Wednesday 23 January 2013

Six helpful resources for those seeking an evangelical Christian perspective on homosexuality

Because of the bias of the liberal press, Steve Chalke’s recent endorsement of permanent gay partnerships and the extreme unorthodox views of the ‘Accepting Evangelicals’ group, to which he belongs, have had an unhelpfully disproportionate amount of media coverage.

Many Christians are understandably confused.

I received this letter this week which I think is not an atypical experience.

I am publishing it anonymously with permission and have removed the name of the church.

‘My husband and I worship at a leading conservative evangelical Anglican church and we value the teaching we receive there. Our adult children come from different angles, one from a traditional evangelical church in London, the other from a more liberal Christian background. The recent Steve Chalke article will highlight the differences in our views. I have tried to find support for the evangelical views to enable us to discuss this from an informed evangelical point of view. Your blog has been useful but I wonder if you have any further areas you could direct us to? I would appreciate any help you can offer.’

So, here are some articles and resources that I hope are helpful (each title is hyperlinked)

1.A battle I face


Vaughan Roberts is Rector of St Ebbes Church in Oxford and a popular Christian author and conference speaker with an international ministry. He has also struggled personally with feelings of same-sex attraction. This testimony was published in Evangelicals Now last year and is clear, biblical, passionate and pastoral.

2.How can the Gospel be good news to gays?

Sam Alberry is associate pastor at St Mary’s Church in Maidenhead. This brief article is clear and compassionate taking a firm biblical stance on the issue but arguing that people with homosexual orientation need more grace and not less.

3.The Bible and Homosexuality

Greg Downes is theologian in residence at Christianity Magazine. This article which unpacks a traditional evangelical understanding of homosexuality appeared initially as part of a head to head with Steve Chalke but it has had very little publicity. It is an excellent overview of the main Scriptures and links to a longer article going into more detail.

4.Biblical and pastoral responses to homosexuality

This new book, published last summer by the Evangelical Alliance gives ten affirmations clearly setting out EA’s position on the subject. In explaining these affirmations it reviews biblical and scientific material and explores the pastoral outworking of an evangelical position. It will especially be of help to church leaders and pastoral workers as well as those with same-sex attraction seeking to live faithfully as Christian disciples.

5.Unwanted same sex attraction

This booklet was published just over a year ago by Christian Medical Fellowship and is jointly written by an evangelical theologian and a professor in psychiatry. It sets out a framework for Christian ministry among people with same-sex attraction which is psychologically rigorous, theologically orthodox and pastorally sensitive.

6.Homosexuality

This is an article in the CMF File series which gives a basic overview of the subject of homosexuality from both a Christian and Medical perspective. Although I wrote it ten years ago before the Equality Act most of the material is still very much up to date. It is available in photocopiable pdf format so makes a useful handout.

14 comments:

  1. It's also important that evangelicals become much more aware of the likely connection between 'same-sex marriage', the normalisation of homosexuality and population contrrol on a global level. Most evangelicals in Britain are not. In addition, not enough evangelicals realise the sexism involved - the push for 'same-sex marriage' in the churches will lure men away from their wives and further the sex-ratio imbalance which is keeping faithful Christian women single against their will, and against God's will really.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. >> the push for 'same-sex marriage' in the churches will lure men away from their wives and further the sex-ratio imbalance which is keeping faithful Christian women single against their will

      I haven't read such utter tripe in a long time. For goodness sakes. This is an insult to all married men - I highly doubt I will "lured" away from my wife and into the arms of some hairy bloke just because gay activitists want SSM.

      As for christian women, perhaps they're single because there are fewer christian men than there are women - generally speaking, women tend to be more spiritual and open to the gospel than men. The solution would be to convert more *men* to christianity, not bleat on about homosexuality.

