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 PrintableVersion Free to Love - Sexuality and Pastoral CareFREE TO LOVE: SEXUALITY AND PASTORAL CARE This book has brought me much heartache.It is a revised and updated edition of the original, published in 1994. The passage of five years or so has not eroded the beautiful phrasing of the text, the insightful observations and the many thought-provoking case histories and anecdotes which illustrate it throughout. As well as being a highly experienced doctor in psychosexual counselling, the author works with the Acorn Trust - a Christian organisation renowned for its work in helping Christians to listen more effectively to others. However, if we listen more effectively to siren voices, the consequences can sadly be predicted. Though there is a great deal of wholesome, compassionate and wise counsel here, the completely rewritten chapter on homosexuality clearly charts the change in direction in the author's thinking. In place of a helpful and sensitive exploration of the possible roots of homosexuality, we are advised to 'let go of this 'comfort blanket' of 'causes and cures''. Quotations were originally from Elizabeth Moberly, David Field, Christopher Guinness, Leanne Payne and Jack Dominian: 'Within relationships which make possible sustaining, healing and growth, abstinence can be encouraged for those who accept the Scriptural interpretation.' Such pearls have now gone; the substitutes are provided by Elizabeth Stuart, Shere Hite, the late Michael Vasey, Richard Kirker and Richard Holloway. It is not surprising in such mixed company that the author seems torn in two. For example, we are told that 'as carers, we cannot help from a 'fixed position''. Yet Dr. Gill distances herself from Elizabeth Stuart's stance that 'acts of physical intimacy have no inherent meaning', by stating: 'I still believe that God's best container for this most intimate knowing is the greatest degree of loving commitment to another that we are capable of . . .' Sounds rather like a 'fixed position' to me! The issue of whether or not Scripture takes a fixed position on homosexual sex is neatly side-stepped with a few approving quotes from George Hopper. On Romans 1.18-32, we are told that Paul is concerned primarily with idolatry not homosexuality. No consideration is given to Paul's argument that in the sexual arena, homosexual acts mirror what idolatry represents in the spiritual realm - namely, the rejection of the divine 'otherliness' of God. Instead, we are told that: 'Those who 'tear' a verse or two out of their proper context here to condemn all homosexuals . . . including the truly loving expression of that sexuality - are, sadly, abusing the Scriptures.' Pastoral workers who are mature in faith and can recognise and cope with such spiritual quicksands, will find there is a lot of solid ground in the book worth exploring. But it's pretty tricky terrain that most Christians should best avoid. Trevor Stammers© Evangelicals Now - January 2000 |
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