Into the Book

10

Bright Purple - Melody Carslon

Recommended
One of my favourite authoress is Melody Carslon, whose True Colour series, I feel, has managed to help young Christians and their faith. Bright Purple: colour me confused, deals with the topic of homosexuality.

Before I begin the review proper, I'm sorry for the informality in this book review, I wasn't sure how to structure it properly.
I’ve always been a big fan of Melody Carlson, especially the first series I read – the True Color series. Now, Bright Purple, which I just bought for my sis and I, deals with the topic of homosexuality. For some reason, this book seemed to attract quite some negative reviews on goodreads.com (there weren’t enough ratings on librarything.com for me, small sample sizes are not very accurate).
But anyway, concerning the book: I loved it. Sure, Ramie starts of as more-than-slightly homophobic, but that’s because she needs to make the character transition. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a plot. Apart from that, her over-the-top reaction to her best friend coming out of the closet is to let others (presumably) understand how she feels.
The other issue that seems to come up is how homosexuals are unfairly demonized as militaristic and pushing an agenda. Now, speaking as someone outside the US, I think I can say with all fairness that that is probably true. It is true that they do have an agenda that they are pushing. The net is a fairly terrible filter, so I end up reading all points of view and can form my own judgments. As far as I can see, they are not a purely victimized group.
The ending feels realistic too. It’s fairly unresolved except for one point – that no matter what, she needs to continue loving Jessica unconditionally while she encourages her to follow God’s will and pray for God to rescue her.
Now, on to the whole born-vs-choice issue. It’s been bugging me about whether people are really born this way so I did a bit of research. From what I read, it can all be summed up by what Byne’s says that  ‘what evidence exists thus far of innate biological traits underlying homosexuality is flawed’[1]. In fact, social and physiological factors seem to play a larger role than any biological factors.
In short, you’re not born that way.
But needless to say, I think Bright Purple by Melody Carslon should be read by everyone. To my friends who are gay, well, I’m praying for you. You know what I think and you know that I have never judged you intentionally. But still, that doesn’t mean that I won’t tell you the truth, even though it may hurt.



[1] Byne, W., 1994. The biological evidence challenged. Scientific American 270(5):26-31 , p. 26

~ Eustacia
Eustacia Tan joined Into the Book in May of 2011. She has always loved reading, but particularly loves fiction, apologetics, and theology. She has a love for God, and hopes to someday go to the Japanese people as a missionary.

10 comments:

  1. Hmmm. Lots to think about here. Homosexuality is a touchy issue, and it's good to see books seeking to address it in a biblical manner. However...

    You said that one issue that comes up in the book is "how homosexuals are unfairly demonized as militaristic and pushing an agenda." I'll have to disagree with that one. Most (if not all) homosexuals are pushing an agenda, and are very active in trying to legalize same-sex marriage. They have a goal in mind - and they're striving hard to reach it.

    Now, I'm not saying we should "demonize" them, or view them with hatred and loathing. God calls us to reach out to those living in sin and show them the love of Christ. At the same time, the sin of homosexuality ought to be viewed in no uncertain terms: it is an abomonation in the eyes of God. Recognizing this fact, we aren't called to merely sit back and tolerate it - we should be actively working against it, just as we would work against prostitution or pedophilia. And while we work against the sin, we should be reaching out to the sinner.

    I agree with you that homosexuality is not something one is "born with". It's a choice - a moral choice. Not something you can brush off as being "in your genes".

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  2. Ah, snap. I'm so sorry, I meant to say that it isn't true. Sorry, typo that I will fix. I mean, it's happening even in Singapore. Thanks for pointing that out Corey(:

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  3. Being someone who knows homosexuals and is not "frightened" by them, this is very interesting.

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  4. I don't think anyone's advocating being "frightened" by homosexuals, but we should be frightened (and disgusted) by the sin of homosexuality.

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  6. I never said you were frightened, Corey. I said I am not "frightened" by them. 95% of homeschoolers are.

    Yes, we should not condone the sin, the same as we should not condone any form of sin, but this is a subject which Christians as a whole are not balanced on. They either accept this with open arms, or they mistreat and shun homosexuals. I know because I've seen it done. I've also witnessed christians speaking harshly about, and to, homosexuals. None of that is biblical, either.

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  7. I think we should be cautious about bringing statistics into the discussion (95%?), but you do make some excellent points. There are indeed Christians who fail to act Christ-like toward homosexuals. And that's wrong.

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  8. Let's just say I've met very few Christians who do not act like homosexuals are diseased. They are no more diseased than you or I. Homosexuality just happens to bother many Christians more than their own sins.

    However, my initial reply was only to comment that I am very interested in the fact that a book is willing to deal with this topic, since many Christians have a “fear” of this topic. They don’t want their children to even know it exists, despite the fact that the Bible talks about it. I had no intention to bring up my… disappointment in the church. I’m not sure that this conversation is really beneficial, since you don’t know me or my position, nor I you and yours. And this thread is not the place to have this discussion. :D

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