Foreword by Paul David Tripp
In this important and engaging biblical teaching on sexuality, David White helps readers develop a Scripture-based perspective on human sexuality that goes beyond "just wait until you're married." God, You, & Sex doesn't sidestep the sexual revolution that has finally come to bitter fruition in teen and young adult "hookup" culture. In the face of these messages and the pervasiveness of sexual temptation, White helps men and women find compelling reasons to obey God with their sexuality.
This book addresses how the church has made sex more important than God ever intended. By establishing a positive theology of sex from Scripture, White ultimately points to Christ as the Bridegroom and sheds light on broken sexuality, pornography, same-sex marriage, sex outside of marriage, and other relevant topics.
"The church is not only reticent to talk about sex, but it has lacked a positive view of sexuality. In a book rich with Biblical insight and personal testimony David White not only talks openly about sex but gives us a rich, positive vision of sexual intimacy. Neither is David shy about tackling tough issues head on. I especially hope that pastors and Christian leaders take this book to heart."
Paul E. Miller, Executive Director, seeJesus; best-selling author of several books, including J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life.
"In our sex-saturated world, we need more books articulating God's beautiful purpose and intent for sex. David White has produced such a book. From his time at Harvest USA, he has seen firsthand the tragic fallout of sexual sin in the lives of men and women. But God's intent for sex is good and beautiful, enjoyed in the context of marriage between a man and a woman. White invites you to know God deeper and points us to the ultimate wedding with Jesus as the church's Savior Bridegroom."
Christopher Yuan, Speaker; author of Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by God's Grand Story and Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God, A Broken Mother's Search for Hope.
"For a Christian to proclaim that 'Sex is good' without shame or embarrassment seems counterintuitive for many people. However, David White proclaims just that in this excellent resource providing a theology of the purity and goodness of sex in the life of the Christian. His work serves as a reminder that the good gifts of God are to be enjoyed in light of their ultimate end: deeper unity with our Creator."
Andrew T. Walker, Senior Fellow in Christian Ethics with The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; assistant professor of Christian Ethics and Apologetics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
"Most of us are interested in sex; our reasons vary. Somehow, David has written a book that speaks to us all. I guess it helps that he is so open with his own life, has had so many conversations about every sexual question imaginable, has helped so many, and understands the difficult texts in Scripture. He writes as a guide, pastor, and friend."
Ed Welch, Faculty and counselor, CCEF; author of A Small Book about a Big Problem
"In the crowded genre of Christian books on sexuality, God, Sex, & You is a standout. It is a refreshing correction to the error of moralistic approaches to sexuality and is firmly gospel-centered. It is more than a book refuting sexual brokenness in its many forms, this is a positive and robust biblical view of God's goodness in biblical sexuality that is all about the Christian's union with Christ."
Melanie Cogdill, Managing Editor, Christian Research Journal
"A model of speaking the truth in love, God, You, & Sex: A Profound Mystery puts sexuality in its rewarding biblical, theological, and covenantal context. When David White exposes 'image-bearing sexuality,' he puts to bed stubborn distortions—from prudishness to perversions to promiscuity. A student of Scripture and seasoned counselor, he doesn't just tell us that sexuality is a divine gift, he shows us vividly and compellingly how that is so and why it matters. God created sexuality for his glory and our good, and we must think his thoughts after him about it. With clarity, conviction, and compassion, White masterfully guides us to do just that."
David B. Garner, Dean of Faculty and Vice President of Global Ministries, Westminster Theological Seminary
"We are sexual beings, not exclusively sexual beings, but sexuality is a significant part of our created design. For this reason, we need discipleship in the area of sexuality, which is more than a clearer version of the 'birds and bees' talk our parents may (or may not) have given us. We need to learn to think biblically and talk conversationally about sexuality. That is what David White provides in God, You, & Sex. Read it and you'll find a mature discussion about many things you've thought about with a discipleship focus."
Brad Hambrick, Pastor Counseling at The Summit Church, Durham, NC; general editor for Becoming a Church that Cares Well for the Abused (churchcares.com)
"God, You, & Sex invites the believer to think biblically about their sexuality. Its pages paint a bigger and bolder perspective on how the Life-giver calls us to be life-givers both biologically and spiritually. This resource is foundational for singles and married alike."
Karen Hodge, Coordinator for Women's Ministries, Presbyterian Church in America; author of Transformed: Life-taker to Life-giver and Life-giving Leadership
"The destructive distortion of God's good gift of sex is epidemic. The cultural narrative, when followed, undermines our sexual flourishing. Sadly, the church gets it wrong in far too many ways as well. I ask kids all the time, 'What would happen if you would allow your sex story to be shaped by God's story for you and sex?' David White articulates God's story on sex with faithfulness and clarity, offering us the perspective we need to both live and teach about sex in all its glory to God's glory!"
