Michigan Conferences on Homosexuality

June 12, 2009
By

Orchestrated Attempt to Undermine Our Efforts

We are hosting a “Love Won Out” conference Saturday in Grand Rapids, MI., to help Christians in that area manage the issue of homosexuality in a Christ-like manner. Over the last 10 years, these conferences have equipped thousands of Christians to become voices of God’s love and liberty to homosexuals.

As often happens wherever these conferences are held, gay activists spare no invective as they denounce the idea that Christ can help someone struggle free of unwanted homosexuality. Just two days before our conference, Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids hosted a seminar entitled, “Religion and Homophobia: Spiritual Violence in our Community.” (Doesn’t that sound tolerant?). The conference was stacked with gay activist speakers, and it was held under the auspices of – are you ready for this? – the Vice President of Inclusion and Equity, Dr. Jeanne Arnold. So we phoned Dr. Arnold and we asked to have one of our speakers included in her conference.

I bet you can guess how the “Vice President for Inclusion and Equity” responded to our request to be included! For more on this latest tribute to the intolerance of the homosexual agenda, watch our newest Focus Action Update.

The Goal: Imposing Their Agenda And Suppressing Opposing Ideas

It’s becoming more and more obvious that, the homosexual agenda isn’t really about tolerance after all. It’s about imposing a radical agenda on our society and using nasty rhetoric and the force of law to suppress opinions that oppose their agenda. Anyone who dares to stand for Biblical notions of sexuality will face the intolerance of homosexual activism.

Well, we will stand! And I am encouraged that you are standing with us. Your prayers and your financial support are a great encouragement to our team. May God richly bless you as you bless our nation by the stand you are taking.

For faith and family,

Tom Minnery
Senior Vice President, Government & Public Policy

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  • Justin

    My parents are actually attending this weekend! Small world!

    My mom simply wants to get a better understanding so she can truly dialog about the issue being that it isn’t as clear cut, black and white as it used to be for many people. I admire her for doing this, and taking the initiative to understand both sides of the issue, because both sides have valid points.

    As Christians, I think it is extremely important to keep an open mind, while staying strong in our faith. The simple truth is that we are not God, and we have no right to judge others. We can only do what we feel scripture tells us to do. No condemnation, no whispers, no harsh remarks.

    The truth is that many people think that Christians are backwards, narrow-minded people, and we need to do everything in our power to reverse this stereotype and show love and acceptance. While you may not agree with what someone is doing, there is no need to bash them. You can only hope that the love, friendship, and encouragement that you provide them, will allow them to make better choices and be free from the vices that have a hold on them.

    This issue is hard for me to get a grasp on because there are such conflicting views on it….nature vs. nurture, etc. The fact that 90% of abused boys become homosexual (don’t hold me to that stat), has to say something. And I know that this view may be contradictory to the literal translation of the Bible, I truely believe that as Christians, we need to delve into research, and not accept any fact simply because someone tells us to. This just furthers the close-minded, ignorant stereotype that Christians sometimes get.

  • http://www.christianbooksbibles.com Heather

    I think you missed the point of this post. The “Love Won Out” conference ministers to hundreds of people, it is gentle and led by staff members of Focus that used to live the gay lifestyle themselves. Who better to teach on it? But many homosexuals start Christian bashing because we would dare even bring up the subject and that you can get out of that IF you want to. It causes other Christians who want to be more tolerant of these particular sins to come out of the woodwork claiming to be more open minded then everybody else. THIS causes seeds of discord to be sewn among the brethren and is something that God will not honor because it DIVIDES His house. There is nothing about the Love Won Out conference that tries to understand homosecxulaity. It’s a conference led by former gays that reaches out in love to help folks addicted to that lifestyle (just as alcoholics anonymous reaches out to alcoholics). It even ends in a beautiful alter call. Why anyone would bash Christians for doing this, shows the true heart of the people protesting it.

    Then the Inclusion and Equity department at the university holds a big confernce side by side to this loving Outreach Ministry to say that Christians are nothing more than their enemy for even bringing it up! Wow! This was held at a public university, and is about “Inclusion” yet they wouldn’t include anyone that believed they could get out of that lifestyle! How incredibly stacked that deck was! They call us homophobic and claim there is spiritual violence happening and yet they don’t even listen to the awesome testimonies of these men that are trying to help folks out of that. And they call themselves an “Inclusion and Equity” department but would not INCLUDE one person from the Love Won Out conference to speak. Amazing. I wish more Christians would see what’s happening here.

