A Review Of Sam Allberry, "Is God Anti-Gay? And Other Questions About Homosexuality, The Bible, And Same-Sex Attraction" -- By: Chris Sarver

Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 18:2 (Fall 2013)
Article: A Review Of Sam Allberry, "Is God Anti-Gay? And Other Questions About Homosexuality, The Bible, And Same-Sex Attraction"
Author: Chris Sarver


A Review Of Sam Allberry, Is God Anti-Gay? And Other Questions About Homosexuality, The Bible,
And Same-Sex Attraction

Purcellville, VA: The Good Book Company, 2013. 88 pp. $7.99.

Chris Sarver

National Director for CRU Leadership Development, Great Lakes Region
Indianapolis, Indiana

On college campuses across the nation, the number of believing eighteen to twenty-three year olds who have confided with their friends, pastors, and campus ministers that they struggle with same-sex attraction (SSA) is on the rise. For instance, on a 2013 summer missions project, nearly one in five male and female college students anonymously indicated that they had in the past engaged in “some sort of sexual activity with a person of the same gender.” Likewise, over the course of the last decade, I have seen a distinct rise in the number of students who have cyber-sexed with others of the same gender or viewed homosexual-themed pornography.

Though anecdotal, these aforementioned trends reaffirm the fact that our culture is experiencing a widespread moral change. Nowhere is this more acute than in America’s high schools and colleges. Young Christians today have serious questions about the Bible’s teaching on sexuality in general and homosexuality and gay marriage in particular. The church has struggled to answer these questions clearly, compassionately, and compellingly for the younger generation, and therefore the community called to herald the truth has stumbled in extending its pastoral care to those who profess Christ yet battle against same-sex attraction. Enter Sam Allberry’s new book.

Sam Allberry’s short (88 pages) new book, Is God Anti-Gay? And Other Questions about Homosexuality, the Bible and Same-sex Attraction, is a timely and helpful resource for clergy, lay-leaders, and campus missionaries laboring in this new context. Allberry is a pastor in Great Britain who battles SSA. His personal experience, exegetical and theological reflection, as well as years of pastoral ministry make this work sensitive, theologically satisfying, and practical.

He briefly shares his journey and struggles with SSA in the introduction. The first chapter examines what the Bible says about sexuality and marriage. In the next Allberry considers a number of biblical texts that address homosexuality. He provides concise interpretations that support a traditional understanding of the text, while also interacting with interpretations that condone homosexuality. Chapter three is written to aid believers struggling with SSA and contains both practical and helpful advice. The fourth chapter discusses ways the church can bless and encourage those battling SSA. In the final chapter, Allberry provides some speci...

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