IRVINE, Calif. (WordNews.org) June 21, 2013 — The day after Exodus International’s president Alan Chambers announced the closure of the 37-year-old ministry to help people deal with unwanted same-sex attractions, one ministry said the focus should be on the fall of a leader not the closing of a ministry.
Scott Lively of Defend the Family said Chambers’ decision, which was backed by the board, has given the secular media something to rejoice about.
“The headlines in the liberal media are gleefully trumpeting the demise of Exodus International, the leading icon of the ex-‘gay’ movement,” wrote Lively.
Lively quotes the LA Times, which wrote: “From ‘pray away the gay’ to to acceptance.”
In fact, the LA Times refers to Exodus as an “anti-gay” ministry and quotes Chambers as “admitting” to having same-sex attractions.
“We like to put God and people in a neat and tidy box, so as long as your story is like that, you fit. But life is not like that,” he told the LA Times. “I’m married. I have children. I have same-sex attraction. But at the same time, I’m thrilled with my life and I’m thrilled with my wife.”
Lively, of the Defend the Family ministry, said the story of Exodus’ demise is more about Chambers–“and his unfortunate capitulation to the world” — than it is about the ministry.
Lively urged Christians to pray for him. He noted that during the past few years, Chambers transformed Exodus “into his own private fiefdom, while at the same time he gravitated inexorably away from recovery. By recovery, I mean the state of mind which focuses on freedom in Christ from bondage to sin.
Last year, Chambers said he no longer believed there was a cure for homosexuality.
Lively said many Exodus affiliates, whom Chambers chastised in his apology, left months ago to form a new organization, the Restored Hope Network, focused on working to help homosexuals recover from same-sex attractions.
Lively said it took courage for leaders of the affiliate ministries to leave Exodus “to remain true to Scripture in the face of intense hostility and persecution from the ‘gay’ movement and its many powerful allies. Their ministry will not be made easier by the triumphal gloating and attacks of their now greatly emboldened detractors.”
“It was this same relentless grinding hostility that undoubtedly contributed to the fall of Alan Chambers (few can bear it for long, just ask the Boy Scouts), but in addition to this ‘stick’ there was also a “carrot” that led him astray: an insidious form of ‘gay’ theology that misrepresents God’s grace as a license to sin, or at least a license to embrace a personal identity defined by a desire to indulge in homosexual sin,” Lively wrote.
Chambers’ apology deals with the issue of sin and his views in terms of his identity.
“My desire is to completely align with Christ, his Good News for all and his offer of peace amidst the storms of life,” wrote Chambers. “My wife Leslie and my beliefs center around grace, the finished work of Christ on the cross and his offer of eternal relationship to any and all that believe. Our beliefs do not center on ‘sin’ because ‘sin’ isn’t at the center of our faith. Our journey hasn’t been about denying the power of Christ to do anything – obviously he is God and can do anything.”
Chambers said he had an obligation – and a right – to apologize on behalf of the Church. He also noted that “The good that we have done at Exodus is overshadowed” by the pain it caused people.
“I am sorry that there were times I didn’t stand up to people publicly ‘on my side’ who called you names like sodomite—or worse,” Chambers wrote. “I am sorry that I, knowing some of you so well, failed to share publicly that the gay and lesbian people I know were every bit as capable of being amazing parents as the straight people that I know. I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him that I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry that I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.”
Lively said Christian ministries have been misrepresented by some. “I am a pastor whose theology is deeply rooted in the truth of grace, and I don’t believe that homosexual sin is any greater barrier to salvation than any other sin.
“It’s one thing, however, to acknowledge that some heaven-bound Christians may struggle with homosexual desires and even conduct, but an entirely different matter to condone and affirm a homosexual ‘orientation’ as if God intended it to be one’s basis for self-identification,” Lively wrote. “The former is solidly Biblical, the latter is dangerous heresy. God did not create people to have no choice in a behavior He condemns as an abomination, and He wants us never to identify with our sin nature but to strive always to overcome it. These are fundamental tenets of Scripture. “
Lively said he prayed for ex-Exodus leaders now leading affiliate organizations to continue the work.
“For many years Exodus International was an organization true to the Bible, adopting as its theme the Hebrew exodus from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the wilderness. In that story the hero is Moses who stayed true to God while the people often grumbled and wanted to go back to Egypt where life in slavery seemed less difficult than their struggles under freedom,” Lively wrote. “Ironically, in the Exodus International story, it is Moses Alan Chambers who has turned back to Egypt, while the people he once led keep pressing on toward the Promised Land. I pray these strugglers will not be overly discouraged by Alan’s failure. After all, here, just as in the Bible story, the true leader wasn’t really Moses, it was and is God. And He never fails.”
or scan
Print
Email
