Dr. Christopher Yuan is a professor at Moody Bible Institute. He is an important voice in the contemporary church, speaking regularly at seminaries, conferences and events on the topic of faith and sexuality. His latest book, Holy Sexuality and the Gospel, equips us to better understand sexuality in light of God’s grand story and helps us navigate questions about sexual identity from a biblical perspective.
Key Questions for Christopher Yuan
-How do you define “holy sexuality”?
-What do you think the church has missed about the experience of being single?
-How can pastors help people who are dealing with same-sex attraction, but want to follow Jesus?
-What are your thoughts on conversion therapy?
Key Quotes from Christopher Yuan
“My closest contact with the gospel was my parents. They lived the gospel before they preached the gospel.”
“My identity should not be defined by my sexuality, whether gay or straight or bi. My identity shouldn’t grounded in my desires, whether sexual, romantic or any other desires. My identity is not ‘gay,’ it is not ‘ex-gay,’ it is not even ‘heterosexual’ for that matter, but my identity as a child of the living God must be in Jesus Christ alone.”
“If Jesus was ‘tempted in every way’ and He is the Holy One, then we can’t say temptation in and of itself is sin.”
“Even if I had opposite-sex attractions, I would still need to resist temptations.”
“The opposite of homosexuality is not heterosexuality, but the opposite of homosexuality is holiness, just as the opposite of every sin struggle is holiness.”
“We should be very careful as Christians when we use the words, ‘gay’ or ‘straight.’”
“People see sexuality and sexual orientations who they are, when in reality it’s how we are. That’s a big, important distinction.”
“I came up with the phrase ‘holy sexuality’ because I wanted to disentangle the confusion around sexuality.”