Love is an Orientation

I commend you today to a book review by Michael Spencer (Internet Monk).
Here are a few excerpts from his review and his comments:

If you had two books to choose from, whatever I will write and what Andrew Marin has written in Love Is An Orientation, I would want you to buy Andrew’s book.
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When it comes to our interaction with the Gay community- and the Gay Christians in our midst- we have made a five-star mess of things. To make it worse, it’s a mess we’re either ignorant of or proud of.

We’ve invested hours and dollars in hearing over and over the assurance that these particular sexual sins are condemned in scripture. We’ve insured that our default idea of conversation with gay persons is being shouted out by angry advocates of hate. We’ve given the culture warriors the floor to say whatever they wanted in whatever way they wanted.

We’ve avoided the subject when it wasn’t on our turf. We’ve made sure that our sources never came at us from a side of the subject we weren’t prepared to hear. We controlled the stories that came to us so they were always properly scripted.

We’ve treated gays with almost no appreciation for their real situation. We’ve obsessed on sex, forgotten how painful it is to be human, minimized the pain of exclusion and become apologists for the worst among us because they believed the same Bible we do.
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Marin is not cooperating with the coopting of the conversation down the same tired roads. This isn’t a book about the issues of how to announce what’s wrong more loudly. As I read this book, every kind of Christian would benefit. Marin beautifully lays out the message and DEMANDS of the Gospel to all of us WITHOUT SINGLING OUT someone because of sex.
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Marin tells stories of being rejected by gays he wanted to befriend. But he makes it clear that the defining experience for thousands of gays was their treatment by Christians, and that treatment wasn’t speaking the truth in love, commitment, perseverance and kindness.
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Many gays are angry and hurt. Most of them were mistreated by people like me.

I am often dismayed and disappointed about the way that homosexuals are slammed by Christians. Michael's review, and his ensuing comments, was a refreshing change.. catch the whole iMonk review here.. you may be glad you did :)