Q. Towards the end of the book you touch on one of the major problems in the church— the failure to affirm the goodness of being single for the sake of the Lord and his kingdom, and the failure to embrace and be friend such folks. In fact, one church I was once in had a Sunday school class for older adults called ‘Pairs and Spares’! As if a single person was like a spare tire— just atrocious thinking! I agree with you that gays should be welcomed into the church as they are, and treated with love and respect. And I agree as well that same sex attracted Christians can and should be allowed to pursue ministry so long as they live by the celibacy in singleness principle. The real problem, the real issue is the church’s failure to be a family to all persons in their midst. The Church is not supposed to merely be a support structure for biological or nuclear families. It is supposed to be a family to one and all. If we did a better job of that, I think we would have far less lonely singles struggling with various sorts of sexual inclinations. Would you agree?
A. Amen and amen! I couldn’t say it better.
Thanks to Tremper for this helpful long running dialogue. By all means— now go read his good book for yourself.
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