I was recommended this book by a family member when I explained I had an interest in how LGBTQ+ rights fit within the Christian community. I happened to find it in a charity shop a couple of weeks after the recommendation and so I bought it and started reading it.
I can now happily pass on the recommendation - if you’re a Christian and you’re not sure what the Bible says about affirming LGBTQ+ relationships, this is the book for you. If you identify as LGBTQ+ and you feel that the Bible condemns who you are and Christians judge you harshly? This book is for you.
I’m currently at two essays and counting on this topic. It’s a hot issue facing the Church today and unfortunately when I read this, the Church of England was making headlines in this area for the wrong reasons. You can see the articles from The Guardian here, the BBC here and Reuters here on the news. In summary though, after a long deliberation of more than 5 years, the bishops of the Church of England have come to the conclusion that they cannot marry same-sex couples. The good news though (yes - please read that with a sarcastic tone) is that the Church will now bless civil-marriages and partnerships between same-sex couples.
The decisions aren’t absolutely final - there will be a meeting of wider Church leaders this month, and a vote will take place, including issues like celibacy for priests in same-sex relationships being mandated. Ironically they will also be issuing an apology for the damage the Church has caused to LGBTQ+ individuals in the past… I don’t think they see how absurd an apology is when they’re still causing damage.
Having learnt a bit of Koine Greek (aka New Testament Greek) and now having the ability to actually translate the New Testament myself, I’m slowly peeling away the layers of… humanity. We’ve added so much to the Bible that when you look at the original text (and realise that a straightforward translation is impossible) you can see how things get twisted and misunderstood. Add a couple thousand years and it really starts to get tricky - that’s why I’m doing a Masters course in Theology and Religion, and I’m pursuing a career in academia in this area.
Anyway, back to the book! Undivided is an autobiographical review of Vicky Beeching’s life, specifically her struggle with her two identities: being gay and being a Christian. I hadn’t heard of Vicky before I picked up the book, but reading the book, I realised why - she’s not exactly big in the UK. She studied Theology at Oxford University for her undergraduate degree and then got picked up by a Christian record company in the US due to her incredible worship song writing.
She enjoyed an amazing career writing beautiful worship music, and performing in churches all around America. However, she found that her sexuality was hard to deny. She kept it in after confessing it twice in her youth - on the one occasion she experienced an exorcism of the demons inside her that was her same-sex attraction, and on the other occasion the priest prayed for her and told her she was cured from her sickness… on neither occasion was she ‘cured’. She was still experiencing same-sex attraction, and she knew her only choice was to practice celibacy. Despite wanting what she saw her friends have - a life partner and a family - she knew she wasn’t allowed that. Not according to the Church or the Bible… or was that true?
Vicky remembered in her time at Oxford she found some books on sexual ethics (she was ashamed to have a quick peek in them, so only did so when she knew the library would be empty) and she revisited them and other books on the topic and discovered (unlike the bishops of the Church of England have) that perhaps same-sex relationships are not wrong and perhaps the Church has been wrong on other important issues in the past - like slavery or women’s roles in the Church.
During all of this, Vicky gets diagnoses of a couple of auto-immune diseases and part of the reason she gets so ill is undeniably her hellbent determination to deny her sexuality as part of who she is.
This is a personal witness of the damage the Church can do to an individual by denying that homosexuality is natural and labelling it an ‘illness’ or ‘demon possession’. Thinking about issues that affect Christians like this in an abstract way makes it easier to be blasé - but reading this real impact report and the further damage that was inflicted after she came out by close minded Christians is a demonstration that this is no small thing to be wrong about.
I stand behind Vicky and I’m striving to be a good ally. I don’t believe that judgment and hate are products of Christian living - loving everyone is what we are called to do. I’m still working on sources to back me up in my conclusions, and I will continue to write essays and I will strive to add my voice to the many others who say that the decision the bishops have made is wrong. Marriage is for 2 people who love each other and want to share their life together and for those seeking affirmation in the church, should be able to be married by a priest, whether they are man and woman, woman and woman, or man and man.
I have a lot of strong feelings about this, and will continue examining the Bible under a microscope and share my findings. But in the meantime, I highly recommend this book. Vicky is open and honest about something that is so personal and has caused her so much strife. Her story has helped so many LGBTQ+ Christians to accept themselves, and has helped me to understand the very real affect that denying yourself can have on someone’s life.
