aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Monday, April 03, 2006
Cross (Ex-Gay) Ministry
Pam begins her post on Ex-gay in the Tar Heel state with this quote from Tim Wilkins, founder and director of Cross Ministry:
You want to know a secret? I still find myself attracted to men occasionally. To those of you with the puzzled looks on your faces, let me say it a different way. I have found that God’s provision is not necessarily eradicating the same-sex attractions; His ways, which are not my ways, include strengthening the shoulder that bears the burden. And as Dr. S. M. Lockridge used to say “That’s my King!”
Pam was reacting to the announcement of a series of conferences by Cross Ministry, “This nonsense has got to stop.” She closes with Tim’s articulation of why he won’t see Brokeback Mountain:
I will avoid the movie like a slug avoids an overturned saltshaker and for the life of me, cannot understand why any evangelical would see it-though there appear to be many. But what is more disturbing to me is that many men and women I know with unwanted homosexual attractions are seeing the movie.
A reporter from The Christian Post asked my thoughts about the movie and I obliged. My comments as a former homosexual were made from the reviews I had read-comments which generated numerous emails to me from individuals arguing that I could not make an intelligent comment on a movie I had not seen.
They suggested that my viewing the movie would be beneficial in responding to the reporter’s questions. I told them and the reporter that my going to see Brokeback Mountain would be similar to asking a former alcoholic to go to a liquor store to buy his neighbor a toddy for the body.
Opponents of ex-gay ministries will immediately shout “Aha- so you are still tempted with same-sex attractions!” I do not deny it! Martin Luther said it this way, “if your head is made of butter, stay away from the fire.”
