GAY TRUTH

February 26, 2014 ( BreakPoint ) - Dr. Rosaria Butterfield has an amazing story to tell—and it’s her story. A former lesbian feminist professor, she started studying Christianity in order to debunk it—but ended up embracing it. Today, she’s a dedicated Christian apologist , wife, and mother, with two books about the faith to her credit. Although some Christians will struggle with same-sex attraction their whole lives, she, in God’s grace, was able to leave it behind. So it’s not surprising that Wheaton College , one of the nation’s premier Christian colleges, invited Dr. Butterfield to tell her story at a chapel service. But some 100 students protested the chapel and what they called Dr. Butterfield’s “dangerous” message—a message that would only tell one side of the same-sex story. They held signs saying things like “Rosaria’s story is valid, mine is too,” and “I’m gay and a beloved child of God. That’s my story.” Dr. Butterfield graciously met and talked with these demo

More and more groups connected with Christian colleges openly reach out to students with same-sex attractions . Allison J. Althoff W hen Jordan enrolled in Wheaton College in Illinois , he wouldn't admit to himself that he was attracted to other men. Raised in a conservative Baptist church and a student at a conservative Christian college, Jordan (who asked that his real name not be used) hesitated to identify with the gay community, which he perceived as flamboyant and sex-obsessed. He attempted to ignore what was in opposition to his Christian beliefs. "I would sit in Wheaton's prayer chapel, staring at the cross, and beg God to please just let me be attracted to girls," Jordan said. "I used to pray for it every day: 'Heal me!'?" Jordan waited for a chapel series at college, a sermon at the Anglican church he attended, or a fateful meeting with that one person who would change his orientation. "I just thought I'd naturally

Biola University (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) This latest news about the existence of the " Biola Queer Underground " should set alarm bells ringing. Faculty and administration of Christian colleges all over the country are learning that LGBT students exist on campus, and it is getting increasingly difficult to ignore these students or expect them to stay silent and invisible. The students of BQU are not demanding that Biola University change its policy against same-sex sexual intimacy. They are asking to be open about their identities without fear of repercussions.  They want to attend a Christian college but ignore scripture and its mandate. Last year One Wheaton , a group of LGBT Wheaton students and graduates, expressed similar concerns about Wheaton College , about the fear and hiding and hurt they've experienced as students there. This year GCN ( Gay Christian Network ) executive director Justin Lee has been travelling and speaking at Christian college

Image via Wikipedia Evangelical abstinence campaigns have shifted their emphasis from "just say no" to sex before marriage to "just say yes"—within marriage, that is, says Christine Gardner. In  Making Chastity Sexy  ( University of California Press ), the Wheaton College communications professor examines the rhetoric of three evangelical abstinence organizations, comparing them with an abstinence campaign in sub-Saharan Africa , where HIV / AIDS is a common threat.  Christianity Today  online editor Sarah Pulliam Bailey spoke with Gardner about the larger ideas communicated to young people in the campaign. What did you find upon examining the language of the U.S. abstinence movement ? This is a study of rhetoric in the classical sense—the study of the art of persuasion, focusing on three very specific church-related evangelical campaigns. These groups are using a savvy rhetorical strategy: They are using sex to sell abstinence. They are using the very thing th

WHEATON, Illinois, September 29, 2011  - Therapists who favor normalizing homosexuality say that it is impossible to change sexual orientation, and that the attempt to change is inherently harmful. However, the final results of a long-term study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy has joined hundreds of other studies in concluding that such therapy is both possible and potentially well-indicated for many individuals. Psychologists Stanton L. Jones of Wheaton College and Mark A. Yarhouse of Regent University are the authors of  the longitudinal study , which tracked individuals who sought sexual orientation change through involvement in a variety of Christian ministries affiliated with Exodus International . The authors note that the study overcomes a primary criticism of same-sex attraction ( SSA ) therapy data - that the results are not adequately documented over a period of time - by assessing its 98 candidates over a period of six to seven years aft