Ironically, I find myself knowing that claims and concerns regarding Stabile’s experience were and still are accepted uncritically, as fact and they lack verification.

Is our concern for what ‘might have taken place’ and our belief for ‘what often does take place’ more important than ‘what did take place”?

It doesn’t seem to matter, as long as one is impressing one’s view upon another or reinforcing their own view.

The true facts don’t seem to be the goal.
The point seems to be… ‘just that’… to make a point or to impact others with a shared view or personally held view.

Could it be that if we let the truth speak for itself, it would’nt give our agenda the same ‘ZING’?’ Mud splatters further than truth when it hits!

If there are legitimate concerns that the church was using James’ video testimony for publicity or to have some ‘zing’ attached to a supposed agenda…. then, for certain they wouldn’t have let Joe out there on camera, in his white ‘fruit of the loom’ t shirt.

I mean… secondly, there is another video on Youtube that was filmed during a Heartland Purity Seige. It became available to be viewed the same week that the ‘Heartland on CBN’ video became available on Youtube. This Heartland video clearly shows a man ‘NOT’ claiming a miraculous, sudden freedom from Homosexuality and it’s been airing for 2 weeks under the title ‘Jesus moves in Dallas, Cedar Springs.’

They seem to love homosexuals and if I sense any agenda it’s seems to be that, “if you want it, there is hope.”

I for one… I get irritated real quick from a society that tells me “you have to stay the same way you are’. And who is anyone else to tell me what I am? And if I want to interpret the Bible to indicate that I’m in sin and that there’s an urgent need for change, then I’m gonn’a interpret the Bible like so. And if these Christians love me, then they had better show up on that street corner every Friday night on Oaklawn.
And they had better not give up on me, if they find out that I lots of problems or mental issues. And they had better not give up on James.

AND how much research and follow up should be in place before reports of a bi-polar man who is a compulsive liar and loves “attention” as stated by his own father in another article, are shared through the media?

Just a thought…..

1. Should Christian efforts to perform magic upon subjects be handled differently than similar efforts by persons of other faiths?

2. Is the belief in a geocentric god (especially one that is conveniently headquartered in one’s own vicinity, perhaps one’s own church) a kind of past or present-day heresy? Should Christians globally do more to challenge such deviation from a universal God?

1. Healing. What are we to make of claims of healing, even if we are not talking about sexuality? In what contexts might such healing take place? Is this the kind of experience (attraction to the same sex) that is healed? Should it be? What happens if healing does not take place or does not meet expectations?

2. Psychopathology and spiritual interventions. What is the relationship between psychopathology (in this case bipolar disorder) and spiritual interventions that might be used as either treatment or as adjuncts to treatment? If they are used, what guidance can be provided so that they are used ethically? What about paraprofessional organizations and ministries and their use of spiritual interventions? What guidelines might be useful particularly if there is a pre-existing psychopathology?

3. Follow-up care. What is best practice for care once someone has reported a conversion experience? How does that care integrate information on and assumptions related to psychopathology, sexuality, and spirituality?

4. Media. How much research and follow-up should be in place before reports of healing are shared w/ a global audience?

Thanks, Warren. There is certainly a lot here to think about.