Walt Mueller, The Center for Parent/Youth Understanding
"Sometimes one reads a book and finds it radically different than what one expected. God, You, & Sex: A Profound Mystery is that . . . and in spades. I thought it would be 'just another book' about sex and I've read so many. David White is a gifted writer, and I knew that the subject would be covered well and biblically. I just didn't expect the game-changing nature of this book. I don't believe I'll think about God's gift of our sexuality the same way ever again. Read it and rejoice . . . and thank me for commending it to you."
Steve Brown, Broadcaster; seminary professor; author of Talk the Walk
"To the one who wondered if sex was better than chocolate, David White's God, You, & Sex says a resounding yes. But White proves that sex is also a fearful mystery—of God's passionate love for the Bride. One trifles at one's peril. Let those who would enjoy its pleasures hold to God's sure terms of use."
Andrée Seu Peterson, Senior writer, World magazine
"In the presently over-served Christian market of books on sex, this is the 'one more book on sex' that needed to be written. I could hardly put it down! David White shows an unusually deep understanding of the spiritual meaning of God-created human sexuality, so needed in our day of frenzied sexual obsession. How crucial is it for our gospel witness in this time to be able to say that "God created humanity with a strong, romantic impulse because he wants us to see his passionate love for us behind it all." This is an important and timely book for pastors and Christian believers young and old."
Peter Jones, Director, truthXchange; adjunct professor, Westminster Seminary California; author of The God of Sex
"David White has brought his considerable experience, pastoral sensitivity, and godly wisdom to the task of addressing sexuality as a window into God's heart for his people. He raises the stakes as he leads us to consider how created and redeemed sexuality leads us deeper into our relationship with God. I warmly commend his work."
Liam Goligher, Senior Minister, Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia
"In the midst of widespread cultural confusion and sexual brokenness, this book is an excellent tool for any Christ follower seeking to develop and nurture a healthy view of sexuality. God, You, & Sex helps us establish a positive, biblical theology of sex by pointing to our most passionate and intimate lover, Jesus."
Hunter Beless, Host, Journeywomen podcast
"In God, You, & Sex, David White has given us a carefully written, brilliantly studied exposition of biblical sexuality. With a tender pastoral heart, David weaves compassion through his biblical treatment of sex, marriage, and singleness, aware that he is speaking into a broken world. This is a book every Christian should read, and a book that pastors and counselors should plan to keep on supply to give away."
Marty Machowski, Family pastor; author of God Made Boys and Girls: Helping Children Understand the Gift of Gender, The Ology, Long Story Short, and other gospel-rich resources for church and home
"Since the fall, humanity runs toward either trivializing or deifying sex and sexuality. But in his new book—God, You, & Sex: A Profound Mystery—David White helps us see that sex points us to Jesus, and our sexuality leads us to God. With great wisdom and the tender care of a pastor, White teaches that sex and sexuality are ultimately about God and our relationship with him in Christ. David has written a timely word and a book that deserves a wide reading."
Raymond Johnson, Senior Pastor of Christ Church West Chester, West Chester, PA; author of I See Dead People: The Function of the Resurrection of the Saints in Matthew 27:51–54
"All too often people view sexuality quite narrowly on a horizontal level limiting its purview to relationships between people, but David White rightly challenges his readers to include the vertical perspective—to include God, the creator of sex—and what a difference it makes! He answers the questions that people are asking, or are afraid to ask. This book will help you personally, it will help your marriage, it will help your church, and it will help you interact with others on these challenging subjects."
Dr. Timothy Witmer, Emeritus Professor of Practical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia; author of The Shepherd Leader
"As I read this book, the word 'positive' often springs to mind. David gives us the needed message that not just sex, but other features of relationships like falling in love are 'very good.' His decades of experience mean that his advice is never trite, is sensitive to the variety of experiences with sex that people have, and encompasses contemporary problems. He shines in his fresh exposition of various biblical texts."
Sam A. Andreades, Pastor; speaker; author of enGendered and the blog, Affirming Gender
"God, You, & Sex is a book for everyone. It is timely, honest, readable, and vulnerably practical. Walk with David White through the joys and pleasures, pain and shame, as well as the brokenness and delight of sexuality in a fallen world. You will discover God's grace and hope all along the way."
Peter A. Lillback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia
"Shifting seamlessly between human romances and our relationship with God, David White shows how each illuminates the other, opening up dimensions of what it's like to be loved by God and how that divine love sets the pace for our human ones. You'll learn a lot from White's direct and gracious handling of all the thorny, contemporary issues of sex and sexual expression, but most of all you'll see how God's heart longs for you and how yours can respond to him in return."
