[Editors’ Note: In our recent article we wrote about Canada’s Conversion Therapy Bill C-4. In this current article we discuss a form of conversion therapy called “reparative therapy,” which is a form of conversion therapy. We reveal how Evangelical Christians were wrongly led into this abyss of conversion therapy, primarily through Dr. James Dobson’s popularity and leadership and his promotion of Dr. Joseph Nicolosi. At the end of this article, as promised in the prior article, we will show that homosexuals are not “Born That Way” and discuss the myth of “Can’t Change.” In a future article we will deal with the subject of the unreasonableness of the response of Christian leaders to the conversion therapy bans. As you read this article, please be aware of the evangelistic power of the Word of God for a true conversion, from the old sinful nature to a new identity in Christ through salvation, rather than a pseudoscientific psychotherapeutic attempt.]
In our recent conversion therapy article titled “Canada’s Conversion Therapy Bill C-4,” we quoted Wikipedia’s definition of “Conversion Therapy,” which says: “Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation from non-heterosexual to heterosexual and/or their gender identity from non-cisgender to cisgender [sex at birth].”[1] We agree that “Conversion Therapy” is a “pseudoscientific practice.” Also, after reading the research on the efficacy of “Conversion Therapy,” we conclude that the practice is not supported by credible evidence and should be banned!
Wikipedia reports, “A total of 20 states, as well as the District of Columbia,” have banned conversion therapy.[2] The conversion therapy ban has been spreading worldwide. France passed a conversion therapy ban on December 15, 2021, and Canada enacted a conversion therapy ban on January 8, 2022. France’s and Canada’s recent bans on conversion therapy have caused many Christians to be further upset with the ban and misunderstand it as a strike against the Christian faith. This recent reaction about Canada and France occurs every time an additional U.S. State or country bans conversion therapy. Christians and Christian leaders lament the ban on conversion therapy and loudly cry out about it being an attack on Christianity. However, the ban on conversion therapy is NOTYET an attack on the Christian faith. Conversion therapy bans in the United States do not apply to the practices of religious providers or the general public. The bans only apply to licensed practitioners. The danger arises if the current conversion therapy ban in Canada will be applied to those who are not professional psychotherapists which is not yet known.
Conversion therapy is one form of psychotherapy, and all psychotherapies are generally pseudoscientific as we have often shown.[3] However, as we will reveal, the one form of conversion therapy that is the most popular and singularly promoted by Christians is particularly noxious; we would call it EVIL, as we will shortly show.
Conversion therapy is performed by licensed psychotherapists. These licensed professionals are required by the state to practice what they learned in school and not from the Bible.[4] Closing the door to the evils of conversion therapy leaves the door open to the appeals of Scripture for transforming the lives of those who are not heterosexual and want to be. As we shall show, conversion from homosexual/bisexual practices, condemned by the Bible, are possible and have been accomplished by many through biblical means.
Over the years Christian groups have spent large sums of money wrongly (as we shall demonstrate) promoting conversion therapy and opposing government bans of it. Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a clinical psychologist played a significant role in popularizing conversion therapy among Christians. Nicolosi explains his format of psychotherapy in his book Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality. Nicolosi was a Freudian who promoted Freudian doctrines in his book and in his practice, which are mirror images of what Freud believed, practiced, and promoted.
One of Nicolosi’s strongest supporters was Dr. James Dobson. When Dobson was still head of Focus on the Family (FOF), he gave Nicolosi a vast audience for his conversion therapy. The following is excerpted from an article titled “James Dobson Promotes Freud,” which we wrote during the heyday of the popularity of conversion therapy in Christian circles:
James Dobson Promotes Freud[5]
One of Freud’s most powerful motives in life was the desire to inflict vengeance on Christianity for its traditional anti-Semitism.
Dr. Thomas Szasz[6]Patients are nothing but riff-raff. The only useful purposes they serve are to help us earn a living and to provide learning material. In any case, we cannot help them.
Sigmund Freud[7]Probably no single individual has had a more profound effect on twentieth-century thought than Sigmund Freud. His works have influenced psychiatry, anthropology, social work, penology, and education and provided a seemingly limitless source of material for novelists and dramatists. Freud has created a “whole new climate of opinion”; for better or worse he has changed the face of society.
