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GENDER ISSUES
by Preston Sprinkle
Compassionate, biblical, and thought-provoking, Embodied is an accessible guide for Christians who want help navigating issues related to the transgender conversation.
Preston Sprinkle draws on Scripture, as well as real-life stories of individuals struggling with gender dysphoria, to help you understand the complexities and emotions of this highly relevant topic. This book fills the great need for Christians to speak into the confusing and emotionally charged questions surrounding the transgender conversation.
by Abigail Shrier
Abigail Shrier, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, has dug deep into the trans epidemic, talking to the girls, their agonized parents, and the counselors and doctors who enable gender transitions, as well as to “detransitioners”—young women who bitterly regret what they have done to themselves.
A generation of girls is at risk. Abigail Shrier’s essential book will help you understand what the trans craze is and how you can inoculate your child against it—or how to retrieve her from this dangerous path.
by Sharon James
The world has embraced the idea that gender is something that can be decided by individuals. As Christians encounter colleagues, friends and family members who identify as a gender other than the one they were born, we need to be informed and equipped with knowledge about what the issues are, what different terms mean and what the Bible has to say about these things. While we walk the line between loving our neighbour and not buying into the world’s lies, Sharon James helps us in this informative and practical guide.
by Mark A. Yarhouse
Mark Yarhouse, an expert in sexual identity and therapy, challenges the church to rise above the political hostilities and listen to people's stories. Yarhouse offers a Christian perspective on transgender issues that eschews simplistic answers and appreciates the psychological and theological complexity. The result is a book that engages the latest research while remaining pastorally sensitive to the experiences of each person. Yarhouse calls Christians to come alongside those on the margins and stand with them as they resolve their questions and concerns about gender identity.
HOMOSEXUALITY
by Ed Shaw
When Christians have same-sex attraction, how should the church respond? Pastor Ed Shaw experiences same-sex attraction, and yet he is committed to Scripture and the church's traditional position of fidelity in heterosexual marriage and celibacy in singleness.
In this honest book, he shares his pain in dealing with these issues, but at the same time shows us that obedience to Jesus is ultimately the only way to experience life to the full. He shows that the Bible's teaching seems unreasonable not because of its difficulties, but because of missteps that the church has often taken in its understanding of the Christian life. We have been shaped by the world around us and urgently need to re-examine the values that drive our discipleship. Only by doing this in the light of the Bible can we make sense of its call on the lives of those who are attracted to their own sex.
by Sam Allberry
It’s the hot topic of the moment. Christians, the church and the Bible seem to be out of step with modern attitudes towards homosexuality. And there is growing hostility towards those who hold a different view. So is God homophobic? And what do we say, and how do we relate to to both Christians and non Christians who experience same-sex attraction.
In this short, simple book, Sam Allberry wants to help confused Christians understand what God has said about these questions in the scriptures, and offers a positive and liberating way forward through the debate.
by S. Donald Fortson III
and Rollin G. Grams
The church is going through a time of severe fracture over the issue of homosexuality. This book addresses arguments from the gay Christian movement and revisionist theologians and exegetes on a single point: Can they withstand the evidence of the primary sources?
Donald Fortson and Rollin Grams articulate the consistent orthodox view on homosexuality by presenting primary sources throughout Christian history and by interpreting the biblical texts in their cultural contexts. The first part of the book examines church history from the patristic period to the present day, and the second part engages biblical texts in light of Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, Greek, and Roman primary sources.
Throughout, the authors survey the conflicting and changing arguments of revisionist readings and contend that, in light of the overwhelming evidence of the relevant texts, the real issue is not one of interpretation but of biblical authority and Christian orthodoxy
by Mark A. Yarhouse
and Olya Zaporozhets
Though we often hear about the "gay problem" today, there is an even deeper problem in the church today--one that we often overlook. The call to follow Christ is a call to costly obedience for all, not just for gay Christians. Far too often, the church has elevated homosexuality above other sins and required a costly obedience from gays that it is unwilling to demand of others. And yet, the answer is not to weaken the demands of obedience. Instead, gay Christians who make the difficult choice to align their lives with the biblical view of sexuality are a gift to the church, reminding all of us that spiritual growth and maturity is costly. There is a price to pay in following Christ and devoting our lives to the call of the gospel, and it is one that we all must pay--gay and straight Christians alike.
