TWO’s Evan Hurst just wrote a dagger of a dandy on our blog that will no doubt raise hackles from so-called “ex-gays” and their allies.
“There is no credible evidence that men like Exodus’ Alan Chambers can change their inherent sexuality,” wrote Hurst. “It goes against everything we know about biology, about sexuality, about men’ sexual responses to stimulus.”
Like clockwork, Evan’s assessment of “ex-gays” was immediately backed up by an article on the website LivingChurch.org, which discussed a recent right wing Anglican sexuality conference. According the article, a leading “ex-gay” activist must go through extraordinary measures to keep from acting on his natural sexual orientation:
The Rev. Mario Bergner, an Anglican priest and former college drama teacher, described his journey out of homosexuality and into a new life as the married father of five. Speaking of how online porn presents a new challenge to Christians, he confessed that he has a lock on his own computer that is monitored by his wife and others to whom he is accountable.
Okay, so that is how this “ex-gay” thing works.
One apparently puts a chastity belt on the computer, turns the spouse into sex police and prays no one attractive walks by. I’m sure this is all very reassuring to his wife.
What is striking, is that Bergner is considered a leader in his field. He has an array of products, including his book, “Setting Love in Order: Hope and Healing for the Homosexual.”
Is it just me, or is placing a padlock on the computer a very bad example of hope and healing?
Given his extremely weak “recovery”, why is Bergner going to Belfast in February to hawk products and provide “practical training for church leaders in the area of same-sex attraction?” Why is he considered an expert and writing books on this topic?
Dude, if you are placing a Master Lock on the the computer to stop from masturbating to pictures of men – you are not healed. You are not an “ex-gay”. And, you have no business turning your sexuality into a profitable business and teaching seminars on this topic.
If this is the best example of “healing” the ex-gay ministries can offer, they should really shut down immediately and stop committing consumer fraud, before more people are hurt.
What a scam.
UPDATE: Apparently, Ted Haggard is on a similar plan. On “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Tuesday he said he is being “super accountable.” Ted says he regularly checks in with his wife, Gayle, and reveals his whereabouts on Facebook and Twitter. If he’s out of town without her, he said, he stays with a pastor rather than at a hotel. (I guess Haggard is safe unless the pastor he is staying with is Bergner)
