Restitutio 154 Spiritual Friendship: Celibacy as a Call to Love (Wesley Hill)
Our world seems intent on trotting out the same extremist examples of Christianity as either a homophobic religion (think Westboro Baptist Church) or a totally accepting faith (think Episcopalians). However, these are not the only positions Christians take on this subject. In this talk, Wesley Hill, assistant professor of biblical studies at Trinity School for Ministry, not only advocates for but lives out a third way.
Hill identifies as gay while agreeing with the historic view of the church that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Not only that, he wants to help other gay and lesbian people come into Christianity without compromising what the bible teaches on sexuality or lying to themselves about same-sex attraction. Consequently, he is committed to singleness for life. This is hard road to walk, but he believes it’s the best way forward. Even so, he’s concerned about gay Christians getting their needs met for intimacy and friendship within the church. How tragic would it be to heroically sacrifice marriage and parenthood on the altar of biblical faithfulness only to wake up at 65 years old, alone, single, isolated, and without meaningful connections to anyone?
Hill says the church needs to step up not only by rooting out homophobia, but also building and strengthening friendship bonds between singles and singles as well as singles and families. He concludes, “God calls us precisely in saying, ‘No’ to same-sex marriage to say, ‘Yes’ to intimacy, ‘Yes’ to Christian community, ‘Yes’ to same-sex friendship, ‘Yes’ to a life of love in the body of Christ.”
—— Links ——
- Read more about spiritual friendship at spiritualfriendship.org
- Hill’s faculty page at the Trinity School for Ministry
- Check out his book, Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality, which tells his story of reconciling his faith with his sexuality and how he came to think of celibacy as his calling.
- See also Interview 18 with Becket Cook, a fashion set designer who likewise embraced celibacy to follow Christ
- For more, search Youtube for testimonies by Christopher Yuan, Rosaria Butterfield, Jackie Hill, and Sam Allberry.
- Also, see Podcast 82: Biblical Boundaries for Same-Sex Attraction as well as Podcast 83: Questions about Gay and Lesbian Christians
- Intro music: Jazzy Frenchy by bensound.com. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.