Homosexuality and the Christian

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.