E. M. Thornton[8]
Sigmund Freud is the most prominent name in all psychotherapy. He is considered the father of the psychotherapy movement and his ideas permeate many later theories and therapies. Freud developed a complex set of theories to describe the human personality and to attempt to understand and treat mental-emotional disorders. Basic to these theories is what Freud described as the unconscious portion of the mind. The unconscious part of the psyche is that which is hidden from us and not open to our direct knowledge. The usual analogy is that of an iceberg, with most of the mind submerged, hidden, and filled with a vast amount of powerful, motivating material.
Freud believed that the unconscious portion of the mind, rather than the conscious, influences a person’s thoughts and actions. In fact, he believed that the unconscious not only influences, but can determine everything an individual does. Such psychic determinism was considered by Freud to be established within the unconscious during the first five years of life. His supposed evidence for the existence of the unconscious is found in dreams, phobias, and “slips of the tongue.” A phobia is an irrational fear, while a slip of the tongue is saying something that one does not intend to say.
Since Freud proposed the doctrine of the unconscious and its related theories, his work has been widely accepted and admired and has significantly influenced the writing and thinking of the twentieth century. Yet this constellation of theories about the human psyche is actually only a set of one man’s fantasies. These theories have been elevated from fantasy to fact, accepted as gospel truth, and applied to almost every area of human endeavor.
Freud invented psychoanalysis as a method for treating mental-emotional disorders and particularly for investigating what he considered to be the unconscious mind. Psychoanalysis has greatly influenced contemporary psychotherapy. It is only one of the many brand names, but it was considered by some to be the ne plus ultra of cures and is known as the fountainhead of Western psychotherapy.
Oedipus Complex
The cornerstone of the psychoanalytic process is an array of theories that revolve around the unconscious. Contained within the theory of the unconscious is Freud’s theory of infantile sexuality and contained within the maze of the infantile sexuality theory is his theory of the Oedipus complex.
According to Freud’s infantile sexuality theory, the first few years of life can pretty much determine all that follow. Freud believed that during the first five or six years of life each human being throughout the entire world and since the beginning of humankind is confronted with certain stages of development. Failure to successfully pass through these stages or experiencing a trauma during one of these stages supposedly results in inexplicable damage to one’s psyche. Freud identified what he called the Oedipus complex. He considered it to be one of his greatest discoveries because of its supposed universal application. He said, “Every new arrival on this planet is faced by the task of mastering the Oedipus complex; anyone who fails to do so falls a victim to neurosis.”[9]
Freud taught that during the phallic stage of development every boy desires to kill his father and have sexual intercourse with his mother, and every girl has a desire to kill her mother and have sexual intercourse with her father. Freud attributed these desires to all children between the ages of three and six. According to this theory, both the boy and girl love the mother at the beginning and resent the father because he is a rival for the mother’s attention. This idea persists in the boy until he finally, unconsciously desires the death or absence of his father, whom he considers his rival, and wants to have sexual intercourse with his mother.
The system is different for girls, however. Freud said that during a girl’s early development she discovers that the boy has a protruding sex organ while she has only a cavity. According to Freud’s theory, the girl holds her mother responsible for her condition, which causes hostility. She thus transfers her love from her mother to her father because he has the valued organ, which she wants to share with him in sex (Electra Complex).
The madness is not yet complete, for Freud describes how this hostility and sensuousness are resolved. In Freud’s murky and mad story, filled with fantasy and fabrication, the boy resolves the Oedipus complex through fear of castration. The boy, according to Freud, unconsciously fears that his father will cut off his penis as a punishment for his sexual desire for his mother. This fear can successfully bring the boy through this stage of development by causing him to give up or retreat from his unconscious lustful desires.
The girl, on the other hand, fears that her mother will injure her genital organ because of her sexual desire directed at her father. But, within Freud’s wild scheme the girl senses that she has already been castrated and thus ends up desiring the male sex organ. The female castration anxiety results in what Freud called “penis envy.” According to Freud, every woman is merely a mutilated male who resolves her castration anxiety by wishing for the male sex organ.
