Alan Chambers, the controversial former president of Exodus International, continues his public mea culpa and has now revealed the reason he believes the now-defunct ex-gay ministry failed.
In an interview with Relevant magazine, Chambers has shed light on how he became involved with the ex-gay movement and how his views have changed since the closure of Exodus.
Perhaps most telling is Chambers’ remarks about what went wrong with the church’s mission.
“We’re a group of people who were ostracized and marginalized…who were looking for support and affirmation and encouragement,” Chambers said. “The support and affirmation and encouragement and the promotion we got from the church was change is possible. You run with that message and we’ll support you. It’s neat and it’s tidy so we ran with it. That’s not to say it wasn’t true in our lives. The reason it didn’t work is because they promoted my story as the story. We promoted marriage and heterosexuality and wholeness and change ambiguously as the message of Exodus and the message of Jesus for gay people. The reason it didn’t work is because that’s not the message of Jesus for gay people. The message of Jesus for gay people and straight people and anyone else is I can have a relationship with anyone. He died for all of us or he died for none of us.”
DarkZephyr
He’s going to keep saying it “worked” for him even though he admits he still likes guys.
1EqualityUSA
If we are authentic and truthful about ourselves, deceit collapses. Let’s respect each other enough to be genuine. Honesty, especially in the face of hate, is admirable. The entire 33 years on the planet, Christ Jesus never mentioned a word about gays. He did, however, speak frequently about being judgmental and spoke about divorce, conveniently set aside by the pointers of quivering, accusatory fingers today. We, who were born this way and chose not to deceive others, may even have a purpose. We could lie and be inauthentic to make others more comfortable, however, judgmental people will still usurp the Reader of Hearts. For those who have made it their mission to point fingers at gays, if you hold one, marginal part of the population up to such high scrutiny, be willing to apply it to all. Understand that the entire 33 years Christ was on the planet He never uttered a word about gays? Not one word. If it were really important to Jesus, would He not have, at least, said one sentence on the matter? Could it be that Rabbinical Paul (Saul) didn’t understand the complexities of human physiology? Christ did say to not judge one another. He spent a great deal of time on that matter. Would God rather we hide who we are, outwardly lie about our sexual identities, enter into empty marriages with these secrets, and not be truthful? Gays are lumped into one, big, amorphous category of sin by others, who sin on a daily basis. Women don’t want to be solely defined by their sexuality, a very small part of a being’s personhood. What makes you think that gays want to be defined solely by this very small aspect of our being? God knows the truth about every person breathing, so to “pull off” a fake heterosexual life for the sake of being loved and accepted by humans (of this day) is not only dishonest, but pathetic. It is dehumanizing to sum up people based on this very small aspect of their personhood. Have integrity and don’t let anyone tell you that God hates you. God will likely consider that the worse offense. Be honest and truthful.
Jonty Coppersmith
@1EqualityUSA:
I’m truly happy for you if your religion makes you happy and makes you a better person, but how do you really even know what “Jesus” said or didn’t say about anything? I’m guessing you would reply “the Bible.” Who wrote the bible? That would be a lot of different human writers, many of whose identities are uncertain. So basically a lot of folks wrote a bunch of letters or whatever. Then the early church or Constantine or whoever picked through all those literary works, rejected the ones they didn’t like and selected the ones that fit their agenda and proclaimed their collection to be the word of God. Presto! Those rejected books paint quite a different picture of Jesus and his message. Coincidence? I doubt it.
Billysees
@1EqualityUSA: 2
Good presentation.
And I would add this —
Jesus seldom mentions or refers to the word sin.
Maybe about a dozen times or so.
Cause he’s such a good role model to so many, I’m sure that’s why we also seldom use the word.
That’s the way it should be, shouldn’t it ?
Tom
@1EqualityUSA: What is the point of the mantra that “Christ Jesus never mentioned a word about gays”, as though the topic was irrelevant to him? Do people think that if the claim is made enough times it will make it true? And the opposite extreme is not valid either. IE there is little reason to believe that God hates gays. If Jesus was a friend of prostitutes, he’d likely be a friend of friends of dorothy too.
Ron Jackson
The jesus story is BS. Try living in the real world.
etseq
It didn’t work because it was just a scam all along by the religious right and self-loathing gays. It also didn’t work because there is no god or jesus and praying to the Sky Daddy has no effect on your biology. Is make believe Jesus supposed rewrite our genes or change the amount of hormone exposure we had in the womb. Science is your friend and religion is your enemy – case closed.
1EqualityUSA
“Some of the greatest minds in history have endeavored mightily, as did Saint Thomas Aquinas, to prove the existence of a deity; and some equally great minds have endeavored just as mightily to prove that a deity cannot exist. They have utterly failed to convince the other side.”
How Math Explains the World—James D. Stein
I view the structure of the Bible as a three dimensional object, such as a basket missing much of its weave. The skeletal remains are still recognizable, though it has been altered over the years, whole books omitted, verses changed through the ages. The word, “homosexual” was added in 1949. The only constant in the equation is humans, and they never change. There is nothing new under the sun. Observing life can fill in much of the missing pieces. The same thing that bothers us then, bothers us now. Septuagint, the Bible, and the additional pieces all are so complex that 800 years on this planet wouldn’t be enough time to unravel the picture, and yes, it’s fragmented. Many take verses out of context and use them to foster the hatred they hold. What I’m understanding does not match what I’m hearing from many. Some of the most horrible things said about us were said by Christians. Too much emphasis is placed on molecules. The ego speaks and the result is not love, rather, exclusivity and derision.
Dakotahgeo
@1EqualityUSA: Bravo! Well put, and exactly what Christianity represents as its main goal. There are many things that Jesus Christ preached/taught that are far outside of the realm of “Christianity” today. I would say, as a ordained Christian minister in this day and age… we have failed Christ’s message… miserably!
hf2hvit
It’s all so ridiculous considering the guy’s asshole is his pussy.
BigWoody
Blabity blabity bla bla…
RELIGION=MYTHOLOGY
Gigi Gee
You’re an asshole and a pussy. Get along!