TPM:
George A. Rekers cofounded the Family Research Council with… James Dobson. And he's been a key leader of the "ex-gay" movement… testifying on behalf… of Alabama and Florida in defense of their laws banning adoptions by gays and lesbians. Alas he was caught a few days ago coming home from a ten day European vacation with a male prostitute he'd found on Rentboy.com. Rekers first claimed he didn't know the man was a prostitute, then said he'd hired him to carry his luggage and finally went with he was trying to bring him the message of Jesus.
I suppose screaming "oh, Jesus, oh, baby, Jesus, Jesus," counts these days as spreading "the message of Jesus" for the American Christianist Taliban set.
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Love had been born somewhere in the forest, of what quality only the
future could decide. Trivial or immortal, it had been born to two
human bodies as a midnight cry. Impossible to tell whence the cry
had come, so dark was the forest. Or into what worlds it would echo,
so vast was the forest. Love had been born for good or evil, for
a long life or a short.
There was hidden among the undergrowth of that wild region a
small native hut. Here, after the cry had died away, a light
was kindled. It shone upon the pagan limbs and the golden
ruffled hair of a young man. . . [H]e caught sight of a book on
the floor, and he dropped beside it with a dramatic moan. . .
For the book in question was his Holy Bible. . . "Oh, what have
I done?" . . .
[T]he other missionaries. . . saw at once from his face that
he had failed. Nor had they expected otherwise. The Roman Catholics,
far more expert than themselves, had failed to convert Vithobai,
the wildest, strongest, most stubborn of all the inland chiefs.
And Paul Pinmay (for this was the young man's name) was at that
time a very young man indeed, and had partly been sent in order
that he might discover his own limitations. He was inclined
to be impatient and headstrong, he knew little of the language
and still less of native psychology, and indeed he disdained
to study this last, declaring in his naïve way that human
nature is the same all over the world. . .
And he recalled Vithobai, Vithobai the unapproachable, coming
into his hut out of the darkness and smiling at him. Oh how
delighted he had been! Oh how surprised! He had scarcely
recognized the sardonic chief in this gracious and bare-limbed
boy, whose only ornaments were scarlet flowers. Vithobai had
laid all formality aside. "I have come secretly," were his
first words. "I wish to hear more about this god whose name
is love." . . . "Come to Christ!" he had cried, and Vithobai
had said "Is that your name?" He explained No, his name was
not Christ, although he had the fortune to be called Paul after
a great apostle. . . [A]nd they sat together upon the couch
that was almost a throne. . . and spoke of the love of Christ
and of our love for each other in Christ. . . Vithobai
said, "This is the first time I have heard such words, I
like them," and drew closer. . . And he saw how intelligent
the boy was and how handsome. . . and then imprinted a kiss
on his forehead and drew him to Abraham's bosom. And Vithobai
had lain in it gladly -- too gladly and too long -- and had
extinguished the lamp. And God alone saw them after that. . .
That evening he went in person. . .
The chief received [him] in soiled European clothes. . .
He had mastered his anger, and speaking courteously
he said: "Christ awaits us in my inner chamber."
Mr. Pinmay. . . dared not explain the hideous error. . .
the chief must remain in a state of damnation for a time,
for a new church depended on it. His reply to the
unholy suggestion was "Not yet".
"Why not yet?" said the other, his beautiful eyes filling
with tears. "God orders me to love you now."
"He orders me to refrain."
"How can that be, when God **is** Love?"
"I have served him the longer and I know."
"But this is my palace and I am a great chief."
"God is greater than all chiefs."
"As it was in your hut let it here be. Dismiss your
companions and the gate will be barred behind them, and
we close out the light. My body and the breath in it
are yours. Draw me again to your bosom. I give myself,
I, Vithobai the King."
"Not yet," repeated Mr. Pinmay, covering his eyes with
his hand.
"My beloved, I give myself. . . take me. . . I give
you my kingdom." And he fell prone.
"Arise, Barnabas. . . We do not want your kingdom. . .
And do not speak of what happened in the hut. Never mention
the hut, the word hut, the thought, either to me or
to anyone. It is my wish and my command."
"Never?"
"Never."
"Come, my gods, come back to me," he cried, leaping up
and wrenching his clothes. "What do I gain by leaving
you?"
"No, no, no!" prevaricated Mr. Pinmay. "I said Never
speak, not that I would never come."
The boy was reassured. He said: "Yes. I misunderstood.
You do come to Christ, but not yet. I must wait. For
how long?"
"Until I call you. Meanwhile obey all my orders. . ."
"Very well, my brother. Until you call me."
"And do not call me your brother."
"Very well."
"Or seek my company." . . .
He began, though tardily, to meditate upon his sin. . .
Vithobai had shown no reluctance to be tempted. . . Yes,
to tempt, to attack the new religion by corrupting its
preacher. . . [H]e confessed his defilement (the very name
of which cannot be mentioned among Christians). . . and
he condemned, with increasing severity, the arts of his
seducer. On the last topic he became truly eloquent. . .
[A]ll his colleagues came dashing into his room. . .
"News from the interior. . . Vithobai and the entire of his
people have embraced Christianity. . . Here we have
the triumph of youth, oh it puts us to shame." . . .
Barnabas (for such was the name that the dusky youth
received at his baptism) -- Barnabas proved an exemplary
convert. . . [H]e never backslid, and he had an
authority with his own people. . . No one, not even the
Roman Catholics, could point to so solid a success.
