THE GRACE OF SHAME:
7 ways the church has failed to love
homosexuals
By Tim Bayly, Joseph Bayly, Jurgen von Hagen
Warhorn. 162 pages. £13.99
ISBN 978 1 940 017 167
This is a polemic or extended rant in book form. The intention of the authors is to shock and provoke the reader.
It achieves this aim, but often does so through misrepresenting other believers, weak Bible exegesis, stereotyping and personal attack.
At the core is an argument that the shame of the sin of ‘effeminates and homosexuals’ has been minimised by conservative evangelicals and all men and women should be called to repent of any unmanly or unwomanly behaviours and attitudes, as the authors choose to define these. Shaming is seen as a neglected grace that is useful in gospel witness and teaching.
Alleged errors
Beneath the rambling writing and selective use of Scripture there is probably a challenge for thoughtful Bible-believers about how sin and repentance are preached in our current context. Any reader wanting to gain such wisdom though had better look elsewhere for it. The authors are 100% convinced that their message is of the Lord. Anyone who does not share their views has apparently swallowed the alleged errors of the Gospel Coalition, Desiring God Ministries, Tim Keller and Al Mohler amongst many others. The authors reserve their strongest accusations for the Revd Ed Shaw, co-founder of the UK-based website Living Out. Excerpts of his recent book on same-sex attraction (The Plausibility Problem: The Church and Same-Sex Attraction) are reworked to replace the phrase same-sex attraction with paedo-philia. They follow this by misrepresenting Ed Shaw’s beliefs for literary effect. This is shameful.
This book is published by their own publishing house with one of the authors acting as editor. The authors highly commend Roman Catholic writers, including the work of Pope John Paul II.
Enough said.