  • Anonymous

    I think if I may. That you need to see the issue in Panaflex lens where you can see the whole panorama of sin and how we too are in that picture. It we just focus on the background and don’t see the

    object in front of us then we are selectible focusing on something else than the whole picture of sin and how everyone has a little white sin we don’t see to crearly like the ones of others.

    Joe

  • Alyssa

    Wow, christianbooksbibles.com. You’re really tackling a tough issue. Way to go! I wanted to comment on the idea of “no condemnation.” Let’s remember that Jesus is clear about the fact that there will be a judgment day, and that someday it is the saints who will judge the world. The NT doesn’t teach us that there’s no condemnation, but that there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8). So the issue isn’t whether or not God is going to judge. He will. The question is whether or not someone practicing homosexuality is, in fact, in Christ Jesus, walking according to the Spirit as opposed to the flesh. This notion of God not judging people is a bit scary to me as it’s contrary to the clear teachings of Scripture. I have always understood homosexuality to be the result of sin (both personal and societal), but I’ve just begun a masters program at a mainline Christian seminary where most (if not all) of my classmates and professors do believe homosexuality to be merely an alternate lifestyle, so I’ll look forward to considering the reasons for their non-traditional beliefs and seeing how well my own hold up. Thanks for writing, everybody.

  • Alyssa

    As a clarification on what I said about saints judging the world- I think the gospels are clear that SOMEDAY God will judge the world. And SOMEDAY He’ll use saints to do it. But at this point we only see through a glass dimly. We have not yet been made perfect and would be horrible judges because of our inability to see clearly (due to large logs in our eyes). John 3:17 says that God didn’t send Jesus into the world to condemn the world but to save the world, through Him. So for now, Jesus is not about judgement. The first time He was sent, it was for the purpose of salvation and grace. He doesn’t separate the sheep and the goats until the end. He doesn’t separate the wheat from the tares until the end. We’re in grace phase, not judgement phase. But this grace phase will not be indefinite. At some point, the judgement will come. But a student isn’t above his teacher, nor a slave above her master. So if JESUS isn’t judging people, at this point, we shouldn’t be, either. So I’m not into judging people. But neither am I into denying that someday judgement will come.

  • Joe

    No. Jesus will never let an unrepentant sinner into the kingdom of heaven.

    selfish ambitious or those who take his name in vain and neither those who run stop-signs. No. The wages of sin is death. And the bible clearly tells that everyone has come short of his glory. Now if we start judging others. Jesus said emphatically that we will be judged with the same measure we measure others. God says that if we don’t learn to forgive others we will be not means be forgiven.

    We don’t applause sin. But when did we become like God to judge others?

    Joe

  • http://www.christianbooksbibles.com Heather

    It’s really weird that so many people honestly think a Christian is “judging” another just because they have the brains to understand what sin is. Why is it judging just to understand and dialogue it?

  • blue

    Society changes over time, but the Word of God is supposed to stand forever. Is it judging to call stealing and murder wrong, or (gasp!) call it a SIN? Of course not, because society still knows these are illegal acts. I get tired of people complaining that if you dare say what a sin is out loud, you are all of a sudden a horrible person and deemed “judging”. We have judges that help enforce the law of the land because that’s how our society was set up. They are the only ones allowed to actively judge another person. I personally don’t see many Christians out there with gavels trying to condemn homosexuals to hell for their sin. And even if they tried, they are ignored because it’s silly, they don’t have the authoriy to judge another person’s sentence. That’s God’s job. But there is nothing wrong with talking about it, saying it is what it is, or educating people on how not to be a homoesexual, or how not to be a murderer or how not to be a thief, it’s a GOOD thinng to hold wrong things up to the Light, so we can protect ourselves and our families from becoming victims. Knowledge is Power. And it’s totally ridiculous for pious self righteous, modern day pharisees to go around telling everybody else that what they are doing by calling a sin a sin, is judging. Get that beam out of your own eye. Just because we all know that having sex with someone else while married to another is sin, doesn’t mean we are judging them, just because we know it and have the audacity to voice it. Good grief.

  • Patti

    How is knowledge power Blue? Do you believe that those who make stands against homosexuality and any other public sin allows the Christian power? If so will you expound on this a bit more please?

