Came across this article in the Express today...very provocative I thought...Generated some interesting comments as well....
Dealing with same sex attractionhttp://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Dealing_with_same_sex_attraction_-105614443.htmlStory Created: Oct 23, 2010 at 11:51 PM ECT
Local Christian groups, under the umbrellas of The Hospital Christian Fellowship, Lawyers for Jesus and the Emmanuel Community, have declared war on the issue of same sex attractions.
In what they describe as the first phase of the war to be fought, through media sensitisation, the groups have invited to Trinidad and Tobago, Pastor Phillip Lee of the US for a series of talks on the issue. The series was launched with a prayer breakfast yesterday at the Crowne Plaza, Port of Spain and among the dignitaries attending were Mayor Louis Lee Sing and Justice Alice Yorke Soo-Hon.
Lee, a former homosexual, who founded His Way Out Ministries in 1994 for individuals, families who wanted to deal with the issue of homosexuality, said he had been homosexual/gay from age 18 to 35 but despite his material successes he "always had a sense what he was doing was not right" and now holds the view that "calling homosexual life 'gay' is the ultimate contradiction."
Lee said he'd "bought into the lie once gay always gay." But he said, the Bible says homosexuality was thoroughly and repeated condemned in scripture and God''s divine intent for human sexuality was for "heterosexual, monogamous marriage." He said the other question was if you were single and the answer is yes, you were not to be sexually active according to scripture. He said the scriptures also condemned adultery, promiscuity, prostitution, incest and bestiality.
Noting that the issue was vast, Lee said he hopes through his ministry to "reach" people with the "authority of the scriptures" and not tell them what to do. He said he was challenging those churches which say it is okay to be lesbian, homosexual and Christian to show where it says so in the scriptures. He said no one was born gay and churches who accept that view were sacrificing "righteousness".
Lee said he had gone through the agony of seeing some of his "dearest and closest" friends die. Out of 22 friends at a barbecue in 1983, all died of Aids with him being the only survivor, he said.
"I wish I could say one of them died knowing Christ," he said. "More often than not there has been condemnation and finger pointing and I really do believe that we, the Church, owe the gay community a huge apology because reaching the gay community is a vast untouched mission field," he added.
Lee said no one was born homosexual and that it was "acquired" behaviour with many issues leading to same sex attraction. This view is supported by Drs Judith Henry and Garcelin Pilgrim of the Hospital Christian Fellowship, an organisation which is circulating a leaflet of tips outlining the "Physical Risks of Homosexuality".
Henry said she took the initiative of contacting Lee after consulting with the Hospital Christian Fellowship and Lawyers for Jesus. These groups, and the Emmanuel Community, plan to fight against homosexual relationships through church ministry and by challenging legislation in the current Draft Gender Policy (2009). The groups also plan to challenge proposals of United Nations' groups—UNAIDS and UNFPA—that governments should decriminalise buggery and legalise prostitition.
Lee will leave Trinidad on October 29.
