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Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would: A Fresh Christian Approach

Chad W. Thompson

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Jun 25, 2008 Werner rated it really liked it

Shelves: christian-life

During my senior year of college, a Christian friend who was a (celibate) homosexual "came out" to me and another Christian guy during a conversation in the dining hall; but though we'd both finally realized what he was getting at, he wasn't able to actually say it. My other friend pushed a napkin and pen over to him and gently asked, "Can you write it?" and he wrote "I AM GAY." When he found that we didn't cease to be his friends, he was encouraged to share his struggle with some other Christia During my senior year of college, a Christian friend who was a (celibate) homosexual "came out" to me and another Christian guy during a conversation in the dining hall; but though we'd both finally realized what he was getting at, he wasn't able to actually say it. My other friend pushed a napkin and pen over to him and gently asked, "Can you write it?" and he wrote "I AM GAY." When he found that we didn't cease to be his friends, he was encouraged to share his struggle with some other Christians as well, and that was a constructive step for him. But taking that step required him to overcome enormous fear of personal rejection --and that fear isn't always unjustified in Christian circles, which is ironic when you consider that our faith tells us that we're all guilty sinners in need of grace and healing. As a former homosexual and founder of a ministry to homosexual persons, Thompson is very conscious of that irony, and wrote this book to address it.

Like most evangelicals, he recognizes that homosexual activity is not God's perfect will for the expression of our sexuality. (This book does not make a case arguing that premise; readers who want a discussion of the rationale behind it, and behind the broader Christian concept that sex is intended to be expressed only in monogamous and faithful marriage between a man and a woman, should read Lewis Smedes' excellent book Sex for Christians.) He also recognizes, and seeks to help other believers recognize, that demonizing homosexuals and treating them as some sort of freaks beyond the pale of God's love, or ours, unless they change, is not a constructive or Christ-like response to the problem. Homosexuals are human beings, not essentially different from the rest of us, and deserve to be treated humanly, not discriminated against, ignored or abused; and homosexuals will be drawn to Christ, and encouraged to change their behavior, if they're drawn and encouraged at all, by the witness of Christian love, not by self-righteous condemnation. And those in the process of change deserve active welcome and support from the church community. (In addition, Thompson makes the valuable point that homosexual orientation is not a "choice;" it's an unconscious response to environmental factors that takes shape in childhood, and is not consciously cultivated.)

This book also touches on the important issue of whether or not homosexuality is a genetically-determined condition as immutable as blue eyes, debunking the misuse of the three studies that have been adduced in the popular press as "proving" the existence of a "gay gene," as well as refuting the contention that counseling homosexuals about changing their orientation is a foredoomed and harmful effort. (The writing style is popular-level, but the author has a solid bibliography of serious, intellectually respectable resources on the subject, and documents his statements with end notes.) The writing here is irenic, reasoned, and compassionate; and the author speaks of a reality that he knows by experience. ...more

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