William P. Smith, Senior Pastor for Renewal Main Line; author of Parenting with Words of Grace and numerous other books and booklets
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In the his introduction, the author lays out his mission- to show that sex was designed above all to draw us closer to a God who loves us. Now that sounds like a tall order. But then I worked my way through the pages and found myself repeatedly marveling (even tearfully) at the goodness and love of the God of the Bible. Mission accomplished! As if that wasn't enough, I walked away from these pages with far more. I felt I was being trained by a seasoned veteran. White's 20 years of experience in ministering to those wrestling with sexual brokenness produces a wealth of wise and biblical encouragement on singleness, marriage, parenting, homosexuality, and pornography. Readers will be strengthened to battle personal temptations and equipped to help others in the middle of the spiritual battle. In addition to all of this, David White gives the church of the 21st century a fantastic model of how to hold forth a biblical sexual ethic in a way that is both uncompromising and winsome. The good news of scripture actually sounds like good news. Mission Accomplished...and then some!
While I haven't finished it, this book has been so good and helpful. Mr. White constantly points things back to scripture and shows the relationship between Christ and the church. All churches would do well to read this book and speak on sex in the positive, holy way it was intended. We must not present it like the world and we certainly must not take the polar opposite and treat it as shameful, awkward, or gross. I also loved how he had a whole chapter focusing on Song of Solomon. I know people feel awkward about it but I really wish that churches would speak on it and that pastors would preach sermons on it.
This book nicely communicates the truth that our sexuality has a deeper meaning Then physical enjoyment. The sexual intimacy that we experience physically communicates a deeper spiritual truth.
This book is a must read. Beautifully written with alot of scripture to support it. This book is something to read over and over again.
David White takes the position that sex is not only good but that it is a gift from God for His children to enjoy within the confines of marriage. Something I’ve always struggled with is this idea that God rejoices in human sexuality. Yet White makes this assertion, that Scripture supports this perspective. And while no Scripture is immediately given, there is other verses that are pointed out that points to God giving the command to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis). And to do that, sex is a must. My biggest takeaways from this book are: 1. Sex was designed by God during creation and He said all He created is good. Therefore sex in the way God intended it is good. 2. The way God intended sex is in marital covenant. When engaged outside of its parameters, like many other things it will have consequences. 3. The church needs to have more conversations about sex. We need to do more than tell the younger generations to avoid it, because when they get married they will still struggle with it. We need to give them the necessary context for sex and when it is appropriate to engage in it. As parents we need to have these conversations at home BEFORE our kids engage in sex rather than have poor versions of this conversation as a knee jerk reaction to them engaging in premarital sex. Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. I think young adults and teenagers NEED to read this book. They need to understand full context of sex, when it is appropriate and when it is not.
Well written from a Biblical point of view
David White explores sex from a Biblical perspective, addressing it theologically, relationally, socially, and so on. This is not a how-to book, but an exploration of the deeper meaning of sex as God intended it, specifically as it relates to Christ and the church. I do not consider myself that old, but as a never-married woman in my upper 30s who remains committed to abstinence before marriage, I do not have many peers. I was drawn to this book because I have been increasingly aware of my own sexual brokenness in recent years—single sexuality a very difficult thing, especially as hormones change and the biological clock starts ticking. I want to honor God in this, and while I have zero desire to change my beliefs, I have every desire for a marriage that includes intimacy in every form. When I took a look at the Introduction through Amazon's Look Inside feature and saw that the author has a heart for singles, and is "most eager for you to read this and be encouraged by God's heart for you," I was all in. I can only address this book from my own perspective, but I found the author compassionate, sensitive, and vulnerable in sharing from his experience, both from his personal life as well as his career as a pastor and counselor. I appreciated the care he took in presenting such an important issue from a Biblical worldview. Not everything will be what people want to hear, but he speaks with grace and love. While I am not sure I agreed with his every theological point when it comes to sex, overall this is a book I would not hesitate to recommend for someone interested in learning more about these issues, or even just how to speak about them to a world with such different sexual ethics. I found I got more out of the book the further into it I delved, with the last chapter being especially encouraging.
I read some books like this when going through pre-marital counseling almost ten years ago with my husband. It's amazing how much has changed in those ten years in the world around us! I think that this more updated book on Christians and sex is a good resource to have on hand. The world tells us their opinion on sex, but it doesn't measure up to what God ordained it to be, something sacred between a husband and his wife. This is an excellent book to read through.
