The Glory of Male and Female

May 21, 2017 in Bible - OT - Genesis, Homosexuality, Marriage, Meditations, Politics, Sexuality
Genesis 1:27 (NKJV)
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Some of you may recall studying Plato’s doctrine of the forms when you were a student. For Plato the world we see about us, the world that we can see, touch, taste, hear, and smell is a world of shadows that only dimly reflects the real world, the immaterial world of the forms. For example, corresponding to the imperfect circles that we draw in this world is an ideal circle in the world of the forms. The closer our circles get to that form, the nearer perfection they also get.
The ways in which Plato’s idea of the forms impacted Greek civilization are myriad, some good and some bad. In the bad category is the way in which it impacted the Greek perception of humanity. For the Greeks almost uniformly insisted that the ideal human form was male – and, remember, the closer one gets to the form, the closer one gets to perfection.
Consider two implications of this myth for Greek culture. First, the Greeks openly tolerated and even praised the perversions of sodomy, homosexuality, and pederasty. After all, if the perfect form is male then why shouldn’t one male be attracted to the perfect form of another, whether adult or child?
Second, the Greeks degraded women and viewed them as a lesser form of human since they were further from the ideal. Consequently, the more like men women became the more “human” they became. So the legends of the Amazonians were spread by men who wanted women to be more like, you guessed it, men.
Notice the contrast between this ancient Greek fable, with its exaltation of perversion and denigration of women, and the revelation of God in Genesis. Here in Genesis we are told that God made man in His image, according to His likeness. But lest we travel down the Platonic sewer pipe, God informs us that by man He means male and female together. God created man, male and female, in His image after His likeness. It is not the male who is the image of God; nor is it the female who is the image of God; rather it is male and female together – unity and diversity in harmony – who bear the image of God and reveal the character of God.
So what does this mean? First, it means that God created men and women distinct so that they might join together in the covenant of marriage and enjoy sexual satisfaction. Our complementary sexuality was God’s idea – it was not a random mutation, not a fortuitous accident, not a meaningless roll of the dice. God created us male and female; God created our biology; consequently, God delights when a man pursues a woman with honor, commits himself to her alone, and directs his passions to pleasing her and enabling her to have children. God loves that type of romance; do you?
Second, it means that those of the opposite sex whom God has placed in our lives – whether wives or husbands, mothers or fathers, daughters or sons, sisters or brothers, or just friends – have been put there to teach us about Him. They, in company with us, bear the image of God and so are to be not simply tolerated, not simply endured, but treasured, respected, honored, and listened to as women or as men. God created them as women and as men and He intends to teach us about Himself through them. So are you listening to the lessons God is intending to teach?

Reminded that sin has distorted our perception of the opposite sex and that we can tend to despise those who are different from us rather than receiving them in the fear of God, let us kneel and confess our sin to the Lord. We will have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Whatever Things are Noble

October 17, 2016 in Bible - NT - Philippians, Depravity, King Jesus, Meditations, Politics, Sanctification, Sexuality, Sin
Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
In Philippians 1, Paul prays that we “may approve the things that are excellent” (1:9b). In order to do so, we must be able to identify these excellent things and, in our text, Paul catalogues some of them. He calls us to meditate on these things – to give them our attention, mull them over, and let them shape our attitude and actions.
So let us meditate on whatever things are noble. This word noble is “used in classical Greek in the sense of ‘venerable, inviting reverence, worthy of reverence.’ The word exhorts here to a due appreciation of such things as produce a noble seriousness.” (Wuest) Other translations endeavor to capture the meaning with the English word “honorable.”
P.T. Barnum, founder of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, once remarked, “No man ever went broke underestimating the public taste.” His remark reflects a sober truth: our sinful nature lends itself to that which is base. Taking advantage of this sinful corruption, much of the entertainment industry has become horribly degenerate, appealing to our baser instincts.
Yet even though our sinful nature gravitates toward that which is base and corrupt, we still possess a longing for nobility, a longing for that which is honorable and upright. Because we have been created in the image of God, we still retain a sense of the divine and, at times, long for those things which reflect His glory, long for nobility. This longing is cleverly expressed in an old poem of unknown authorship:

