In our message on Sunday, we briefly considered Paul’s one example of a degrading passion: homosexuality. Obviously, this is a huge political, social, religious, theological, and family issue in our culture. I did not have time to address it with as much detail as might have been helpful. So I wanted to offer here some resources that you may look to for answers to questions you may have.
The first resource is God And The Gay Christian? A Response To Matthew Vines. In 2014, Matthew Vines published God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships, in which he argued that “Christians who affirm the full authority of Scripture can also affirm committed, monogamous same-sex relationships.” To make this argument, he had to re-interpret six key biblical passages (Gen19:5, Lev 18:22, 20:13, Rom 1:26-27, 1Cor 6:9, 1Tim 1:10), divorcing them from their contexts and overarching truths about human sexuality and gender roles.
In response, Dr. Albert Mohler and several other scholars (Drs. Jim Hamilton, Denny Burk, Owen Strachan, and Heath Lambert) have addressed all of Vines’ claims, correcting his abuses of Scripture. Mohler’s chapter gives an overall critique of Vines’ argument; Hamilton addresses Vines’ Old Testament claims; Burk addresses the New Testament assertions; Strachan deals with the church history claims; and Lambert deals with the issue of whether there is such a thing as a “gay Christian.” Throughout, the authors contend that embracing Vines’ view removes hope from those struggling with same-sex attraction. Only the transforming power of the gospel can free a sinner from darkness.
A resource like this is important because without it, authors like Vines’ can convince Christians that there are legitimate cases to be made for homosexuality. As Mohler writes, “…it’s very important that evangelicals be reminded that the church has not misunderstood Scripture for 2,000 years.”
A second free resource, also from Al Mohler is Homosexuality And The Bible. You can download it here. This tool is very similar to the first, but it is condensed. If you are limited on time, you might start with this one. If you find you want more detailed arguments, you could move to A Response to Matthew Vines.
A third resource I highly recommend is Transforming Homosexuality: What the Bible Says About Sexual Orientation and Change by Denny Burk and Heath Lambert. We need to not only hold the line that homosexuality is sin, but we need to have the compassion to boldly and lovingly extend hope that change is possible. In fact, if the gospel is true—and we’ve all bet our eternities that it is—change has to be possible. Further, every believer needs to have a rudimentary idea of how change can come to the life of someone struggling with same-sex attraction. This book equips us for that.
The book isn’t free. It’s well worth your money, but if you’d like to know a little more about it before purchasing, you can listen to this Truth & Circumstances podcast episode reviewing the book.
Finally, we did a short series on Truth & Circumstances about how to have a conversation with a believer who has decided homosexuality is not a sin. There are three episodes in the series, covering much of the biblical material that one might encounter in such a conversation (Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3).
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