Single, Gay, Christian by Gregory Coles

I received this book for free from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

2017 Foreword INDIES Award Finalist

In an age where neither society nor the church knows what to do with gay Christians, Greg Coles tells his own story. Let's make a deal, you and me. Let's make promises to each other. I promise to tell you my story. The whole story. I'll tell you about a boy in love with Jesus who, at the fateful onset of puberty, realized his sexual attractions were persistently and exclusively for other guys. I'll tell you how I lay on my bed in the middle of the night and whispered to myself the words I've whispered a thousand times since: "I'm gay." I'll show you the world through my eyes. I'll tell you what it's like to belong nowhere. To know that much of my Christian family will forever consider me unnatural, dangerous, because of something that feels as involuntary as my eye color. And to know that much of the LGBTQ community that shares my experience as a sexual minority will disagree with the way I've chosen to interpret the call of Jesus, believing I've bought into a tragic, archaic ritual of self-hatred. But I promise my story won't all be sadness and loneliness and struggle. I'll tell you good things too, hopeful things, funny things, like the time I accidentally came out to my best friend during his bachelor party. I'll tell you what it felt like the first time someone looked me in the eyes and said, "You are not a mistake." I'll tell you that joy and sorrow are not opposites, that my life has never been more beautiful than when it was most brokenhearted. If you'll listen, I promise I'll tell you everything, and you can decide for yourself what you want to believe about me.

This book wasn’t written for me. It probably wasn’t written for you either. Unless, of course, you happen to be LGBTQ, Christian, and single/celibate by choice. Gregory Coles did not write this book for straight Christians to teach them how to treat their LGBTQ sisters and brothers in Christ. He wrote this book to help those brothers and sisters in Christ who are LGBTQ understand they are not alone in their struggles.

I’m not saying straight Christians can’t learn something from this book. I absolutely believe they can. They can learn what struggles a person who identifies with a sexual minority feels in the Church. How they cope. How scared, frustrated, and even how lonely they may feel. This book is a 5 star representation everyone should read, but any LGBTQ Christian needs to read.