If you saw this quote cited with approval:

‘Homophobia is far more widespread than homosexuality.
It is not recognized as a pathological condition so it is largely
untreated and unconfessed. Yet those with gay feelings instantly
detect it’ (Lance Pierson)

followed by this exhortation:

‘Only when we have examined ourselves and repented
of wrong attitudes and behavior can we… offer [homosexuals]
the friendship and support they need’

you’d think it came from a Uniting Church report,
right? Wrong.

It’s from B G Webb (ed.) ‘Theological and Pastoral
Responses to Homosexuality’ (Open Book Publishers, 1994) – a series
of papers given at – wait for it – Moore Theological College’s
annual School of Theology 1993. For non-Oz readers, Moore College
is probably the most conservative (evangelical) Anglican Theological
Seminary in the world. Other Anglicans often refer to it as ‘Protestant’
(among other names) rather than ‘Anglican’…

The book has seven chapters, on the topics Homosexuality
and the Church, … in Scripture, medical and psychological perspectives,
… and ethics, reorientation and models of therapy, theory and
practice of the Anglican Counseling centre, and finally ‘Counseling
the church’ (from which the above quote was taken).

It’s a good book. Conservative evangelical, yes.
Light on compassion and strong on ‘what the Bible says’, yes.
No room for sex between homosexuals at all, ever, yes. Accepts
Elizabeth Moberly’s theory, yes (summarized: homosexuality is
a result of a deficit in the child’s ability to relate to the
parent of the same sex).

My main problem with it, simply: most authors express
little or no sympathy/empathy for the pain suffered by most homosexuals.
Which is a pity, coming from Christians, but predictable, coming
from conservatives.

That said, it’s a book worth studying. Some thought-starters
to argue with:

‘Genesis 1:26-28… shows us that it is not man or
woman who is in the image of God, but man and woman in relationship’
(p.28).

‘Were homosexuality to be proved a genetic condition
with no environmental aetiology involved at all, it would not
alter the Bible’s judgment of the morality of homosexual activity.
The Bible is clear that lack of volition does not automatically
mean lack of accountability’ (p.42).

‘In terms of Paul’s thought (in Romans 1) the passions
and acts he speaks of are dishonourable, not because they are
unloving but because they are unnatural’ (p.88). But then: ‘Like
Jesus, he saw sins of the spirit (especially pride and hypocrisy)
as just as damning, or more so, than sins of the flesh. If he
is hard on practising homosexuals in chapter one, he is even harder
on those who self-righteously condemn them in chapter two’ (p.90).

‘The main requirement [in Genesis 1-2] is that sex
takes place within a relationship in which both the procreative
and unitive aspects of human sexuality are accepted as God-given
and the responsibilities that they bring are accepted. Homosexual
behavior divorces sex from procreation; casual sex of whatever
kind divorces it from its unitive function’ (p.99).

‘It is acknowledged that no-one can be certain about
the causes(s) of homosexuality’ (p.164). ‘How we have become what
we are is irrelevant. We are still responsible for the way we
express what we are, for our behavior’ (p.170). ‘Both boys and
girls who do not feel loved by their father will be very vulnerable
to the offers of intimacy from another male’ (p.169).

‘Rationally identifying the emotion (if you could)
is not the same as feeling it. Rational processes are as different
to emotional processes as seeing is to hearing. There is only
one way to dissipate a painful emotional memory and that is to
FEEL it’ (p.172).

‘At the moment of temptation the client is encouraged
to pray a prayer like this: Lord, this behavior I am imagining
is so attractive. Left to myself, I will give in. I am asking
you to do your work in me. By your Holy Spirit, make this behavior
unattractive, so that I do not want to do it’ (p.174).

Finally, from Moberly: ‘Even if homosexual activity
is inappropriate, that does not imply that the capacity for same-sex
love is abnormal or pathological or deviant. It is entirely normal
and legitimate on a developmental perspective. Same-sex love is
the _solution_ to unmet developmental needs. It is not the problem’
(p.186).

Curate’s egg stuff – good in patches. Best statement
in the whole book: ‘Christians who adhere to the gospel can never
take the moral high ground and look down on others. We are all
sinners’ (p.140). Email me if you’ve read to this point, and want
two other articles I’ve done on homosexuality.