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A review by greengaybles
Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate by Justin Lee
3.0
I enjoyed this book well enough, but I’m not exactly its target audience, although I am a gay Christian. I’m already firmly on the side of lgbtq affirmation and acceptance, unshakable in my belief that there’s nothing wrong with it and that God created us the way we are and rejoices in our existence, and that he doesn’t want us to reject what is integral to who we are. So I didn’t need convincing of either side’s position. Justin’s writing is clear and easy to understand, and he does a very good job of empathizing with both gay people and more conservative evangelical Christians, having been a member of both groups and intimately understanding where they’re coming from.
The reason I only gave it 3 stars is that it’s too moderate for me. I understand what it’s trying to do in appealing to both sides of the argument and seeking to bridge the divide and get both sides talking, and I think it probably has enormous value to those it’s speaking to. I just personally wanted it to go further, to clearly call out the wrongness and harm on the evangelical side and to take a harder stance on behalf of gay people, and I kept reading it thinking, come on, Justin, you’re almost there. I fully acknowledge that this is a personal quibble and that if it had done what I wanted it to, it wouldn’t be an effective tool for its stated purpose.
The reason I only gave it 3 stars is that it’s too moderate for me. I understand what it’s trying to do in appealing to both sides of the argument and seeking to bridge the divide and get both sides talking, and I think it probably has enormous value to those it’s speaking to. I just personally wanted it to go further, to clearly call out the wrongness and harm on the evangelical side and to take a harder stance on behalf of gay people, and I kept reading it thinking, come on, Justin, you’re almost there. I fully acknowledge that this is a personal quibble and that if it had done what I wanted it to, it wouldn’t be an effective tool for its stated purpose.