Homosexual Discussion ForumHomosexuality and the Possibility of ChangeThe AA 12 step program is based on sound Biblical principles (and I know AA was not founded by Christians). However, if a person has to stay in the program to maintain sobriety, the program is not building character and is in fact helping alcoholics live as dry drunks, which is my main objection to such programs.
Take step 1 for example: "step 1. Admit you have a problem". The obvious question, at least to me, is what causes the problem after you admit you have one. If you don't see alcohol as a problem you don't have a motivation to quit drinking. In my father’s case alcohol was an escape from life and his perceived failures in life. He made some bad decisions based on bad information and he blamed himself since he felt relying on this information revealed a weakness in him and he could not handle that.
There is a similar program for overcoming homosexuality, which is called "Homosexuals Anonymous" that has a 14 step program developed by Collin Cook and patterned after other 12 step programs. - We admitted that we were powerless over our homosexuality and that our emotional lives were unmanageable.
- We came to believe the love of God, who forgave us and accepted us in spite of all that we are and have done.
- We learned to see purpose in our suffering, that our failed lives were under God's control, who is able to bring good out of trouble.
- We came to believe that God had already broken the power of homosexuality and that He could therefore restore our true personhood.
- We came to perceive that we had accepted a lie about ourselves, an illusion that had trapped us in a false identity.
- We learned to claim our true reality that as humankind, we are part of God's heterosexual creation and that God calls us to rediscover that identity in Him through Jesus Christ, as our faith perceives Him.
- We resolved to entrust our lives to our loving God and to live by faith, praising Him for our new unseen identity, confident that it would become visible to us in God's good time.
- As forgiven people free from condemnation, we made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, determined to root out fear, hidden hostility, and contempt for the world.
- We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs and humbly asked God to remove our defects of character.
- We willingly made direct amends wherever wise and possible to all people we had harmed.
- We determined to live no longer in fear of the world, believing that God's victorious control turns all that is against us into our favor, bringing advantage out of sorrow and order from disaster.
- We determined to mature in our relationships with men and women, learning the meaning of a partnership of equals, seeking neither dominance over people nor servile dependency on them.
- We sought thorough confident praying, and the wisdom of Scripture for an ongoing growth in our relationship with God and a humble acceptance of His guidance for our lives.
- Having had a spiritual awakening, we tried to carry this message to homosexual people with a love that demands nothing and to practice these steps in all our lives' activities, as far as lies within us.
http://members.aol.com/HAwebpage/14steps/14steps.html
I do know men and women who have used this program to overcome their homosexuality and move into happy and fulfilled heterosexual marriages. BTW, I know many churches sponsor AA and NA chapters that have been successful in helping people overcome both alcohol and narcotic addiction when the participants actually want to overcome their addiction and actually apply the 12 steps and learn from those steps. The most difficult step from many in any 12-step program is #4 and for those in HA it is #8.
There are similarities in overcoming alcohol addiction and homosexuality when you view homosexuality as an emotional addiction and an attempt to meet unmet emotional needs through same-gender sexuality. However, the age when the “addiction” becomes apparent is what leads some to believe that homosexuality is “innate”.
Thank you for your condolencses. My father was an intelligent man who let circumstances and pride overwhelm him.
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