A Christian Slant on

A Christian’s Slant on Sexuality LOUIS PHILLIPS EXPLAINS SEXUALITY FROM A CHRISTIAN LENSE.

Interview | Charlotte Walker

SPEAKING TRUTH | Lou speaks at Founders, RZIM’s fundraiser conference in Miami.

Sexuality. Our culture is infatuated with sex. But how do Christians view sexuality? Yeah yeah, no sex before marriage ... that’s the gist of it. Need you read any further? Well, if you want to understand more of the whole picture ... yes.

In order to gain a better understanding of the full Christian sexual ethic, we interviewed Louis (Lou) Phillips. As a Grove City College graduate, Lou earned a bachelor of science degree in both molecular biology and political science. After working in politics on the Hill in Washington DC, Lou developed a passion for questions of sexuality while working for Silver Ring Thing, an evangelistic outreach organization that teaches teens about the Christian sexual ethic. Lou recently completed his theological studies at Oxford as well as training in apologetics through the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics (OCCA). He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia working as an OCCA fellow for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).

I know your degree is in molecular biology, so how did you begin to speak on Christian sexuality?

It was very odd. [For] the first time in my life, I asked [God] what He wanted me to do. I always assumed I knew what He wanted me to do because I wanted to be a physician, but I just remember the Lord saying, “You need to leave D.C. now and start working for this organization called Silver Ring Thing.”

I said ‘no’ initially, but then it just kept coming up. Finally, I ended up giving in. I wasn’t actually that excited [at first, but] I just felt like if I didn’t do this, I would be disobeying God.

Why are you so passionate about the topic of Christian sexuality?

I wasn’t necessarily passionate about sexuality when I started with Silver Ring Thing, but the more I spoke to teens, the more I saw the havoc it wreaks on our lives. I think the whole LGBTQ community has been told that the gospel isn’t for them, and I think that’s a lie from hell. I want to help correct that because they are brothers and sisters in Christ who do have an orientation outside of God’s design, but God still loves them, still has a plan for them and wants to use them in this world.

SCHOOL’S OUT | Lou and friends along with alumni Callie Walker ( ‘13) celebrate their graduation from the OCCA program.

How did your family and church background influence your perspective on the issue of Christian sexuality?

I’ve actually lived my life as a single, heterosexual male, and I’ve seen the beauty of God’s fulfillment just in that. It’s really opened my eyes to this false narrative that says you need marriage in order to be content and fulfilled. That’s not me trying to diminish marriage. It is a beautiful gift that I hope is maybe in my future, but I also find the beauty of where God has me now. There’s far too many Christian men and women who have lived single, celibate lives for His name’s sake that I think we diminish. We see them as these weird outcasts when Christ Himself perfectly modeled what it means to live a celibate life.

GLOBE TROTTING | Lou hangs out with camels in the desert, while taking a break from leading RZIM’s day conference, REBOOT, in Abu Dhabi.

What do you think the most important thing is for kids, teenagers, adults, etc, to know about Christian sexuality?

Well, I think the overarching theme is that we need to actually believe in our hearts that God isn’t withholding something good from us. We cannot make ourselves the point of marriage and sexuality because everything we do as Christians is supposed to point to higher truth. And yet, we’ve turned marriage and sexuality to point to themselves, which means they point to us.

We have to stop finding our fulfillment in marriage, even though it is very, very good. Christ is where fulfillment is found. [Marriage] just happens to be a good gift, but the moment we turn that good gift into an ultimate gift, we’ll see that it backfires hard on us.

What do you find to be the most frequently asked question?

The biggest one I get is how can God be fair and just if sex is really just for one man and one woman in the context of marriage? Christ is saying, “Look, I have a very high, strict view of sexuality because ultimately I know what’s good for every single person.” Over and

over again, He says do not idolize this, do not make it to be something it’s not. It’s still a hard pitch, I know, but the people that I’ve seen live this out are some of the most fulfilled people I know, and I believe that’s just a beautiful witness and inspiration to [people] on all aspects of the spectrum of sexuality.

How can we as believers engage in this conversation better?

We need to start having far more honest and open conversations about this. Within the church, we need to stop idolizing marriage and start elevating singleness. We need to stop treating singles in the church like this weird group of people that have yet to figure out where life starts.

If [we] ever want LGBTQ people to come to a church and feel like they have a place, [we] better show them that they have value outside of marriage because some of them will never have it.

We need to start talking about what marriage is really about. We need to dig deeper, so that we can actually provide really good answers to people when they’re asking “What does Christianity believe about sexuality?”