Book Information:
Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse
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Dr. Truluck's book Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse discussrs in far more detail the steps outlined in this web site. The book also includes additional research and personal experiences as well as special articles that are not in this web site. Many additional articles and features along with 52 Lessons are included. The 52 Lessons chapter titles of the book are included in this web site with each of the Twelve Steps to Recovery.
"Steps
to Recovery from Bible Abuse" is available for $24.95 per copy, plus
shipping and handling of $3.50: Total of $28.45 for one book. The book
is available from Chi Rho Press, at P. O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD
20898. Phone (301) 926-1208.
See the Chi Rho Press
web site for more details, for prices of multiple copies and for
INSTRUCTIONS on how to order my book on line.
This web site has given you a brief overview of the contents of the book, Steps To Recovery From Bible Abuse, which contains information and study materials that can be used to set up a year of weekly small group spiritual recovery and growth sessions in a home or church. If you have questions for the author, you can write to Dr. Truluck at e-mail address: rtruluck@nuvox.net
Click Here for Update for October 23, 2000, about the use of the book: "GOOD NEWS"
Click here to see Update for February 14, 2000 , below.
"SECOND PRINTING"
Update for April 3, 2001
Chi Rho Press has completed the second printing of "Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse." This second printing has a more durable black cover and a few corrections. It also contains a new author's preface, which I have included in this update.
I thank God for the publishing ministry of Chi Rho Press and for the friendship and hard work of Adam DeBaugh and Kevin Fries in producing, promoting and distributing my book. Thanks also to the Board of Directors of Chi Rho Press and to District Coordinator Rev. Arlene Ackerman and the Mid Atlantic District of MCC for sponsoring this special work. Contact Adam DeBaugh and let him know you appreciate his ministry.
You can give tax-deductible financial help to keep Chi Rho Press running just as to any other MCC ministry, and you can invest in Chi Rho Press through promissory notes. Talk with Adam DeBaugh about it at (301) 926-1208 or write to PO Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898
During the year 2,000 we have witnessed many changes in our world. Many new doors of opportunity have developed for getting out the truth to our sisters and brothers around the world. I receive news every week of new study groups using my book in countries around the world.
My video workshop on "Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse" is almost finished by Adraine Bowie in Houston and will be available soon.
I am grateful for your prayers, support and encouragement that you have given to me in continuing my Internet and book ministry of information and education. I am most grateful to all of you who have given me the opportunity to lead workshops and other events in churches and conferences. I am in debt to you for what you have taught me during the past year. I am convinced more than ever that "the truth will set you free"!
AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO SECOND PRINTING:
During the year since this book was published in January 2000, many significant events related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered (GLBT) spiritual issues and religious oppression have developed. The largest church denominations in the U.S. held national conferences in which full participation by GLBT people in all of church life was debated at length without any positive results. Soulforce volunteers under the leadership of Dr. Mel White and Rev. Jimmy Creech protested anti-gay religious oppression and abuse at each of these national gatherings.
The campaign and election of a new U. S. President took place and the new administration has vastly different attitudes towards GLBT issues and the separation of church and state. The long-term effects of these changes on GLBT people are yet to be seen. Religion remains the primary source for homophobia and the oppression of GLBT people. Misinformation about GLBT people in politics and religion is being challenged, but the results so far have demonstrated little or no change in religious and political actions.
The need for the information in this book now is greater than ever. An encouraging sign during the past year has been the development of many home study groups around the world using the book as a guide. I have visited many churches and conferences, leading workshops on this book, which led to local study groups being started in many places. My web site on "Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse" at www.truluck.com along with regular e-mail updates to thousands of readers have provided an on-going interactive dialogue and learning opportunity for many.
A series of GLBT Sunday School lessons is the next step in this ministry of information. I am preparing this series of lessons on Jesus to be published soon by Chi Rho Press and to be made available in the form of weekly group study materials.
A video to accompany "Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse" will also be made available through Chi Rho Press. This video, produced by Adraine Bowie, will provide an inspirational example of the possibilities arising from the use of Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse." The video was made during my visit to Resurrection MCC in Houston, Texas, in January 2001.
Contact the author by e-mail to be added to the e-mail list for updates related to the web site and book.
Rembert Truluck
February 2001
Contact Chi Rho Press to order the book on line. Contact me if you are interested in scheduling me for book events, workshops or other activities in your church or group.
