After I came out to my Southern Baptist father, he gave me this book. The title is hopeful enough, but what I found inside rarely helped and mainly hurt. I have never annotated a book like this one, which I peppered with sticky notes and my refutations, exclamations, and expletives. I transcribed and expanded them into two-column notes in a word processing document that reached thirteen pages.
Some highlights:
*In the Introduction, Hubbard acknowledges "feeling spoiled" to get to come home to his wife and children--a basic human experience he would deny LGBT people
*Hubbard employs the bizarre (and evangelical?) term "same-sex attraction" to refer to gay men and women, stripping them of their identities. SSA begins to sound like a disease or plague after a while, which can be "cured."
*Hubbard uses the incorrect term transgendered instead of transgender.
*Hubbard never acknowledges that Jesus never spoke about LGBT people. Paul made references, sure, but not Jesus.
*Hubbard claims that Christians live in a casteless society, yet he still does not accept LGBT people. They are separate and other to him.
*Hubbard never addresses children who become Christians but later realize they are LGBT. All of his examples are about "sinners" who find Jesus & attempt to lose their SSA.
*Hubbard harps on and on about not being able to determine what causes someone to be gay. That is not the point, Peter!
*Hubbard thinks gay people are obsessed with sex. What about straight people, Pete?! This entire book is anti-sex. (All you need is Jesus.)
*Hubbard compares homosexuality to bestiality and incest! I mean, really!
*Hubbard claims LGBT people's feelings are not true or valid. What a jerk!
*Hubbard never reveals any of his sexual sins or struggles. Sure is he easy for him to beat up gay people with a few verses from the Bible, though!
*Hubbard argues that being gay is a choice but later says some people are naturally gay. He argues both sides. Fail!
*Hubbard thinks you can pray the gay away. He thinks sexuality, which is fixed, can be changed. No!
*Hubbard says that since Jesus was single, gay people can just be single too, amirite? (Wrong!)
*Hubbard uses the word "image" as a verb. Yes, that's irrelevant, but I'm an English teacher, and it really bothered me when did that.
*Hubbard denies gays because they can't have children, even though some straight couples are infertile or choose not to have children.
*Hubbard says since marriage and sex are temporary things and won't exist in heaven, it's not a big deal to deny them to gay people on Earth. Are you freaking kidding me?!
*Hubbard calls homosexuality an addiction. Where does he get off? Fine. Then being straight is an addiction too, Pete.
*Hubbard wants a pat on the back because his church now acknowledges some people have SSA. That's not enough!
*Hubbard never acknowledges the Bible verses that say divorce is a sin, and which is commonly accepted in evangelical churches. So divorced people get a free pass, but gay people don't.
*Hubbard never says if he has close friends or family members who are LGBT.