In this extended conversation, Simon and Ruth discuss the theme of emotional dependency, where friendship turns into an unhealthy obsession with the other person. They share candidly from their own experiences of such relationships and how they found their way through the pitfalls to redeem what was good in the friendships.

True Freedom Trust is a confidential pastoral ministry providing support for Christians who experience same-sex attraction or gender incongruence, and who wish to live under traditional biblical teaching. At our speaking events, we’re frequently asked, ‘should I use a person’s preferred pronouns?’. The question refers to whether it is right to refer to someone by pronouns that do not correspond to their biological sex e.g. calling a biological male she/her or using non-binary pronouns that don’t correspond to either sex such as they/them.

As a 75-year-old, I’ve learnt that it is unwise to make assumptions about how one’s life is going to pan out. Now looking back, I can say that as youthful libido wains, and by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, one’s same-sex attraction can sublimate into something useful. For me this has been an introduction to the practice of ‘father care’, free of sexual content, but fuelled by spare emotional capital.

Allow me to tell you my story:

God’s Beautiful Story is a suite of free online resources to help evangelical church leaders engage with the Bible and enable their congregations to have good conversations about human sexuality and the implications of changes in understanding or practice in their church grouping.

When Christians revise their understanding of the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality, it is often not driven by a stringent re-evaluation of the historical biblical texts. It would appear that there is a variety of stimuli that cause the relaxation of the orthodox viewpoints.

There is much debate between Christians about whether it’s right for a Christian with same-sex attractions to use a term like “gay”, “lesbian” or “trans”. Some argue that these words have become all-encompassing identity-forming words and so those who are “in Christ” are denying their God-given identity by labelling themselves in this way. Others argue that these terms are more meaningful in our culture than clumsy alternatives like same-sex attracted, and that they can be used in a merely descriptive way that is compatible with holding on to a primary identity received from God.

As I pondered the brief for this article, a wry smile came over my face as I reflected on the title. Simply by removing one word, this article would be widely celebrated in today’s woke culture. 

A number of years ago, the term “agree to disagree” came into popular parlance in relation to compromise over the biblical interpretation of same-sex practice. When encountering a difference in opinion, could we amicably “agree to disagree” with others and continue to fellowship with them? At the time, it was inconceivable that I would ever have to take a stand if faced with my minister changing stance from holding an orthodox, historical view of scripture on sexual relationships to allowing other views to have equal value. Well, that exact instance happened recently.

In many ways, the message of this book is perfectly summed up in the subtitle, “How to live for Jesus in a world that says you shouldn’t”. Yet, significantly, Stephen McAlpine has as much to say about “why” we should live for Jesus in this broken world, as “how”. The fundamental point of the book is that we, God’s people, the church, used to be the good guys. Then we became just one of the guys. Now, pretty much everyone outside ourselves views us as the bad guys.