  I have three tame ducks in my back yard,
  Who wallow in the mud, and try real hard
  To get their share and even more
  of the overflowing backyard store.
  They’re fairly content with the task they’re at
  Of eating and sleeping and getting fat.
  But when the wild ducks fly by
  In a streaming line across the sky,
  They cast a wishful and quizzical eye
  And flap their wings and attempt to fly.
  I think my soul is a tame old duck
  Wallowing around in the barnyard muck,
  It’s fat and lazy with useless wings
  But, once in awhile when the north wind sings
  And the wild ducks hurtle overhead
  It remembers something lost and almost dead,
  And it casts a wistful eye
  And flaps its wings and tries to fly.
  It’s fairly content with the state that it’s in

  But it isn’t the duck that it might have been![1]

Paul calls us, in our passage, to follow those wild ducks; to meditate on what we were created to be; to delight in that which is noble, honorable, and glorious. He calls us to delight in the boy who opens the door for his sister; to rejoice in the wife who honors her husband and shields his faults; to esteem the man who keeps himself free from pornography; to admire the businessman who pays his employees well; to honor the soldier who lays down his life for his friends; to worship the Lord Christ who sacrificed Himself for us all. “That’s what I want to be like,” we should say, “that’s who I want to be.”
So reminded of our call to meditate on whatever things are noble, let us confess that we often gravitate toward that which is base instead. And, as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sins to the Lord. We’ll have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.


[1] http://www.christians.org/grow/grow13.html

Whatever Things are True

October 9, 2016 in Apologetics, Bible - NT - Philippians, Bible - NT - Romans, Bible - OT - Psalms, Meditations, Politics, Sanctification, Sexuality
Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
In Philippians 1, Paul prays that we “may approve the things that are excellent” (1:9b). In order to do so, we must be able to identify these excellent things and, in our text, Paul catalogues some of them. He calls us to meditate on these things – to give them our attention, mull them over, and let them shape our attitude and actions.
So let us meditate on whatever things are true. “Truth is an attribute of God. As such the term speaks of His integrity, His trustworthiness, His faithfulness” (Holmes, 827). As the psalmist declares in Psalm 89:14, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face.” The Triune God is the true and living God, not a mere idol, not a figment of the imagination, not a pipe dream.
Because God is true, the world which He has created reflects His nature and, therefore, it has a distinct and definite nature. Our calling as human beings, is to understand the way God has made us and the world and to conform ourselves to this reality. We are to live truly not falsely – to live in accord with the way the universe really is. This implies, of course, that the world has a fixed nature, reflecting God’s own nature. This fixed reality characterizes empirical observations, intellectual and mathematical principles, and moral obligations. Boys are boys; girls are girls; animals are animals; gravity is real; 1+1 does in fact equal 2; multiplying the length times the width of a rectangle tells you its area; if all men are mortal and Socrates is a man, then it follows necessarily that Socrates is mortal; murder, adultery, and theft are grievous crimes; love suffers long and is kind.
All these statements are true, and Paul calls us to meditate deeply on these things. He summons us to rejoice in the regularity of the world that God has made. We are to rejoice in empirical truths, intellectual truths, and moral truths. And we are to rejoice in these truths wherever and by whomever they are discovered. All truth is God’s truth and we are called to meditate upon it; indeed, to rejoice in it.
However, when we are in rebellion against God, we don’t like to acknowledge the truth. Paul declares in Romans 1:25 that in rebelling against God, we “exchange the truth of God for a lie.” Having given ourselves over to this first-order lie, we find ourselves tempted to lie in other areas. We try to hide from the truth – for truth points us inevitably to the Truth Giver. As Jesus declares, “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth come to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (Jn 3:20-21).
This is why our culture has increasingly embraced the folly of relativism – whatever is true for you is true for you and whatever is true for me is true for me. There is no such thing as absolute truth – except, of course, for the absolute truth that there is no absolute truth. So we have begun calling evil good and good evil; justifying to ourselves our sexual licentiousness, our slaughter of the unborn, our greed, our loss of a moral compass. We have set ourselves up as the standard of truth. The result? We can no longer tell the difference between male and female; we have announced that men are able to wed one another; we have declared that a woman can be trapped in a male body; soon we shall claim that pigs fly.

