Regarding sexual orientation, Butterfield traces this back to Sigmund Freud who rooted identity in sexuality rather than being made in the image of God. This has profound implications because people are now identified in categories that reject Original Sin. 

Openness Unhindered, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, Crown & Covenant Publications, July 2015, 206 pages.

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield is one of the most thought-provoking and challenging books I have read. I was convicted of my lack of love for the lost and lack of faith in the power of the gospel, but it also encouraged me to believe that God is able to save to the uttermost. If you haven’t read it, read it!

Because of Secret Thoughts, I was eager to read Butterfield’s second book, Openness Unhindered. Identity and specifically sexual identity are hot topics and even more so following the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage. How should Christians address the issue of sexual orientation and identity? How do we come alongside our brothers and sisters who struggle with sexual sin and have made the choice to live “in chastity with unwanted homosexual desires?” (pg. 144) These are a few of the issues tackled in Openness Unhindered.

This book begins with a brief summary of the author’s journey to Christ from feminist, atheist, lesbian college professor to reformed pastor’s wife and homeschooling mom. But before jumping into the cultural issue of sexual identity, Butterfield devotes an entire chapter to identity out of union with Christ. This foundation of the gospel must be laid first because who we are and everything this encompasses flows out of Who we belong to. She then tackles the issue of repentance, obedience, and fighting sin. Butterfield enlists the help of Puritan heavy hitters such as Thomas Watson and John Owen. In no way is sin taken lightly, but likewise the glorious power of the gospel to transform isn’t minimized either. Her real-life example of mortifying sin when her writing time was interrupted by her children’s lightsaber battle is priceless.

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