Rembert Truluck
PO Box 24062
Oakland, CA 94623
Today I received the following e-mail from Mark. I was greatly encouraged by what he wrote. This letter expressed the fulfillment of what I have hoped and prayed would happen with my web site and book. I asked Mark if I had his permission to pass his letter on to you. His one word response was "YES!!!!!!!!!!!!"
So here it is:
"Dr. Truluck,
I wanted to thank you once again for your book and web site. My life has changed so much since being exposed to this unknown knowledge. I attend MCC Philadelphia. Our pastor is Jeffery Jordan. Both of us have read your book. I am amazed at how many people are unaware of the truth. At my suggestion, we have started a series of workshops at the church based on your book. My goal; I want everyone to know the truth. Since your book, I have been blessed with the courage to dedicate my life to Christ.
I have been able to be honest with my thirteen year old son, his name is Michael. He now attends church with me. He has also participated in the workshops. The church has also started a youth group for the children. This way they can get together and discuss their feelings about being offspring to gay and lesbian parents. My hope is they totally gain insight to the fact that we are not what society portrays us to be. When I asked my son what his reaction was to me being "gay" his response "Your my Dad, I love you, I don't care".
I give you the credit for this. If it wasn't for your book or web site I would not have had the courage to learn that I can be gay and know Christ. Once again thank you!!
Mark Welfield"
Here is the Publisher's Note printed at the beginning of the book.
Publisher's Note
The publication of Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse has been a long process for us. We have always been captivated by Dr. Rembert Truluck's erudition, scholarship, eloquence, and good humor. His Invitation to freedom , Which Chi Rho Press published in 1993, was very popular and Steps to Recovery is more of the same scholarship and good sense – much more. Part of the reason it has taken so long to get Steps to Recovery in print lies in its length.
Steps to Recovery is more than twice the size of any other book Chi Rho Press has published to date. It is packed with information, examples, anecdotes, vignettes, and Bible quotes, all of which has required careful presentation. It has been almost more than a small, religious, gay publishing house could handle.
So why did we undertake this Herculean task? Because Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse is a groundbreaking book. It is the book for which the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and Transgendered community and our families, friends, and supporters have been yearning. This book is going to be an essential volume for the library of every thinking person of faith who is concerned about the misuse of scriptures to foster hatred, discrimination, and exclusion of anyone.
For too long, the lesbian and gay religious community has been on the defensive. We have devoted most of our time to reacting to attacks by the "Polyester Patriarchs" of the televised religious right. This is especially amazing since the ammunition they use against us is pitifully meager: just six small passages in the entire Bible! Seminal scholars from Derrick Sherwin Bailey (who wrote Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition in 1975) through the brilliant work of John Boswell and John McNeill, and to this day with the work of John Shelby Spong, Daniel Helminiak, and our own Michael England, have repeatedly shown that the few "clobber passages" used against us have been taken out of context, mistranslated, and falsified.
Despite the faulty rationale of the homophobic religious right, the LGBT faith community and our growing number of supporters have largely been reactive. We have limited our arguments to responding to the ignorant, hypocritical ranting of a small minority of people. With a few notable exceptions, the gay community has not written exegesis on scripture that has affirmed the truth of God's love to all people. In devoting so much time to reacting to those poor, six misused verses, we have ignored and abandoned most of the scriptures.
Dr. Truluck's work is different. While he spends time discussing the "clobber passages," the bulk of this book talks about how the Bible is the friend of lesbian and gay people, not our enemy. He writes about how God loves us, how God intends for us to be included in the broader community of faith, and he backs up all of what he has to say with dozens of examples from the Bible. Here is a book that will make you feel good about yourself as a member of a sexual minority. It will also make you feel good about being a Christian.
Dr. Truluck's Web site, also called Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse, has received over two million hits in the last two years. I am constantly seeing his work being quoted throughout the Internet. Now much of the important we he has posted on his Web site has been removed from the Web and placed in this book for all to enjoy and use.
I want to take a moment to thank Kevin Stone Fries, the assistant editor of Chi Rho Press, for working with me to prepare this manuscript for publication. We also want to thank the people who have invested in this important project.