      Delete
    2. Why then does the sexual 'revolution' result inevitably in first-rate Christian women remaining single in ever-greater numbers when over 90% of women would prefer to be married - a situation completely out of kilter with any other society or age? Because men are now allowed to have their cake and eat it. The homosexuality revolution is squarely part and parcel of this same damaging sexual revolution which claims to be liberalising on the surface but produces slavery. Dr Christopher Shell

      Delete

    3. >> Because men are now allowed to have their cake and eat it

      Are you suggesting that most men are, by nature, bi-sexual? That is yet more tripe. I suspect bi-sexuals, like homosexuals, make up a very small minority of all men.

      I, for one, have never been attracted to another man, and find the very thought of having sex with someone of the *same* gender sickening (gay folk may well find the thought of having sex with a member of the *opposite* gender sickening).

      Methinks you have some sort of internal struggle with your own sexuality, matey. You need counselling. Perhaps Peter can suggest a therapist.

      Delete

    4. Btw, the sexual revolution that allows a man to "have his cake and eat it too" refers to the sexual promiscuity of heterosexual men (and women) - men can have all the casual sex they want, without the constraints of marriage.

      This is the real problem we should be addressing.

      Delete
    5. Correct, I was referring to the removal of restraints on sex outside marriage. NOT to what you suggested first time round! Dr Christopher Shell

      Delete
  2. Yes it is....as if man's sin can stop the will of God!

    ReplyDelete
  3. May I also recommend a book called 'The Same Sex Controversy' by Dr James R. White which looks at all the Bible verses which mention homosexuality, explaining them in their original context AND refutes all of the arguments used by Christians and non-Christians alike who would say homosexuality is compatible with a Christian walk.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Robert Gagnon states his case rather bluntly, but he presents a robust biblical case
    http://www.robgagnon.net/articles/homosexScripReallySays.doc.pdf
    http://www.robgagnon.net/articles/ScripturalPerspectives.pdf
    http://www.robgagnon.net/articles/HomosexHowBadIsIt.pdf

    Sherif Girgis, Ryan Anderson and Robert George give an excellent defence of marriage, which can be downloaded here
    http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1722155
    (Their book, "What is Marriage?" is available on kindle, and is well worth buying)

    John Finnis has an excellent and enlightening article here

    http://www.princeton.edu/~anscombe/articles/finnismarriage.pdf


    Graham

    ReplyDelete
  5. Re: single women. It depends what you mean by "God's will". Can we honestly say that it is God's *perfect* will that there is such a shortage of single unmarried Christian men in churches? Is it really God's *perfect* will that most churches seem utterly uninterested in this missing demographic? If, as statistics are to be believed, and single Christian women outnumber single Christian men three to one, is it really God's *perfect* will that 2/3 of Christian have lifetime celibacy to look forward to? Quite clearly, God *can* allow these circumstances to develop and can use them to His glory. But absolutely none of it absolves the UK Church of it's appalling neglect of the evangelization of young men and its direct impact on the lives of young women.

    Incidently, I don't think homosexuality has anything to do with it. Quite the reverse. The shortage of men resulting from the First World War resulted in a rise in lesbianism - quite possibly because single women found affection where they could - with other women.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another incredible book by a guy who's really engaging with this issue is 'A Queer Thing Happened to America', but Dr Michael Brown (who was deeply involved with the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, FL). It's written from a largely, though not exclusively, American standpoint, but is a huge contribution to the subject.

    Another guy whose teaching on this subject is simply fantastic is Sy Rogers. He was on the verge of having a sex-change operation when he really met with God and had his life transformed. He campaigns that biblical purity & wholeness is absolutely possible and the will of God for us, regardless of orientation.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The problem with Christianity Magazine is that it also has Steve Chalke as a contributor. Is it, perhaps, trying to look both ways?

    ReplyDelete
  8. That’s their prerogative. It doesn’t change that I’ll be interested to see how the case turns out. Folks who don’t register as churches… shockingly… aren’t considered as such.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wayne Grudem's 'The Bible and homosexuality' is also worth a look - http://bit.ly/10IvDLN

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.