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Does Jesus Really Love Me?
Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian's Pilgrimage in Search of God in America | Jeff Chu
6 posts | 5 read | 7 to read
In this timely workpart memoir, part investigative analysisa prize-winning writer explores the explosive and confusing intersection of faith, politics, and sexuality in Christian America. When Jeff Chu came out to his parents as a gay man, his devout Christian mother cried. And cried. Every time she looked at him. For months. As a journalist and a believer, Chu knew that he had to get to the heart of a question that had been haunting him for years: Does Jesus really love me? The quest to find an answer propels Chu on a remarkable cross-country journey to discover the God forbidden to him because of his sexuality. Surveying the breadth of the political and theological spectrum, from the most conservative viewpoints to the most liberal, he tries to distill what the diverse followers of Christ believe about homosexuality and to understand how these people who purportedly follow the same God and the same Scriptures have come to hold such a wide range of opinions. Why does Pastor A believe that God hates me, especially because of my gayness? Why does Person B believe that God loves me, gayness and all? From Brooklyn to Nashville to California, from Westboro Baptist Church and their god hates fags protest signs to the pioneering Episcopal bishop Mary Glasspool, who proclaims a message of liberation and divine love, Chu captures spiritual snapshots of Christian America at a remarkable moment, when tensions between both sides in the culture wars have rarely been higher. Both funny and heartbreaking, perplexing and wise, Does Jesus Really Love Me? is an intellectual, emotional, and spiritual pilgrimage that reveals a portrait of a faith and a nation at odds.
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BarbaraJean
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“But can we walk together when we can‘t even agree on what “love” means? Can we be gracious in the face of great disagreement? Whom will we choose not just to tolerate but also to accept, to welcome, and to affirm? These are questions that both conservatives and liberals must ask, remembering that, on both sides, we still suffer shortages of generosity. Everywhere, we need more grace.”

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BarbaraJean
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“We have taken a God of many names and hand-selected our favorite few. A vast and mysterious yet intimate and personal God has been reduced into something small and manageable and comprehensible. Whereas the Scripture says that we were created in God‘s image, we have remade him in ours.”

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BarbaraJean
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“Words are bricks, which, depending on how you use them, can pave pathways or build high walls.”

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BarbaraJean
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“I think there is no suffering greater than what is caused by the doubts of those who want to believe and are told by others that they cannot.”

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BarbaraJean
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In writing this book, Jeff Chu set off on a journey around the US, exploring Christian churches of all types—from Westboro Baptist Church (yes, that one) to Metropolitan Community Churches (often called “gay churches”). He interviews pastors and individuals about navigating the intersection between Christian faith and LGBTQ people. The book is part journalism, part memoir, but the balance skews toward the former—offering a balanced, nuanced ⤵️

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …accessible account of American Christianity‘s multifaceted, often conflicting responses to LGBTQ inclusion in (or exclusion from) the faith. The openness and grace with which Chu—a gay Christian himself—approaches these conversations is remarkable, and the stories he includes are powerful. One caveat: this was published in 2013, before Trump‘s election, before the steep rise in Christian nationalism, before the related intensification⤵️ 3mo
BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …of various culture wars over LGBTQ issues. Understandably, this felt a bit dated in places, even a bit naive at times. The landscape of American Christianity has shifted considerably in the past 11 years, and I‘m really curious about how different this account would sound if Chu were to undertake a similar project now. 3mo
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BFlynnP
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Heard a podcast with the author, and I'm excited to start this one.

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