"There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life.

"For extended periods of time, I would enjoy victory and rejoice in freedom. Then, from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach."
--Ted Haggard's letter to his former church

It's very frustrating to me that human beings can be faced with clear evidence that institutionalizing the repression of normal psychology twists people's lives up--and instead of concluding, "Gee, maybe we should stop giving people impossible choices that torture them," they just think people don't fight hard enough.

Attraction to another person is not dirt.

Attraction to another person is not dark.

Attraction to another person is not repulsive.

What's dirty and repulsive is what happens when you clamp somebody in a vise and tighten it whenever he wriggles. What you're trying to clamp down on is going to ooze out someplace else. That's nature.

No, that can't be it. That would go behind our father's saying. It's that the vise isn't tight enough. Give it another twist.

Now it's fixed.

"If I were standing before you today, I would not change one iota of what I have been teaching the women of our church. For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case. My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful."
--Gayle Haggard's letter to her former church

I can cut her a great deal of slack, since she's not the one with the hooker and drug problems, and she's probably confused and disoriented, but... I would not change one iota of what I have been teaching?

I didn't understand the nature of my own marriage, but I wouldn't change the advice I gave about yours?

Because... it was really God talking?

Harlan Ellison said the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity. Wishful thinking is third.

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