Review of Alex Sanchez Book "The God Box"

Review by Barb Anderson
June  2011

Using misinformation, deception, and outright lies, The God Box is a novel written to steer youth—chapter by chapter—to the conclusion that homosexuality is normal, inborn, and that any person or institution (like the church) who teaches otherwise is homophobic and hateful.

The story begins with the main character Paul (who is dating Angie) questioning his sexuality—especially when he meets the new student Manuel who is openly “gay.”  Paul and Manuel both have a Mexican heritage in common.

“I tried not to stare at Manuel.  What was the strange pull I felt toward him, almost like some force stronger than my own?” (page 2)

Paul is also a member of the on-campus Bible Club in his school.  Elizabeth, one of Paul’s friends from Bible Club questions Manuel.

“You mean you’re a practicing homosexual?”  Manual replies, “Well, actually, I think I’ve got the hang of it by now.” (page 6)

“But you can’t be homosexual and Christian,” Elizabeth sputtered.” That’s impossible!”  (page 6)

Elizabeth is portrayed as a strict, unloving Christian who refuses to even sit with Manuel because “he’s living in sin.” Cliff is another character who is described as “a fundamentalist minister’s son.” who “…believed passionately in the inerrancy of the Bible.”  (page19) 

“Anytime anyone questioned the literalness of a passage, Cliff debated it vehemently.”  (page 23)

“Cliff’s and Elizabeth’s comments hadn’t totally surprised me.  Their attitudes about gay people were the same as those I’d heard at church and Sunday school—and just as unsettling if not worse.” (page 28)

Manuel, however, knows all the same scripture verses, and throughout the story manages to give Bible verses a new twist to include acceptance of homosexuality. 

Paul attends a charismatic church with his father.  The kind of church where “People started speaking in tongues, received the laying on of hands, and fell backward…” (page 45).  It is called the I Am The Way Church, and is the church where he prays to ask Jesus to come and live in his heart while the choir sings the famous Billy Graham Crusade hymn Just As I Am.  (page 46)

In chapter 10 we find out the significance of the “God Box.”  When Manual stops over to visit Paul, he notices a little maple-wood box in Paul’s room.  On the lid is carved the Serenity Prayer:

            God, grant me the serenity

            To accept the things I cannot change,

            Courage to change the things I can,

            And the wisdom to know the difference.

Paul explains to Manuel that his pa had given him the box as a place to insert specific written prayer requests—giving his problems up to the Lord.  All the things Paul had prayed and stressed over somehow get resolved except for one thing in the box—his struggle with his sexual feelings. (page 50)

Manual tells Paul that he misses his boyfriend that he left behind in the town that he moved from.  He said that they were the first same-sex couple in his school and no one did anything about it.  Manuel said, “It was fun.”  (page 52)  Paul thinks:

“The feeling of being a fraud returned.  Even though I knew Manuel and his boyfriend were sinning by being gay, I couldn’t help wondering:  Weren’t they being more honest than I was with Angie?…What would it feel like to have a boyfriend?  I wondered.  What would it feel like to dance with a boy?” (pages 52-53)

When Paul cautions Manuel to stop flirting with him, Manuel responds:

 “I’m just being myself.  You want me to hide my light under a bushel?” (page 55)

Paul becomes more confused and remembers the words of his Abuelita—his grandmother:

“Sometimes, when God doesn’t answer our prayers, it doesn’t mean he didn’t hear us; it just means he has a different plan for us.” (page 57)

In Chapter 12, Paul tries to ignore Manuel’s phone calls because he feels that Manuel is messing with his mind too much.

