Gay Conversion Therapy
Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink
Gay Conversion Therapy
Tuesday 13th July, 2021
Gay Conversion Therapy (GCT)
POV. Some folks when they hear or read this phrase, Gay Conversion Therapy, think of archaic, cruel and inhumane ‘therapies’ such as electroconvulsive therapy, anti-gay boot camps and people forced into counsellors rooms who use weird techniques to ‘convert’ the gay person. Though this sadly may have been the case in the past in NZ it certainly isn’t current practise anywhere in the Christian Church in NZ as far as I am aware.
That being true I want to suggest we are now debating a completely different thing namely the Government wanting to stop someone experiencing gender dysphoria or unwanted same-sex attraction from going to see a pastor, counsellor, parent or anyone else to get some counselling or help of any sort that they have chosen to do so voluntarily.
Under the proposed laws even parents could be criminalised not to say anything about pastors and Christian counsellors. A mother who helps her say 12 year old daughter who is expressing a bit of confusion about her gender by affirming her femaleness and to not only accept the body she was born with but love it could be criminalised………yep too hard to believe but that is what is at stake here. Let’s call this out. This is beyond nuts and it is going to damage and hurt so many kids and their families. It’s shameful!
And by the way in a Curia Market Poll in December last year 81% of New Zealanders don’t buy it either.
Last time I checked, Christianity is in the business of converting people. Yesterday I extended an invitation to folks at Church where I was preaching if they would like to ‘follow Jesus’. I’ve been extending that invitation for 40 years. And some folks have responded over those years and guess what, they were ‘converted’……yes they were. They were converted from an old life with all its attended lifestyle issues into a new life with Christ. I experienced that at age 18 and quite honestly I don’t know where I’d be today if it were not for my own conversion. I know that is true for you the reader of this blog as well. We have been doing this for a very long time now. But to be precise it is not we who do the converting, we simply ‘show the way’ or ‘teach the way’. It has always been a voluntary act, an invitation by Jesus Himself to ‘follow Him'. He in fact does the converting when a person invites Him to do so. True conversion as a matter of fact can only take place because I want that to happen or I choose that happen.
As I see it if a gay person is confused or unhappy then they must be free to seek appropriate help in the same way a person who is struggling with paedophilia or pornography or any deviant sexual urges that are making them unhappy. Not to say anything about drug addiction, gambling or lying or insomnia or anxiety………I’m sure you catch my drift. The bottom line is simple. If a person is unhappy and has identified that their lifestyle choice (of whatever kind) could be a contributing factor to their unhappiness then it is imperative they can find a parent, a grandparent, a pastor or a counsellor who can help them. And as soon as possible. To take that away from a parent or the Christian Community is tantamount to social engineering at best, autocratic rule at worst.
For more information including stories of people helped visit FreeToLive.nz. And here is a helpful article titled ‘Conversion Therapy – a biblical response'. 10 minutes to read.
Alan Vink is currently the Executive Director for LeadershipWorx. Prior to this role he has been the Executive Director of Willow Creek Association NZ (WillowNZ), a Baptist pastor (23 years), Bible College teacher, and church consultant.
