Posted on 04/27/2016 5:59:30 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
My adolescence was a social nightmare....
.... I didnt utter the word gay to describe myself until I was 19 years old, and no one prior to that time knew about my so-called sexual orientation.
....Fast-forward six years...I found myself a Christian in a new community: the church. Though my souls deepest need (reconciliation with God) was satisfied through being united to Jesus, the relational sphere of my life remained strangled by insecurity...
.... I lingered in the shadows...attending services and then quickly escaping.... I began to sneak out of the building when some guy literally began to yell my name...I recognized him immediately: Kyle.
...Kyle and I started meeting once a week for breakfast.... He didnt shy away from my messy homosexual past or my ongoing struggle...not painting it any weirder or worse than his own struggles....
....Seeds of healthy confidence in my God-given manhood began to settle into my heart. I started to see God had wired into me truly masculine traitssuch as compassion for the marginalized, a desire to protect and care for the weak, and a resilience to follow and obey Christ. And yeah, my sexuality is jacked up. But I finally started to see that my brokenness doesnt invalidate me as a man. Every day Im submitting it to the will and power of God. I could be straight as an arrow but still fall terribly short of manhood if I didnt submit my heterosexuality to the revealed will of God. Its more masculine to be mainly attracted to men yet obedient to God than it is to be mainly attracted to women and disobedient to God. A celibate same-sex attracted guy is far more of a man than a womanizing guy who bows to the will of his sex drive. Real men obey God.
(Excerpt) Read more at thegospelcoalition.org ...
I put in the ellipses to make the story "fit" the excerpt size on Free Republic. But the whole article is worth reading.
Matt is the kind of guy homosexual activists hate. He knows his sin, struggles with it, and still trusts in God and moves to obey Jesus.
Amazing.
We’re all targeted by the evil one and sin is sin in all cases. The gift of grace through Jesus is open to all who will except him.
That said, you talk to even unrepentant Homosexuals, and they say Christians are the kindest people they know.
Accept?
Were all targeted by the evil one...
Yes, but given the all out assault of the culture now on the forced celebration of homosexuality, this man--who is fighting his sin--is particularly prone to attack.
That is all I meant.
...[Homosexuals Do NOT Want You To Read His Testimony!]...
But, maybe they should.
In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) decided to remove homosexuality as a mental disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Removal followed a two year campaign Newsweek described as ongoing disruptive, chaotic attacks on psychiatrists and physiologists. Yet throughout these disruptive attacks, no academic papers arose at conferences refuting any research previously done. Eventually onslaughts forced sufficient abstentions, under-votes, and apprehensive responses for a third of APAs 17,000 plus membership to approve removal.
Next activists targeted leading individual researchers such as Dr. David Reuben to ensure perpetual sanctity for the APA action. No research papers would again arise to confirm initial therapy success rates of 30% to 60 %, substantiating that 7 of 10 homosexuals could eventually walk away from the lifestyle. Persistent activism over 37 years enabled ubiquitous infiltration of academia ensuring pre-ordained theses, approved flexibility in research designs, suitable human data points, and enchanting statistical enhancements. New standards for peer review of articles ensured appropriate design definitions, outcomes, and analytical models.
Psychology and Psychiatry have always had a tenuous hold on claims they were sciences with the standing of Chemistry and Physics. On the scale of intellectual rigor, their research more often resembles alchemy and/or oral history, and seldom, if ever, approaches the determinism found in a Chemistry laboratory.
The developments in statistics should have enabled them to a least determine there is a marginal or significant propensity for a particular disorder. Careful studies could have identified and graded methods of treatment. Given persistence in searching for correct methods of analysis, even accumulated episodic events could be sifted for transformation into valid information. Research would have proceeded more slowly and conclusions would have been less intuitive, but more stable. The disciplines would more often have adhered to the medical principle of first of all, do no harm. Responsible research should also acknowledge those pesky humans, who in spite of their genetics and upbringing, decide to live positive lives without APA professional help.
Instead, Psychology and Psychiatry have chosen to abandon all pretense of scientific rigor in exchange for popular societal and political acclaim. The barriers erected to meaningful research about homosexuality remind me of Genesis 3:23-24. In these verses the Lord God banished humanity from the Garden of Eden and placed an angel in the Garden to keep humanity away forever. By their actions, Psychology and Psychiatry appear content within their own Garden of Eden. They seem to consider the accoutrements of a religion to be more attractive than those of a science. The under-voting and public attacks support the understanding that the DSM is as likely to accumulate political manifestos and marketing brochures as attempted scientific expositions.
Action of APA to remove homosexuality from list of disorders DSM
Link: http://conservativecolloquium.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/homosexual-activists-intimidate-american-psychiatric-association-into-removing-homosexuality-from-list-of-disorders/
How the American Psychiatric Association Went Gay
http://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2015/06/how-american-psychiatric-association.html
Homosexuality and Sexual Orientation Disturbance: Proposed Change in DSM-II, 6th Printing, page 44
http://www.torahdec.org/Downloads/DSM-II_Homosexuality_Revision.pdf
The APA Decision
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+APA+decision+December+1973%3A+declassification+of+homosexuality+as...-a094598255
Exposed: The Myth That Psychiatry Has Proven That Homosexual Behavior Is Normal
http://traditionalvalues.org/content/article/30884/Exposed:%20The%20Myth%20That%20Psychiatry%20Has%20Proven%20That%20Homosexual%20Behavior%20Is%20Normal
I sometimes am baffled by what American culture thinks “men” are like. The stereotype seems to revolve around interest in football games and other American sports, getting drunk a lot, and watching NASCAR.
None of which I consider particularly masculine in terms of living and behaving like a real man. Things like maturity, responsibility, and willingness to protect others all seem to be left out of the equation.
My problem with some of these “traits of masculinity” in this thread is that they really are general, and describe more general maturity than something a person with certain equipment does more than another without that equipment.
But don’t all black people eat fried chicken and watermelon?
“Psychology and Psychiatry have always had a tenuous hold on claims they were sciences with the standing of Chemistry and Physics.”
They have less validity than witchcraft. Religion and philosophy answer most questions about human behavior adequately.
I guess I identify with this because I was raised outside the U.S. essentially in another culture. For example:
1. I don’t really identify with American sports, although I do like watching baseball. I actually don’t get the point of basketball, it’s just running back and forth and throwing a ball through a hoop—most of the time the result of the game is only determined in the last minute or two.
2. I am not a big sports person in general, because my parents thought playing sports was a waste of time and we should be instead studying to get into a good college.
3. We were raised that we were punished if we used any bad language, so I can’t use the four-letter words which somehow demonstrate you are masculine.
4. We were heavily chaperoned in terms of being around girls/women and so were they, so the concept of “hooking up” is foreign to me.
I don’t think I am any less “manly” because of any of that, although I usually stick out like a sore thumb in a “guys-only” discussion around the water fountain.
As my PhD psychologist friend said to me, “The good news is that 15% of psychologically disturbed patients responded well to psychotherapy; the bad news is that 30% responded equally well to no treatment.”
But dont all black people eat fried chicken and watermelon?>>> and all white people. i loves my watermelon
This passes as wisdom with millenials.
Prayers for this man’s struggles. The sin of lust is not one I would want to battle, the urge is innate and strong.
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