  • Anonymous

    As a follower of Christ who has been set free from homosexuality I was interested to read this thread! I can tell you that we need to continue to stand against homosexuality. My sin was driving me farther from God every single day. I was so close to abandoning the truth because of the twisted justifications that I was hearing, both in society and from Christians willing to compromise. The only thing that saved my walk and set me free were the believers in my life who were willing to step out in obedience and speak truth to me. They reflected Christ’s love in their conversations with me, but did not shy away from telling me exactly what God had to say about it all. Once I was able to make the 180 and truly repent, God’s grace & love did their work and I was set free. And I remain free indeed.

  • Patti

    Dear Anonymous, How wonderful to hear your comments…how wonderful that you have been set free!!! I loved your paragrah about how Christians reflected Christs love in their conversations with you…but also did not shy away from telling you exactly what God had to say about it…..

    That is precisely how I hope and pray to be able to deal with anyone who is in bondage to sin…be it homosexuality or adultry or gossip or any sin that can beset us…

    God’s grace and love did their work for you…I am so thrilled to hear this and this offers hope to anyone who is in bondage to a sin…

  • Anonymous

    It seems that we go over and over again. We just don’t get the point that we are just as sinful as anybody else I have ever met. But we get the idea that we have earned the right to cast judgement on others.

    This is a plain mistake and the bible tells us so and no matter how verbal and stout we stand against sin we can not escape the fact that God look at all humans and us the same way-…fallen.

    Joe

  • http://www.Christianbooksbibles.com jlugbill1

    Right…my problem is that this sin (if that is your belief) is taken so much more offensively by people. People simply are not tolerant of it in the least bit…but how is it any different than any other sin? Check out the dialog posted at http://www.cbbblog.com/2009/06/a-dialog-on-christianity-and-homosexuality/ which I think takes a good look at two opposing views…

  • blue

    Hi Joe, it’s hard to keep repeating oneself but I beg to differ on what “judging” someone is. Who here is saying their sin is any better or worse than a homosexual’s?

    Hi Patti, yes I do think knowledge is power. Just think if that post up there from the person that was freed from homosexual bondage that if no one had led them to Christ, if no one had taught them the truth, if no one had shared their knowledge with that person, they’d still be stuck living that destructive lifestyle. Praise God that they were freed though!!!!

    Hi jlugbill1, no homosexual sin isn’t any worse than any others but it does carry with it a degree of distaste in that it’s a sexual sin. Just like pedophilia and beastiality. God designed male and females to have sex with eachother within a God ordained marriage relationship, not adults and children, or humans with animals, or same sex partners or even different sex partners outside of wedlock. But no worries, in 20 years it will be as widely accepted as the latter is.

  • Patti

    Hi Blue,

    That’s why I asked you to expound on this because I wasn’t quite sure what you meant….when you made that statement…Knowledge is power..so now I know at least what you meant…Thanks for your view about this.

  • Karl

    I believe the issue is not so much what qualifies as judgement and what doesn’t – that can be argued all day long. I think it is more about the attitude with which the views are expressed.

    Voicing our values as a blanket statement at whoever may hear them is very different from sharing what we believe truth to be in a loving way to an individual that we have established a relationship with. Caring enough about someone to share truth with them . . . and caring enough about them to continue that friendship even if they don’t respond to us is a higher form of love.

    People know when what we share with them is done through love – and that rarely ends in offense or broken relationship. They also can tell when our comments are not generated through love, and that can lead to devastating relational consequences.

  • blue

    That is so true, Karl. So I think the only one qualified (besides God Himself) to accuse another Christian of “judging” is the person committing the sin and/or being talked about. I absolutely wish that attitude would go away. It divides God’s people from eachother and isn’t even the point.

  • Karl

    It is nice, also, to have Christian brothers and sisters to bring it to our attention even when we don’t feel they are correct. It never hurts to evaluate our motives and methods and see if maybe we could use better tone or presentation.

  • http://www.Christianbooksbibles.com jlugbill1

    Perfectly said…





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Hi, my name is Heather Manning and I am the Customer Care Manager for ChristianBooksBibles.com. I am the mother to 5 children, two grown daughters, and three more blessings under 7 yrs old! I love working for this company because I get to talk to Christian brothers and sisters every single day and that is simply awesome.

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