So is this just a quibble? Or do you actualy have counter-examples?
Still, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." And even though I do not feel that this claim is extraordinary, direct evidence is a bit light.
So I did an Internet search for "conversion therapy success" and looked at the first 100 hits. 77 were sites climing that the programs are failures, and some of them went further to claim that they do irreparable harm. 23 of them were for sites about treatments for other conditions that just happened to have the three words in close proximity. None - not one - claimed that the program works.
Out of 100 hits, you'd expect at least one "positive" hit, even if it was just an individual's blog with anecdotal evidence.
One of first hits reported on a study which looked at earlier published studies and at information published by some of the programs themselves.
It mentioned the difficulty in establishing an average success rate because the standards used in the various reports were not the same, and in a couple of cases important primary data was unavailabe.
The best estimate that they could come up with was a success rate between 0 and 0.5% - 5 or less people helped for every thousand who join the program.
I dont have enough posts on CF to post links, but you can find the summary that I found of the study on the religioustolerencedotorg website. The flename of the page is hom_exod1dothtm
Yes, it is a "tolerance" website. Yes it is a summary. But it does inclde links to the information if you wish to examine it.
I don't really have time to search the web for statistics, but I did check one site and it is simple, but true.
First of all, as Bob Davies of Exodus International stated, the ex-gay ministries do not have a 100 percent success rate. However, drug rehabilitation programs have success rates in the 35 percent to 60 percent range; AA's rule of thumb is
that if a member remains sober for one year, he (or she) has a 40 percent chance of remaining sober for another.
None of these figures even approaches 100 percent success, but I'm sure that few would call these programs failures.
To declare the ex-gay ministries ineffective on the same grounds would seem to be unwarranted.
Likewise, many ex-homosexuals and ex-addicts have to deal with temptation after they have been treated. This, in my opinion, is because homosexuality, like drug or alcohol addiction, is more than just an action: It is a way of thinking, and thus can be a difficult thing to change.
It is because of this that I sympathize with the friend Ms. Janssen mentions in her article who had a nervous breakdown when others tried to change his homosexuality.
I can also to a certain extent understand the comments made by Rev. Sylvia Pennington about the mental trauma of change.
In my opinion, any attempt to change a homosexual or addict who does not see a real need for change is guaranteed to fail.
However, I do feel that if a person wishes to change the way he or she behaves, thinks or feels, then help should be available. When I became a Christian and let Jesus Christ change my life, I was not forced or coerced into it; I chose to subvert my will to that of the Lord.
If others had tried to force me to do so, I perhaps would also have experienced some of the incredible guilt and "broken pieces of humanity" that Rev. Pennington described, but with no real change taking place.
The examples of changed lives that I have seen and my belief that "with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26) lead me to believe that homosexuals can change and should be encouraged to think about the consequences of their behavior,
but only they can and should be the ones to make the decision to change.
Bob Kuligowski
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/1990/04/04-11-90tdc/04-11-90dops-letter-01.asp
Der Alter and davedjy:
You've obviously been going around on your issue for a while. I assume that there are other threads where you can continue that discussion. Otherwise people will lose track of why I started this thread, and I may never get anyone to look at my question and give a straight answer.
If 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises a "way of escape" from homosexuality, then what is it?
JESUS CHRIST
That is the "way of escape"
Jesus is the only one who can free any of us from our bondages. The desire has to be there to change though, not from others, but from within. Then you must completely turn it over to God. Then you can't think "oh well I've been tempted...it didn't work"
Doesn't work that way, we are all tempted and as Scripture states we are not given more than we can handle. But way to many are ready to give in to temptation. Some believe if the feeling is so strong than there must not be anything wrong with it...whether homosexuality, adultery, greed, gluttony...any sin can be justified if you would rather do that than own up to it.
John 8:36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.