Since Mr. Pinmay was the sole cause of the victory, the new
district naturally fell to his charge. . . He who had
been wont to lay such stress on. . . love, kindness, and
personal influence, he who had preached that the Kingdom
of Heaven is intimacy and emotion, now reacted with
violence and treated the new converts. . . with the gloomy
severity of the Old Law. He who had ignored the subject of
native psychology now. . . would say: "These people are so
unlike ourselves that I much doubt whether they have
really accepted Christ. . ."
Yet Mr. Pinmay had his anxious moments.
His first meeting with Barnabas was the worst of them.
He had managed to postpone it until the day. . . of the
general baptism. . . [T]he whole tribe, headed by their
chief, had filed past the portable font and been signed
on the forehead with the cross of Christ. Mistaking
the nature of the rite, they were disposed to gaiety.
Barnabas laid his outer garment aside, and running up. . .
said "My brother in Christ, oh come quickly," and stroked
Mr. Pinmay's flushed face, and tried to kiss his
forehead and golden hair. . .
"In the first place send your people. . . home."
The order was given and obeyed.
"In the second place, let no one come before me again
until he is decently clad. . ."
"My brother, like you?" . . .
He seldom met Barnabas now. There was no necessity for it,
since the chief's usefulness decreased as the community developed. . .
He could not really feel much sorrow when he learned that
the unfortunate fellow was dying.
Consumption was the cause. One of the imported workers had
started an epidemic. . . His was a very rapid case. He put up
no fight. His heart seemed broken. . . [H]e thanked God
for permitting Barnabas, since die we must, to pass away
at this particular moment; he would not have liked to leave
him behind, festering, equivocal, and perhaps acquiring some
sinister power. . .
In the shadow of the parapet lay the dying man, coughing
gently, and stark naked.
"Vithobai!" he cried in amazement.
He opened his eyes and said: "Who calls me?"
"You must have some covering, Barnabas," said Mr. Pinmay
fussily. . .
"Come to Christ," he said, "but not in the way that you
suppose. The time has come for me to explain. You and I
once sinned together, yes. . . You and I must now repent
together. . .
"I forgive you, I do not forgive, both are the same. I am
good I am evil I am pure I am foul, I am this or that, I am
Barnabas, I am Vithobai. What difference does it make
now? . . .
"We have erred in this life but it will not be so in the
life to come."
The dying man seemed to find comfort at last. "The life to
come," he whispered. . . "I had forgotten it. You are
sure it is coming?. . . And we shall meet in it, you and I?"
he asked, with a tender yet reverent caress. "Shall we know
one another again? . . . And will there be love?"
"In the real and true sense, there will."
"The life to come," he shouted. "Life, life, eternal life.
Wait for me in it." And he stabbed the missionary through
the heart. . .
For love was conquered at last and he was again a great king,
he had sent a messenger before him to announce his arrival
in the life to come, as a great chief should. "I served
you for ten years," he thought, "and your yoke was hard,
but mine will be harder and you shall serve me now for ever
and ever." He dragged himself up, he looked over the
parapet. . . Mounting on the corpse,. . . he swooped like
a falcon from the parapet in pursuit of the terrified shade.
-- E. M. Forster, "The Life to Come" in _The Life to Come:
And Other Stories_ (1987)
http://books.google.com/books?id=QeghlNeofqcC
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Come-Other-Stories/dp/0393304426
The next crisis. . . was five years later, just before his own
marriage. The cause of Christ had progressed greatly in
the interval. Dancing had been put down, industry encouraged. . .
He was marrying one of the medical missionaries, a lady who
shared his ideals. . .
Mr. Pinmay's repentance was now permanent, and his conscience
so robust that he could meet the chief with ease and
transact business with him in private. . .
[T]he chief was no longer wealthy; in the sudden advent of
civilization he had chanced to lose much of his land. . .
"In regard to this marriage, sir, there is. . . a promise
that you made me once."
"About the mining concession. . .? . . . [Y]ou ought to
have been more careful at the time. You signed your rights
away without consulting me. . ."
"It is not the mining concession," said Barnabas patiently. . .
[H]e had grown careless where his own affairs were concerned.
"It is quite another promise." He seemed to be choosing
his words. Speaking slowly and without any appearance of
emotion, he said at last: "Come to Christ."
"Come to Him indeed," said Mr. Pinmay in slightly reproving
tones, for he was not accustomed to receive such an invitation
from a spiritual inferior.
Barnabas paused again, then said: "In the hut."
"What hut?" He had forgotten.
"The hut with the Mercy Seat."
Shocked and angry, he exclaimed: "Barnabas, Barnabas, this
is disgraceful. I forbad you ever to mention this subject.". . .
Tepid, impersonal, as if he still discussed public affairs,
the young man said: "Let us both be entirely reasonable, sir.
God continues to order me to love you. It is my life, whatever
else I seem to do. My body and the breath in it are
still yours, though you wither them up with the waiting.
Come into the last forest, before it is cut down, and I
will be kind, and all may end well. But it is now five
years since you first said Not yet."
"It is, and now I say Never."
"This time you say Never?"
"I do."
[H]is soul uncoiled like a spring. . . Mr. Pinmay had heard
of such contortions, but never witnessed them; they were
startling, they were disgusting. . .
Honestly, when I hear stories like this, I feel really sad for these guys. In many cases, it was Daddy's connections that got them into a position where they might be someone important. Daddy was a straight, white, Christian male and all of his friends were straight, white, Christian males, and so long as you're a straight, white, Christian male, you can have it all. That's one hell of a decision to make: deny who you are for the shot at a career most can only dream of, or be yourself and let the chips fall where they may.
Understandable, in a strange way, that they would opt for the former.
That he's hurting people is not excused by the fact that he's been hurt.
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