Homosexuality is a hot-button issue within the church. The issue is not one that is between the church and the world; as in the church says its wrong the world says its evil. There are many that seemingly love Jesus that make arguments that homosexuality is an okay option for a believing Christian. And there are certainly those that take the position that homosexuality is wrong and they do so in anger and pride.
For those like me, that feel the biblical position on homosexuality is that it is sinful, one thing that is often lost in the middle of discussing homosexuality and battling legislation is that real people are fighting real sin. If we truly believe that homosexuality is sinful then we have to truly believe that the only remedy is the gospel (not legislation or simply saying STOP IT!).
Summary
Wesley Hill writes Washed and Waiting
From the midst of this brokenness Wesley hopes to equip struggling Christians on the frontline of three main battles. The first is to fully understand the gospel’s call on his life and how this confronts his homosexual desire and empower him to obey Christ in the midst of it. The second battle is loneliness. And the last battle is to battle the shame and guilt that accompanies this brokenness.
The books three chapters are centered around these three battles. Interspersed between these are mini-biographies of those that have fought the fight (homosexuality), two of whom have and finished the race. These people are Henri Nouwen, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Wesley himself. (Honestly, I’m not sure that Nouwen and Hopkins add much to the discussion; but they certainly are not bad chapters).
This book is not meant to be a defense of Hill’s position. It is simply as Hill described meant to help people in their struggle. He wants to help people who struggle with same-sex desire to cling to Jesus in the midst of this brokenness.
Interaction
So, how in the world do I interact with this book? Honestly the book rebuked me, encouraged me, and rocked me to the core. So I’m struggling with how to faithfully interact with this book.
First, I will say that unless you read this book knowing that Wesley’s struggle is YOUR struggle you will not get it. This book isn’t fundamentally about homosexuality. It’s really a book about how a sinner can simultaneously be a saint. It’s a book about clinging to the faithfulness of Jesus in the midst of our own unfaithfulness, idolatry, and brokenness. It is about being afflicted with the gospel.
Secondly, the most unique thing about this book is Hill’s pleading with the church to help in healing this brokenness. This is refreshing. Often the relationship between church and homosexuality is either “accept me without change” or “change before we accept you”. Hill writes above the fray on this. To him the church is the answer to loneliness that comes from his struggle.
Hill’s statement here is worth chewing on:
“…the New Testament views the church—rather than marriage—as the primary place where human love is best expressed and experienced” (111)
I love how throughout this book he places our struggle with sin in the larger story that is lived out in the context of the church. Beautiful.
Thirdly, Hill’s view of sanctification is positive and refreshing. He rightly understands that struggling against sin is not a mark of unfaithfulness but faithfulness. His view is perhaps best summed up in this paragraph:
The Bible calls the Christian struggle against sin faith (Hebrews 12:3-4; 10:37-39). It calls the Christian fight against impure cravings holiness (Romans 6:12-13, 22). So I am trying to appropriate these biblical descriptions for myself. I am learning to look at my daily wrestling with disordered desires and call it trust. I am learning to look at my battle to keep from giving in to my temptations and call it sanctification. I am learning to see that my flawed, imperfect, yet never-giving up faithfulness is precisely the spiritual fruit that God will praise me for on the last day, to the ultimate honor of Jesus Christ. (146)
I need that perspective. And that is really the final thing for me to interact with. I am not certain how this book would help one struggling with same-sex attraction, because I don’t. But I do struggle with sin that is just as offensive to God. And I minister to people that struggle with a multitude of sins. I minister to people that have same-sex attraction. So how does this book help me minister? In one regard it really doesn’t have a ton of unique things to say about ministering to people with same-sex attraction. You have to read between the lines to pick that up. But at the end of the day you come to learn that what a homosexual person (or a believer struggling with homosexual desire) needs is the same thing you need; namely, Jesus Christ and every implication of His glorious gospel.
One final thing that is worthy of mention**. Many have been upset that Hill uses the term gay Christian or homosexual Christian. I understand their concern. In fact I probably would encourage him not to use it. But this book is so much more than a linguistics exercise. If you are worried about his views of justification, sanctification, and identity in Christ then make certain those concerns are coming from the book itself and not Hill’s use of this term. He defends his use of the term—and even though I don’t find it wise, he does.
At the end of the day this is not a book about what do you label someone that has faith in Jesus, has homosexual desire, and lives celibate in response. This book is about the simple truth that there exists people that have faith in Jesus, sin that isn’t compatible, and a fight for holiness in response.
I am recommending this book for a number of people. Those that have these struggles. Pastors. Parents with homosexual children. And honestly anyone that wants to see an example and learn from someone that is clinging to Jesus in the midst of brokenness. It’s only 160 pages and it is a very engaging read.
I’m not his agent, but our contributor, Thom Hunter also has some good information on this subject at his blog.
We are caught in a dilemma as Bible-honoring Christians. We cannot pretend the behavior advocated in this movement in acceptable, but neither should we excuse some of the approaches Christians have used in confronting homosexuality.
This will be one of the defining discussions of the next generation of ministry.
Mike,
Thanks for sharing. I saw this book on Amazon and stuck it on my “wish list” for future purchase. I might have to up my timetable on getting it.
