You mean Praying to take the gay away doesn't work?

[Bob]

I have actually lived in Pattaya for more than a decade and have recently been running a rather popular restaurant.

 

A very reliable source (TW) told me you used to dance as #7 at Boys of Bangkok.  Of course, before the Big War......

[Guest fountainhall]

But since I am Khun TW, I have just a wee suspicion about your source.

 

As for dancing at Boys of Bangkok, #7 is one of my favourite numbers, but I have to keep my secrets. You'll recall, though, that B of B is a relatively recent establishment, and so by Great War I assume you must mean the red shirt/yellow shirt debacle. (Weren't those troops stationed around Saladaeng BTS such gorgeous man boys?) Have I really got down and dirty on the dance floor at DJ Station, Ick, Nab and other hot discos? I can't reveal that secret just yet  

[Guest abang1961]

I am sorry to say this but guys, most but not all your recent posts had gone off-tangent.

Let us restrain and restrict ourselves to constructive remarks and comments.

This will definitely make this forum a better place than the "usual" bickering.

 

And for the sake of all brotherhood of man, let us make this forum works and remain working for a long time...

I am choosing a cover by David Archuleta instead of John Lennon's original version as the MTV reminds me of a Japanese horror flick.  DA is cute and his version is more intense and updated.

 

[Bob]

....by Great War I assume you must mean

 

Well, I was leaving that open for interpretation but with the general notion that I was referring to either WWI or WWII....

[Rogie]

. Funny how people put 2 and 2 together and come up with 69½! 

 

2 + 2 = 4 right, but there's no way you can compare the 'mature input' (I was going to write droollings but seems a bit harsh) of a 69-year old on GT, GBT or some others, with the scribblings of a four-year old still not out of nappies on that board.

 

I am sorry to say this but guys, most but not all your recent posts had gone off-tangent.

 

This is the 55th post in this thread You mean Praying to take the gay away doesn't work?

 

By it's title it is implied it never was going to work. And indeed it appears it did not work in the case history mentioned in the OP. Maybe it has worked for some people, but on the whole I would be sceptical myself.

 

To expect a gay man who has never felt any sexual attraction to the opposite sex, and who identifies himself as such, to be able to pray it away just doesn't seem credible to me.

 

My guess would be that most if not all such gay men who choose to pray their sexuality does a 180-degree change have been pressurised to do so, either by the stresses and strains of living in an intolerant community/society or by the encouragement of some other religious individual or group. If the latter, what evidence do they have it works? True, Christians often say prayer changes things, but unless the person or church pushing this idea have real documented proof of its success they are hardly better than quacks and charlatans. Many people using prayer do so becasue it makes them more comfortable within themselves or makes them feel a better person (I don't mean better than others) - no harm in that. The problem is when prayer is used for selfish or unreasonable reasons. IMO praying to change your God-given sexuality is unreasonable. I have met many gay Christians, and whilst admittedly not knowing them so 'intimately' they'd share their innermost thoughts with me, I have never heard of any of them using prayer in this way.

 

I would never go so far as to say prayer is utterly futile. As we all know the spectrum of sexual preferences is a very wide one so one might expect a religious bisexual person who wishes to banish his attraction for other men in favour of a 100% heterosexual lifestyle to stand a better chance of success, should he decide to pray about it. 'Success' or not, the worrying thing even then would be to ask why he thought it necessary to do that.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Personally, any individual who says he has successfully re-oriented their sexual energies toward the opposite sex was never really gay to begin with. There are many bisexuals in the world and they can go either way at one time or another and it isn't based on the power of prayer, but just their particular whim at the time. You can define whim any way you want. The fact that prayer and religion supposedly play a part is just a convenient coincidence. People don't do things they don't want to do, no matter how likely salvation appears to be dangling in front of them. Prayer just makes them feel comfortable, and it's so damn easy just to wish for something to happen. Asking a truly gay person to behave straight is no more likely than asking a straight person to behave gay. It just all depends on how secure you are in your sexuality. Prayer and religion exploit that weakness in our identification.

 

If prayer brings about a change, it is you and want you really want, and not the prayer that does it. It may help you focus, but there are other means that can accomplish the very same thing.

 

At the core of their beliefs, anti-gay crusaders maintain it is a decision on the part of the individual and not a trait of birth. This leads me to believe that if one really were to embrace that theory, that at his heart, some must surely feel as if they had some small choice in the matter. Perhaps that is why newly pubescent boys experiment, to find out for themselves. Later in their lives I think this defines itself as a matter of choice. And if you can't agree it was choice that identified you as straight, then you are being hypocritical. You can't say it wasn't choice for you, but is for someone else. That's what really astounds me when people say it is a matter of choice. They don't want to believe it is something you're born with, because that would lead to the unhappy conclusion that gay people are normal and live a perfectly natural lifestyle.

 

There are none so blind as those who will not see. And prayer is based on faith, not perfectly peripheral vision.

[Guest abang1961]

Your sexual orientation .. it is that age-old debate on Nature vs Nurture.

I believe in Nature first and then, due to availability and opportunity, gay-hood can be nurtured.

 

As for bisexuals, it is absolutely based on availability.

If they are more inclined to the female gender, when there is a choice between the 2 sexual candidates, he will definitely opt for the female first.

But if there is only one lone male candidate, wouldnt he just grab what's available?

 

There are many religious groups that tried to convert me to straight.

One of the more SE-RI-OUS one is from my sister-in-law.

I don't mean to be rude but within 3 minutes of any conversation, she would say "I pray for you to be straight".

After almost 20 years, I am still NOT a skirt chaser. Sorry, prayers don't seem to have an effect on me.

I am, perhaps, beyond redemption.

 

Why should I be going for the fairer sex (an old slang for woman) when it is raining man.. Hallelujah.