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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books of its kind!,
By
This review is from: Openly Gay, Openly Christian: A Gay-Friendly Approach to Scripture (Paperback)
Rev. Kader has both a deeply analytical mind and a deeply loving spirit. In this well-researched and carefully phrased study, he challenges homophobic readings of the Bible and uses his knowledge of scripture to show the Bible as "gay-friendly." He also uses his experiences to show the results of homophobia within the church and the questionable value of "ex-gay" ministries. This is one of the best books of its kind! Kader might overstate (and re-state) some of his points at times, but only because so many hearts are so hardened by arrogance, bigotry, or self-hatred. This book is perfect for anyone who's gay and/or Christian, as well as for the loved ones of gay people.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reader,
By David (Ft. Lauderdale) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Openly Gay, Openly Christian: A Gay-Friendly Approach to Scripture (Paperback)
(...) I say Openly Gay, Openly Christian is a must read for anyone who has not yet reconciled their faith in Christ with their sexual orientation.
I was born as a missionary kid in Kenya. The greatest challenge of my life was to accept myself as a gay man when I had been brought up to believe that being gay is unnatural, among other things. Although my family remains completely unsupportive after 11 years of knowing my sexual orientation, the dignity and strength that I've gained from self-acceptance has been invaluable. This book and several others have a great help to me as I learned that the mainstream church is so mislead by mistranslation and misinterpretation, leaving thousands of people cut off from the church.
28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's about bloody TIME!...,
By "dlcstories1977" (Enfield, CT USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Openly Gay, Openly Christian: A Gay-Friendly Approach to Scripture (Paperback)
Many years ago, I came to know of the salvation message of Christ, on Halloween night. That was about when I was eight. One problem: I soon discovered I was also gay. Homosexuality and the Christian faith has always held a strained relationship mainly due to doctrinal misunderstandings, and legalism. Two things that quite frankly, Jesus himself spoke vehemently against in his lifetime. As a result of this, people took the scriptures at face value, and by and large ignored the meanings of the words, in favor of the words themselves.Rev. Kader takes twenty years of his own research, and backs them up with a step-by-step verbal archaeology dig to find the truth, using the legendary Strong's Concordance. ANYONE can follow along with his research, not just biblical scholars. This book should be a must-read on any Christian's book list simply because of it's message of healing, instead of hurting. Answers, instead of antipathy and animosity. The best part of this book, is that you don't HAVE to agree with every point the Rev. Kader makes... though the ones he does make, are a little hard to ignore if you follow along with your own bible and concordance. I wish that somebody had come to me ten years ago with this kind of common-sense factual research, and walked me through my fears and doctrine-inspired confusion. It would have gone a long way towards my Christian walk with the Lord, to have been taught to accept myself before I could accept the message of Jesus Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul says we should examine ourselves, when partaking of Communion. Because Jesus never cared for what we did... all of us fall short of the glory of God, based on our actions alone. If anything the bible can teach us by the Levitical laws, is that God set up a list of rules that no man save for Jesus, could ever follow completely without sin. Jesus cares for what's in our heart. And gay or straight, we all share the same responsibility to love our partner, instead of lust after the flesh. For lusting after the flesh is idol worship, and as Rev. Kader points out, God hates idol worship and idolators. In reading this book, I have reaffirmed my walk with Jesus, and my love of Scripture. And I have learned that we must both follow the law of God, and by faith, take the responsibility to follow the law of Man. Because if we try following one and excluding the other, we only rob ourselves of the relationships we share with both. Without God, we would not have love for our fellow man. And without compassion for our neighbor, we would never be able to accept ourselves. Or the lifepartner, the companion we need, for our mortal journey. The laws of God, are so that we can exist with Him eternally. The laws of Man, are so that we can exist with each other, during our finite time here on Earth. To break the law of man yet keep the laws of God, is to be judged by men yet save our souls for eternity. To break the laws of God while keeping the law of man, is to be judged by God if we refuse Jesus as our defense counsel, even if we lived a pleasant existance on Earth. Even serial killer Ted Bundy will be in Heaven... because he accepted the price Christ paid. Not just for him, but for us all. And THAT, is the lesson I learned through reading this book. I truly hope that as it helped me, it may also help others to accept themselves, and accept God's eternal love. No matter where, what, or who they are.
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