Eros Defiled: The Christian and Sexual Sin Paperback – April 1, 1977

BOOK WAS GREAT. IT PRESENTS A MATURE CHRISTIAN VIEW ABOUT SEXUAL ISSUES THAT ARE STILL TOO RARELY DISCUSSED IN CHURCH SETTINGS AND EVEN WHEN DISCUSSED ARE POORLY AND INCONSISTENTLY ADDRESS

Awesome and biblically great guidance and prospective.

the book came damaged. like someone bite on the edges

A subject that is so misunderstood gets explained in the way it was meant to be. Mr. White shows us our wrongs but by God's grace he shows us where God wants to make us right.

The book is outdated with 1970 information. I have to glean what is appropriate and skip the outdated information. It is like going back into time before cell phones.

I have rarely seen such a book, that claims to be "Christian" but only use Christian lingo to disguise every ungodly, unforgiving, unloving distortion.

Eros defiled is not a light or easy read like Every Man's Battle, but it was a balanced take on Christian sexuality, and didn't use guilt to bully the reader into submission.

I have difficulty accepting the premise of the book, that the boy (a minor at the time) was some how responsible for sexual acts performed on him by an adult. The idea that he needed Gods forgiveness for what’ve happened and that he is sinful because his sexuality was shaped by the experience is a psychologically damaging view. I hope that the writer of the book had come to terms with being preyed upon by a sexual predator.

I bought this book because I have read previous works by this author which I liked. In addition I had learnt that in the first edition of this book that the author admitted that as a teenager he was taken advantage of sexually against his will. In the light of quite so many modern mass media paedophile scares I wanted to know what he wrote, given that he wrote it in 1977, long before any such public dialogue about such matters was possible. I was curious; how explicit or vague might he choose to be? For the curious the relevant pages (first edition only) came on pages 108-111. On those pages the author was somewhat opaque but that was okay-it was his story and his to explain how he wanted to. I was also fine with the accounts the author made of counselling situations he had encountered where [presumably] Born Again Christians committed adultery and were confused before they acted, aghast at the short term effects of their actions, and appalled at the long term consequences of it all. Though from the accounts given The Holy Spirit does seem remarkably forgiving and restorative in many instances. Only once do I recall reading that sexual adultery is one of many sins that we commit that we should feel aghast at the consequences of.When the author suffered the previously mentioned sexual abuse he was barely a teenager. I accept that he had a right to reason and explain what happened to him as a teenager in teenage terms. Even though an adult Christian psychiatrists take on it, with hindsight, would have been more explicit, much more educational, and much darker, spiritually-but what matters most of it would have been maximum honesty. What I found difficult to accept in this book was that the 'Born Again' community take on a marriage and human physicality/sensuality is explained in similar terms to the teenage limits of understanding the human body and mind, when there is a language available to us which is much more grown up, much more spiritual, and much clearer about the good and the bad. When God calls us to be grown up in our dealings with ourselves and each other, and in particular with our language we should step forward in faith, this author didn't. The author uses the most awkward and abstract scientific language to describe acts that I would understand were natural as part of foreplay. In the world of this book married partners don't even kiss. Generally the author seemed in this book to want married Christians, and particularly married Born Again Christians to actively dislike and disown their own bodies for God's sake. I can see that there is a case for that, e.g. St Paul's dislike of his body and wish to make it an instrument for God, and St Paul burned with evangelism rather than accept marriage and take on the obligations thereof. I also think the author is plain wrong about sex.Sex exists as part of companionship and companionship exists 'Because Man should not be alone' (Genesis Ch2 Vs 18). Companionship is what relives loneliness, If we devalue companionship in all it's richness, for instance in the name of 'being born again', then we make it inevitable than sex will take companionship's place in marriage and in all relationships. Then both men and women will feel alone regardless of their marital status. Nor does companionship does mean marriage according the rules of the nation state a person lives in, and/or the customs of the church a person belongs to. Companionship in faith means exercising trust in another person in all that you do, most of which will not be sexual, either directly or indirectly. If any wants to be born again and distrust their own own body what are they really born of? It is not a spirit which includes trust of the self and nor can the person they trust trust them back if body hatred is an integral part of faith.This book has three stars for the author's honesty about himself, about a star per page if we count pages 108 to 111. As for the rest, I will not live by the rules for being 'Born Again' as they were apparently written in 1977. Incarnation means physicality, sexuality, and spirituality, in a mix that defies full description. And God, the world, and The Churches have all moved on since 1977 - as indeed they should. May they all keep on changing, and leave the immature language behind.

Yip.. read, will read again... but didnt get me over my "Christian libido Crucifixion". Its well written, not too liberal nor too fundamentalist. It is Bible relevant and in a language which those familiar which Christian terms ect should enjoy. Worth the pennys for a second hand copy.

Book fell apart when opened

Excellent book, easy to read. I first read this book when I was a student at University back in the 1980s. Now as a mother of teenagers it is great to be able to get the teaching on sex and sexuality all in one place.