Jul 8, 2011

Adam Hood or Ben Gresham?

Which one would you vote for: Adam Hood or Ben Gresham?


Adam Hood is a married 'straight' man who claims to be formerly gay and believes  that homosexuality is a sin. When Adam Hood was invited to Australia a campaign was launched to ensure his damaging message was not promoted. Read about the success of that campaign here.

Ben Gresham is a young gay Christian who says that the 'ex-gay' programs and reparative therapy he went through were incredibly harmful. Ben has integrated his faith and sexuality to now living openly, honestly and with authenticity.
  • Who is the most real?
  • Who is the most sincere?
  • Who do you believe?
 Adam Hood  - 'Ex-gay'?
 
or
Ben Gresham - Gay Christian

If you feel that you are tormented by uwanted same-sex attraction then the answer lies in loving and accepting your true self not rejecting or self loathing. The term 'unwanted same-sex attraction' adds to the denial. It is not an attraction it is an orientation. It is far deeper than just an attraction or behaviour and is a part of your brain wiring, thought processes, hormones and behaviour. People nedd to examine the 'unwanted' part of the statement not the orientation itself.

Before you invest the time, money, emotional energy and possibly years of your life trying to go from gay to straight, ask the ex-gay leaders what guarantee they can give you that it will work. If they are honest with you, the best they will be able to offer you as a degree of ‘heterosexual functionality’, but the gay never actually goes away. Then ask yourself what would be the best way to spend your time, money and emotional energy…..rejecting yourself or accepting yourself.

After 22 years of trying to change including ex-gay programs, exorcisms and 16 years of marriage, I came to the realisation that loving myself was far healthier than hating and rejecting my true self. Like 1,000’s of others today, I finally discovered that I can live a wonderfully fulfilling, moral life as an openly gay man and still have my faith.


© Anthony Venn-Brown 
Twitter: @gayambassador 
Anthony Venn-Brown is the co-founder and former leader of Freedom2b, Australia’s largest network of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people from Christian backgrounds. He is also an educator and consultant on LGBT/faith issues and leader in deconstructing the ‘ex-gay’ myth. Anthony’s autobiography 'A Life of Unlearning', details his journey from married, high profile preacher in Australia’s mega-churches to living as an openly gay man. Anthony has been twice voted ‘One of the 25 Most Influential Gay and Lesbian Australians’ (2007 & 2009) and  was one of four finalists for the 2011 ACON Community Hero Award. He is also the founder and director of Ambassadors & Bridge Builders International.

21 comments:

  1. Ben,

    Adam is living a Lie. Promoting a Lie and fooling himself.

    Ben knows who he is in Christ; accepted; loved and righteous with Christ's righteousness.

    There is no cure. We are beautifully and wonderfully made in God's image.

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  2. if there was a like button Graham I would hit it right now.

    thanks for your comment

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  3. Adam is telling the truth. God does not make "gay people". The development of same sex attraction is part of the fall.

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  4. Ben and everyone who sees this post. We are in a battle for our souls. Adam knows what he is talking about. The supernatural is real and we are pawns being used by satan, until we wake up and fight for our souls! The enemy uses homosexuality, sex outside of marriage, abortion and many many other sins to keep us blinded and in despair! Jesus paid our penalty for all of our sins against God. When we confess, turn and accept his sacrifice we are declared righteous before God. Then the real battle begins for your mind through your flesh. We must stand on the promises of God's word that we are new creations in Christ, old things are passed away and all things are become new! I chose anonymous because I don't want to sign up for another username! I am just a soldier in the army of Christ.

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    1. just a soldier who know not of what they are speaking. Have you walked in any of these people's shoes? Perhaps you might start by asking God to allow you to love your brother as yourself.

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  5. @binky777 and the Anonymous above me

    Nice try, Adam.

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  6. Sorry to say this but Ben seems so sad and defeated whereas Adam is confident and energetic even joyous. I believe both of these men are being true to themselves but it appears Adam has the answers. If the goal is simply I want to be straight you will be defeated. The goal should be having faith in God.

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    1. Hi Anonymous. I know Ben well. this snippet of an interview Ben is very much sharing about the pain & trauma he experienced whist in ex-gay therapy. if you knew him today as I do, you would know him as a fun-loving, passionate and successful young man. His partner, parents, parents inlaw and friends would attest to this. I do feel sorry for Adam. He seems quite obsessed. Since returning to the US he has disappeared into the woodwork and no longer preaching stronly against homosexuality as he did. Quite possibly this is because the false reality of his ex-gay message has sunk in.

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  7. Given the death threats and huge backlash against those who speak out against homosexuality in the west, I could understand why Adam would choose to live a quiet life.