Freud further taught that homosexuality resulted from this failure to master the Oedipus complex and he placed the fault on the parents. In his book The Psychological Society, Martin Gross describes Freud’s reasoning:
Freud and many of his modern successors saw homosexuality as the penalty for the boy child’s failure to win the Oedipal battle against a seductive, overbearing, over-affectionate mother—the classic Mrs. Portnoy. Instead of finally identifying with the hated father at the resolution of the Oedipal rivalry, the child identifies with the mother. Thereafter, the now homosexual male seeks other men as his love object. . . . In the Freudian homosexual model, the penis-adoring child also shows disgust for the penisless woman. This is coupled with his castration fear at the hands of an angry father-rival.[10] (Italics in original.)
While few present-day psychoanalysts promote all of Freud’s theories, many continue to promote the Freudian theory of a dominant mother and absent father producing a homosexual son. The Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry describes the current, Freudian-driven view of homosexuality:
Thus, the parental constellation most likely to produce a homosexual or heterosexual with severe homosexual problems was a detached, hostile father and a close-binding, overly intimate, seductive mother who dominated and minimized her husband.[11]
Sir Karl Popper, who is considered to be one of the greatest philosophers of science, said that Freudian and other such theories, “though posing as sciences, had in fact more in common with primitive myths than with science; that they resembled astrology rather than astronomy.”[12]
Freud’s theories are gross distortions of biblical anthropology and should be rejected by all Christians. And, one of the grossest distortions of God-given truth is Freud’s theory of the Oedipus and Electra complexes. No true child of God can long endure such an heretical formulation. Yet, we conclude from the following evidence that Dobson does.
In November (1998), Focus on the Family, headed by Dobson, sponsored a conference titled “Homosexuality and Youth.” One of the principal speakers at the conference was Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a psychotherapist who authored Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality.
In Nicolosi’s book and conference tapes he reveals the Freudian roots of his theory. Nicolosi says:
Typically there is an overly close relationship between mother and son, with the father distant from both of them. . . Perhaps one significant factor is the availability of mother when the boy of 2 or 3 is experiencing problems with the father. A receptive and over-sympathetic mother might provide such a haven of emotional security that the boy would find it easy to disengage totally from such a father.[13]
In an interview about male homosexuality with Dobson, Nicolosi refers to “poor involvement with the father and an overinvolved mother.”
The roots of Freudian Oedipal theory are reflected throughout Nicolosi’s book and conference tapes. However, this would not be surprising to Dobson since he had interviewed Nicolosi on the radio prior to inviting him to be a conference speaker. The tape of that interview is still available from Focus on the Family.
Just as the Oedipus complex is the cornerstone of Freudian psychoanalysis, so too the Oedipus complex is the cornerstone of Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuals. And, just as lifetime treatment is characteristic of Freudian psychoanalysis, so too is this true of reparative therapy. Nicolosi says:
In his final work, “Analysis: Terminable and Interminable,” Freud concluded that analysis is essentially a lifetime process. This is true in the treatment of homosexuality.[14]
Because Nicolosi begins with a Freudian foundation to his reparative therapy, his proposed solution depends on it. The Dobson-Nicolosi interview reveals that Dobson is very much aware of Nicolosi’s Freudian approach. As a psychologist, Dobson would know that the roots of Nicolosi’s Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality are Freudian. Dobson’s followers should ask him why he would promote a therapeutic approach that originated from a Freudian theory that must have come from the pit of hell. Knowing that the very Freudian ideas Nicolosi revealed in the interview would be promoted, Dobson nevertheless invited Nicolosi to be a principal speaker at a “Homosexuality and Youth” conference.
Less than 60 years ago, proving that a leading evangelical loved Freud’s Oedipal theory would be reason enough to question his entire ministry. However, the church has become too “sophisticated,” too lukewarm, too worldly for that to occur. Today such a revelation usually draws only a yawn or perhaps irritation over anyone daring to criticize.