But all this is folly, all this is falsehood, all this is lies and deceit and a sham. And Paul calls us to see it as such and to meditate instead on whatever things are true. So have you? Are you meditating deeply on what is true, are you being transformed by the renewing of your mind, or are you being conformed to this world by meditating on falsehood and filth? Reminded of our call to meditate on whatever things are true, let us confess that we often embrace what is false. And, as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sins to the Lord. We’ll have a time of silent confession followed by the corporate confession found in your bulletin.

Lying Words that cannot Profit

June 27, 2016 in Bible - OT - Jeremiah, Coeur d'Alene Issues, Homosexuality, Judgment, Meditations, Politics, Sexuality
Jeremiah 7:8–11 (NKJV)
8 “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the LORD.
Last week we remarked that the only two options before us as individuals are to repent or perish. Because we have all sinned and are therefore guilty in God’s sight, deserving of judgment, there are only two options: repent or perish. Repent: turn from your sin, confess your need of Jesus to cover your guilt, and ask God’s forgiveness; or perish: cling to your sin, ignore your guilt, and face God’s judgment. These are our only options.
As sinners, however, we don’t like it that there are only two options. We would much rather hold on to our sin and avoid judgment. We want to have our cake and eat it too. So we tell ourselves lies – and these lies come in two forms.
First, we lie about the nature of our behavior. We begin to call good evil and evil good. We redefine justice in accordance with our own thoughts and desires rather than defining it according to God’s moral law. We say to ourselves, “This is the way we are supposed to act!” Or, in the words of our text, “We are delivered to do all these abominations!”
So, locally, some of our city officials, in the wake of the Orlando shooting, held a vigil. This vigil didn’t bow before God and confess that we are sinners deserving of judgment and in need of mercy. This vigil didn’t acknowledge the many ways that we as a people have violated the law of God – stealing, murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely, worshiping false gods – and become justly subject to His wrath; instead this vigil stood in defense of our perverse sexuality and censured any condemnation of the behavior. We are lying about the nature of our behavior.
But not only do we lie about the nature of our behavior, we also begin to lie about the character of God. “God is soft and cuddly; God doesn’t care; God takes no notice; God just wants me to be happy; God believes in me; or, perhaps, God doesn’t even exist.” But it is these gods that do not exist – they are figments of our own imagination, not the God of creation and revelation. They are, in Jeremiah’s words, gods that we do not know – gods that we use to placate our conscience rather than the God who speaks in our conscience.
Repent or perish is not only a summons for us as individuals; it is also a summons for us as communities. When we lie about the nature of our behavior or lie about the character of God or both, these lies do not profit us. In the end, we shall come up against the solid wall of God’s reality. Gravity eventually catches up with us. For God declares, “Behold I, even I have seen it.”

Jeremiah’s words remind us that we have much to confess – individually and corporately. Let us cry out to God on behalf of our city, that God would have mercy upon us for our rebellion, that He would open our eyes to see the evil of our ways, and that we would together cry out to Him for mercy. And as we confess our sins to the Lord, let us kneel in His presence.

Shouldn’t you have more compassion?

December 8, 2015 in Coeur d'Alene Issues, Homosexuality, Politics, Resurrection, Sanctification, Sexuality, Ten Commandments

I’ve received diverse feedback on my recent My Turn piece in the Coeur d’Alene Press (here). On the negative side, the most frequent critique is that I need to have more compassion, need to be more loving, and need to consider what Jesus would say or do. Below is a response I wrote to this critique.


