How Sexual Orientation Became the Idol of Our Day and What Christians Need to Do About It
March 16, 2016 12:00 ET

It's no secret the sexual revolution of the 1960s laid the groundwork for the post-gender age in which we now find ourselves. The path from free love to transgenderism and the "alphabet soup" of the LGBT movement was a relatively straight one, made even smoother by several landmark Supreme Court decisions that favored unfettered sexual license. What was once unthinkable is now promoted and celebrated in our culture, and woe to you if you do not join in worshipping the new categories of self-identification. The temptation is strong to flee the ever-darkening landscape, but Christians are called to bring "grace and truth" to a society in crisis.

Gender, sexuality, and marriage all matter, and that is good news for a nation which increasingly hangs its morality on thin air. As we seek to love our neighbors as ourselves, it helps to have a grace and truth-filled teacher from whom to learn. Rosaria Butterfield's beautiful story of redemption has equipped her to be just such an instructor, and through this lecture she encourages and challenges us yet again to engage our culture for Christ.

Rosaria Butterfield, Ph.D., was once a tenured professor of English at Syracuse University who identified as a lesbian and worked to advance the cause of LGBT equality. After her conversion to Christ in 1999, she came to see the sinfulness of having any identity apart from Him.

Rosaria is married to Kent Butterfield, pastor of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham, North Carolina, and is a homeschool mother, pastor's wife, author, and speaker. She is helping Christians to better understand their LGBT neighbors and loved ones so that we can lovingly look past labels of sexual identity and share the gospel effectively.

In 2012 she published her conversion memoir, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor's Journey to Christian Faith. Her second book, Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ became available in July of 2015. She writes about sexuality, identity, Christian community, and seeks to encourage all in faithful Christian living and service.

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