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NEW ORLEANS (BP)--An explosive new study says some gay people can turn straight if they really want to. Robert L. Spitzer, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University who led the study, said he couldn’t estimate what percentage of highly motivated gay people can change their sexual orientation But he said the research "shows some people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that."
Spitzer spearheaded the APA’s 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. At the time, he said homosexuality does not meet the criteria for a mental disorder, and he called for more research to determine whether some people can change their sexuality.
Spitzer, who said he does not offer reparative therapy and began his study as a skeptic, said the research was paid for out of his department’s funds. He conducted 45-minute telephone interviews with 200 people, 143 of them men, who claimed they had changed their orientation from gay to heterosexual. The average age of those interviewed was 43. They answered about 60 questions about their sexual feelings and behavior before and after their efforts to change. Those efforts had begun about 14 years before the interviews for the men and 12 years for the women Most said they had used more than one strategy to change their orientation About half said the most helpful step was work with a mental health professional, most commonly a psychologist. About a third cited a support group, and fewer mentioned such aids as books and mentoring by a heterosexual.
Spitzer concluded that 66 percent of the men and 44 percent of the women had arrived at what he called good heterosexual functioning. That term was defined as being in a sustained, loving heterosexual relationship within the past year, getting enough satisfaction from the emotional relationship with their partner to rate at least seven on a 10-point scale, having satisfying heterosexual sex at least monthly and never or rarely thinking of somebody of the same sex during heterosexual sex. In addition, 89 percent of men and 95 percent of women said they were bothered only slightly, or not at all, by unwanted homosexual feelings. Only 11 percent of the men and 37 percent of the women reported a complete absence of homosexual indicators, including same-sex attraction.
Copyright © 1996-2001 Pastors.com, The Encouraging Word
Paul Wallace
On Monday, February 6, 1995, according to the Chicago Tribune, a Detroit bus driver finished his shift on the Route 21 bus and headed for the terminal. But somehow he took a wrong turn. He didn’t arrive at the terminal at the scheduled time of 7:19 p.m., and a short time later his supervisors started looking for him. Meanwhile the driver’s wife called the terminal and reported her husband might be disoriented from medication he was taking. For six hours, the forty-foot city bus and its driver could not be found. Finally the state police found the bus and driver--two hundred miles northwest of Detroit. The bus was motoring slowly down a rural two lane road, weaving slightly from side to side. The police pulled the bus over, and the driver said he was lost. A police new release later stated, "The driver had no idea where he was and agreed he had made a wrong turn somewhere. Apparently this had not occurred to him during the four hours he drove without finding the bus depot." Unless we confront those who have taken a wrong turn in life, they may never regain their orientation.
Culture War Invades Corporate America: The culture war over homosexuality has moved into the workplace. Millions of employees are being commanded to not just tolerate homosexual behavior, but to respect and even promote it reports the 1/4 issue of Christianity Today. At least 300 of the Fortune 500 companies have included sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination policies. Heterosexual employees who balk at such rules are punished, sometimes severely. John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute says Christians shouldn’t discriminate in terms of sexual orientation, but neither should they be forced to deny their faith. (Christianity Today 1/04)
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Mega Church Growth Slows: A new study by Scott Thumma, Hartford Seminary, indicates that after 20 years of rapid growth, churches of more than 2000 members, growth has markedly slowed. There are approximately 500 such mega churches in the U.S. and nearly all have a conservative theological orientation. The research reveals the following risks and trends:
Members are growing dissatisfied with contemporary music, mini-dramas and sermons filled with life-lessons.
· Some attendees are feeling lost in the crowds and want something smaller and warmer.
· Saddleback Community Church, Orange county, is considering replacing pews with tables and chairs to help worshippers feel more connected.
· Small groups are being emphasized and some observers suggest mega churches will eventually decentralize to the point that home groups will replace weekly central worship.
· Some, such as Calvary Chapel, have started several daughter churches, essentially becoming quasi-denominations. There ar...
Gay Benefits: Of the nation’s top 500 U.S. companies, 95% now offer anti- discrimination policies based on sexual orientation and 70% offer domestic partner benefits for same-sex couples. In ’00, the numbers stood at 51% and 25% respectively. (Business Week 12/15/03)
LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters Life) - Looking for safe excitement? November is fig month at the Dull Men’s Club, a place in cyberspace for men who feel "born to be mild" and enjoy watching grass grow and photographing garden sheds.
"Figs are good for you. High fiber and high nutritional value ... fat-free, sodium-free, cholesterol-free ... not to mention the great taste. And they are portable," enthuses the Dull Men’s Club Web site.
…an analysis of baggage carousels at 376 airports globally discovers that 44.8 percent rotate counterclockwise, 29 percent clockwise. The site also reveals the reason for that orientation.
"Many people - corporate executives and celebrities I’ve heard about - enjoy doing the dull things," the site’s author Lee Carlson… told Reuters.
"It’s an ordinary subject taken to extremes. Here’s one: take a bucket, fill it with water, put in some wood, and watch it warp."