From the reviews I read there, I got the sense that he was writing a much bigger book that just about homosexuality. It is one of the things that we must keep in mind. Sin is sin, and we all struggle against sin. Some are obvious and some are easy to hide from others, but none of them are hidden from the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.
Today’s BP has an article about 2 new books on the subject. This is a topic that is not going away soon.
This is one of the first posts on this issue that I have ever seen on a Southern Baptist blog that has given me encouragement.
From the sacred Scriptures, this is disclosed:
” The Bible calls the Christian struggle against sin faith (Hebrews 12:3-4; 10:37-39). It calls the Christian fight against impure cravings holiness (Romans 6:12-13, 22). ”
It must be the leading of the Holy Spirit, when Christ-like compassion for those who suffer with certain temptations is OPENLY on the rise.
Thank God for this.
I’m not sure you have been listening very carefully. This is the same position essentially that Thom Hunter has advocated and that the majority of us here have stated as well. I’m not sure why you would say that.
We believe that homosexual behavior is a sin against God.
We believe that treating these sinners with compassion and dignity, without compromising with their sin, is the way to go.
This new book and Mike’s well-written review just reinforce the position we have held all along.
I think it is works like the one reviewed above that will help us to find our way through this wilderness of temptation. One of the things that it might be helpful to know is that we are constantly being bombarded with subliminal seduction techniques in advertising. I would suggest that ministers get and read a work from the 50s, namely, Vance Packhard’s Hidden Persuaders, and another frm the 60s or 70s (I can’t remember which decade in which it was first published, Dr. Key’s Clam Plate Orgy whih involved a rather good discussion of subliminal seduction techniques. The Clam Plate Orgy title was drawn from a place mat in a chain restaurant that sold clams. The retouched photo of a plae of clams, on closer inspection, revealed the clams being retouched to resemble people in a vast orgy.. When I began to look at the advertisements in magazines, newspapers, and on television, I began to find thos techniques in use. I also discovered that they had been used since about the time of the First World War (and our government was one of the early users of such sordid methods to recruit military personnel. I found that there were people in my community who had learned about such techniques in grade school from the daughter of a local newspaper publisher (she was the teacher and told her class about the matter). One of my members, a young man attended a commerical art school in Atlanta where his text book in sales psychology told him how to use the techniques in his works of commercial art designed to sell products (like putting the word death in an advertisement for cigarettes at a level that the unconscious mind sees and goes for, but the conscious mind says can’t be there). Could the many adulteries in our communities be the result of a constant brainwashing with sexually seductive techniques? Could our cases of Anorexia Nervoa be the reult of sales techniques? Could our problems with hoarding be the result of advertising techniques that appal to the basest greed and idolatry of the human heart in its fallen condition? There was an advertisement for one whiskey which involved a few ice cubes in a whiskey glass and no whiskey. For several years it was that whiskey’s best selling ad. Close inspection of the ice cubes revealed the floating wild figures (like wolves, etc.) that a man sees in delirium tremens. God grant us the wherewithal to use some positive subliminal images of maturity to attract people in our preaching to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He certainly left us examples of such wonderfully compelling appeals in his messages. Check it out. Look for them.
Dave,
Too bad you aren’t my agent! LOL. It is hard to get attention for books written by Christians who struggle with homosexuality and other sexual issues, such as pornography addiction. And it is very hard to get them into church libraries and on to pastor’s desks. However, more and more people in our churches are beginning to realize that if we know the truth . . . and also know how to share it with compassion . . . we can truly minister to a struggling brother or sister.
I have to admit I am surprised that more church members are unwilling to educate themselves and show their love for the many church members who struggle, mostly in silence. It takes courage to write a book like Wesley’s, as I discovered in the release of my book, “Surviving Sexual Brokenness: What Grace Can Do.” It’s worth it though. I’ve seen hearts and minds changed and I’ve seen men and women who have built a wall between them and the church, for safety’s sake, begin to peek above it and say . . . help?
My book differs somewhat from Wesley’s. I encourage those of you who care about the strugglers in your churches to add both to your library.
If you are interested, I’m posting the introduction to my book on my blog today at http://www.signsofastruggleblog.com/ It should be on there by noon, Central time.
God Bless,
Thom — http://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Sexual-Brokenness-What-Grace/dp/1449707319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299163253&sr=1-1
How does your book differ from Wesley’s? Thom I really want to read your book but probably won’t be able to until after this semester.
Mike,
Thanks for asking. My book takes an overall approach toward sexual brokenness, including pornography addiction and heterosexual lust and adultery, although it is from my personal perspective of having dealt with same-sex attraction. While much of my book is built on personal experience, I have tried to write it in a way that anyone can place himself into it and imagine being in the struggle. The idea is to help build compassion and understanding, without sacrificing truth, so grace can take its place and healing can come.
Like Wesley, I hold out that the church is our best hope for battling this issue, particularly as culture embraces it. I have learned, in both good and bad ways, that there are many married men and women who struggle with same-sex attraction and have acted on it and are thus living in shame and guilt. While Wesley’s perspective is more as one who has been able to resist the temptations, I must, unfortunately, write as one who gave in and then sought healing. We truly need to realize that there are plenty of people like me in our churches, wanting to be free but fearful of asking for help.
Thom,
Your book sounds really helpful. I look forward to reading it. I’m also thankful for you and your ministry. It’s wonderful to see how God redeems brokenness and broken people to heal other broken people. Thanks.