Likewise also these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries (Jude 5-8).
^{Revelation 21:8}But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death (Rev. 21:8).
^{Revelation 21:27}But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 21:27).
^{Revelation 22:14}Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. ¹⁵But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie (Rev. 22:14-15).

You can find all of these passages displayed online on one page here.

Of course, it is true that that the deciding factor for entrance into heaven is whether or not an individual has repented of sins, trusted Christ as Savior, and acknowledged Him as Lord. This truth does not, however, mean that when a person dies without Christ he won’t go to hell for being a sinner. He absolutely will!

Further Confusing the Issue

Elaborating, explaining, and further confusing the issue, Keller also said this:

We would say homosexuality is not the original design for sexuality. Therefore, it’s not good for human flourishing. We want people to do things that are good for human flourishing.We want people to do things that are good for human flourishing. But that’s not what sends you to heaven or Hell. Now, there…maybe we ought to talk about that [NERVOUS LAUGHTER]. What sends you to heaven or Hell really has to do with your faith in the Gospel which is that you can’t….uhhh…be your own savior through your performance and your good works.

Upholding God’s Design

It’s a fact that heterosexuality doesn’t get anyone into heaven. Nevertheless, homosexuality is not on par with heterosexuality. Heterosexuality is a part of God’s design for humanity, and homosexuality stands in defiance of it. It is difficult to overstate this point.

Heterosexuality is a part of God’s design for humanity, and homosexuality stands in defiance of it.

Human flourishing is a part of heterosexuality, but not all of it. Christians are right to uphold heterosexuality as the norm and the ideal. Moreover, they are right to uphold it as a goal for everyone who is not experiencing it.

Christians are right to uphold heterosexuality as the norm and the ideal. Moreover, they are right to uphold it as a goal for everyone who is not experiencing it.

In the church and among Christians in other contexts, no one experiencing same-sex attraction ever should be shamed. At the same time, neither should he or she be encouraged, or even be told it’s OK, to embrace a homosexual or gay identity along with a Christian one. Some believers with same-sex attraction may not ever be able to overcome homosexual feelings, and it is a powerful and liberating truth that the Holy Spirit can and will supernaturally help them refrain from acting on those desires. Still, Christians struggling with homosexual feelings must never be satisfied to remain with or to embrace them. A gay identity and a Christian identity cannot coexist!

A gay identity and a Christian identity cannot coexist.

The Maligning of Heterosexuality

We do not have to guess where a “merger” of a gay and Christian identities in the thinking of Christians will take the church. Even if celibacy is currently upheld for same-sex-attracted believers as the right path, embracing a gay identity is a clear step in the direction of taking a blatantly rebellious posture before God—that of embracing the anti-biblical teachings that homosexual relationships are normal and healthy, and that God approves of them.

Misleading Statement #2: Godliness is not heterosexuality.

Beware! Heterosexuality is being implicitly downplayed and even maligned by leaders in the “gay Christian” movement. I examine some of the problems of this movement in my post about the Revoice Conference, which was held July 26-28, 2018, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Ed Shaw, a pastor in the United Kingdom, is same-sex attracted. He believes in celibacy for same-sex attracted Christians, but he also has a conviction the church needs to renounce its belief, however unconscious, that “godliness is heterosexuality.” Tellingly, Rev. Shaw’s vehicle for conveying his encouragement to the church in this case was and is The Gospel Coalition.

Pastor Tim Bayly warns the church about falling for this kind of rhetoric. (Footnotes in Bayly’s statements here are deleted for smoothness and readability, but you can examine the original article here).

Context is everything in interpreting the sentences and words of Scripture. Context also matters in coming to understand the sentences and words of the Coalition’s headline, “Godliness Is Not Heterosexuality.”

For two decades, homosexualists have been hard at work gaining the sympathy of middle America. Unsurprisingly, a growing number of evangelical church members want the church to make its peace with this leviathan that is leaving the evangelical establishment looking clueless, brain-dead, passé, insensitive, outmoded, dowdy, fusty, musty, unloving, and just plain stupid.

Just a few weeks before the Obergefell ruling, the Pew Research Center announced its latest figures on the support of homosexual marriage, categorized by age or generation. The numbers were clear. There is now an overwhelming support for homosexuality and homosexual marriage across North America, but what was even more noteworthy in the Pew results was the rapidity of the change in convictions.

For instance, take Millennials (those born after 1980): in 2005, 49 percent supported homosexual marriage, but just ten years later the support had grown to 70 percent—a gain of more than 20 percent.

In a nation in which 70 percent of its citizens claim Christian faith, such a reversal of conviction about such a foundational moral command of Scripture is astounding. Pastors would have to be quite obtuse not to see the importance of this change for our teaching, preaching, and pastoral care. If we’re going to continue to have the ears and hearts of our families and congregations, we must realize our credibility problem is real and growing. And who better to help us adjust to present realities than [Ed Shaw,] a gay Christian pastor from the United Kingdom who wrote the book on it, titled The Plausibility Problem: The Church and Same-Sex Attraction?

The men of the Gospel Coalition saw the dwindling support for Scripture’s condemnation of homosexuality and felt it was time to distance themselves from their former position. They didn’t want evangelical Millennials to judge them hardline. Kinder, gentler was needed and the Gospel Coalition had it covered.

But in declaring that “godliness is not heterosexuality,” they were too cute by half. Which is to say, they lied.

Godliness is living as the sex God made us and loving the opposite sex, and this is what normal people mean when they speak of “heterosexuality.”

