Pastor, I Am Gay [Paperback]

Howard H. Bess (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 221 pages
• Publisher: Palmer Pub Co; 1st edition (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964412306
• ISBN-13: 978-0964412309
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,916,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening & Informational, February 11, 2003

By 

T. M. Peter "gay Christian reader" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pastor, I Am Gay (Paperback)

I've been grappling w/ my own sexual & Christian identities most of my life, even to this day. When I stumbled across this book in my local public library, I picked it up thinking it was a mirror image of my own lifestyle and of how many pastors I've told about my struggles.

Instead, it was just the opposite. It was written by a heterosexual pastor who encountered homosexuality through the confessions of one of his parishoners. That one eye-opening experience for Pastor Bess led to his befriending many more gay men & women in his respective communities, as well as researching the issue from both a Biblical & social perspective and constantly updating his own beliefs on the matter.

I felt his approach to be very friendly, yet professional. He gave many examples of the people he counseled and/or befriended during his years of ministry and beyond, as well as his own words of widsom & advice to those people. But what struck me even more were his thoughts on how Jesus would likely react to the homosexual person, while giving encouragements & admonishments to the modern church based on that. And Bess also gave a sociological background of homosexuality in Biblical times, something I've seen from only one other Christian theologian. With the exceptions of Bess and the other person whose unpublished works I've been privileged to read, every Christian preacher, theologian or other professional has taken the varied passages of Scripture at face value to issue a blanket condemnation of homosexuality.

But what about those of us who are Christians, believers in & followers of Christ? The Bible says in Rom. 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Chist Jesus." So even though I am gay, I am also Christian and thus no longer condemned.

I still have lots of questions about how to live as both a Christian and a gay man, and I'm constantly asking God for His strength & wisdom in order to become the man of God whom I'm called to be. Obviously, one book, no matter how noble or thorough, can't teach me everything, but I really appreciate Pastor Bess's insights. So... after reading the copy from the library, I bought my own copy to keep & read again, so that I can highlight and make notes in it as I feel the need.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Best Choice" for a basic understanding of scripture., October 28, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Norman, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pastor, I Am Gay (Paperback)

As a mother of a gay son, I was challenged to reach an understanding of Biblical passages which, on the surface, present religious reasons against homosexuality. This book is an easily read, straightforward look at a difficult subject written by an evangelical Baptist minister.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bess becomes "as a little child" rather than know-it-all, April 29, 2000

By 

Douglas A. Asbury (Evanston, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pastor, I Am Gay (Paperback)

Author Howard Bess glorifies Christ in his self-effacement and willingness to be a learner rather than a teacher in the ministry that led to the writing of this book. In so doing, he becomes a master teacher, approaching this difficult issue of homosexuality and the church with wisdom that can come only from listening to the heart of God, his own heart and the hearts of those among whom he ministers. This book takes problems experienced by the gay men and lesbians Bess has known with appropriate seriousness, yet he is discerning in distinguishing between problems that relate to their humanness and those that relate to their sexuality. This book can be a wonderful focus for adult study groups in churches, for gay men and lesbians, for families dealing with a loved one having "come out" and for anyone with a curiosity about the subject.