Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions About Life & Sexuality

By Nancy Pearcey

As a millennial woman with a gay brother, I found Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions About Life & Sexuality to be a fascinating read.

I am an outspoken, unapologetic, conservative Christian today, but I wasn’t always that way. In fact, I spent my entire teen and college years being influenced by culture and often times felt “culture-cornered” into making decisions I now regret as an adult. A lot of the topics featured in this book were not a part of my culture-based living 15-20 years ago, but they are certainly apparent today. Culture’s persuasive ways have been incredibly effective to the point where more than half of Americans now identify as faithless or without religious affiliation (according to a recent Gallup poll).

To put it bluntly, Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey is a book that every living, breathing human should read. The book itself highlights the current sexual revolution American is experiencing by addressing hot topic issues such as homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, euthanasia, and the hook-up culture. Pearcey incorporates extensive research, interviews, facts and biblical truth to paint a picture of our nation’s morality and ethical beliefs (or lack thereof) by portraying real-life stories and studies that support each specific issue.

I was hooked from the introduction of this book! However, I found each subject to be emotionally and mentally heavy and therefore spent ample time reading and re-reading multiple portions of each chapter in order to fully absorb each topic, debate, controversy, and hope-filled alternative. Because of this, I became confident in defending every issue covered and even participated in several conversations with friends and family members to engage them in what I was reading and learning.

The on-going theme of Love Thy Body is the worldview divide in today’s culture and its impact on our society’s thoughts, feelings and actions. Pearcey refers to it as the “two story divide” where the biological body that makes up a human is divided from the emotional, psychological feelings that it maintains. In essence, the physical body is separate (or not the same) as the emotional state of mind. Pearcey describes the “two story divide” as the way in which our secular society emphasizes the worth of a human being. Whereas the biblical worldview gives value and worth to the entire body as a whole (both the physical and the emotional), the secular worldview discounts the body’s purpose and worth in favor of personhood (i.e. solely feelings, emotions). This is reflected in our country’s political view and stance on same-sex relationships, transgenderism, the sanctity of life and the sex-crazed culture.

“In every decision we make, we are affirming a worldview. We may think we are just acting on our feelings of the moment, but in reality we are expressing our convictions about the cosmos. Either we are expressing a biblical worldview or we are being co-opted by a secular worldview. The secular moral revolution is built on the conviction that nature has no moral meaning, and that we are inherently disconnected, autonomous atoms connecting only by choice.”

Love Thy Body

Some of the things I learned from Love Thy Body include:

• A deeper understanding of the secular worldview as well as a formative ground in which to develop my personal beliefs and defense
• A factual basis against each topic covered as a result of interviews and studies conducted from individuals who had directly experienced the repercussions of abortions, homosexual relationships, battles with transgenderisms, heartache and emptiness from the hookup culture, and more
• A greater respect for God’s perfect design for not just human life but for humanity as a whole
• Historical accounts of prostitution, homosexuality, human trafficking, infanticide and more that date back to biblical times (meaning, these issues always existed and are not new conditions or controversies to be dealt with)
• The direction in which America is heading if current laws continue to shape our culture as well as new laws that are presently being considered that will not just divide but will eventually destroy any human value, worth or purpose

Additionally, there is a detailed index to direct readers back to specific topics as well as a study guide for personal use or group conversation.

From its inception, Christianity has been countercultural. There is nothing new going on today that wasn’t going on when Jesus walked the earth. Just as the first Christians rose up and preached the gospel about love and acceptance, so must we rise and live fearlessly in our faith. If we don’t, our country will be far worse than anything we could ever imagine.

How do we do it? Reading Love Thy Body is a great place to start! It will light a fire within you and will encourage you to dive deeper into studying apologetics while challenging you to live out the gospel’s truth in love to those who are different than you. The choice is easy – we can continue to see headlines in the news or judge those who participate in relationships, activities, causes or lifestyles that are unlike our own, or, we can engage in the conversation and testify an alternative to a broken world.

“People who are physically starving will eat even unhealthy food, and those who are emotionally starving will be drawn into unhealthy relationships.”

Love Thy Body

The time to change is now but I believe it starts with us [followers of Christ] first. I highly recommend reading Love Thy Body – you will receive a glimpse into understanding where the “other side” is coming from while gaining confidence that Christians can make a difference in impacting the world. All you need is fearless faith and the belt of truth. These fashionable items of love, respect and grace look stunning on all who wear them.

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review