“One moment I wanted to shake him and say, ‘Stop being gay!  It’s wrong.’  But the next minute I was mesmerized by stories about him and his boyfriend, Bryan.  Like how they’d kissed the first time at a movie theater and ended up making out so much that neither could remember how the film ended.  Or how they’d slow danced together at junior prom and their principal nearly had a coronary….He was opening up something inside me that I didn’t want opened up.” (pages 58-59)

In chapter 13, Paul is invited over to Manuel’s house where he is surprised that upon meeting his family that they all seem so normal. In Manuel’s bedroom he sees a Bible on his nightstand.  The posters on the walls in his room are of openly gay stars:  Elton John, k.d. lang, George Michael, Melissa Etheridge…  On his bulletin board was a quote from someone named Lynn Lavner who said:

“The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals.  That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love heterosexuals.  It’s just that they need more supervision.” (page 63)

Manuel explained to Paul that he realized he was “gay” when his father caught him making out with a boy in eighth grade.  When his dad said that boys don’t normally kiss other boys, Manuel announced, “I guess I’m gay.”  His father replied “We’ll always love you no matter what.”  His sister replied, “Really?  That’s cool.”(pages 63-64)

Paul tells Manuel that being gay is a sin and that Manuel will go to hell.  Manual replies:

“No, That doesn’t make sense.  Ever since I first started going to church nursery school, I was taught that God loves me just as I am, just as my mom and dad love me, no matter what.  So…why on earth would a good and loving God create ten percent of people with a sex drive oriented toward the same gender, and at the same time condemn them to hell for it?” (page 64)

Notice Manuel’s use of the inflated ten percent statistic.  The real percentage is less than two percent.

By page 64 in chapter 13, the homosexual indoctrination and deception is poured on quite heavily.  Paul is now totally confused because he had always been told that gay people were godless and to him his friend Manual wasn’t.  Manuel continues:

“The logic of condemning people for how they were born is just…just…backward.  It’s like when they used to blame lepers or mentally ill people, claiming that God was punishing them. Why should I believe that I’m sick or sinful or going to hell for something I didn’t choose and can’t change?  I don’t buy that.”  (page 64)

When Paul says that it is not proved that people are born gay, Manuel argues that it is not proved that people are born straight, either.  When Paul says that homosexuality is unnatural, Manuel protests:

“Is it?…Do you know that homosexual courtship, mating, and parenting are scientifically documented in more than four hundred fifty animal species?…What’s unnatural is homophobia.  Homo sapiens is the only species in all of nature that responds with hate to homosexuality.”  (page 65)

When Paul asks about AIDS, Manuel replies:

“And as for AIDS…it’s hurt a lot more straight than gay people, including millions of children.  And do you realize lesbians have the lowest HIV rate of any group?  If AIDS is a punishment from God, then he must love lesbians!..To link gay people and AIDS is simply…’—he paused as if measuring his words—‘…ignorant.’” (pages 65-66)

Note:  The writer ignores the CDC report that nearly one in five men who have sex with men (MSM) are infected with the HIV virus. 

By the end of chapter 13, the brainwashing is complete.  Paul sates:

“Manuel was taking every church view I’d heard against homosexuality and blowing it away—blowing me away….Could Manuel possibly be right?  I whispered to Jesus.” (page 66)

Chapter 14 continues the confusion and distortion of Scripture:

“Manuel shook his head and sat down beside me.  ‘How is love between two people a sin?  Love isn’t about gender; it’s about two souls uniting.  But okay, let’s just suppose it is a sin.  Then isn’t that between God and the people involved?  Who are you to judge?  Isn’t that the whole point in John’s story of the woman taken in adultery?’”  (page 68)

“ ‘You know the most amazing thing about Jesus?’ Manuel exclaimed.  ‘It’s not that he performed miracles.  It’s that he was who he was, no matter what…He had the courage to be himself…He was true to who he was—always and everywhere—and that’s what he calls us to do.  To follow Jesus means that we’ve got to be real.’” (page 68)

“This gospel according to Manuel was unlike any I’d ever heard.  Pastor Jose and my Christian friends often spoke about Jesus being real to us, but I’d never heard them talk about Jesus calling us to be real.” (page 68)

“ ‘Are you real?”  Manuel asked, peering at me with his soul searching look. ‘Who are you, really?’”  I stared at him, no longer knowing.  Who was I?  Who did God create me to be?  Was I truly a born-again Christian straight boy being tempted by the sin of homosexuality?  Or was I trying to be somebody I wasn’t because I couldn’t accept who I really was?” (page 69)

Chapter 15 shows the effect Manuel’s indoctrination is having on Paul.