R. Adam DeBaugh
Director, Chi Rho Press
"TONY CALLED ME"
Tony Palk called me last week. Tony was my partner in Nashville. I had not seen him since 1995. Tony's story is "A True and Personal Story" that is in the "Why this Site Is Here" section of my web site. It is also included in my introduction to the book.
I learned a lot from Tony. He was a Pentecostal preacher and pastor for six years before we met. He taught me what I know about the Pentecostal religion. Tony called to tell me he was getting along fine and that he is healthy and happy in his confidence that he is loved and accepted by God as a gay man. I sent Tony a copy of my book the next day, and as soon as he got the book he called me again. Tony is overjoyed with the book. He plans to use it to begin a study group where he lives in middle Tennessee.
Some of you realize how much this event means to me! Since the book was published on February 4, 2000, many things have happened to remind me that God really is the One in charge and that God is at work far beyond what we can imagine or think. Don't give up on God. And don't give up on yourself, either.
THE BOOK
Many of you have already received copies of the book. Please write to me and tell me what you are doing with it. Use it and recommend it to others.
If you have connections with people who do book reviews or have other ways that they could let the world know about the book, please help get the word out to our community.
THE BOOK IS LIKE A CHAIN SAW
A certain man bought a new chain saw because he had heard that he could cut ten times as many trees with a chain saw than with a regular saw. He went to work and cut trees as hard as he could. He still could not cut more than a couple of additional trees a day. He went back to the store and told them that he was unable to do any more cutting than before. The salesman took the chain saw and said, "Let's see if something is wrong with it." He pulled the cord and started the saw and it went "VAROOOOOM!!" The man jumped and yelled, "What's that noise!!"
My book won't cut through the deep jungle of doubt and ignorance that we face unless we use it. The most effective way to use the book is to do what it suggests in starting your own spiritual recovery group. Read the book, pray your way through it, study it and read the Bible passages. Above all, share the book and what you learn with others.
Please let me know what you do. Write e-mail to me if you have questions or suggestions.
Use the book along with my web site. All of the basic biblical passages used for the 52 lessons in the book are printed out in my web site and can be clicked on from the "Resources and References" section. New information and resources are being added to the web site every week.
Your Bible is a necessary part of getting the most out of the book. My mother talked with me the other day about how cumbersome it can be to flip through her Bible to look up all of the references in the book. She has very poor vision, and her problems with using the Bible prompted me to add the biblical texts to my web site. I would suggest that you go to "Resources" and click on the biblical passages for the lessons and print them out to have them handy as you study each Step. Using your computer, you can enlarge the text for easier reading. If you have suggestions about how best to use the Bible, please let me know.
NEW RESOURCES
A new book that is helping a lot of GLBT people is by my San Francisco friend, Christian de la Heurta: "Coming Out Spiritually: The Next Step" published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1999. I have added it to my book list on my web site.
Please let me know about materials that are helpful to you. My book is done and out there, but the web site continues to grow and change and provide new resources. Use the interactive dimension of this material. Use the book in conversation and dialogue with others, keep in touch with the dynamics of the web site, and write e-mail to me so that we can interact also.
Rembert Truluck
The
name "Chi Rho Press" comes from the two Greek letters at the beginning
of the name "CHRIST": The letter Chi (which looks like X) and the
letter Rho (which looks like P). The two letters together were
one of the earliest symbols for Jesus. The X was written in the
middle of a long P to create the "Chi Rho" cross.)
"UNACCEPTABLE DELAY"
ANY
FURTHER DELAY IN THE FULL ACCEPTANCE OF GLBT PEOPLE IS
UNACCEPTABLE. The Internet is full of news reports about
Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians and others wrestling with life
and death decisions about homosexuals in the churches. Southern
Baptists have long ago given up on following the Spirit of Jesus
regarding GLBT people. Many other groups, however, are planning
conferences and conventions later this year. The propositions and
battle lines are being drawn.
But why? If the churches are truly Christian and based on Jesus as seen in the Gospels, why is there so much difficulty in finding and doing "the right thing"? The facts speak for themselves. Jesus accepted all people as having equal value before God as God's children. Jesus never even hinted at homosexuality or any judgment or rejection of love between people of the same sex. Indeed, Jesus' teachings about love are all set in the context of love between people of the same sex.
If the charges against GLBT people are based on the life and teachings of Jesus, the case has to be dismissed for lack of evidence. Why has it not been? What is really wrong with the churches?
