Half-Way Down The Slippery Slope

slippery-slopeBuilding on the “born-that-way” narrative popularized by the LBGT lobby, this pedophile wants his sexuality (identity) to be recognized as normal. This article does not appear in some out-of-the-way, obscure publication but in Salon.com

It almost seems like a parody such as one would find on The Onion. Tragically, however, it is not. It is a genuine plea to extend the logic of the pro-gay marriage argument in order to normalize pedophilia.

The question before the American public is this: having accepted the premise of the “born-that-way” argument how can they resist the plea to recognize as normal this fellow’s sexual orientation?

Are you prepared to live in the culture that will exist at the bottom of the slippery slope?

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  • R. Scott Clark
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    R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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16 comments

  1. Rube:

    Either the sinner has to take out an ad in the NY Times to proclaim his sin or else, you, as someone who lives next door, will never know?

    “What’s that Lord? Yeah, okay, I”ll say that Lord.” The Lord wants you to get to know your neighbor in the conventional way.

    BTW, thanks for recognizing my gifts and my ministry! In lieu of your support for my ministry, please make a donation to the Heidelblog.

  2. >>>>Only if he were open; otherwise you would never know (until a problem developed)<<<<

    If he were my neighbor (as in, lives on my street), I would know. I'd hate to think that the only way I would know that my neighbor was suicidal was though the pages of Salon Magazine. There are reasons why Friends, Pastors, Psychiatrists and Lawyers keep things private . . . because they should be kept private.

    • Wow, you must have super holy ghost powers of revelational knowledge! You should start a service where you go meet other people’s neighborhoods and sniff out pedophiles for them. Kingdom work for sure

  3. Yes, I read the book a couple of years ago or so. My view seems to be a minority one, and may be it’s the wrong view, but (1) I just can’t imagine how it came to be o.k. in the church for a minister to publicly announce his homosexual desires and attractions, and (2) my memory is that in the book, he does not give much encouragement or hope to other same-sex-attracted men and women that they can overcome this, with the Spirit’s help; that they can hope to lead normal, heterosexual lives. The message is that for most of them. celibacy is their only realistic option. I’m wondering how is it different for a man with announced same-sex attraction to serve as a minister than a man with announced pedophile tendencies to serve as a minister? This is the concern I was trying to express; of course the article in Salon was not about the church. I was impressed with much of what Sam Allberry said in his book and with how he said it; but at the end of the day, I can’t think how a man with same-sex attraction should be serving as a minister in the church.

  4. Rube:

    If he were my neighbor, I would do the loving thing and tell him to SHUT UP! Then I’d take him to a psychiatrist. This guy needs medical help and he needs the support of a church that preaches the Gospel.

    • Of course he doesn’t want either of the scenarios, neither do I. But which is the lesser of two evils? By dodging the question he just sounds like he doesn’t want to admit I have a point.

  5. >>>>What would you rather have? A pedophile neighbor who is closeted about it and relying only on his own willpower to resist temptation whenever he sees your children, or a pedophile neighbor that is open about it so that you can be his neighbor, love him as a neighbor, and make sure he and your kids never find themselves in potentially dangerous contexts?<<<<

    How about neither?

    This person ought to be telling these things to a psychiatrist.

  6. I dunno, I read a quite different argument than I expected from your intro. This guy understands that his sexual attractions are wrong, and to act on them would be an “abomination”.

    At times I’ve wondered why I’ve even bothered to stay legal. Maybe prison would be better, even at the risk of getting shanked as a Short Eyes. At least then it would all be over with. But alas, I could never hurt a child. No matter what, some small part of me still holds out hope that things will go back to normal, or as close to normal as a celibate pedophile with little prospect of a future can get. Besides, like I said earlier, I just couldn’t allow myself to foist this abomination onto another human being.

    I don’t see him pleading for pedophilia (or even pedophilic attraction) to be normalized, but rather to decrease active pedophilia with openness (“Please repeat this mantra to yourself: a repressed, unhappy pedophile is a pedophile at risk.”)

    What would you rather have? A pedophile neighbor who is closeted about it and relying only on his own willpower to resist temptation whenever he sees your children, or a pedophile neighbor that is open about it so that you can be his neighbor, love him as a neighbor, and make sure he and your kids never find themselves in potentially dangerous contexts?

    But I guess “pity the sinner” is partway down the slope towards “let’s not call it sin anymore”.

  7. Ideas have consequences. They also have costs . . . as in monetary costs.

    When I was in high school in the early to mid 1980’s the mantra used to be, “if what you do doesn’t affect anybody else, then it ought to be nobody’s business. However, I’m not aware of too many vices or taboo interests that are “free.” The consequences of those things costs me money in the form of higher taxes or higher health insurance premiums.

    As the Baby Boomer’s age and incur more healthcare costs, choices will be made as to whether or not to replace someone’s hip, heart valve, etc., or pursue an expensive course of therapy for a smoking induced disease. BTW, I chose smoking because it is okay to target smokers –smoking is an egregious “sin” per our government. But there are other habits/behaviors that are extraordinarily burdensome to our healthcare economy. My money says that since people vote their age (70% of 70 year olds vote), the older generation will get what they want and those screaming the loudest about their right to do whatever they want to do will not find too many sympathizers.

    Money not only talks, it can cause some of the nicest people to start yelling and screaming. At that point, it will be awfully difficult to hear the utter nonsense on display at Salon.com.

  8. I’m not surprised at this. Celibate but self-described same-sex-attracted Christians have attained wide-spread approval and sympathy in many churches, even serving as pastors (the guy who wrote “Is God Anti-gay,” for instance). It was only a matter of time before a celibate pedophile wrote this article, telling about his or her long-suffering and noble resolve to remain celibate. How long before the world finds the way to end his shame and guilt over his sexual desires? And how long before the pastor, celibate but who openly admits to “child-attraction,” writes a book that will be warmly received by the churches? I don’t know how prepared we can be to live in the culture at the bottom of this slippery slope. We must prepare to be grieved, like Lot.

    • Hi Jeri,
      SET me right here

      Is the guy who wrote ‘is god anti-gay’ a gay pastor ?
      sorry if I missed it if not. slow of mind lately.
      I like it to be written so that I get it right and its stated
      that’s who is being mentioned here.
      I is just your average lay person and retired, in pain DAV vet.

      Thanx! and on your side S.D.G. !!
      Mike

    • Jeri,

      That guy is Sam Allberry. You should read the book. His attitude toward his sin is not that of this pedophile, who wants his disposition normalized. Sam recognizes that his disposition is sinful. He is a penitent, believing, sinner. The fellow in the Salon.com article isn’t any of those things.

      I did an interview with him a while back. Here it is.

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