Thank you for responding to my letter and for taking an interest in these matters. Like you I think that these issues are very important and I do consider the difficulties faced by individuals who identify as transgender as tragic. I often look in the mirror and ask what Jesus would do and am often convicted of my own lack of courage, conviction, and compassion. I am thankful that He is my Savior even as He is the Savior of all those who turn from their sin and turn in faith to God the Father, our Creator and Redeemer. I daily thank God for His mercy in sending Jesus to rescue and redeem me. Apart from His grace I would be as lost and adrift as anyone.
 
You take issue with my parallels of bestiality and I certainly understand that comparison is uncomfortable. However, what you seem to be articulating does, it seems to me, leave you open to these types of comparisons. One of my professors used to refer it as the “hobgoblin of consistency.” You say that the transgendered individual is “no different than someone born with a genetic abnormality” but your only foundation for that claim is the assertion by the transgendered person that they feel like they should have been born a different gender. There are no genetic markers otherwise; just psychological ones. So how can you avoid giving credence to the person who says that they feel that they shouldn’t have been born as a human; that they really self-identify as a dog or cat and that they want to associate with those of their own self-identified kind? Then, once technology develops how will you escape supporting the surgeon who offers to begin a transspecies transformation? I do think that this is where your position inevitably leads.
 
I would fully agree with you that a person struggling with gender identity needs help, counsel, prayer, and compassion. They need those who are willing to help them see that biology trumps psychology; to help them know that God has created them male or female for a reason and that that reason is good. The basic types of struggles and temptations that they are facing are no different from the struggles and temptations that others face: e.g., the child who feels she has been born into the wrong home, the man who believes he should have been born into a more wealthy family, the woman who thinks she should have been born with more physical beauty, etc. These are all struggles that people deal with in varying degrees of intensity and each needs true compassion.
 
The parallel I typically draw is with drug abuse. The one who truly loves the addict won’t celebrate their addiction but help them to fight it and, Lord willing, escape it. True compassion, compassion that is informed by God’s commandments, will endeavor to help a “gender confused” person give thanks that God has created him or her as He has, to rest in that identity, and to look forward to the renewal of all creation when they will not be so conflicted. It is false compassion to fuel their confusion in the name of being loving. The one who truly loves them will endeavor to help them embrace God’s biological design. And, glory be to God, Jesus has risen from the dead to empower us to do that very thing. Through faith in Christ we can find peace – peace with God, peace with our gender.

 Again, thank you for writing. This is probably a longer response than you wanted or expected. My apologies if so. I do sincerely hope that you will continue to think about these issues carefully.

Preference versus Principle

October 4, 2015 in Bible - NT - James, Law and Gospel, Meditations, Sexuality, Ten Commandments
James 1:22-25 (NKJV)
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
As we have emphasized various times, it is imperative for us as the people of God to distinguish between being men and women of preference and being men and women of principle. James urges us to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. As doers of the Word our calling is to understand what God says and then practice it. As Luther so robustly emphasized, we are set right with God by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone. True faith manifests itself in good works. So let us recall the difference between a man or woman of preference and a man or woman of principle.
A man or woman of preference is one who would prefer things to be a certain way but who can’t seem, for one reason or another, to accomplish his objective. He would prefer to be sexually pure, but he just can’t seem to resist looking at pornography. She would prefer to be respectful to her husband, but he’s just so unworthy of respect. He would prefer to be honest at work, but the boss simply doesn’t pay him enough. She would prefer to live a life characterized by joy and gladness, but what her parents did to her when she was young is just too much to forgive. He would prefer to have obedient children, but the children God has given him are difficult and his wife just doesn’t do a good job with them. She would prefer to be content, but all her friends have much nicer things than she. He would prefer to make it to church each Lord’s Day, but it’s simply too hard to get the whole family ready ahead of time. She would prefer not to gossip, but she’s just so lonely she needs someone to talk with.
Contrast these scenarios with a man or woman of principle. He knows it is sinful to be sexually impure, and so he does whatever is necessary to shield himself from temptation. She knows that she must respect her husband, and so she begins honoring him with her words and actions, praying that her heart attitude will gradually change. He knows the utter necessity of honesty, and so he takes another job rather than steal from his employer. She knows that God commands her to be joyful, and so she confesses her sin of bitterness and refuses to listen to her own sob story. He knows he is responsible for the disobedience of his children, and so he asks his wife’s forgiveness for failing to train them and then sets about to do so. She knows that contentment is not an option, and so she meditates on the Word of God and rejoices that God is her portion in the land of the living. He knows that his family needs to be in worship every Lord’s Day, and so he organizes everything Saturday evening so they can make it. She knows it is a sin to gossip, and so she confides her loneliness to the Lord and looks for ways to praise others with her words.
What kind of man or woman are you? Are you a man or woman of preference or of principle? If the former heed the warning of James – But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Reminded that we often fail to be men and women of principle and that we make excuses for our disobedience, let us kneel and ask our Lord’s forgiveness.

