ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.
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(Photo: AP Images / Morry Gash)Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shakes hands at a rally, Friday, Sept. 5, 2008, in Cedarburg, Wis.
"You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.
Palin's conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain's candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.
Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the "Love Won Out" Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.
Palin, campaigning with McCain in the Midwest on Friday, has not publicly expressed a view on the so-called "pray away the gay" movement. Larry Kroon, senior pastor at Palin's church, was not available to discuss the matter Friday, said a church worker who declined to give her name.
Gay activists in Alaska said Palin has not worked actively against their interests, but early in her administration she supported a bill to overrule a court decision to block state benefits for gay partners of public employees. At the time, less than one-half of 1 percent of state employees had applied for the benefits, which were ordered by a 2005 ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court.
Palin reversed her position and vetoed the bill after the state attorney general said it was unconstitutional. But her reluctant support didn't win fans among Alaska's gay population, said Scott Turner, a gay activist in Anchorage.
"Less than 1 percent of state employees would even apply for benefits, so why make a big deal out of such a small number?" he said.
"I think gay Republicans are going to run away" if Palin supports efforts like the prayers to convert gays, said Wayne Besen, founder of the New York-based Truth Wins Out, a gay rights advocacy group. Besen called on Palin to publicly express her views now that she's a vice presidential nominee.
"People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House," he said.
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I would like to believe you have proof, but it's just not there....
Homosexuality is a sin. And those who willingly and unremorsefully practice it will be judged harshly.
I wasn't silent out of stupidity. But I am rather enjoying listening to you make assumption after assumption, because of my silence. So it seems that neither of us are able to produce anything to back our claim.
And so you discount the Bible for science. And you call yourself a Christian. But I will still continue to speak the truth. That homosexuality is a sin. And God wants homosexuals to remove themselves from that sin, because it separates them from God. Well, a lot of habitual and willful sin separates us from God, but we are talking about homosexuality at this time.
Oh my bad, so you compared yourself to Jesus? The thing is, Jesus wasn't silent out of stupidity, whereas you are. I told you, I would be more than happy to provide you with scientific data, loads of it, about homosexuality, if you will kindly provide me with one scientific document proving that you were, in fact, born a sex addict. Its really not much to ask, is it?
You should reread my post. I neither compared myself to pharisees, nor said that Jesus was friends of theres. I compared you to the pharisees. But you already knew that...
I'd like to see some of that scientific data about homosexuality.
I like how you attempt to use the same things I have said to you as a put down for me. Did you REALLY compare yourself to the Pharisees? Clearly you don't know as much about the Bible as you claim, or else you'd know Jesus wasn't exactly their biggest fan! Homosexuality has plenty of scientific data showing sexual orientation is determined prenatally. All I asked for was one simple study showing sex addiction was determined at birth. You could not produce a single study, whereas I said I could produce multiple had you produced me 1 study. Seems simple, but I forget who I am dealing with...
Your claim of being born a homosexual is just as hypocritical. Nothing definitive in the scientific field has ever been produced to support that claim. It's all conjecture and theory.
"pretend to be philosophical by saying "some questions don't need an answer"
Well, I'm sure that the pharisees said the same thing about Jesus when He didn't answer all their questions. He didn't even answer Pilate.
So, no it's not whether I have the answer or not, it's called self-control. Something that my fight against sexual addiction has taught me. Not every question needs or deserves to be answered.
If you want to say I don't have the answer...if that makes you feel superior...then by all means say it. I've had worse things said about me by better people than you.
See this is where your hypocrisy shows its true colors! You know you don't have an answer to the argument and pretend to be philosophical by saying "some questions don't need an answer." I asked you to find me references which back up your claim that you were born a sex addict, which you have never once done anything but dance around, and its because its a false claim. You then go on to act all pious and talk about my sins and tell me I am an unrepentant sinner who needs to be prayed for. Forget about you, the only thing you are capable of is having discussions which you inevitably turn sophomoric and dull.
Because I speak the truth, I am not living a holy life? You have no idea about my life, but you have made it clear about your sinful lifestyl. Am I perfect? Not by a long shot. But I still hold myself to the same standard that I preach. And though I sin, I don't justify it, as some do. Rather, I ask for forgiveness and the strength to overcome.
Though I don't believe anyone will ever come to the point of not sinning, but I do believe that we can get to the point where we are not practicing sin.
That is the problem. Willfull and unrepentant practicing of sin...
Mike,
Did I ever give any kind if indication that I don't pray for myself?
Not every question deserves an answer.
Ha! A holy life like the one you are not living? You think so highly of yourself, the way you talk in these forums. You never once made a halfway decent argument, and STILL you are ignoring any question I asked. Rather, you attempt to attack my character to shine the light away from your face, and the fact that you do it in the name of God is shameful. Instead of praying for me, pray for yourself.
You're right. I should just be like Jesus and come right out and call you a hypocrite. I was trying to be loving. But I've discovered that your definition of "loving" is to accept sin because someone else likes it, and to call it "sin" would somehow damage their fragile egos.
But then again, I was forthright and you still didn't hear. So what does it matter if I'm passive aggresive or brutally honest. The point is that you don't want to hear the truth.
And there is no longer and sacrifice for your sin. You can pity me. And I will pray for your soul. You willfully remain practicing sin, without remorse. I'm afraid for your soul. You are living in sin. You need to repent and start living a holy life.
Passive aggressive much? You are already lower than me, as you avoid any kind of tough question by spewing something as you just did. You don't answer my questions not because they are absurd, but because you don't have the answers to back up what you say! I truly pity you, from the bottom of my heart, but take solice in the fact that you could never surpass my spirit on its journey.
Believer,
It's like beating a dead horse. He is right in his own eyes. His justification and logic (however skewed it is) is all that matters. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is destruction."
He's on his way to a place he won't want to be, but at least for now he's enjoying the ride. Everyone deserves to enjoy life from time to time right?
So, I will let him continue to win the arguments. And I will continue to speak the truth. I will not continue to argue with him. To do so would mean that I would have to lower myself to man's logic and wisdom. I will not lower myself to that, and he will not raise himself to God's standard. So there will always be that difference.
I would encourage you to let Mike be. Some people will not receive the truth. At that point, you shake the dust from your clothes and move on....
Prophet, I have said nothing in this post that suggests a knowledge or lack thereof the Bible. You do not know the Bible well either, but you attempt to spew quotes to show off.
Believer, there is much more evidence that being gay has no choice, that it is prenatal, than to say prophet would be born a sex addict. Again, and I have said this many times before, it is possible prophet was born with an addictive personality, but you cannot be born addicted to something which you have never experienced. That, again, is why homosexuality is not to be compared to an addiction, because it is not about a chemical dependence and because it shows signs in children's personality at an early age.
Mike,
I'm gathering by your lack of Bible knowledge, that you are either not a Christian, a "baby" Christian, or a willingly immature Christian.