There should be no space in church life for their dehumanization and mistreatment. They should not be stigmatized or treated with contempt. They should not be blamed for America‰ЫЄs security problems or social ills. They should never have to be afraid of violence as they go about their daily lives. They should not be discriminated against in employment, housing and public accommodation. Their relationships should not be criminalized. It is wrong to call them names or use slurs about them. How can any self-proclaimed follower of Jesus not agree with this paragraph?Īnd so, it is increasingly agreed, even on the traditionalist Christian side : gay people exist. Gushee talks about Christianity and it‰ЫЄs broader message. What does it say about our priorities that we will fight to the death over this issue rather than, say, divide over our stand on clergy sex abuse or mass murder or caring for the poor?

Odd, really‰ЫУthe big divisive issue in our messed up world today is how perhaps one-twentieth of all people handle their sexuality. Gushee does a fantastic job of writing clearly and concisely about the issues facing the Church, and about how Christians react to them. This book is interesting, because I think it is written by a devout Christian, to devout Christians, and contains a lot of food for thought for people who are seriously trying to follow Jesus and do God‰ЫЄs will.

It is the story especially of how not the Bible itself but traditionalist readings of certain texts in the Bible have become increasingly implausible to me, while other texts about the Gospel message and the Church now seem to have a broader range of applications, broad enough to include the full embrace of gays and lesbians. Gushee is a Christian ethicist and confirms that he is fairly conservative on sexual ethics - concerned about the direction we‰ЫЄve been going in as a society. This book is a bit different than some of the books I‰ЫЄve read on the subject. This is about David Gushee‰ЫЄs journey from believing that the Bible condemns all homosexual relationships to believing that the Bible doesn‰ЫЄt condemn homosexual committed monogamous relationships (the same standards we hold heterosexual Christians to). But this book warrants these notes from acclaimed writer, theologian, and author of God and the Gay Christian. I‰ЫЄve never read a book before with a Foreword (Brian McLaren), a Preface (Phyllis Tickle), and an Introduction (Matthew Vines).

David gushee changing our mind