When people reject the biblical concept of universal sin, they are open to all sorts of aberrations, one of which is Freud’s doctrine of universal childhood fantasies of incest and homicide. Those who denied the very thought of mankind’s fallen nature, as described in Scripture, were ready to believe in a powerful unconscious, motivated by infantile sexuality. Many therapists trusted Freudian teachings that the Oedipus complex, castration anxiety, and penis envy (for women) can psychically determine the entire life of individuals.
Focus on the Family
In 1998 we published our book James Dobson’s Gospel of Self-Esteem & Psychology. In the book we say:
Dr. James C. Dobson is one of the most influential spokespersons in the evangelical spectrum of Christianity. Millions of Christians have listened to his daily “Focus on the Family” broadcast and over fifty million people have viewed his “Focus on the Family” film series. Dobson’s books are not only best sellers, but remain on the best-seller lists for years. His Focus on the Family magazine and church bulletin inserts supply weekly and monthly fare along with his books. His Focus on the Family ministry continues to expand its borders. According to U.S. News & World Report (1998): Dobson’s “radio and TV broadcasts are heard or seen by 28 million people a week. A core audience of 4 million listens to his Focus on the Family radio show every day. That gives him a greater reach than either Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson at the height of their appeal. Dobson’s most popular books have sold more than 16 million copies, and his other tracts and pamphlets have sold millions more.”[15] Dobson may indeed be the best-known and most respected man in twentieth-century American Christendom.
Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family (FOTF) have been instrumental in turning Christians away from the Word of God to the psychological wisdom of men by promoting and showcasing the theories and therapies of psychology throughout the church. Dobson’s promotion of Nicolosi’s Freudian psychology for conversion therapy has flooded the church and influenced the practices of licensed professionals to whom FOTF refers those who seek counseling.
Jim Daly succeeded James Dobson in 2005 as the head of FOTF. However, nothing has changed since Dobson’s departure with respect to their offering referrals to numerous licensed psychological counselors. A statement on the FOTF website, titled “Counseling for Sexual Identity Concerns: A measured, careful, and compassionate approach,” begins by saying what they offer: “Professional therapy for same-sex attraction and sexual identity.” They later say: “We believe in and support the availability of professional counseling in matters of sexuality that is respectful, safe, ethical, and responsive to the client’s values and desires” (emphasis in original).[16]
We called FOTF and spoke to a representative there and were told that a request for counseling receives a referred only to a licensed professional psychological counselor. If someone has a sexual identity issue, they, too, will only be referred to a licensed professional psychological counselor. When we asked about referral to a church or pastor or theologically trained counselor who normally counsels Christians, we were told that FOTF never refers anyone seeking counseling to an individual other than a licensed professional psychological counselor. Many of those pastors and theologically trained individuals who counsel have the same or more years of Bible education as many of those who have been psychologically educated and licensed. Yet FOTF, a so-called Christian organization, refuses to include such Christians in their referral network.
Dobson should know, being licensed in California, that the licensed psychological counselors to whom FOTF refers clients could be in violation of their state licenses and their professional associations if they injected their faith into their client therapy.[17]
“Born That Way”? [18]
The New Atlantis: A Journal of Technology & Society published a “Special Report titled “Sexuality and Gender.”[19] Dr. Ryan T. Anderson, who is a Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, says that the new report “challenges the leading narratives that the media has pushed regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.” He continues:
Co-authored by two of the nation’s leading scholars on mental health and sexuality, the 143-page report discusses over 200 peer-reviewed studies in the biological, psychological, and social sciences, painstakingly documenting what scientific research shows and does not show about sexuality and gender.
The major takeaway, as the editor of the journal explains, is that “some of the most frequently heard claims about sexuality and gender are not supported by scientific evidence.”[20] (Emphasis in original.)
In the “Executive Summary,” under “Part One: Sexual Orientation,” the two authors, Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer and Dr. Paul R. McHugh, conclude:
The understanding of sexual orientation as an innate, biologically fixed property of human beings—the idea that people are “born that way”—is not supported by scientific evidence.
