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Balancing Truth & Grace Conferences - A Huge Success!
Balancing Truth & Grace Conferences, A Christian Response to Homosexuality
By any account, the recent conferences held in Grand Forks, Fargo, and Bismarck were a huge success. Almost 600 individuals attended, including over 100 clergy and church staff.
Melissa Fryrear and Jeff Johnston, with Focus on the Family, did an absolutely marvelous job of communicating a wealth of information, but more so sharing from the heart, a message of transformational hope. Their personal testimonies revealed a seldom-told story, from a perspective of having same-sex attractions and living in a homosexual relationship, and through the power of God’s love were able to transform their lives.
“I can’t tell you how many people were touched by their message, and the impact it will have on them,” shares Tom Freier. “No one was there by accident, and all will be better equipped to minister to a loved one struggling with this sensitive issue.
As they spoke to “Balancing Truth & Grace”, each highlighted the primary Christian focus on seeking that all should come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. In 2 Peter 3:9, scripture puts it this way “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
. “Many Christians are struggling with how to maintain the balance between holding on to their religious beliefs about homosexuality and loving a gay family member or friend. Thankfully we don’t have to forfeit one for the other; we can do both. We can affirm God’s design for sexuality—which only condones sexual behavior between a man and a woman within marriage—and still reach out compassionately to those who are living homosexually. First, with the gospel of Jesus Christ and then with the hopeful news that homosexually can be overcome. It’s those two truths that radically changed my life and Jeff’s. We are so grateful for the opportunities we had in North Dakota to share our stories and to encourage Christians to reach out lovingly with uncompromised faith to a loved one who deals with homosexuality” Melissa Fryrear.
Even though we would like to thank Melissa and Jeff and proclaim them to be the “Stars of the Show”, they would be the first to reference the real Star of the show as being “Jesus’!!
Key points from their presentations:
1) A variety of factors and circumstances which may influence an individual to develop same-sex attractions, display homosexual behaviors, and/or experiment with gender identities.
Sexual orientation is a complicated issue because it includes a person’s thoughts, fantasies, experiences, feelings, attractions, behavior, identity, appearance and of course, relationships. The formation of same-sex attraction and a subsequent gay- or lesbian-identity is the result of a combination of possible influencing environmental, psychosocial and biological factors — interacting in ways unique to each individual.
Specifically, these influencing factors may include failure to properly bond with the same-sex parent and same-sex peers, over-identification with the opposite-sex parent, personality temperament, sexual molestation, exposure to pornography, sexual experimentation, negative body image, difficulty in relating to the opposite sex and media influences, to name only a few.
If an individual is exposed to one or more of these risk factors, there is the likelihood a person might question their gender identity. Obviously, the more factors, the greater the possibility for someone to question their identity.
2) Individuals are not born gay. No scientific research has documented a homosexual gene, or DNA evidence of being born gay.
- Homosexual tendencies are reflected as behaviors or conduct
- same-sex attractions are involuntary
- as same-sex attractions and behaviors become accepted and normalized, the morally accepted behavior becomes a self defined homosexual identity.
3) Role of the church, clergy, and individuals
- welcome all, including those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction or who identify as gay or lesbian.
- wanting all to come to Christ and practicing “Truth & Grace”, extending the love and grace of Christ, while not compromising the truth of His word
4) Understanding the radical agenda of the extreme homosexual activists and not to be intimidated
- radical activists do not necessarily represent all with homosexual tendencies
- the battle to reach out in “Truth & Grace” needs to be addressed inside the church walls and outside of the church walls
- extreme activist agenda will infringe upon our religious liberties and freedoms
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