i think your “numbers” are way off, though; it seems to me that this way of thinking and preaching heavily attract affluent, scholarly, politically conservative believers in Christ, and middle and upper class America shelters plenty of them.

it seems like the movement and related theological trends began in the 1950’s, as many “christian” cults did, but hyper-fundamentalists continue to “grow” today because the doctrines they teach both in and out of the Bible are very popular to a particular(ly large) ^ culture.

dangerous? yes, definitely. well-meaning? probably, but if the bent of the culture largely determines how to apply scripture , then much of what the Bible teaches (love, hope, faith, charity) can be redefined to further suit the culture in; you know, wearing a blood-stained robe without having shed your own blood at all.

this blog article is an okay start, but sadly, what is mentioned in the article doesn’t reveal nor give away the secrets to truly expose what you warn about.

believe me when i say there are plenty of us inside the culture whom want to dig further into how this “spiritual” apparatus works, and are stopped at various turns (when we ask questions about it) because of all the twisted thinking and disciplinary action taken that goes into maintaining a weird, christian half-life.

many people don’t know the difference, because they are raised for many years (perhaps since birth) in an entire culture that supports the true biblical and less-than-truthful, unbiblical doctrines which contribute to “hyper-fundamentalism”. it’s funny, people in the church used to toss around the term “Pharisee”, but now you have to use terms like “Classic” and “Neo-Pharisee-ism”.

no wonder many people love the Bible and hate the church; of course, hating the church would bring suspicion to whether that person was saved or not…

duh, da da duhhh.

There is more than just “biblical proof texts” in this issue. There are whole concepts in the Bible which don’t make sense if we see homosexuality as part of God’s diversity.

For instance, in the Scriptures husbands are exhorted to love their wives and their wives are exhorted to submit to their husbands (Eph 5).

How do you translate this into a homosexual marriage? Who does the submitting, who leads the marriage, who loves first, who reconciles first? You have to disregard the scripture completely in the case of homosexual marriage because it doesn’t suit the context. You’re then left with no Biblical instruction on marriage in homosexual contexts at all, which I don’t think God would do if he viewed it as part of what He wants.

To accept homosexuality as part of God’s diversity is to mean that homosexuality is a gender of sorts as well. If we do that, then we have to change gender definitions from “male, female” to “homosexual, heterosexual” (if we were going to be consistent in such a definition).

Ok. But then how does a young boy or girl know whether they are heterosexual or homosexual? Simply by trying out which one suits them best? If so, then it has nothing to do with God’s diversity (creation) but swings back to choice — and many (not all) homosexuals claim that this has nothing to do with choice, they were created this way.

And I’ve heard of plenty of homosexual parents who have encouraged their kids to ‘try girls’ if they were having trouble with the boys. Hardly consistent, again, to saying that this has nothing to do with choice.

So, yes, we could throw biblical proof texts at each other but there are whole concepts and contexts in the Bible which don’t make sense given your view, and you would need to explain those as well.

Furthermore, you’re making bold statements that people don’t blink an eye at the deaths of millions through hunger, or that no one cares about systems and people that cause daughters to be sold into slavery etc. Is this true? Certainly it isn’t for me, and I am hardly the exception. Have you seen the kind of work that people who believe homosexuality is a sin do in these other areas? John Piper, since I spoke about him in my original post, writes more about this kind of stuff than homosexuality… your statement is unfortunately without fact.

You’re fully aware that Christians in the past who worked for the prohibition of slavery also viewed homosexuality as a sin, as well? Don’t you think that some people CAN view it as a sin and still love people struggling with it, the same as they do anyone else?

SOME people major on the minors, but most people actually don’t. Besides, who is deciding what a major or a minor is anyway? Isn’t it all sin? Shouldn’t we just put everything on the same equal playing field? Why would you say homosexuality is a ‘minor’ anyway, putting it on the same list as slavery and hunger? If it isn’t a sin or part of those kinds of problems it doesn’t belong on your list. You’re not being consistent.

Just get out there and minister healing. keep ministering, keep preaching, keep expecting.

We have seen people get out of wheelchairs, people walk, people healed, people pain free, people healed from deafness, people healed from congenital conditions here in England.

I spend a lot of time listening to Curry Blake and Andrew Wommack. That helps. I spend a lot of time imagining myself preaching and healing the sick.

Hope this helps,
Ben