Godliness is living as the sex God made us and loving the opposite sex, and this is what normal people mean when they speak of “heterosexuality.”
—Pastor Tim Bayly—

Brothers and sisters, we must be done with hiding God’s truth behind mincing phrases and half-truths. We may be so self-deceived that we can’t see it ourselves, but everyone else sees and understands our shame at Scripture’s repeated condemnations of androgyny, effeminacy, sodomy, and lesbianism.

We need to be reminded in forthright terms what the Bible teaches about homosexuality. This teaching needs to guide what we as Christians think and say about it, as well.

What does the Bible teach? You can start with this short article, which I’ve reproduced below.

Is Homosexuality Like All Other Sins?

Certainly every sin is serious. Just one sin, by itself, is enough to render an individual guilty before God and unable to have fellowship with Him. In other words, it only takes one sin—any sin—to make an individual worthy of hell. Also, all human beings are born into sin and have a sin nature. In Jeremiah 17:9 the inspired prophet wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?”

Even so, not all sins are equal in weight. In John 19:10-11, Jesus is standing before Pilate, and this exchange occurs:

Christ Before Pilate by Mihály Munkácsy, 1881

¹⁰Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin” (emphasis added).

Sexual Sins Are Very Serious Sins

Furthermore, Paul indicated that sexual sins are more serious than sins committed outside the body. He wrote,

¹⁸Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:18-20).

Homosexuality Is Unique Among Sexual Sins

Beyond this, homosexual acts are unique among sexual sins. In Romans 1:26-27, Paul indicated homosexuality was “against nature” or “unnatural.” By contrast, heterosexual intercourse outside of marriage, though sinful, is natural.

Saint Paul, by Bartolomeo Montagna, 1481

Dr. James Boice says that while we need God’s Word to know that heterosexual sex outside of marriage is wrong, we don’t even need it to know homosexuality is wrong: “A look at one’s sexual apparatus should convince anyone that practices of this kind are not…meant to be.”¹ Yet the Bible still informs us, so we need to heed its warning.

By the way, be aware that in Scripture, homosexuality isn’t an identity, but an activity.² God freely forgives repentant homosexuals, just as He pardons repentant thieves, adulterers, and other sinners.

There’s more. Paul wrote that those who continue to rebel against God are without excuse because they deny what they know intuitively about God and worship His creation rather than Him. So “God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves” (Rom. 1:24). Paul went on to describe homosexual activity among women and among men but also named other sins (see vv. 18-32).

“God…Gave Them Up”

Dr. Boice observes that people tend to think of God’s giving people up to their desires (see v. 24,26) as being akin to releasing a porcelain pitcher in outer space and letting it float harmlessly away. Not so. It really is like letting go of the pitcher on earth, where gravity causes it to drop to the ground and possibly shatter completely.³ Sin has dire consequences, but through repentance and faith in Christ we can find forgiveness.

Additional Bible Passages that Mention Homosexuality

Six passages in the Bible speak about homosexuality or homosexuals explicitly. Jude 5-7 also is noteworthy, although these verses mention homosexuality by inference. Taken together, the passages are: Genesis 19:1-29; Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 Timothy 1:8-10; Jude 5-7.

The Bible condemns the sin of homosexuality in strong language in both the Old and New Testaments.

Jesus Assumed Heterosexuality as the Norm

Although we have no record of Jesus’ ever mentioning homosexuality, it is significant within itself that He assumed heterosexuality as the norm. For example, He condemned lust and adultery. Moreover, Jesus explicitly affirmed God’s design for marriage in Matthew 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12. Furthermore, He upheld God’s moral law (see Matt. 5:17-20).

His assuming heterosexuality as the norm speaks volumes. It perhaps tells us even more than if He had addressed the issue of homosexuality directly.

Again, you can find this article as a stand-alone piece on this page.

Real Love Tells the Truth

My Christian brothers and sisters, do we really love God? If we do, we will take great care—and even will be willing to take risks—to make sure we don’t misrepresent Him and the truth of His Word. God is love, but He also is holy. He hates sin and must judge it. Homosexuality probably is the sin about which more misinformation abounds than any other.

Here’s a second question. Do we really love people? If we do, we will be more concerned about their getting what they really need than what they want. We will be more concerned about their hearing the truth than about their feeling good. We always must relate to people with grace and kindness, but we also need to understand that real love never overlooks the truth.

The truth of the gospel is both bad news and good news. We can understand just how good the good news is only if we understand just how bad the bad news is.

Let’s love both God and people with authentic love. When we do, we will not overlook the truth, including both the bad news and the good news.

The truth, after all, sets people free, just as it set the Christians in Corinth free. Earlier we cited a portion of what the apostle Paul wrote to them, and we said we would return to those verses.

^{1 Corinthians 6:9}Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

That, for sure, is very bad news; but Paul relayed some good news on the heels of these verses. When we quoted this passage previously, we did not include the next verse. We do so now.

¹¹And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:9-11, emphasis added).

That, my friends, is extremely good news!

In fact, it truly is liberating!

photo credit: Timothy Keller

Notes:

¹James Montgomery Boice, Romans: An Expositional Commentary—Volume 1, Justification by Faith, Romans 1–4, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), 181.

²Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche, eds., The Complete Christian Guide to Understanding Homosexuality: A Biblical and Compassionate Response to Same-Sex Attraction, (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2010), 99.

³James Montgomery Boice, Romans: An Expositional Commentary—Volume 1, Justification by Faith, Romans 1–4, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991), 178-179.