“In the end, what keeps me on the path I’ve chosen is not so much individual proof texts from Scripture or the sheer weight of the church’s traditional teaching against homosexual practice. Rather, he showed how sexual desire, longing, and brokenness are part of the New Testament narrative of fall and redemption. I really appreciated how he did not simply pull out a few proof-texts against homosexuality.
There is plenty of theological substance here to wrestle through (he is pursuing a Ph.D. I think what finally won me over was Hill’s brutal honesty, as well as his unrelenting search for answers.Īlthough this is Hill’s first book, he is not a lightweight.
But he says repeatedly that he is still “waiting.” For him, the temptations are still present and the daily battle is intense. Hill confesses his long struggle with homosexual attractions, and shares some of his victories (and his defeats). My research so far has encouraged me in the belief that the people I know and love who are struggling with homosexuality can find healing and release from what I believe is emotional and sexual bondage. I come from the Jay Adams, “Nouthetic Counseling” approach, informed by testimonies from the ex-gay movement exemplified by Exodus International and writers like Joe Dallas and Anne Paulk. Let me admit that I took some time to open up to Hill’s perspective. Is it possible to be a Christian and wrestle with homosexual attractions, with no end in sight, no prospect of “healing”? Wesley Hill’s painfully honest book, Washed and Waiting, shows that this is indeed a reality for many gay Christians.
Is is possible to be “gay” and a Christian? “Yes!”, answer the many Christians who openly practice their homosexuality and condemn conservative Christians as intolerant homo-phobiacs. Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality by Wesley Hill
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