This past Sunday in my church, I spoke about Bill C-4 that passed in Canada, and about the city ordnance that is being proposed in Indiana on how people can counsel when it comes to homosexuality. I told my church that I think this is the issue where many people, Christian or just conservative, are going to compromise because it is such an emotional question, based on personal experience (which has become sacred to the cultural worldview).
These are the three books I wish every Christian would read now to educate themselves on this Biblical truth. Taken together, these books provide a great foundation for a biblical and winsome understanding of what we believe about this sin and its relationship to the Gospel.
First, What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? By Kevin DeYoung. This is a clear and engaging little book that answers this question so well.
Second, Transforming Homosexuality: What the Bible Says about Sexual Orientation and Change by Heath Lambert and Denny Burk. This book is very helpful and relevant to the conversation about the Canadian Bill and the city ordnance in Indiana because it addresses precisely the question of whether homosexuals can change. It also clarifies the difference between the classic understanding of conversion therapy and gospel transformation.
Third, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert : An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith by Rosaria Butterfield. This book is so helpful to see the personal, and sometimes very messy reality of what can happen when a lesbian professor comes face to face with Jesus in the Scriptures.
There are obviously many more books that could be recommended, but these three would give a great, well rounded foundation for seeing this issue clearly from a Biblical perspective.
I’ll end with this quote from church historian, Michael Haykin:
“On God’s deafening words about sex
The idea that God whispers about sexual sin in his Word is nuts! In some ways, one can say that what God says about sex in the Bible is deafeningly loud!
God is deeply interested in sex and sexuality (after all, it is his idea!) for this great reason: it is the most powerful illustration of the salvation we have through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our salvation is a corporate salvation (oh the joy being with all of God’s people) that is so often depicted as being married to the Lord. That is why apostasy is compared most powerfully to adultery and spiritual fornication.
Our battle with our culture about sex is not a new one: the first sexual revolution was in the 18th century. Oh you didn’t know! And you thought that the whole thing started in the Sixties (as did nearly all of those who promoted sexual license then). Big mistake! The sexual direction of our culture has been a long time in the works! Oh for battlefield theologians, as Gresham Machen used to call them, in our days.
Thank God the roots of the biblical view about sex go back much farther to the Garden!”
Throwing the Word 