No Straight Shot – Christianity Today

Christianity Today

There was an interesting article posted on Christianity Today titled “No Straight Shot.“  From the article:

… At the APA’s annual convention in Toronto, where the resolution passed, psychologists Stanton Jones of Wheaton College and Mark Yarhouse of Regent University presented findings from a six-year study of people who went through gay-change programs.

Their research found that more than half of the 61 subjects either converted to heterosexuality or “dis-identified” with homosexuality and embraced chastity.

Yarhouse says more Christian psychologists are providing sexual identity therapy rather than reparative therapy. He recommends “a range of options” to help believers make sense of their sexual and religious identities.

“I don’t want to discourage people from making that attempt [to change orientation],” he said. “But for most of those people, success will not be a categorical shift from gay to straight. The gains will likely be modest, more along a continuum.”

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, said it is wrong to assert that sexual orientation cannot change as a result of therapy.

“That flies in the face of the testimonies of tens of thousands of people just like me,” said Chambers, a married father of two who credits God and counseling for helping him leave a homosexual lifestyle. “That’s not to say that you can flip a switch and go from gay to straight.” …

While psychologists battle this out among themselves, this statement by Alan is an important reminder.  While some don’t find a change in their orientation after pursuing a post-gay path, many find widely varying degrees of it and some find complete orientation change.  Just as it isn’t fair to say that “all” will find a change in their sexual orientation, it’s also equally unfair to say that no one experiences that change in degrees or fully.

I still maintain that it is Christ who is our goal regardless of circumstance (orientation change.) That’s not “new messaging” either. I was told that the first time I met with an Exodus leader in 1992.

If people want to question homosexuality, figure out why it developed as a part of their lives, what it means regarding their identity, how it affects them, get empowered to live in congruence with their faith and seek to change their orientation … it’s their life and they can pursue that self determined course of treatment with a professional counselor, find empathy with a peer based support group or pastoral care (or all three) if that is what they desire.

Many have done so without the APA’s blessing and will continue to do so.