The Sins of Homosexuality and Sodomy

May 3, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Coeur d'Alene Issues, Creation, Homosexuality, Meditations, Politics, Sexuality
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
We find ourselves in Eastertide, the time of year that we celebrate the way the resurrection of Jesus has transformed the world and our individual lives. Hope has arrived: forgiveness has been achieved and new life has entered into the world. In our text, Paul catalogues a number of sins from which Jesus’ resurrection power frees His people.
Today we consider homosexuality and sodomy. These two terms express both the active and passive partners in homosexual liaisons. Unlike many of the other sins listed in Paul’s catalogue, homosexuality is being lauded and praised in our culture. While adultery and theft and drunkenness are still viewed as social ills, homosexuality is being celebrated as a social good. It is being used as the point of the spear in an attempt to refashion our societal norms. Even now the Supreme Court of the United States is considering whether homosexual unions should be considered a constitutional right.
But homosexuality is a perverse, unnatural and destructive practice that incurs the wrath of God both in this life and in the next. Today in our sermon text we enter the narrative of God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah for their perverse sexuality. A thorough analysis of homosexuality reveals that it is a deeply religious practice. It is a refusal to listen to God speaking both in His Word and in the natural order. It is a rejection of the most basic distinction between male and female, a vigorous attempt to silence the voice of God revealed in the image of God – man as male and female. Peter Jones writes in his book The God of Sex: How Spirituality Defines Your Sexuality:
The pagan gospel preaches that redemption is liberation from the Creator and repudiation of creation’s structures. It offers the “liberation” of sex from its heterosexual complementary essence. The Christian gospel proclaims that redemption is reconciliation with the Creator and the honoring of creation’s goodness. This gospel celebrates the goodness of sex within its rightful, heterosexual limits.
Jesus took on human flesh, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose again bodily from the grave and ascended to the right hand of God so that we might learn to honor God with our sexuality. And the way we honor God with our sexuality is by remaining chaste until we, in God’s good Providence, find a spouse of the opposite gender with whom to enjoy sex.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6 that “the body is not for sexual immorality” – sexual immorality, including homosexuality, is not in the design plan. It produces emotional, physical, and spiritual breakdowns. While a married couple can make love to one another for decades and never contract an STD, a single encounter outside the marriage bed can leave one suffering for life. “The body,” Paul continues, “is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord is for the body.” The body, including our sexuality, is to be used to the glory and honor of God, in harmony with His design. And His design is for our good, not for our hurt.

God is the Creator of all and He has designed our sexuality to flourish in a monogamous heterosexual covenanted union. Reminded of this and that we as a culture are seeking to silence God’s voice, let us confess our sin to the Lord. And as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sin.

