Once again, Exodus International is lying about what it offers potential clients. In this slick video promoting its upcoming road show in Irvine, California, Exodus peddles false hope when it asks, “Is freedom from homosexuality possible?” The group is playing semantic games at the price of the mental health of desperate and vulnerable people Exodus purports to assist.
The organization’s leaders, in rare moments of candor, answer the question of “freedom” by saying that one can, with great difficulty, alter behavior but the underlying gay feelings will always stay the same:
Alan Chambers
“One thing we can expect as Christians is a life of denial. I don’t think we’re afraid to tell people that they may have a lifetime of struggle. Freedom isn’t the absence of struggle, but the life of struggle with joy in the process.” (Christianity Today, Sept. 13, 2007)“By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete.” (Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2007)
Sexual orientation “isn’t a light switch that you can switch on and off.” (Los Angeles Times, June 18, 2007)
“And so every single morning — this is a ritual for me — I wake up and I say, “Dear Lord, I can’t make it today without You. I choose to deny what comes naturally to me.’” (Love Won Out, Phoenix, Feb. 10, 2007, www.boxturtlebulletin.com)
Chambers told One News Now that he had never met someone who had a “sudden or complete change when it came to homosexuality.” He told the news service that he believes that God gives people the ability to overcome on a daily basis, rather than “a complete transformation in an instant.” (One News Now, June 22, 2007)
“I don’t think change is going from gay to straight. Just saying that doesn’t sound like an accurate representation of what Exodus facilitates or proclaims.” (Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, pg. 35, Haworth Press 2003, interview taped March 11, 2001)
“To say that Exodus is a great healer and the place for people to become straight, I would think that is not right. If there are Exodus ministries that do that, we need to change that. We need to work on that.” (Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth, pg. 35, Haworth Press 2003, interview taped March 11, 2001)
“Put me in a bathhouse, would I find people attractive or would it stir me, it probably would. I’m not a raging heterosexual where I have to worry about if a lady walks in the room and I have to turn my head, while some guys are like that.” Anything But Straight, pg. 58, Haworth Press 2003, interview taped March 11, 2001)
Joe Dallas, Speaker, Focus on the Family’ Love Won Out tour
“No one has ever left therapy saying, “Wow, I have absolutely no homosexual thoughts.” (Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1990)Jeff Konrad, Author, You Don’t Have To Be Gay
“Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t lust for women as some men do; that is not healthy behavior either.” (“You Don’t Have to Be Gay,” Pg. 280, Pacific Publishing House, 1987)Alan Medinger, Author, Growth Into Manhood
“If an attractive man and an attractive woman enter a room, it is the man I will look at first.” (The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 1993)
There you go folks – the real truth behind the fancy video. Exodus is selling false hope. The group is asking people to pay hard earned dollars so they can “help” you spend your life lonely and sexually frustrated. Please consider the simple fact that one can accomplish this for free, without paying the salaries of Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers.
Ever wonder why Exodus does not keep statistics? It is because they have an astronomical failure rate. If they told the truth about their batting average, they would have struck out decades ago.
Don’t be fooled. Don’t be bilked. Don’t be suckered. Don’t be defrauded. Ask questions and think for yourself.
Tags: Alan Chambers, Exodus International, Joe Dallas, Love Won Out, Randy Thomas11 Comments »
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About the “miconception” that Exodus helps people reorient and become heterosexual, Alan says “We need to work on that”. Perhaps they should start with some “work” on their own Webpage under “policy statemements”:
“Healing: Exodus affirms reorientation of same sex attraction is possible. This is a process… measured by a growing capacity to turn away from temptations, a reconciling of ones identity with Jesus Christ, being transformed into His image. This enables growth towards Godly heterosexuality. Exodus recognizes that a lifelong and healthy marriage as well as a Godly single life are good indicators of this transformation.”
http://www.exodusinternational.org/content/view/34/118/
Comment by Michael Bussee — May 28, 2010 @ 4:50 pm
Abstinance and lifelong guilt? Gosh, where do I sign up?
And therein lies the problem with “ex-gay” groups-you can’t MAKE them sound good.
Comment by Bill S — May 28, 2010 @ 7:19 pm
Wayne, you need to make this list from so-called “ex-gay” leaders a permanent link on TWO.I wasted decades & tens of thousands of dollars I really could not afford on “ex-gay” therapy before I realized that what “ex-gay” ministries meant by “ex-gay” did not mean “heterosexual” but gay & celibate & alone. It is a very cruel & evil deception to offer false hope without giving a full informed consent – & in fact, informed consent is a ethical & legal mandate for licensed mental health providers – but not for “ministries” – which is how these charletans get around licensing laws.
Comment by Cotton Hill — May 28, 2010 @ 10:32 pm
Hi Cotton:
We do have a link:
http://www.truthwinsout.org/ex-gay-is-not-necessarily-straight/
Comment by Wayne Besen — May 28, 2010 @ 10:40 pm
Sex And The City 2…
Movie Details :- Cast : Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Alice Eve, Penelope Cruz- Release Date : May 27, 2010- Genre : Romantic Comedy- Company : Warner Bros. (New Line)- Movie Rating : R- Movie Budget : N/ATrailer :…
Trackback by Nicemovies.US — May 29, 2010 @ 2:35 am
And there it is laid bare: We’ll sell you self hatred at the feet of an imaginary god, and we’ll run off and use your money for whatever it is we jack off to these days.
Fucking frauds.
Comment by Evan Hurst — May 29, 2010 @ 4:03 am
[...] Exodus’ New Dishonest Promotional Video. Read more [...]
Pingback by Gay Marriage Sentence Provokes Little Outrage in African Media, Malawi Couple May Seek Asylum, and more… » DailyQueerNews.com — May 30, 2010 @ 5:37 am
‘The group [Exodus] is asking people to pay hard earned dollars so they can “help” you spend your life lonely and sexually frustrated. Please consider the simple fact that one can accomplish this for free, without paying the salaries of Randy Thomas and Alan Chambers.’
Thank you. Excellent. Those two sentences sum up the situation admirably.
Comment by William — May 30, 2010 @ 10:36 am
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, BUT:
If Exodus didn’t fall under the umbrella of special rights and protections accorded to religion, wouldn’t they have been prosecuted long ago for fraud or for operating without proper credentials? Does Exodus actually fall under that umbrella?
Comment by Richard Rush — May 30, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
Ever notice the similarity between bob’s god and current right wing Chrstians.
I represrent morality because I said so and you can’t judge me because I said so.
Thou shalt not murder: a commandment for man. THE OT god was a murderer primarily.
Thou shalt not ocmmit adultery. Unless you are david or oslomon. Then it’s ok, becuase you’re god’s chosen ones.
Thou shalt not covet– well not unless youre the israelites and you want to wn canaan.
Rememebr the sabbath and keep it holy. God never saw a televangelist he didn’t like.
Comment by Ben in Oakland — May 30, 2010 @ 1:29 pm
Same crap with a different ad. Give them cash and they can teach you to hate yourself and provide important life lessons like “how to live in the closet to keep “god” and other bigots happy”. Afterward you can enter into a simulated heterosexual lifestyle with an unsuspecting woman or endure lifelong solitude just as god intended.
Comment by Buffy — May 30, 2010 @ 2:40 pm