5 Books for Faithful Biblical Sexuality in the Midst of Sexual Chaos

We live in an unprecedented time of sexual chaos, promoted and celebrated not only in the surrounding culture but also, tragically, in the church.

In the name of liberation the sexual revolution advances the deconstruction of the family, including no-fault divorce, pre-marital sex, abortion as contraception and the sexualisation of children, and the deregulation of sexual norms through the promotion of LGBT privileges, including same-sex marriage and transgender rights. This socially-engineered cultural agenda is furthered through the media, the entertainment-industry and the explosion of the pornography industry influencing and indoctrinating hearts and minds. This then results in new laws to enforce the new cultural norm.

With sexuality being a defining issue of identity and freedom in our time, few subjects are more contentious. The new sexual dogma is sacrosanct—a new absolute placed beyond criticism. Personal freedom and autonomy reign supreme. To express a Christian standpoint is perceived as oppressive and bigoted, one that transgresses the new moral code, inviting hostility and increasingly disciplinary action.

Nevertheless, humankind cannot escape the reality of living in God’s world no matter how much they kick against it. To deny God’s creational norms for human sexuality is not without serious consequence. It is to war against God and reality, inviting only heartache and devastation for individuals, families, churches and nations. God’s sexual norms for humankind are good news—they are purposed for our highest satisfaction and well-being. The gospel of Jesus Christ restores men and woman to walk in God’s norms, liberating them from the bondages of sexual perversity and sin.

Therefore, if we are to preach the gospel to this generation we must not shrink from declaring “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) – including biblical sexual ethics – refusing to be intimidated and silenced on issues that will cost us. To live and speak in terms of the truth of God’s Word will invite the hostility of the world and even those in the church. However, we can be confident that our faithful obedience in the midst of cultural apostasy is not in vain, but overcomes evil and furthers God’s kingdom and glory in the earth.

These books will help to clarify the cultural crisis, equipping you with a robust biblical view of sexuality so that you will be enabled to understand and address the most contentious sexual issues of our time.

The Christian Sexual Worldview: God’s Order in an Age of Sexual Chaos, Andrew Sandlin

Our broad thinking about life doesn’t just shape our view of human sexuality. Our view of human sexuality shapes the rest of our thinking. Western society’s sexual views and practices over the last few decades haven’t changed so dramatically only because the prominent worldview of our society has changed; our society has changed because its sexual worldview has changed.

This book is about why and how that change came about, how injurious it has been to our culture, and what Christians can do to reverse it. A distinctively Christian strategy for reversing the sexual revolution and its worldview is a restoration of a full-orbed, biblical faith in every aspect of thought and life.

The Global Sexual Revolution: Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom, Gabriele Kuby

The core of the global cultural revolution is the deliberate confusion of sexual norms. Kuby surveys gender ideology and LGBT demands, the devastating effects of pornography and sex-education, attacks on freedom of speech and religion, the corruption of language, and much more. From the movement’s trailblazers to the post-Obergefell landscape, she documents in meticulous detail how the tentacles of a budding totalitarian regime are slowly gripping the world in an insidious stranglehold. Here on full display are the re-education techniques of the new permanent revolution, which has migrated from politics and economics to sex.

Kuby’s courageous work is a call to action to preserve freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and in particular the freedom of parents to educate their children according to their own beliefs, so that the family may endure as the foundation upon which any healthy society is built.

The God of Sex, Peter Jones

A placard carried in the San Diego Gay Parade said it all: “He’s your God. They’re your rules. You go to Hell.” Clearly, there is no longer any commonly held ultimate authority. So merely quoting Bible verses at gays and other “sexual sinners” to prove they are immoral is equally unsuccessful, if not destructive.

For the sake of our young people, for the sake of our churches, for the sake of society and our world, Christians must understand the connection of spirituality and sexuality if we are to communicate relevantly to our postmodern culture. Jones gives an honest appraisal of contemporary sexual trends and puts them up against God’s clear (and beautiful) design for sex as a spiritual expression.

The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics, Robert Gagnon

Gagnon offers the most thorough analysis to date of the biblical texts relating to homosexuality. He demonstrates why attempts to classify the Bible’s rejection of same-sex intercourse as irrelevant for our contemporary context fail to do justice to the biblical texts and to current scientific data. Gagnon’s book powerfully challenges attempts to identify love and inclusivity with affirmation of homosexual practice.

. . . the most sophisticated and convincing examination of the biblical data for our time. —Jürgen Becker, Professor of New Testament, Christian-Albrechts University

What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense, Ryan T. Anderson, Sherif Girgis and Robert P. George

Until yesterday, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partner­ship: a male-female union. What Is Marriage? identifies and defends the reasons for this historic consensus and shows why redefining civil marriage is unnecessary, unreasonable, and contrary to the common good.

Originally published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, this book’s core argument quickly became the year’s most widely read essay on the most prominent scholarly network in the social sciences. Since then, it has been cited and debated by scholars and activists throughout the world as the most formidable defense of the tradition ever written. Now revamped, expanded, and vastly enhanced, What Is Marriage? stands poised to meet its moment as few books of this generation have.

Additionally Ryan T Anderson has written an excellent well-researched book responding to the transgender movement: When Harry Became Sally

Also of Importance:

The Great Evangelical Disaster, Francis Schaeffer

Have Christians compromised their stand on truth and morality until there is almost nothing they will speak out against? Has the evangelical church itself sold out to the world? Schaeffer exposes the rise of compromise and accomodation, and the tragic consequences of this within our culture and within the evangelical church. A provocative and challenging book, but one that is tempered by Dr. Schaeffer’s deep commitment to Christ and love for the church.

While not directly related to biblical sexuality, Schaeffer provides the basis for understanding why the sexual revolution has come to grip the culture and compromise the evangelical faith.  An essential read.