    The spirit and passion in Adam's eyes are hard to ignore. But never mind what Adam says. If Ben still hangs on to his Christian faith he would have to outline one by one each reference of homosexuality in the Bible and say that those lines are false (that all homosexuals go to hell).

    If those lines are false, then everything else in the Bible is subject to fallibility.

    If the Bible is fallible and not to be trusted, then what is the basis then of Ben's christian faith other than his own imagination?

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    1. Lolita...I think you will find that Adam has gone underground not becauase of fear but posssibly he knows that his bold statements that he is no longer gay lack credibilty. Matthew 10:32-33

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    2. I believe you will find that Ben is just like most gay christian. He has looked in depth at each of the 11 verses out of 31,173 in the bible that mention same sex behaviour. This is something we devote a lot of study to. Most straight christians have never bothered to read anymore than an english translation and dont know the word homosexual didn't even appear in an English translation of the bible till 1946. Most gay christians know this as well as the historical & cultural context of the 11 verses as well as some understanding of the original languages. Google Ben Gresham and you will see....his deep faith and love of God and also a trust in His Word.

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  8. Some people deal with alcoholism all their lives, others pornography, yet others alcoholism or anger. The spiritual warfare never stops. It just happens that Adam's battle is against homosexuality. Jesus said those who endure or overcome to the very end, the same shall be saved. It's not about accepting the wrong and justifying it to be right because you're tired of fighting; being a Christian means taking up the cross and deciding to fight it out to the very end, because that is what the Commander asks us to do, knowing that there is a reward for our sacrifices and that God himself fights our battles for us. The traitor within, who is in league with the enemy, that's the guy who dupes you and says God is a liar, and sin is ok, and it's time to stop fighting the good fight.

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    1. My morality and faith are choices, my sexual orientation however isn't. Your opposite-sex-orientation is not an addiction or sin just as my same-sex isn't.

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  9. Lolita, I agree with you 100%. It is shocking how Christians can claim that the Bible approves of homosexuality! Anyone who reads Rom 1 will know that it is one of the many consequences of idolatry. We can only pray that God will preserve His people from such falsehood, lies of the devil.

    Please, anyone who is a Christian and claims homosexuality is just, please read your Bible and not give in to the pervasive view that is gripping the world

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    1. I never really know if it is worth allowing anonymous comments. It seems so useless when people seem to speak so authoritively but dont actually have a name.

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    2. Did you go back and read the Aramaic original version..or did you simply sit and read the English version and what someone else translated for you?

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  10. I believe the Holy Spirit is working in a powerful way in the lives of many courageous people like Ben, who as Anthony says, have to work hard to understand the bible and learn the truth, that we are loved and forgiven through our relationship with Jesus, that God created humanity with great diversity , that we do not have to be held back by an understanding of the bible that belongs to another time and culture. I believe my gay friends and family are gay by divine design, and I am blessed to have them in my life. Carolyn Minchin

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  11. The most telling part of the Adam Hood video occurs at 4.10. 'it's, it's even dangerous..'.

    My guess is that Adam Hood’s 'one season in my life' loosely followed these lines:

    Twinky bottom > promiscuous > exposed to HIV through own fault or not > three months' regret waiting for seroconversion > HIV negative > 'saved' > learned hatred of all things which exposed him to that risk > vulnerable young man > found by predatory church > ex-gay

    Most gay men have been there. Thankfully Adam's remains a very unusually toxic route for a gay man coping with the health anxiety surrounding HIV.

    'They need to be quarantined'. Jesus wept!

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  12. You know what I like about these two men? They're both signs that the scientists who said that people are born gay and can't change it were wrong. And that it IS our choices that make us who we are, not our birth.

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  13. I am also a living testament to the healing power of God. Not only was I saved in 1991 when I gave my heart to Jesus, I was also "delivered" from the bondage of the homosexual sin. And after I went through the healing process, the Lord revealed to me why I had sought out this lifestyle. My father was an abusive alcoholic whom I never looked up, trusted, respected, or loved. I went seeking this acceptance and affirmation in the gay community. Although for a time it seemed to be what I needed, but after a while it left me empty and still seeking. And that is what Jesus has given to me now. I am very happy, fulfilled, and content now. And God has used me in a mighty way as a missionary around the world. My life verse is II Corinthians 5:17 which sums it all up: "So if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new." Thanks for letting me share here.

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  14. Adam, if you read this, I am the anonymous Christian above here. You hang in there. Life is a constant battle between the good of God and the wickedness of satan. We will fight this battle daily until we leave this body and this earth. Just as Job said when God had "tested him" and took his wealth, his family, and even his health: "Though he (God) slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his (God's) face. Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for NO godless man would dare come before him!" Job 13:15,16

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