“Even when we argued, it felt as though Manuel was reaching part of my mind and heart that had never been touched before.”  (page 71)

In Chapter 16, the distortion of Scripture resumes once again.  Manuel changes the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah to that of rape—not homosexuality.  Manuel says that he is looking at Scripture “without a homophobe bias.” (page 78)  When a friend insists that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, Manuel replies, “and does that make you inerrant to interpret it?” (page 78)  Several other Biblical passages are deconstructed as well including verses in Leviticus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zephaniah and Romans.

At the end of Chapter 17, Paul describes his head as a jumble of thoughts and says that Manuel has opened his eyes “to reading Bible passages in a way I’d never read them before…” That night he thinks about his best friends’ plan to start a GSA.  (page 87)

By the end of Chapter 20, Paul asks himself, “Was I falling in love with Manuel?” (page 98)

In Chapter 21 while at a movie with Manuel, Paul questions, “Why was it considered so wrong to hold another guy’s hand?  During my fourth-grade field trip to the Grace Museum in Abilene, everyone had paired up with a buddy.  For the whole day I held a boy’s hand, and not one had thought anything about it.  At what age had it become sinful?” (page 101)

Chapter 23 tears apart Scripture once again—dismantling Romans One.  Paul questions, “But why would God create people gay?”  Manuel replies, “The Creator loves diversity.  Did you know that there are species that have neither male nor female, only hermaphrodites?  And organisms that transform from one gender to the other during the course of their lives?” (page 111)

At the end of Chapter 23, Manuel offers a solution to Paul who continues to wonder whether he is gay—check out the porn sites.  He suggests “Both gay and straight sites.  See which turn you on more.  That’ll help you.” (page 112)

Chapter 24 again focuses on distorting St. Paul’s condemnation of homosexuality

“In the passage St. Paul clearly stated that he thought same-sex acts were ‘unnatural.’ But what about what Manuel had said about same-sex behavior being found abundantly in nature?  And if same-sex desire weren’t ‘natural,’ then why had I had these feeling toward guys since middle school?  …Plus, how could I ‘give up’ natural relations with women if I’d never felt the desire for them in the first place?” (page 116)

At the end of Chapter 24 after referring to passages in I Corinthians, Jude and 2 Peter, Paul concludes: 

“From everything I could find, that was the sum of the Bible’s allusions to homosexuality—none of the passages clear or specific.  And not a single one addressed a loving same-sex relationship….If God was truly so against homosexuality, why hadn’t it made his Top Ten?  And since the Bible wasn’t clear, why did so many people us it so unequivocally to condemn gay people?...But if the church and its interpretation of the Bible were wrong about homosexuality, then what else might they be saying that wasn’t true?  How could I trust anything they said?” (page118)

In chapter 25, Paul is introduced to pornography.  The chapter begins:

“My mind churned with doubts about the Bible…Everything I thought I believed in—now seemed called into question...Should I check out some porn sites?  I was probably the only seventeen-year-old boy on the planet who had never looked at porn…Now Manuel’s idea sort of felt like permission.  Maybe he was right.  Maybe just a little peek could help me to resolve my sexuality once and for all.”  (page 119)

“My hand trembled as I opened the browser search engine and typed:  P…O…R…N. Within seconds, a page came up listing 154,368,529 entries.  My breathing stopped.  Where to start?” (page 120)

“ Taking a deep breath, I clicked on a link.  The site that popped up taunted me:  Choose either ‘Horny Babes’ or ‘Hot Hunks.’ (page 120)

“Instantly, an orgy of naked buys appeared on the screen, doing things I’d never even imagined.  Up until that moment I had never really thought about precisely how guys had gay sex.  My fantasies had never gotten that far.  The mere thought of being in another guy’s arms, my body pressed against his as we kissed, had been enough to propel me into ecstasy.” (page 120).

Now I gazed in open-jawed amazement.  The chiseled guys on-screen were doing stuff with each other that made me nearly burst through my pants.”  (page 120).

