Jackie Hill PerryCritiques

"The only constant in this world is God. Gayness, on the other hand, can be an immovable identity only when the heart is unwilling to bow." p 1

Perry's memoir is very honest and unapologetic. She continually points back to Jesus as the most important Lover in anyone's life.

I appreciated what she had to say about singleness and marriage - she does not uphold marriage as the greatest accomplishment in a Christian's life, but recognizes that singleness is good and just as huge a blessing as marriage.

Honestly, the only thing I didn't like was that Perry's writing style is a bit flowery and long-winded. Here's an example from page 23:

A woman, height barely breaking 5-foot-3, with the smile of a million laughs, and the eyes of one whose memories are cold and brutal to touch walked inside the club.

But she's a poet, so I guess that's to be expected.

It's certainly worth a read!

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This is worth reading, but I have some critiques for it. Review to come.

I really wanted to like the book, and the book did have a positive impact on me in my attitude toward God's grace and power in helping believers live like Christ. But I would have liked a more personal narrative instead of the poetic voice the author used. The author's life was recounted using much metaphors and imagery, with murky details. Because of the lack of details, I have trouble understanding the author's life trajectory or sympathize with her experience. The author spent a lot of time stating the content of the gospel and how her life fit into the big picture of the gospel, to the extent that I felt her focus was on the big picture, and not her life. I think this was her exact intention, as she stated in the prologue that this book is not about her but about God. But what I experienced then becomes a 160-page sermon on the gospel stated in a poetic fashion, with very little illustrations except blurry vignettes from different snippets of her life.

Incredible book! A well-written fresh perspective on the topic.

"I used to be a lesbian." In Gay Girl, Good God, author Jackie Hill Perry shares her own story, offering practical tools that helped her in the process of finding wholeness. Jackie grew up fatherless and experienced gender confusion. She embraced masculinity and homosexuality with every fiber of her being. She knew that Christians had a lot to say about all of the above. But was she supposed to change herself? How was she supposed to stop loving women, when homosexuality felt more natural to her than heterosexuality ever could? At age nineteen, Jackie came face-to-face with what it meant to be made new. And not in a church, or through contact with Christians. God broke in and turned her heart toward Him right in her own bedroom in light of His gospel. Read in order to understand. Read in order to hope. Or read in order, like Jackie, to be made new.

I started reading this book hoping it would actually be something I would feel good recommending to others, but ultimately, it's not. She has some interesting points and does make a compelling picture about her own testimony, but I don't agree with her ideas regarding what it truly means to be a woman and her statement that you shouldn't label yourself as a gay Christian, but "same-sex attracted is okay." Let's get this out of the way: whether you call yourself same-sex attracted or a gay Christian, you are still identifying yourself by "your sin." You are still viewing your Christianity through your LGBT lens. Maybe instead of wasting time arguing about the personal terms that we all use, focus your time on discipleship and relationships with everyone around you.

How to pray away the gay, turn straight, and closet yourself. Just like all those straight anti-gay priests found on Grindr(Google that).

As a rational person, you can't stop being gay anymore than you can stop being a certain height or a certain heritage. Sexuality cannot be changed, and reading through parts of this book, she might be bisexual or something else.

The abuse of "gayness" throughout this book like it's a scale or "hetero-love" drives me batty once it repeats past four times. It's a very forced perspective and I'd almost wager this book a scam within a scam. A big lie.

Skip this book, it's a big religious force feeding crammed down the reader's throat. Utterly offensive drivel.

This review already covered my other view points: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2579977105?book_show_action=true

Poet, artist, and self-proclaimed former lesbian Jackie Hill Perry makes her position clear: she has found a path out of same-sex relationships, not through any sort of conversion therapy, but through focusing on the love of God for sinners. What is less clear, even in this Gospel Coalition-sponsored, neo-Calvinist book, is if she has overcome her feelings of same-sex attraction, despite being married to a very patient man and having two children. It sounds like sexual issues are still a daily struggle.

This book provides an interesting perspective on a fraught topic. I would be curious as to what LGBTQ+ people think of it (I think I can guess).½