It seems that I cannot go a day without seeing something in the news about the relative unpopularity of biblical sexual ethics in our culture. Christians have long been outspoken about their opposition to sexual ethics in the wider society that deviate from biblical mores. Often times, this has resulted in Christians being maligned as backwards, regressive, and bigoted. It is possible that part of the reason for is that Christians have spent large amount of time and energy arguing against unbiblical sexual practices, yet by and large have failed to establish a truly biblical theology of sex. That is, they have spent more time talking about what they are against then what they are for. While Christians believe that God, as the Creator and Designer of human life, has given us specific instructions as to how sex is supposed to work, the church has often been more prone to speak about what sex is not rather than teaching the Bible’s remarkably beautiful vision for what God has designed sex to be. Only within the framework can the church’s witness to the Bible’s counter-cultural sexual ethic make sense. David White’s God, You, and Sex is an excellent entry-level introduction to a biblical theology of sexuality. White has spent years ministering to other sin the midst of sexual brokenness and struggle through the ministry of Harvest USA, and both his theological acuity and his pastoral sensitivity are on display in this work. The book’s 13 chapters are effectively split into two main sections. The first 8 chapters outline a basic, positive theology of sex, while the final 5 chapters address some of the specific questions and challenges that we face regarding our sexuality as sinful broken creatures. While the comments White makes in the last five chapters are very helpful in assisting the reader to think through current issues in a biblically faithful way, this is set up by the hard work he does in the first eight chapters to establish the God-centeredness of human sexuality and its implications on how we think about sex. White’s book is highly recommended to all who want to gain a better understanding of Christian sexual ethics that focuses on the beauty of sex within God’s design, rather than focusing exclusively on the negative aberrations of that design.
After reading this book, I agree with everything Roberto said about the book and ditto that! ____God, Sex, & You, A Profound Mystery by David White formerly of Harvest USA for over 2 decades is a powerful & critical tool in any Christian’s spiritual warfare armor because it speaks such biblical truth into to one of the key deceptions & challenges of our lifetime & especially in the day and age in which we find ourselves as a post Christian culture in many ways. It’s easy to become fearful & dismayed with our own sexual sin struggles (because if we are honest with ourselves & of a certain age, we all have them per God’s design as detailed clearly in this book) and the spiritual struggles & profound pressure towards sexual perversity of those around us who are intentionally saturating our culture with sexual messages of every sort that impact us all in more ways than we ever realize, but it is encouraging to me that this book gives answers based on never-changing, true biblical hope, grace, & compassion for believers in Christ Jesus. We all struggle on some level with sexual temptation &!sin and/or there are many more who have so sadly been impacted destructively by someone else’s sexual sin or abuse. Knowing that that this struggle & the pain of the aftermath of sexual abuse can be overcome by the power of the gospel and that we are not alone in this battle of flesh and blood is a powerful weapon against our fiercest enemy, the devil’s attacks can help give outage for dark deeds to be brought to the light, then we are free to be who we are in Christ as we no longer hide in shame or defeat because Jesus won every battle for us at the cross! This book also gives practical tips for parents on teaching their children biblical sexuality at various ages & stages of their lives & encourages us as parents to be transparent & forthright with our own pasts & current struggles with sin. David also speaks to the ways we can engage those (especially those without the Hope of the gospel living inside their hearts) around us who are engulfed in the deception of sexual sin &/or gender confusion and how we can invite them into what God has done for us, admitting our own struggles with sin & satan’s tactics that he uses to convince us that sin is harmless & that we will not suffer consequences which couldn’t be further from the truth as we know all too well. He reminds us that our God is our holy passionate pursuer and that He will not let His beloved wander into sin’s engulfing waves unattended or unchecked whether those sins be materialism, gossip, pride, legalism, gluttony, lust, hate, murder, drunkenness, selfish ambition, covetousness, lying, sexual sin in various forms as laid out in this book, & the list goes on. Our unsaved friends & family need to know that we struggle too and do not think ourselves better than them nor do we have it all together or have all the answers but that these aforementioned misdeeds and more are all equally damning as sin in God’s eyes & all sin separates us from Him in just the same way apart from faith in Jesus our Savior and beautiful Bride Groom. This book is a game changer for sexual creatures created in the image of God. Concepts throughout this book will be hugely transformative for those who implement these truths by the Holy spirit’s power in their own lives & live our these truths for a watching and desperate world to see the beauty of our great God, creator, Savior, and king, Jesus Christ! Nothing else will ever satisfy our hungry souls. All other things we chase after to fill this void in our hearts & souls are as the wind blows; they will only give us temporal satisfaction, are short-lived contentment, & will always leave us discontented and wanting more. I believe that the truth written in this book is so rich that it will not only impact singles & marrieds, but also be transformative and life-breathing for young adults, widows, widowers, (as parents read these pages they will gain wisdom on how to engage this topic with appropriately and set protective measures as needed & able for teens, grade school-aged children, babies, and the unborn,) male & female, young & old from every tribe, tongue, & people group will no doubt be greatly impacted for God’s excellent glory as this book was written from a loving, wise, obedient, and compassionate heart who loves and follows His faithful Savior Jesus & loves and continued to gain knowledge from the reading and study of His Word! Love is understood in every language & it is evident that the love of God is on every page of this book-all praise be to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth!