Exodus - What you need to know
but they don't tell you

Exodus International, aka EI, taps into a felt need of thousands of people struggling to reconcile their sexual orientation with their Christian faith. Since most gay people have been taught that the Bible condemns all homosexual activity, many strugglers believe their only choices are: (1) rejecting the Bible and their faith or, (2) embracing the insidious reparative therapy views of EI.

Wherever they appear on the globe, EI teaches clients to sublimate their homosexual orientation, on the premise that men displaying effeminate mannerisms and women displaying masculine mannerisms is sinful.

According to EI, the cure for homosexuality is to re-align, re-orient or re-invent your identity in Christ, which is Exodus-speak for

Ex-Gay speakers at EI Conferences often tell sordid stories of their former addiction to sex, drugs, alcohol and porn. In the fuzzy thinking of many Ex-Gays, these self-destructive behaviors are confused with and inextricably linked to their homosexual orientation.

"The Passion for Christ Movement is releasing a series of online videos in its “Ex” campaign, a crusade against homosexuality, pornography, abortion, and other things opposed by the fundamentalist group.

In a video titled “Is It Possible to Stop Being Gay?” a woman wearing an “Ex-Homosexual” T-shirt characterizes homosexuality as “bondage” and a “lifestyle that would get you hooked.” She also attributes her abuse of drugs and alcohol to homosexuality."
-from The Advocate, May 14, 2009

Ex-Gay advocates feel no shame at linking homosexual orientation to beastiality, pedophilia, porn addiction, drug addiction, alcohol abuse and promiscuous behavior (fornication).

Certainly all of those behaviors are present in the gay community and just as certainly, all of those behaviors are present in the heterosexual community. No honest person believes those behaviors are typical of most gays or most heterosexuals yet Exodus must attempt to present such behavior as typical to gin up guilt and fear, which helps them lasso clients.

"Exodus exists so that individuals can live in congruence with their own faith-based beliefs. There are many who do not share our beliefs, nor are they in conflict living as homosexuals. We respect this human right to self-determination. In the spirit of tolerance and diversity, we ask only for the same as well."

Of course, the words are little more than empty rhetoric since Chambers and EI seek to use the power of government to impose their anti-gay religious viewpoint on the rest of us. That's not very tolerant. In fact, far from being tolerant itself, part of the mission of Exodus is to oppose gay rights and legal gay marriage as they use the power of law to impose their personal religious beliefs on everyone else.

The political/spiritual goal of EI and all her affiliates is to prevent gays and lesbians everywhere from having the legal right to marry a person matching their sexual orientation.

The President of Exodus International, Alan Chambers, talking about tolerance while leading his organization in anti-gay political activism (and asking his victims to be tolerant of EI activism) demonstrates a weird disconnect from reality.

Chambers noted in a 2008 interview that according to a 2007 U.S. study, "sexual orientation change is possible for some individuals via religiously mediated programs like Exodus." -Alan Chambers interview with Lucy Bannerman, fall, 2008

Okay Alan, sexual orientation change is possible - that would be change from homosexual to heterosexual, right?

Yet according to you, the opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, its holiness, right?

Yet orientation change is not the goal for people in Exodus residential programs, right? Sounds like Orwellian double-speak to me.

What Chambers rarely discusses is the dismal 15% "success" rate of EI residential programs. And the 15% who are viewed as "successful" admit they still struggle with homosexual attractions. Success may be far too strong a term for whatever happened to them through EIs ministry.

Perhaps because 85% of their clients do not experience the hoped for change/success, EI sometimes claims in public statements that orientation change is not their goal. They "nuance" the message to fit the event, apparently with little regard for truth or consistency.

When questioned, President Chambers admitted that, although he is always honest, he "nuances" his message about Ex-odus.

-Chambers, speaking to TV Evangelist James Robison on Life Today TV, October, 2007

These days much of EIs talk about orientation change is confined to small group workshops, where it is not so much in the public eye. This is probably because at best EI can only demonstrate a 15% "success" rate, with even their most "successful" clients (including hetero- sexually married ones like President Chambers) admitting that they still struggle with same sex attractions.

"With years of therapy, Chambers says, he has mostly conquered his own attraction to men; he's a husband and a father, and he identifies as straight. But lately, he's come to resent the term "ex-gay": It's too neat, implying a clean break with the past, when he still struggles at times with homosexual temptation. "By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete," Chambers said." -Los Angeles Times article

If real orientation change actually occurred, shouldn't Ex-Gays now struggle with heterosexual temptation instead of homosexual temptation?

If Ex-Gays still struggle with same sex temptation and do not generally struggle with heterosexual temptation, isn't that proof positive that only sublimation and behavior modification occurred, leaving their innate homosexual orientation unchanged?

Try saying it this way to better hear the mean-spirited dishonesty inherent in the Exodus statement.

1. The opposite of rich isn't poor - its holiness.
   Then the rich are not holy.

2. The opposite of male isn't female - its holiness.
   Then males are not holy.

3. The opposite of old isn't young - its holiness.
   Then the old are not holy.

4. The opposite of black isn't white - its holiness.
   Then blacks are not holy.

5. The opposite of homosexuality isn't heterosexuality - its holiness.
   Then homosexuals are not holy.

Really? Does that even make sense or is it just goofy psycho-babble? This mean-spirited little EI sound bite is saying that homosexuality is not and never can be holy. Under the guise of saying something spiritual and uplifting, the Exodus holiness mantra snarkily attacks gays and lesbians.

"For so many people, they think the opposite of homosexuality is heterosexuality. If we just fill it with another lust or if we date the opposite sex or look at pornographic images of the opposite sex or get married. When in fact, the opposite of homosexuality is holiness. Heterosexuality won't fix someone...

We are not called to switch lusts. We are not called to adopt another addiction. We're called to pursue the Lord and to be holy like he is holy and that's the focus." -Alan Chambers, Oct 29, 2007 on James Robison's TV program, Life Today.

Okay, this is Rick Brentlinger, the guy writing this article. I'm a conservative, born-again, washed in the blood of the Lamb, Bible believing, witnessing GAY Christian. I believe in Biblical holiness (not legalism). I have no problem with expecting Christians (gay or non-gay) to live a clean, holy life for God. That's the least we can do in gratitude for the gift of God's amazing grace in Jesus Christ. But I have to ask Exodus,

Orientation change is possible BUT its not your goal? Really? If you sincerely believe homosexual orientation is wrong and God is against it, why is orientation change not the goal of EI?

Are you saying orientation change is not possible? Or are you implying your programs have been so spectacularly unsuccessful that you no longer view orientation change as an achievable goal for the vast majority of your clients?

One day you say orientation change is possible. The next day you say, "We are not called to switch." Which message is the truth?

It seems to me, Alan Chambers is being disingenuous. For EI, orientation change always has been the goal and always will be the goal, even if they "nuance" (lie about?) their message as Chambers likes to claim.

This holiness statement, designed by EI as a rhetorical sound bite, is dishonest and disingenuous for at least eight reasons.

First, it assumes that homosexuality is a chosen sinful lifestyle instead of an innate sexual orientation. This drives home to gays and lesbians the EI assertion that homosexuals are unholy and impure.

Oddly enough, although some gay Christians understand Lev 18:22 and 20:13 to be purity regulations only binding on Israel, (which are not binding on Christians today), EI and most anti-gay Christians insist that Lev 18:22 and 20:13 are NOT purity regulations and ARE binding on us today.

Exodus confuses the issue by asserting that the Levitical Holiness Code is (1) a universal moral code for everyone (not a purity code only binding on Old Testament Jews), and, (2) it is binding on us today.

Yet their holiness catch-phrase takes the position they've labeled as wrong, that homosexuality (is impure and) violates the purity code. At best, their rhetorical sound bite "nuancing" is dishonest and self-serving.

Second, it assumes that homosexuals as a group live wicked, promiscuous lives.

A National Review Online, article points out the reasoning behind the rhetoric. Change ministries attempt to convince their clients that being gay or lesbian is shameful, using guilt to compel change.

"Lance Carroll, who spent eight weeks at a Love in Action program last year (when he was 17)... described his experience with Love in Action as “horrendous,” recalling “group activities where one person was singled out and made to associate shame with something homosexual that they had done.

This was done many times for each person, in an attempt to condition you to believe that being homosexual was shameful."

Third, it assumes that homosexuals cannot and do not live pure, holy lives.

Fourth, it contrasts homosexuality with holiness (purity), as if all homosexuals are unholy and impure.

Fifth, it indirectly acknowledges the dismal 15% "success rate" (and the 85% failure rate) of Exodus programs to facilitate change from homosexual to heterosexual (thus directing attention away from orientation change as the goal).

Sixth, it creates the false impression that EI does not believe that heterosexuality is the goal when orientation change (homosexual to heterosexual) really is the goal of the EI program (in spite of what EI says).

Seventh, it subtly prepares Exodus clients for the message of celibacy, that since you can't change your innate sexual orientation and we can't change your innate sexual orientation and God won't change your innate sexual orientation, we [Exodus] believe the only Godly course for you is lifelong celibacy.

In the documentary, Why Am I Gay?, the mother of a gay man enduring reparative therapy is asked, "What if his therapy doesn't work?" She pauses for a moment and then replies,

Her answer, though honest, demonstrates incredible lack of empathy, especially for a mother. Imagine the psychological damage this mindset has done to so many struggling gays and lesbians.

Eighth, it is religious pyscho-babble which intentionally obfuscates the issue, since EI and her partner ministries sometimes state that orientation change IS the goal while at other times stating that orientation change IS NOT the goal.

Never forget - the core Exodus theological belief is that changing from homosexual to heterosexual is absolutely necessary if you want to go to heaven.

EI theology is a bit dodgy and a lot confused (Chambers calls it "nuanced"), in that they believe that everyone is born heterosexual, therefore no one is ever really homosexual. According to Exodus, being homosexual (gay or lesbian) is a self-chosen identity, not an innate orientation.

People are free to walk away from their self-chosen gay or lesbian identity at any time and acknowledge their innate heterosexual orientation, according to EI.

Yet Ex-odus literature and Conference speakers continue to assert that orientation change is possible (homosexual to heterosexual) which seems to contradict their belief that no one is born homosexual.

EI uses Bible translations like the NIV which says in 1 Corinthians 6:9 that "homosexuals" will not go to heaven. So while Exodus uses distracting sound-bites which assert that changing your sexual orientation is not their objective, make no mistake. Exodus believes it is imperative to change your sexual orientation.

Even though EI now soft-peddles the belief that people can change from homosexual to heterosexual in their U.S. advertising, Exodus affiliates, like Love Won Out (part of Focus on the Family), still insist that people can change from homosexual to heterosexual.

Focus On The Family's CitizenLink.com (their Love Won Out ministry to homosexuals is now part of the EI family) said this about orientation change.

"the festival audience seemed to embrace the lyrics that spotlight the truth that people can change their sexual orientation. Jeff Johnston, gender issues analyst with Focus on the Family, knows that truth firsthand..."

"And as more evidence of the fact that people can and do change their sexual orientation, Exodus International, a group of more than 150 Protestant Christian ministries in the United States and around the world, represents literally tens of thousands of people who have made the choice to walk out of their homosexual and bisexual identities.

Even in the secular cultural arena we see evidence of well-known people who have clearly changed their sexual orientation."

In essence this statement is EIs acknowledgment that their programs do not work for about 85% of the people they treat. Apparently 85% of Exodus clients, most of them highly motivated, are just not holy enough.

If the client is not successful, the client was not holy enough, was not pure enough, didn't have enough faith. Its the client's fault! And that is an incredibly cynical ploy.

EI expects clients to change from homosexual to heterosexual, regardless of their cutesy statement about holiness. Yet through 34 years of Exodus ministry, most Exodus clients have not experienced the change Exodus promoted and they sought.

Exodus finally figured out a cynical way (the holiness sound bite) to blame their clients when treatment fails, while still holding out orientation change as the ideal (if not the "goal").

1. by cultivating feelings of shame and guilt about same sex attractions

2. by brainwashing clients to believe lies about God, gays and lesbians

3. by teaching clients to sublimate their natural sexual orientation and

4. by behavior modification which is then offered as "proof" of orientation change.

Exodus techniques often cause their clients lifelong depression and psychological and spiritual struggles, which only begin to get better when the client rejects the faulty assumptions which undergird Exodus ministries.

1. You cannot spend more than 15 minutes total per day in the bathroom with the door closed

2. You cannot wear Calvin Klein (or any designer) underwear

3. You cannot have facial hair (must be clean shaven)

4. You cannot wear aftershave (especially designer cologne)

5. You cannot spend a lot of time by yourself

6. You cannot watch much television (okay, I admit this one makes sense!)

7. You cannot listen to most secular music

8. You cannot freely communicate with anyone outside the program

9. You cannot be alone behind closed doors with anyone of the same sex

10. You cannot be trusted so we (Ex-odus) must control your every move

11. Men must "act" masculine by watching sports on TV, like baseball and football. Watching tennis, swimming, Olympic diving or gymnastics and even basketball, manly sports all, is discouraged because they show too much flesh and might incite lust.

    "It's about doing what's uncomfortable," says a gay man, describing how he forced himself to watch baseball with macho sportsmen at parties, and to wear looser shorts when walking his chihuahua.

    He speaks with obvious pride about leaving his boyfriend and his gay friends, changing his address, his job and his gym after attending his first Exodus Conference.

12. Men must cultivate masculine mannerisms and suppress mannerisms viewed as too effeminate.

13. Women must "act" feminine by developing an interest in cooking and house-keeping.

14. Women must cultivate feminine mannerisms and avoid masculine activities like changing the oil or tuning the engine in their pick up.

    Tuning the radio is okay though, presumably as long as its not playing a K.D. Lang medley.

15. Self-described ExGays try to recharge their Exgay batteries by attending yearly Exodus Pep Talk Conferences, at only $600+ per conference, kind of like an Amway Convention which convinces distributors to 'keep drawing those circles' for one more year.

At EI Conferences, even though orientation change is not supposed to be the goal ('the opposite of homo- sexuality is holiness' - O the joys of "nuance"), every evening, "former homosexuals" parade their husbands and wives as proof of their new-found heterosexuality, to demonstrate that heterosexual marriage is evidence of change and healing from homosexuality.

"Stereotypes are the currency of the ExGay movement [homosexuals are unhappy; heterosexual marriage will help make you happy], and the heterosexual ideal is practically ringed by a white picket fence...

An Ex-Lesbian jokes that her recovery [from lesbianism] is going so well that she has given up working on her car ("it trashes my nails").

EI Vice-President Randy Thomas, on the other hand, delights the crowd with his campiness. "Just because I stopped being gay sixteen years ago doesn't mean I can't be fabulous," he says." -Lucy Bannerman, from a UK article, Oct 7, 2008, about an Exodus Conference at Ridgecrest Retreat, in the Smoky Mountains

Even at their loving and benevolent best, Exodus style, ExGay ministries can offer only their opinion about what God wants for gays and lesbians. Here is the message many gays and lesbians take away from ExGay ministries. The ministries may not use these exact words but this is the message many gays and lesbians "hear."

1. You must spend the rest of your life alone, celibate and lonely or,

2. You may marry an opposite sex partner to whom you are not attracted and with whom you feel little emotional, psychological, romantic, sexual or spiritual connection.

3. You can never enjoy emotional, psychological, romantic, sexual or spiritual intimacy with a committed Christian, same sex partner.

4. God does not (in Exodus' view) want you as a gay or lesbian person to be fulfilled emotionally, psychologically, romantically, sexually or spiritually with anyone who matches your innate sexual orientation

5. The lifelong burden of being gay or lesbian is your fault because, although God created you hetero- sexual, you made a choice to live "the gay lifestyle" therefore you must suffer the negative consequences (literally for eternity if you can't change from homosexual to heterosexual, 1 Cor 6:9)

6. We at Exodus International will "make nice" in some of our public pronouncements but at the same time, we will always support using the power of civil government to impose our religious views about marriage on every gay and lesbian person (meaning that not only will we ostracize you from our churches, we will also fight any attempt to make gay rights and gay marriage legal in the civil realm).

7. We at Exodus International have realized our programs do not change the innate sexual orientation of gays and lesbians so our ministry has morphed into a psycho-babble circus designed to coerce you to fit into our little celibacy box or our unfulfilling heterosexual marriage box.

   Regardless of the emotional, psychological and spiritual toll this takes on you, our beloved gay and lesbian clients, we will continue to insist that God gives you no other options.

The rude crude truth is that EI and far too many Christians assault the human dignity of gays and lesbians by defining us solely by our innate homo- sexual orientation.

Our innate homosexual orientation is only a small part of who we are as human beings. Sexual orientation sometimes appears to be a larger part of our being because we are forced to constantly resist the psycho-babble rants of anti-gay christians and their unceasing attempts to use civil government to take away our human rights.

God loves you just as you are and He does not require you to change your sexual orientation when He saves you. Choose any button on the NavBar and discover that God doesn't view you like Exodus International views you.

The Ex-Gay Myth

The words, without natural affection, are never used in the Bible to refer to homosexuals.

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