Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships?: Examining 10 Claims about Scripture and Sexuality

You may have heard the claim that the Bible, when read correctly, is not against believers entering monogamous, faithful same-sex relationships. The arguments sound quite compelling. ＂Jesus never talked about same-sex relationships.＂ ＂Paul was only condemning exploitative relationships, not consensual ones.＂ ＂We don’t keep the Old Testament food laws, so why would we keep the ones on same-sex sex?＂ ＂If God is love, he can’t be against relationships of love.＂ And more. Have Christians through the ages just been getting this one wrong?

In this concise book, Rebecca McLaughlin looks at ten of the most common arguments used to claim that the Bible affirms same-sex sexual relationships. She analyzes the arguments and associated Bible passages one by one to uncover what the Bible really says.

For Rebecca, as someone with a lifelong history of same-sex attraction, this is not just an academic question. But rather than concluding that the Bible does affirm same-sex marriage, she points readers to the gospel purpose of male-female marriage, a different kind of gospel-centered love between believers of the same sex, and God’s life-and-love-filled vision for singleness.

Rebecca McLaughlin holds a PhD in renaissance literature from Cambridge University and a theology degree from Oak Hill College in London. She is cofounder of Vocable Communications and former vice president of content at the Veritas Forum, where she spent almost a decade working with Christian academics at leading secular universities. She’s the author of several books including Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion, and Is Christmas Unbelievable?