The Sin of Adultery

April 26, 2015 in Bible - NT - 1 Corinthians, Bible - OT - Song of Solomon, Meditations, Sexuality, Ten Commandments
1 Corinthians 6:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
We find ourselves in Eastertide, the time of year that we celebrate the way the resurrection of Jesus has transformed the world and our individual lives. Hope has arrived: forgiveness has been achieved and new life has entered into the world. And to everyone who turns from his sin and trusts in Jesus’ death and resurrection, God grants that forgiveness and new life.
In our text, Paul catalogues a number of sins from which Jesus’ resurrection power frees His people. Today we consider the sin of adultery. Marriage is a covenant of companionship, a covenant in which a man and woman swear to be exclusively loyal to one another until death. It is an oath of, among other things, sexual exclusivity. All people, therefore, whether married or single, are to assist married couples to fulfill their oaths by reminding them of their vows and refusing to tempt them to betray them.
God commands married men and women to turn from adultery to his or her spouse. The first motion is from adultery. The 7thcommandment clearly expresses God’s hatred of adultery. He commands in no uncertain terms, “You shall not commit adultery.” In its most basic sense, to commit adultery is to engage in sex with someone who is not one’s spouse. However, the law of God always points to the heart. The act of adultery is the consummation of perverse desires hatched in the heart. Consequently, spouses must watch over the heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life (Pr 4:23). To turn from adultery is, as married couples, to so control our sexual desires that we not pursue in fantasy or reality any person other than our spouse.
But not only are we to turn from adulterywe are to turn to our spouse. You husbands are commanded by Scripture to drink water from your own cistern and to rejoice in the wife of your youth. You are to be satisfied with her breasts and intoxicated with her love. You wives in turn are commanded by Scripture to welcome the advances of your husband. The Shulamite sings in the Song of Songs, “Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits” (4:16). So Paul summarizes in 1 Corinthians 7:3-4, “Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another…”
So husbands and wives, how are you doing? Husbands, have you been consistently turning sexually from others and to your wife? Are you watching your eyes, controlling your thoughts, governing your words, and monitoring your actions? Your wife is the woman God has given you – treasure her exclusively. Wives, have you been consistently turning sexually from others and to your husband? Are you welcoming your husband, controlling your thoughts, governing your words, and monitoring your attitudes and actions? Your husband is the man God has given you – treasure him exclusively.

Reminded of the call on married men and women to turn from others and to their spouse let us confess that we have treated adultery lightly, we have courted sexual unfaithfulness, and we have failed to pursue our spouses faithfully. And, as you are able, let us kneel as we confess our sin to the Lord.

Homosexuality and the Christian

April 23, 2015 in Bible - NT - James, Book Reviews, Homosexuality, Sexuality, Temptation

I finished reading Homosexuality and the Christian: A Guide for Parents, Pastors, and Friends by Mark Yarhouse. Yarhouse is Professor of Psychology at Regent University. I appreciated his distinction between attraction, orientation, and identity. Attraction is a base level sexual temptation that certain folks experience more than others for members of the same sex. Orientation is attraction that seems to be persistent. Identity is when someone chooses to label themselves as homosexual. I think that these distinctions are helpful; he is articulating James 1:13-15 but in a way that is at times confusing. James would be willing to acknowledge that certain of our desires are sinful and that these desires move us to practice sin. So sin is more than mere behavior – it reaches to our desires. Yarhouse seems to want to say that our “attractions” are never sinful in themselves; he places the label of sin almost exclusively on our behavior and I’m not convinced that’s biblical. Nevertheless, it is true that being tempted is not the same as sinning – Jesus was tempted and yet without sin. So I’m not completely throwing out his distinctions because I think there is a kernel of truth there. Yarhouse is a psychologist and so speaks for that community; as a pastor I’m much more interested in what Scripture has to say and on that I find him less than fully satisfying. Sam Allberry’s Is God Anti-Gay? is more helpful and makes some of the same distinctions.

I appreciated his emphasis on reaching people who struggle with same-sex attraction – and reaching them as “our people.” I think that this is an area where I could certainly grow. At the same time, I simply don’t agree with his approach to some specific cases; for instance, if my child were to choose homosexuality, I would not “respect” that choice. I think that is the wrong framework within which to process the decision. I guess I’ll “respect” him to the extent of holding him accountable for his choice and urging the church to hold him accountable; but I won’t “respect” him in the sense of saying, “I recognize that’s a legitimate choice to make.” May it never be!

So while there were some good an helpful distinctions and the book was very charitable, there are times where I think his allegiance to psychology is more apparent than to Scripture.