In “Part Three: Gender Identity” Mayer and McHugh say:
The hypothesis that gender identity is an innate, fixed property of human beings that is independent of biological sex — that a person might be “a man trapped in a woman’s body” or “a woman trapped in a man’s body” — is not supported by scientific evidence. [21]
The brief “Executive Summary” is worth reading and can be accessed here. This extensive scholarly study obviously contradicts the “born that way” shibboleths of the homosexual activists. We include this supportive research even though the final Word is always the Bible.
“Can’t Change”?
“Can’t change” is another homosexual activist shibboleth. The idea that choice is involved and change is possible is an anathema to many of them. They want everyone to believe that change is impossible because they are supposedly “born that way.” Instead of change they want affirmation and support so that they can follow their sexual desires and practices. They want the public to believe that their sexual choices are fully fixed and normal.
Indeed habits do become fairly fixed and are difficult to change, and particularly habits that change the brain through pleasure. Moreover, considering the power of sex and lust, change may be extremely difficult, which is why so many believe it is impossible. Then, those who believe they cannot change and have become confirmed in their faith in “can’t change” will be convinced that change is impossible. And, let’s face it: many who identify as gay or lesbian do not want to change.
But change is possible! “Can’t change” is myth based on faith, not fact. Laurie Higgins, in her article “Homosexuals Admit ‘Sexual Orientation’ Can and Does Change,” says that the “Can’t change” claims “are patently false.”[22] In her article she quotes scholars and professors, all of whom are themselves homosexuals or lesbians. Every one of them affirms the fact that sexuality is fluid rather than fixed. She quotes the following from Camille Paglia, who is a feminist scholar and lesbian: “Sexuality is highly fluid, and reversals are theoretically possible. However, a habit is refractory, once the sensory pathways have been blazed and deepened by repetition.”[23]
Jane Ward, who is a lesbian, says:
But the fact that the “born this way” hypothesis has resulted in greater political returns for gay and lesbian people doesn’t have anything to do with whether it is true. Maybe, as gay people, we want to get together and pretend it is true because it is politically strategic… That would be interesting. But still, it wouldn’t make the idea true…. People like to cite “the overwhelming scientific evidence” that sexual orientation is biological in nature. But show me a study that claims to have proven this, and I will show you a flawed research design…. People like to use the failure of “gay conversion” therapies as evidence that homosexuality is innate. First of all, these conversions do not always fail….the point is that we can and do change.[24] (Italics in original; bold added.)
Trudy Ring, a writer for The Advocate, which is a homosexual magazine,” says:
For years, much of the case for LGBT rights has been based on the argument that sexual orientation is fixed and immutable—baby we were born this way, and it’s wrong to discriminate against us for something we didn’t choose.
But an increasing body of social science research posits that a sizable number of people experience some degree of fluidity in their sexual and romantic attractions: being drawn to the same gender at one point in their life, the opposite gender at another.[25]
Of course, the longer a person has participated in a pleasurable activity on a regular basis, the more ingrained the desire becomes and a habit develops and solidifies. Research on gambling addiction reveals that one does not have to smoke or take opiates to become addicted. The pleasure centers in the brain are engaged during sex and, when certain forms of sexual practice prevail, such as oral or anal sex, the desire increases and turns to lust. The more one fantasizes or does it, the more one desires it. Sexual activities affect the brain and can even alter it. Same-sex sexual activities can dramatically change the brain, particularly when such activities are fantasized and practiced on a regular basis over time and even more so when started at a vulnerable age, such as childhood or adolescence. Homosexual identity and desire can feel firmly fixed—immutable. However, although new habits of sexual desire and restraint may be difficult to change, they are possible!
New Identity in Christ
We do not expect gays, lesbians, or bisexuals to change through their own efforts, although many have. We believe that, instead of changing from gay, lesbian, or bisexual to heterosexual, individuals can be saved and given a new identity in Christ. Homosexuality is actually a symptom of the unredeemed old nature, also called the flesh or the old man. But there is hope in Christ! Because of God’s great love for His creation, He has provided forgiveness and new life. Christ came to reveal God and to die in the place of sinners. Thus, when a person trusts in Christ’s death on the cross—that Christ died in their place thereby taking the just punishment of sin—that person receives new life, which is the very life of Christ living within by means of the Holy Spirit.