For the Dull Men’s Club, watching water freeze is stimulus enough, as is discovering the history of soap.
One of the more adventurous pastimes for members is "Binge Flossing" - partly because it is "an inexpensive thing to do on a date."
Visiting museums is a favorite dull men’s activity, and the site contains references to a plethora of resources, from safety razors through aprons to water hydrants, via a comb museum in China and Jerusalem’s Tax Museum.
"One of the museum’s purposes was to be a place to learn about the routine work of the tax department. Wow ... it doesn’t get much better than that," enthuses the site.
Stephen Boissoin, is the director of the Alberta Youth Outreach Foundations “Cave” youth centre initiatives. In 2002, he was investigating funding opportunities for his ministry on the Alberta Human Rights Commission’s website. “To my disbelief” he states, “I came across a page that highlighted an initiative that the A.H.R.C. funded. This initiative stated that the gist of its agenda was to teach that homosexuality was “Normal, Necessary, Acceptable and Productive”. Boissoin says he “absolutely disagreed with this untruthful, dangerous and scientifically baseless agenda” and that he also “felt that as a taxpayer, and indirect funder of this initiative through my tax dollars, I had a right to communicate my opinion (Give a reason for the hope that was in him) which is reflective of my religious beliefs. In an attempt to do so, I decided to share my opinion at large by submitting letters to the editor in newspapers.
He wrote to the Red Deer Advocate in 2002 to complain about the presence of literature about homosexuality in school libraries. He wrote: "From kindergarten class on, our children, your grandchildren are being strategically targeted, psychologically abused and brainwashed by homosexual and pro-homosexual educators," "Your children are being warped into believing that same-sex families are acceptable." In that letter Boissoin called into question gay-rights curriculums permeating the province’s educational system. He said: “Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights”.
Darren Lund, an assistant professor at the University of Calgary, whose intense interest is advancing “social justice” causes submitted a complaint to the Alberta Human Rights commission charging that Boissoin contravened the Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act in the area of “Publications and Notices” on the grounds of “sexual Orientation.”
A three day hearing was convened this week before the commission. Should Boissoin lose the hearing he will be forced to pay $5000 to Darren Lund personally, and another $2000 to the pro-gay rights group EGALE Canada. An officer of the Human Rights Commission indicated that in publishing his letter, Boissoin had gone against the “position” of the commission.
Mr. Boissoin said that if he is found guilty, and not able to direct the fine to groups like Exodus International, which works with homosexuals attempting to leave the gay lifestyle, or an AIDS/HIV hospice, he will have no problem going to jail but will not apologize for what he wrote
When people consider the work of Apologetics, they confuse the word with its contemporary connotation of being sorry. It almost sounds like one is sorry for professing Christianity.
“Respected scientific studies show that homosexuals can change their sexual orientation”
o The Kinsey Institute reports that 84% of the homosexuals they studied had shifted their sexual orientation at least once; 32% of them reported a second shift, and 13% reported five changes, during their lifetime, in their sexual orientation.
Wood and Dietrich. The AIDS Epidemic (Portland: Multnomah, 1990), p. 238.
• After treating more than 100 homosexuals, Dr. Irvine Bieber concluded that, “a heterosexual shift is a possibility for all homosexuals who are strongly motivated to change.”
o Bieber, Irving. Homosexuality: A Psychoanalytic Study (NewYork: Basic Books, 1962), p. 318-319.
• Drs. Wood and Dietrich confirm that, “all studies which have attempted conversions from homosexuality to heterosexuality have had significant success.”
o Wood and Dietrich. The AIDS Epidemic (Portland: Multnomah, 1990), p. 238.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the...
'Philadelphia 11' fighting PA "hate crimes" law
Attorneys for 11 Philadelphia-area Christians arrested and charged with felonies after protesting at a homosexual event will announce new developments in the case tomorrow and will show a videotape of the controversial arrests.
As WorldNetDaily reported, on October 10, the group was "preaching God's Word" to the crowd of people attending the outdoor Philadelphia OutFest event and displaying banners with biblical messages.
After a confrontation with a group called the Pink Angels, which was described by protesters as "a militant mob of homosexuals," the eleven Christians were arrested and spent a night in jail.
Eight charges were filed against them, including three felonies and five misdemeanors. The charges were: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct, and obstructing highways.
The ethnic intimidation charge stems from Pennsylvania's "hate crimes" law – to which the newest "victim" category of "sexual orientation" was recently added. The protesters say a Philadelphia police officer told them that because they were on a public sidewalk they were permitted to move freely through the event. A few minutes later, however, they were arrested and removed. (Sermon Audio)
WHAT WILL THEY SAY?
A minister, a priest and a rabbi die and go to heaven for orientation. They are all asked, "When you are in your casket, and friends, family, and congregants are mourning over you, what would you like to hear them say?"
The minister says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a wonderful husband, a fine spiritual leader, and a great family man."
The priest says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful teacher and a servant of God who made a huge difference in people's lives."
The rabbi replies, "I would like to hear them say, 'Look, he's moving!'"
