Here is the latest news concerning ex-gay issues coming out of Focus on the Family’s e-mail updates. I would not for a moment advocate that P-Fox should not be allowed to voice their concerns before their elected representatives, but the perspective they present – ex-gay theology with an attempt at clinical/scientific reasonings – is so faulty that while sincerely believed is deceptive and wholly unsubstantiated. It reminds me of how the Mormons advocate to those they are evangelizing that they are orthodox Christian, but with another testament of Jesus Christ. Unbeknownst to the evangelizee, their theology is any thing but orthodox Christian, even though they use the same words. Someone, according to ex-gay ideology, is “healed and changed” when they stop engaging in certain behaviors. “I don’t do this and do do this, therefore God has healed me of my homosexuality.” Plus, along with behavior change, there is a mindset change. “Even though I still have homosexual desires, I do not call myself homosexual because God created me heterosexual, as He has with every human. I just have to have right belief.”
I know that some homosexuals engage in the same kind of mind-bending justifications of what I consider just as harmful arguments and behaviors, they are not lobbying Congress to remove civil rights from a whole group of people. I know according to current and predominate Fundamentalist beliefs that in trying to stop “gay-rights” they are in fact doing God’s work and saving our nation. I disagree. If civil rights are denied to one group by those in power, civil rights can be denied any group when not in power. Anyway, P-Fox is lobbying Congress that their perspective needs to be heard and implemented, for the sake of our country, families, and God’s way of life. I believe their theological and scientific arguments are severely flawed! I believe that the gay community must take the religious-rights’ anti-gay and prohibitionist political work seriously, because if they don’t, they will wake up one morning being forced back into the closet with no recourse. Aside from the political, all one has to do is talk to the thousands of people who have left ex-gay ministries to know that something is not right, and it isn’t the individual and it isn’t God. To the people who are harmed, not because God does a work in their lives, but because of what ex-gay ideology erroneously promises, we have to take the anti-gay prohibitionists seriously!
Here is the news article from Focus on the Family:
“Ex-Gays Lobby on Capitol Hill
By David Brody, Washington, D.C., correspondent
SUMMARY: Group brings message — “You can change” — to lawmakers.
People who have left homosexuality went to Washington, D.C., recently to make Congress aware of the harassment they face.
Former homosexuals went to Capitol Hill on Thursday to make their voices heard. The group, which is called Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (P-FOX), said it is about time its message is heard.
“We’re here,” said Regina Griggs, who heads P-FOX. “We’ve changed. People can change. Please protect our right to choose.”
Griggs said the group believes if there are hate crimes laws to protect homosexuals, there should also be legislation concerning the harassment of ex-gays.
“We are discriminated against,” Griggs said. “What part of these laws protects us?”
But the larger point the group is making, is that homosexuality is a choice — and lawmakers need to hear that message, too.
“People do need to know the truth,” Griggs said. “They do not take the time to look for the truth, nor do they ever ask our opinion. If you’re going to judge homosexual issues, shouldn’t you talk to former homosexuals?”
It’s a subject that doesn’t receive much attention on Capitol Hill, according to Randy Thomas, a spokesman for Exodus International — a Christian group dedicated to helping former homosexuals.
“This is a very real, complex issue and there’s more to it than what the gay elite is sharing,” Thomas said. “The more that former homosexuals speak up, not only do we bring honor to the Lord, we bring the whole discussion to a new level,” Thomas said.
The trip to Washington, D.C., is a big first step. Organizers say it’s the first time, as a group, that ex-gays have lobbied Congress.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: The P-FOX Web site contains more
http://www.pfox.org/
For more information about people who have come out of homosexuality, we recommend: “Portraits of Freedom,” by Bob Davies with Lela Gilbert:
http://www.family.org/resources/itempg.cfm?itemid=2707&refcd=CE03ECZL&tvar=no
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement by Focus on the Family of the sites’ content..)”
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Life just continues on in the City.
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GTS graduation ceremonies were today. Very nice! The Dean’s Latin had a little to be desired, but everything seemed to run smoothly and the ceremonies were quite nice. The same ceremonial from the mid-1800’s.
Today, Chris, Leighton, Ron, Chris & Michael were all up in Hoffman 5. This was the last I will spend time with them. It will be so odd having this group of seniors no longer around. I’ve grown very fond of the Seabury Heights’ guys. We had a great time talking up everything about he seminary, perhaps a bit too much gossiping, and just talking about life. I’m am up way too late. By the grace of God I will be able to sleep in a bit so that I won’t be overly tired for studying. I haven’t a choice.
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I’m very tired. I’m not sure why. Ashton and I roamed around the east village for quite a while last night. Maybe the extended walking tired me out. It is funny how before my illness I could walked 80-90 blocks (from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine back down to the seminary) and be fine, but now, after my illness, walking very far truly tires me out. I’m going to die when I start running again. Anyway, maybe that is why I am so tired today. I hope so.
Baccalaureate is in a few hours – Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I’m going to miss the seniors a lot – Chris, Leighton, J.R., especially. Dion will be heading back to Ohio. I should have been with him in this year’s senior class – we went through the process together. I think it odd to imagine being finished with school and headed for a ministry job if I had completed this whole process as I should have. Now, I find myself in a position where I may have to do things differently once again. I have always traveled my own road, not intentionally, though. It just seems like I end up doing things differently than everyone else. It may be that way again if I don’t start CPE in a couple weeks. I will experiencing everything differently, once again. As Roy says, I have no idea what the future will hold!