The believer is so deeply related to Christ that they have a new identity in Christ! The apostle Paul says: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). This new life is enabled by the Holy Spirit to overcome sin (1 John 3:9). However, believers still carry around their old nature, referred to as the flesh. Thus, even after a person receives this new life, the flesh must be conquered by means of the Holy Spirit. As one reads the New Testament, one sees that, although there is a warfare between the flesh (old nature) and the spirit (new nature), the Holy Spirit within the believer gives power to overcome and to thereby walk according to the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-25).
There are many testimonies of conversions from homosexual sinfulness to salvation in Christ by former gays and lesbians who have died to self and who give witness to the biblical faith that condemns their former life style. One excellent example of a former lesbian is Rosario Butterfield. In an article titled “Love Your Neighbor Enough to Speak Truth,” Butterfield says:
To be clear, I was not converted out of homosexuality. I was converted out of unbelief. I didn’t swap out a lifestyle. I died to a life I loved. Conversion to Christ made me face the question squarely: did my lesbianism reflect who I am (which is what I believed in 1999), or did my lesbianism distort who I am through the fall of Adam? I learned through conversion that when something feels right and good and real and necessary—but stands against God’s Word—this reveals the particular way Adam’s sin marks my life. Our sin natures deceive us. Sin’s deception isn’t just “out there”; it’s also deep in the caverns of our hearts.
How I feel does not tell me who I am. Only God can tell me who I am, because he made me and takes care of me. He tells me that we are all born as male and female image bearers with souls that will last forever and gendered bodies that will either suffer eternally in hell or be glorified in the New Jerusalem. Genesis 1:27 tells me that there are ethical consequences and boundaries to being born male and female. When I say this previous sentence on college campuses—even ones that claim to be Christian—the student protestors come out in the dozens. I’m told that declaring the ethical responsibilities of being born male and female is now hate speech.[26] (Italics in original.)
In her book titled The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, Butterfield reflects:
As I reread my life, I realized that my sexual sin was rooted not only in pride but also in a false understanding about gender. I came to the understanding that I could not possibly be a godly woman if I didn’t even know how to be a woman[27].
How gracious of our Creator to inspire Paul to put the judgment of sin at the beginning of Romans to bring us all to our knees and then for most of the following chapters in Romans to show forth the glorious answer to all sin and all sinners. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” and “the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Salvation is available to all who believe the Gospel and receive new life in Christ. Therefore, Christians who are involved in sexual sin need to stop, repent, and be conformed to the life of Christ in them.
Conclusion
Because of their confidence in psychology and particularly psychotherapy, numerous Christians became psychotherapists, under the influence of James Dobson and others, with the belief that they could integrate God’s Word with psychology. Nevertheless, as we have demonstrated many times, one cannot truly integrate psychology and the Bible. Although some ideas included in psychological theories may appear to agree with Scripture, the theories are contaminated with unbiblical and antibiblical thinking. So, to begin with psychotherapy is pseudoscience, and attempting to integrate it with God’s Word not only contaminates God’s pure and holy Word but brings a great deal of confusion about what is biblical and what is not. For instance, the Bible warns about the dangers of self-love (2 Tim 3:1-5), while much of psychotherapy promotes self-love, self-esteem, and self-centeredness, either directly or indirectly.
Because the teachings of Scripture have been mixed and confused with the psychological concepts about mankind regarding identity, how to live and how to change, many Christians may no longer be able to distinguish between the clear teachings of Scripture and the psychological ideas of the world. And because so many have erroneously placed their faith in this unholy mixture, this conversion therapy ban will appear threatening. But we agree with banning all psychological treatment of conversion therapy for Christians.
We would further ban all psychological treatment for believers! Psychological therapy will not bring forth new life through salvation; neither will it promote spiritual growth. People may think so, but that is because they are unable to discern between the psychological way (worldly self-effort) and the spiritual way (new life in Christ). What could be better? A new life in Christ? Or a disastrous, guilt-inducing, condemning therapy that can only attempt to make adjustments to the old, unredeemed, sinful flesh?
May all believers turn away from psychoheresy and live according to all that Christ has given us!
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:2-4.)
Notes
[1] “Conversion Therapy,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy, 1/22/2022.