Through the stories and struggles of gay Christians who are reorienting their lives around the costly obedience required to follow Christ, Mark Yarhouse and Olya Zaporozhets call the church to reorient as well, leaving behind the casual morality that is widespread today to pursue the path of radical discipleship. Unlike any other book on homosexuality and the church, this is a call to examine your life and consider what God is asking you to lay down to take up your cross and follow him.
A generation of girls is at risk. Abigail Shrier’s essential book will help you understand what the trans craze is and how you can inoculate your child against it—or how to retrieve her from this dangerous path.
by Jackie Hill Perry
In Gay Girl, Good God, author Jackie Hill Perry shares her own story, offering practical tools that helped her in the process of finding wholeness. Jackie grew up fatherless and experienced gender confusion. She embraced masculinity and homosexuality with every fiber of her being. She knew that Christians had a lot to say about all of the above. But was she supposed to change herself? How was she supposed to stop loving women, when homosexuality felt more natural to her than heterosexuality ever could?
At age nineteen, Jackie came face-to-face with what it meant to be made new. And not in a church, or through contact with Christians. God broke in and turned her heart toward Him right in her own bedroom in light of His gospel.
Read in order to understand. Read in order to hope. Or read in order, like Jackie, to be made new.
by Gregory Coles
FAMILY AND PARENTING
by Andy Crouch
Making conscientious choices about technology in our families is more than just using internet filters and determining screen time limits for our children. It's about developing wisdom, character, and courage in the way we use digital media rather than accepting technology's promises of ease, instant gratification, and the world's knowledge at our fingertips. And it's definitely not just about the kids.
Drawing on in-depth original research from the Barna Group, Andy Crouch shows readers that the choices we make about technology have consequences we may never have considered. He takes readers beyond the typical questions of what, where, and when and instead challenges them to answer provocative questions like, Who do we want to be as a family? and How does our use of a particular technology move us closer or farther away from that goal? Anyone who has felt their family relationships suffer or their time slip away amid technology's distractions will find in this book a path forward to reclaiming their real life in a world of devices.
by Jerry Pipes
and Victor Lee
As the authors Pipes and Lee walk the readers though these areas they show us how to raise families that are centered on Christ and how parents can pass on their faith to their children and reverse the trend of them leaving the church upon turning eighteen.
by Becky Harling
Good parenting depends on good communication. The problem is, we parents tend to over-talk. Not only is this ineffective, it discourages children from sharing what's on their hearts. In this immensely practical book, communications expert Becky Harling shares the best listening practices to transform your family's relationships and set your children
up for success, including how to
· help them express their feelings in healthy ways
· listen to affirm their strengths
· model how to navigate conflict with grace
· listen to God, knowing that he "bends down to listen" to us (Psalm 116:2 nlt)
Whether your son or daughter is in preschool, grade school, or high school, intentional listening will help them feel heard, valued, and empowered to find their unique voice. The practices you put into place now will set a foundation for strong relationships into adulthood.
by Jay Stringer
Many of us feel ashamed and undesirable after years of sexual brokenness and addiction. The guilt and stigma surrounding sexual struggles can paralyze us and keep us from seeking help and healing. Author Jay Stringer approaches these sensitive subjects with gentleness and understanding.
Based on original research from over 3,800 men and women, Unwanted is a groundbreaking resource that explores the “why” behind self-destructive sexual choices in order to help readers work towards freedom. Addressing difficult issues with compassionate insight, this book discusses: abandonment and broken relationships, trauma and sexual abuse, the sex industry and pornography, violence against women, learning to love and care for yourself, healthy conflict and repair in your relationships, investing in community, and creating healthy boundaries.
A perfect resource for those seeking self-help or those working to minister to the sexually broken people around them, Unwanted offers life-changing, practical guidance rooted in clinical evidence to light the way on a path to wholeness.