The autobiographical tone of the book helps readers to understand the tension “from the inside.” And he engages them as one who knows the struggle firsthand, which makes this book a must-read for anyone wrestling with homosexual desires or wanting to minister to those who do. Hill offers theologically robust, gospel-rich answers to these dilemmas. He stands firmly in the historic Christian tradition, stating clearly that “acting on homosexual feelings and desires is contrary to God’s design for human flourishing… the Christian church has consistently and repeatedly said no to homosexual practice.” At the same time, he acknowledges the difficulty of this position for many: “If a gay Christian’s sexual orientation is so fixed and ingrained that there seems to be little hope of changing it, should he or she really be expected to resist it for a lifetime? Everything in our culture tells us that the scriptural witness and the church’s no to homosexual practice are onerous, oppressive, stifling, perhaps even mildly sadistic.” He is a thoughtful writer and a sound theologian. They are often misfits in the church, because Christians often simplistically assume that “they must not really trust God if he hasn’t ‘healed’ their sexual orientation.” But they’re also ostracized from the gay community because they agree with the historic Christian conviction that homosexual behavior is wrong. They are in your church, maybe even in your family. One was that I was a Christian… The second… I had a steady, strong, unremitting, exclusive sexual attraction to persons of the same sex.”
Hill writes: “By the time I started high school, two things had become clear to me.
It meets a massive need in the church and fills a gaping hole in the dialogue about homosexuality. I have a love-hate relationship with Wesley Hill’s new book Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality (Zondervan, 2010).
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