[2] “List of U.S. Jurisdictions banning conversion therapy,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._jurisdictions_banning_conversion_therapy, 1/24/2022.
[3] “Psychotherapy Is Pseudoscience”: Martin and Deidre Bobgan, PsychoHeresy: The Psychological Seduction of Christianity, Revised & Expanded. Santa Barbara: EastGate Publishers, 2012, pp. 99-128.
[4] Martin and Deidre Bobgan, “Licensed Christian Psychotherapists,” PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp 1, 3, 8, https://pamweb.org/christian-psychology/licensed-christian-psychotherapists/.
[5] Adapted from Martin & Deidre Bobgan, “Dobson Promotes Freud,” PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, June 1, 1999, Vol.7, No. 3.
[6] Thomas Szasz. The Myth of Psychoheresy. Garden City: Doubleday/Anchor Press, 1978, p. 140.
[7] Sigmund Freud, quoted in A. Haynal. Controversies in Psychoanalytic Method. New York: New York University Press, 1989, p. 32.
[8] E. M. Thornton. The Freudian Fallacy. Garden City: The Dial Press, Doubleday and Company, 1984, p. ix.
[9] Sigmund Freud. Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905) SE, Volume Seven. London: Hogarth Press, 1953, p. 226
[10] Martin Gross. The Psychological Society. New York: Random House, Inc., 1978, pp. 79-80.
[11] Alfred M. Freedman and Harold I. Kaplan. Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Company, 1967, p. 968.
[12] Karl Popper, “Scientific Theory and Falsifiability” in Perspectives in Philosophy, Robert N. Beck, ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1975, p. 343.
[13] Joseph Nicolosi. Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 1997, pp. 28-29.
[15] Michael J. Gerson, “A Righteous Indignation,” U.S. News & World Report, May 4, 1998, p. 22.
[16] “Counseling for Sexual Identity Concerns: A measured, careful, and compassionate approach,” Focus on the Family, https://www.focusonthefamily.com/get-help/counseling-for-sexual-identity-concerns-a-measured-careful-and-compassionate-approach/, 1/22/22.
[17] Martin and Deidre Bobgan, “Licensed Christian Psychotherapists,” PsychoHeresy Awareness Letter, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp 1, 3, 8, https://pamweb.org/christian-psychology/licensed-christian-psychotherapists/.
[18] Adapted from Martin & Deidre Bobgan. The Sodomy of Christians: The Biblical View. Santa Barbara, CA: EastGate Publishers, 2017, pp 60-67.
[19] Lawrence S. Mayer and Dr. Paul R. McHugh, “Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences,” The New Atlantis Special Report, https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/executive-summary-sexuality-and-gender.
[20] Ryan T. Anderson, “Almost Everything the Media Tell You About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Is Wrong,” The Daily Signal, August 22, 2016, http://dailysignal.com.
[21] Mayer and McHugh, “Executive Summary,” “Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences,” op. cit.
[22] Laurie Higgins, “Homosexuals Admit ‘Sexual Orientation’ Can and Does Change,” Illinois Family Institute, https://illinoisfamily.org/homosexuality/homosexuals-admit-sexual-orientation-can-and-does-change/, 8/12/2017.
[24] Jane Ward, “No One is Born Gay (or Straight): Here Are 5 Reasons Why,” Social (In)Queery, 3/19/2013, https://socialinqueery.com/2013/03/18/no-one-is-born-gay-or-straight-here-are-5-reasons-why/.
[25] Trudy Ring, “Exploring the Umbrella: Bisexuality and Fluidity,” The Advocate, 2/11/2014, https://www.advocate.com/health/love-and-sex/2014/02/11/exploring-umbrella-bisexuality-and-fluidity.
[26] Rosaria Butterfield, “Love Your Neighbor Enough to Speak Truth: A Response to Jen Hatmaker,” The Gospel Coalition, October 31, 2016, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/love-your-neighbor-enough-to-speak-truth.
[27] Rosaria Butterfield. The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert, Expanded Edition. Pennsylvania: Crown & Covenant Publications, 2014, Kindle Edition, Kindle location 691-693.