February 8, 2012

Excerpts from The Christian Post article: – “The president of the world’s largest ministry to homosexuals and their families recently attempted to clarify controversial statements he made at a Gay Christian Network conference in Orlando, Fla., including one in which he described gays at the conference as ‘brothers and sisters in Christ.’”

“‘I believe that if a person has accepted the free gift of salvation, then the gift is irrevocable,’ Exodus International President Alan Chambers explained. ‘So, when someone says that they are a born again believer, I address them as a brother or sister in Christ.” Chambers published his comments on his ministry’s website last Friday, weeks after returning from the annual GCN conference. GCN describes itself as ‘a nonprofit ministry serving Christians who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and those who care about them.’”

… “He admitted to the crowd in Orlando that ‘99.9 percent of the people I know have not changed their sexual orientation.’ He said he knows of very few people who go from living a homosexual lifestyle to having no same-sex attraction at all.”

“‘I believe that complete orientation change occurs very rarely,’ he wrote. ‘For us to have integrity, I think it is important to acknowledge this. But for a Christian wanting to live a life in alignment with Christ’s teachings orientation is only one part of a larger picture.’”

Most people, he argued, deal with some form of same-sex temptation for the rest of their lives. And that includes himself. Compared to 20 years ago though, his temptations (related to same-sex attraction) today aren’t the same. But he said, ‘I still have temptations and struggles.’ Nevertheless, he deals with them just like he deals with the other temptations in his life.”

“‘I choose to be faithful to my relationship with Christ and the truth that my Heavenly Father’s creative intent for human sexual expression was for one man and one woman in the bonds of heterosexual marriage,’ he stated. ‘For me, anything else falls short and is to be resisted. Because I experience some level of SSA (same-sex attraction) I monitor what stimuli I receive. The same is true of my relationship with other things that have consumed me in the past from food to materialism. SSA isn’t a greater struggle or more concerning to me than other things in my life. Again, they just are. I guess that is why I have no problem talking about them, admitting them and feeling really great about myself even though I have them. They do not define me.’”

The full text can be found at http://www.christianpost.com/news/exodus-intl-head-calls-gays-brothers-and-sisters-in-christ-69012/.