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The Best Introduction to Homosexuality: Causes, Change, and the Gospel

The lecture below by Professor Sam Williams (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is not an exploration of or defense of interpreting the Bible with regard to homosexuality. The best material on that is Robert Gagnon’s The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (see this video for a good introduction). Williams assumes the biblical perspective in this lecture.

Having followed this issue for some time, I would say that this is the best one-hour introduction you can find—or at least that I have found—for looking at issues like:

  • What causes homosexuality?
  • Can we be responsible for that which is not consciously chosen?
  • What is the difference between having same-same attraction, same-sex orientation, and being “gay” or “lesbian”?
  • How many people self-identify in these ways?
  • Do people with same-same attraction actually change?
  • How can they change?
  • What does the gospel have to do with this issue?
  • How can we promote change in the church for those who struggle?

You can listen to the audio at iTunes, though the video below is worth watching, if you can, to see a couple of the charts. It really is worth watching or listening to if you are interested in this issue and long to help people change.

For more on some of the social-science research see Mark Yarhouse’s summary paper, “At the Intersection of Religious and Sexual Identities: A Christian Perspective on Homosexuality.”

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