Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate

Jones & Yarhouse have provided sufficient evidence in exposing the sensational, headline-grabbing but flawed claims of pro-homosexual "research" for those willing to allow the evidence to examine their presuppositions or suppositions regarding the moral debate regarding the legitimacy of homosexual behavior as an alternative lifestyle. In addition, J & Y do an excellent job of distinguishing between homosexuality (the belief that one is gay) versus homosexual behavior (the acting out based on one's conviction). Gay-ness is neither moral or immoral; whereas the acting out behavior is a moral or immoral issue, especially within the church's historical understanding according to the rules of orthodox hermeneutics. Finally, J & Y provide a well-thought out model for how one may come to believe they are gay (the interactionist hypothesis). This is a solidly researched and excellently written book on the subject of homosexuality from two top Christian psychologists. While they have their convictions (pro heterosexual marriage only), this does not of necessity make them biased, prejudiced, or bigoted in their discussion of the issues at hand. The charge that their beliefs makes them biased or bigoted is a biased and bigoted charge wholly without merit. Buy this book and read it carefully. It will provide you insight into the issues at hand in Western society today, particularly within the church.

This book is a must read for all psychiatry shcools

Too often in today's moral debate over the issue of homosexuality, people from both sides rely on rhetoric and slander in trying to prove their case. Thank God for Mark Yarhouse and Stan Jones and their appropriately titled book, "Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church's Moral Debate". I learned so much from this relatively short (183 pages) book that helped to remove areas of ignorance I possessed on the issue of homosexuality. It contains an utter wealth of information.If you are a Christian looking for a book with a bunch of Bible verses and simplistic "Jesus can heal the homosexual" anecdotes, then look elsewhere. But don't worry. Jones and Yarhouse do NOT elevate science above Scripture. They believe faith and science overlap and do not contradict one another when each is properly understood. Their main thesis is that homosexuality is immoral and that nothing found in the scientific research disproves this fact. However, they argue, its unrealistic to say that ALL homosexual people are capable of converting to a heterosexual lifestyle. Therefore, there are only two moral lifestyle choices: celibacy for non-married persons (heterosexual and homosexual) or marriage between one man and one woman.This book is packed with statistics from research done on various aspects of homosexuality including its prevalance (2-3% of overall population), possible causes (genetic, abuse, early childhood, home life, etc.), and rates of success for those people seeking to leave the homosexual lifestyle (approx 30%). If you're not the type who enjoys statistics, the authors do a great job of summarizing the research in an easy to understand manner.This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to know the FACTS about homosexuality and its relationship to a biblical worldview. As Christians we need to be informed on this important issue, and we have these two men to thank for informing us.