What is wrong is the fact that most churches are living in the past and are willfully ignorant about the facts. This is not limited to attitudes and policies regarding homosexuals. The issue of homosexuality in the churches has become the wide-open window on contemporary religion that reveals the shallowness and irrelevance of ignorance and meanness that has been allowed to pass for Christianity for much too long!
Children and women have for centuries been abused in the name of God. Religion has abused minorities of all races, social standings, cultural limitations, ages, religious views and everything else that makes individuals different from "the group."
THE LEADING CHURCHES TODAY ARE LIKE MEDICAL DOCTORS who spend their time arguing about whether to use anesthetics for surgery, diagnosis before treatment and other issues that were settled long ago! As long as the churches and church leaders refuse to face the fact that their entire point of view is imprisoned in ignorance and a medieval world-view, not much is really going to change. Denial is just as paralyzing in religious abuse as in drug, alcohol, spouse or any other kind of abuse.
ADMIT THE ABUSE
The first step to recovery for the churches is for religious leaders and the people in the pew to admit that they are wrong! Jesus is not in any way a basis for homophobia or for judgment and rejection of homosexuals. No timid half-way-steps will do. Either abandon your mistreatment and abuse of GLBT people and include us as God's children, or get out of the business of lying about Jesus and misrepresenting the gospel.
"Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse" is now a book that gives the truth in detail about GLBT spirituality and what needs to be done now in response to biblical and religious abuse against us.
MAKE THE TRUTH AVAILABLE
If you are involved in any way with the churches and denominations that now are facing GLBT issues, do what you can to get this information to the leaders. Read my web site and the book on "Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse" and be sure that your church leaders know about them both. Give a copy of the book to whoever most needs to see it.
This will take an investment in time, determination and money. If I had the money, I would see to it that every pastor, seminary professor, state paper editor, Sunday School Board employee and denominational leader in the Southern Baptist Convention had a copy of my book. At least, I would be sure that they all knew about the book and had access to the information about how to secure a copy.
Please pray with me about the desperate need for the facts to be made known to church leaders who are deciding this spring and summer the spiritual fate of millions of people. Pray about what you can do about it, and do it.
GAY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS
I am already researching and writing the next project: "Gay Sunday School Lessons," to be published by Chi Rho Press. This project will include printed spiritual lessons for GLBT people along with special materials for leaders and teachers to use in facilitating study groups. I am also adding some new material and fresh Bible texts to my web site this week.
VISIT WITH MY MOTHER
I returned Saturday night (2/12/00) from a wonderful week of visiting with my mother in South Carolina at the Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Center in Laurens. Mother is totally supportive of my ministry, and I am grateful. She often helps me to see more clearly the continuing Baptist points of view and attitudes that abuse GLBT people. She prays for me a lot every day.
I also visited with my son, Russell, and his wife, Peggy, who took me from and to the Charlotte airport. My youngest daughter, Susan, came from Charleston to visit with me on Wednesday and went with my mother and me to visit my mother's sister in McCormick, SC. My book is dedicated to Susan. I gave a copy of the book to Russell and Susan and sent a copy to Deborah, my oldest daughter, who lives near Atlanta. My mother already had received a copy from the publisher.
I had the privilege of giving a copy of my book to my long-time very supportive pastor (now retired) of the First Baptist Church of Clinton, SC, Rev. Russell Dean and his wife, Helen. I also gave a copy of my book to my high school classmate, Lynn Cooper, who has been a supportive and generous friend for 60 years.
THE BOOK
I have had the time to read through most of the book, and I am grateful for the great job Adam DeBaugh and his crew at Chi Rho Press did to make the book easy to read, well laid out and very attractive. Thank you, Adam!
If you have trouble getting a copy, please let me know.
When I returned from South Carolina, I received over 300 e-mails, and it has taken a while to read and answer them all. I want to hear from you, however, and I hope that you will write soon.
"AMERICAN BAPTISTS CONCERNED," the American Baptist GLBT support ministry, has invited me to lead their annual retreat June 9-12, 2000, near Seattle, Washington. For information, contact Chris Boisvert at ambaptists@aol.com.
"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the world of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
"Be eager to present yourself approved to God as an unashamed worker, cutting straight the
word of truth."
2 Timothy 2:15 (literal translation)
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