Do Ask Do Tell Lets Talk
$9.99
Conversations among friends accomplish more than debates between opponents…
Conversations on controversial issues do not to go well when the dialogue happens community-to-community or figurehead-to-figurehead. Whether it’s race, religion, or politics, groups don’t talk well with groups. Too much is at stake when we feel like our words and actions speak for the collective whole. Platforms and podiums will never accomplish what can only be done around dinner tables and in living rooms.
Two individuals from those respective groups are much more likely to forge a good relationship, influencing one another in various ways. Unfortunately, an individual who listens well is often viewed by his or her collective compatriots as engaging in compromise; at the group level, representing each side fairly feels too much like agreement.
That is why the aim of this book is friendship. Friendship is the level at which influence can be had, because the dialogue does not seek to represent an agenda but to understand a person. Friendship is what protects good points from becoming gotcha moments.
The subject for which this approach may be most vital for the modern church may be homosexuality and same-sex attraction (SSA). Yet our approach has tended to be more polemical or political than pastoral and personal.
Churches have articulated their position on a conservative sexual ethic. Churches have re-examined the key biblical texts that are challenged in defense of a progressive sexual ethic. As important as these things are, however, they do not equip everyday Christians to develop meaningful friendships with people who experience same-sex attraction or have embraced a gay identity.
In the absence of relationship, our theology becomes theory.
Many Christians are seeing that the church’s unwillingness to befriend people who experience SSA has blocked us from engaging with the subject of homosexuality on a person-to-person level. We are reticent to engage relationships where it feels probable that there will be awkwardness.
Admittedly, this book is not as “neat” as you might like for it to be. Many tensions will be navigated; maybe not all contradictions will be avoided. However, when it comes to being salt and light for the sake of the gospel, it seems far better to choose possible messiness over guaranteed ineffectiveness.
That means we must realize that it is good for us to have conversations where we don’t know what to say. This is part of the ess
in stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
SKU (ISBN): 9781941114117
ISBN10: 1941114113
Brad Hambrick
Binding: Trade Paper
Published: February 2016
Publisher: Cruciform Press
Print On Demand Product
Related products
-
Case For Christ (Revised)
$19.99Is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God?
Retracing his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools like Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis who are recognized authorities in their own fields.
Strobel challenges them with questions like, How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event?
Winner of the Gold Medallion Book Award and twice nominated for the Christian Book of the Year Award, Strobel’s tough, point-blank questions read like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it’s not fiction. It’s a riveting quest for the truth about history’s most compelling figure.
The new edition includes scores of revisions and additions, including updated material on archaeological and manuscript discoveries, fresh recommendations for further study, and an interview with the author that tells dramatic stories about the book’s impact, provides behind-the-scenes information, and responds to critiques of the book by skeptics. As The Case for Christ and its ancillary resources approach 10 million copies in print, this updated edition will prove even more valuable to contemporary readers.
Add to cart1 in stock
-
When His Secret Sin Breaks Your Heart (Anniversary)
$15.99In 1998, after 12 years of counseling the wives of men in sexual sin, Kathy Gallagher wrote the original version of When His Secret Sin Breaks Your Heart. Presented in the form of letters which addressed the most pertinent struggles wives deal with, this book proved to be a lifesaver for thousands of women over the years. The 20th Anniversary Edition of When His Secret Sin Breaks Your Heart adds nine chapters of new material, making it more compelling than ever. The hurting wife will quickly find that Kathy sympathizes with her emotional turmoil and offers solid counsel on a wide range of issues. But most importantly, she will be directed to the only true source of hope: Jesus.
Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
-
Tinderbox
$15.99On the day before her Amish parents’ twentieth wedding anniversary, Sylvia Miller stumbles across the key to the old brass tinderbox her father keeps in his Lancaster County watch repair shop. Piqued by curiosity, Sylvia unlocks the cherished heirloom, not realizing that what she is about to discover will splinter apart her happy life.
Once Sylvia overcomes her shock, she confronts her father about the contents of the box. To her amazement, the respected convert to the Old Order admits that he is not fit to be a member of the Hickory Hollow Amish church–in fact, he never was.
Burdened by the weight of his deception, Earnest Miller reveals the details about his past to Sylvia–and to his wife, Rhoda. The long-kept secret alters everything for the close-knit family, and when word of Earnest’s deceit reaches others in the community, the truth pits Amish neighbors against one another and threatens to dry up Earnest’s livelihood–as well as to break up Sylvia’s engagement to the preacher’s grandson.
Can the Millers find a way forward through the turmoil to a place of forgiveness and acceptance?
Add to cart5 in stock (additional units can be purchased)
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.