Back to the seniors – though I have not been able to spend as much time with them as I would have liked, being sick for 6 weeks does that, (I never did make it up to David and Richard’s for the Sunday night Six Feet Under get-together) the seminary will not seem the same. That undercurrent of Anglo-Catholicism that runs throughout the seminary (“current and future deans take note”), will now be left up to others, possibly myself included. Claire will be at St. Mary’s the Virgin. I don’t remember who will be at St. Ignatius. John will be at St. Thomas. I don’t know who will be at St. John’s in the Village. Maybe I will end up at St. Paul’s, Carroll St. in Brooklyn. Different than Ascension. I’m not at all discouraged by not being accepted for field placement at Ascension. It will be a great place for Tim, and for some reason I am drawn to St. Paul’s. Lord, your will be done – for CPE and for field placement!
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I do not want to study today! I have to. Too many exams coming up. Next week, my make-up mid-term for NT and final for OT. Today is Baccalaureate and Desmond Tutu is speaking. Roy gave me one of his tickets to the chapel, so I can see him speak in person rather than on a video screen in the overflow room. I saw his speak at Oberlin for commencement one year Amy Burrows was still working there. I think it was before Apartheid fell. I just don’t want to study!
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As Roy said, there is wisdom in numbers. Alon (the GTS Chaplain) has asked me several times whether I thought CPE this summer (which begins in two weeks) was a good idea. She is supportive of whatever I decide as long as it is a thoughtful decision. Today, however, Bill Doubleday talk with me and he suggested I consider postponing it until next year. One comment he made I had not thought of – if I do CPE this summer and I am spent at the end, how is that going to affect the beginning of class and the whole semester. I could be a huge disadvantage at the beginning of the semester. Then, during lunch, Nancy (who recently ended her term on the Commission for Ministry and is here at GTS for a Trustees’ meeting) asked me how I was doing and my plans for summer. The suggested I postpone CPE for a year. She said that I need to learn self-care now. She also said there was talk at the diocese office that postponement might be a good idea. So, I e-mailed Mary this afternoon and asked here what she thought. Considering MAC being in my blood stream, which my doctor said is a sign of a immune system disfunction, being in a hospital may not be a good idea until they really figure out what is wrong with me. Anyway, Mary said that she talked with Bishop Grew and they thought it might be a good idea to postpone CPE.
I am really torn. There are a lot of things I could do this summer – take classes at Union or Fordham, work for Anne and earn a little money, work some in a parish for experience. Yet, all my classmates will be going through CPE and I will not have that common experience with them! Right now, that means a lot to me! Being out of commission for six weeks already pulled me out of their experience. I could sense it during final exam week. While I’m glad I avoided the stress by having much of my work extended into the coming month, there is part of me that feels left out of their common experience.
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I took the Patristics (Church History) final this morning. I got up early to study for a final few hours. I thought I was pretty set, with the understanding that another full day would have made all the difference in the world. It would have been a moot point, however. The way the final was structured, I didn’t really study the right things anyway. Such is life, I suspect. At this point, I really don’t care. I want to get everything done and over with, and while I do want to do a good job, I am not going to kill myself. There are far more important things in the world than knowing the Council of Ephesis in 431 was concerned with the heresy of Euthycianism. Not that Euthycianism isn’t a good thing to know, but in the grand scheme of things, right now it is not high of the list of important things. Anyway, my perspective has changed a lot since my illness.
I saw myself heading towards burn out, great dependence on my own effort, an unwillingness to give things over to God, and inability to have right priorities – which should always be people-centered first and for most. I’m glad for the illness, if for only that reason. The stress and anxiety that leads to nothing more than illness (emotionally and then physically) is simply not worth it.
I am very glad for my classmates, who are truly finished. I still have two mid-terms, a final, two exegesis, and a short preceptorial paper to finish. I just hope I can finish most of it before CPE.
I had another follow-up appointment with my doctor. They took nine viles of blood this time – a record for me. So, the MAC in my blood shouldn’t be there and now is the process of finding out why it is.
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So, all day yesterday I researched and answered the first essay of my New Testament take-home final with the requisite five pages filled up. I’m sitting in the classroom waiting for our in-class identification exam and listening to some of my fellow classmates talk about their answers. They certainly didn’t sound like my answer at all! I got home, asked my roommate Nick whether I was using the right copy of the exam – you see, our professor gave us an example a few days earlier of what the actual exam would be like. I answered the wrong stupid question! I mean, it was interesting and I learned a lot, but now I have to go back and do all the work to answer the CORRECT question and then proceed to the second essay. At least I didn’t answer everything incorrectly! What a doofus!
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I just got back from a group study session for the OT2 final. Even thought, as of Friday everyone will be completely finished and I will still be working through May to get caught up, I am so glad I am not were they are. I don’t know how they are holding up with the compression of finals into basically 3 days. Especially with the NT2 final, which is incredibly comprehensive and very difficult. This place is not developmental at all!
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As I write my two essays for my New Testament take-home final, I watch out the window from time to time. I am amazed. Construction work is going on down below that blocks three of the six one-way lanes on 10th Ave. Both the construction workers, laying new pipe below the road, and the mass of drivers trying to all squeeze through the two completely free lanes, seem to use their limited space to the best of their abilities. All the construction that goes on has to happen in a relatively small space. Back-end loaders, huge trucks haling away slaps of concrete and asphalt, and a good number of workers maneuver and work in what seems to be an impossible space as other trucks and cars fly around them. I’m impresses that the regular vehicles drivers aren’t yelling and screaming and honking. Sometimes the honking is insane.
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