“I clicked back to the ‘Hot Hunks’ site.  Instant wood.  Quickly I closed the browser again.”  (page 121)

At the end of Chapter 25, Paul writes a prayer to accept Jesus as “Lord and savior” and put the paper in his God Box. (page 122)

Chapter 26 begins in Paul’s government class where the topic discussed is the proposed amendment to make same-sex marriage unconstitutional. (page 123).  Paul states:

“During afternoon classes, I barely paid attention.  My thoughts swirled between porn sites, same-sex marriage, transsexuals, and the GSA.”  (page 125)

In Chapter 28, Paul questions Manuel as to whether people can change from gay to straight.  Manuel replies:

“ ‘I believe people can change some things…But not how you’re sexually hardwired.  Maybe you can avoid sex with guys, and maybe you can even perform with a girl, but that won’t change the fact that you’re gay.  It’s like wanting to change from being left-handed.’” (page 139)

When Paul says that being gay is wrong  (page 139), Manuel states firmly:

“No, Gay isn’t wrong or right.  It just is.  What’s wrong is hating yourself because of it.  You’re going to spend more time with yourself than with anyone else in your life.  You want to send that whole time fight who you are? Do you really think that’s what God wants?  If she didn’t want people to be gay, then why were we born that way?” (page 139)

Manuel mocks the fact that ex-gays exist and suggests that ex-gay organizations are not legit.  (page 140)

Chapter 30 pursues the ‘choice’ argument:

“Even if sexual orientation were a choice, aren’t we a country where we’re supposed to be free to pursue our happiness, whether we’re hetero-, homo-, bi-, trans-, or even a-sexual?”  (page 152)

Chapter 31 talks about the Christian Bible study students who are trying to stop the GSA. (page 156)

Chapter 33 refers to an article written about Manuel where he explains his philosophy:

“Every person is different in some way.  That’s what makes us each special. I want to urge other gay and bi students to come out.  Even if it’s just to one friend, letting out that huge secret is such a freeing feeling.  Like Jesus said in John’s Gospel, ‘The truth shall make you free.’” (page 165)

Chapter 35 shows that even Paul’s grandmother, Abuelita, can accept homosexuality and does not believe people should try to change.  She states:

“Anyone who expects a person to change something as private and personal as who they hold in their arms at night needs to change their own judgmental attitude…The Bible says a lot more against judging others than against homosexuality.”  (page 171)

In Chapter 36, Manuel continues to pursue Paul.  While at a movie together, Paul reacts to Manuel’s advances:

“Sweat trickled down my back, and Manuel’s fingers gently stroked mine.  His touch felt softer than I had expected.  And, as though my hand had a mind of its own, it turned over.  Our palms touched and my heart beat so loud I thought certain everyone in the theater would hear it.”  (page 175)

“Manuel wiped a raindrop from his face and gave me a long look. ‘I want you. I like you. A lot.  Isn’t that obvious?’” (page 177)

Paul replies, “It’s wrong!”

“ ‘No.’ Manuel’s tone was firm. ‘What’s wrong is you putting yourself into a box that you won’t let yourself out of, or me into.’” (page 177)

“ ‘All your talk about what the Bible says…’Manuel stepped around to face me.  ‘What about Jesus’ second commandment? “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  You think that love means using a girl to pretend you’re something you’re not?’” (page 177)

In Chapter 38, Manuel is attacked by two guys with a tire iron and is seriously injured. (page 183)  He is admitted to the hospital.  At the end of Chapter 40, Paul pleads with Manuel.

“ ‘Please don’t die,’ I now whispered to him from behind the glass of the ICU window.  ‘I need you so much.  I want to love, but what if I can’t?  What if I don’t know how?  You’ve got to teach me, I need you to teach me.’” (page 198)

In Chapter 42 Paul picks up his Bible and reads Romans 8:38-39 where St. Paul says, “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul concludes that even his gay feelings will not separate him from God and that perhaps he had actually been resisting God’s love by not accepting who he was, and that St. Paul, too, had a secret thorn so shameful that he never specified it.  (page 204).  At the end of the chapter he says “inside me a seismic shift was occurring.”  (page 205)

In Chapter 43, Paul admits to his girlfriend Angie that he is gay.  She is very accepting of his revelation to her.  (page 207)  Paul states:

“It had been so scary to tell her, ‘I’m gay’—like I was casting off a mask I’d worn for years and finally letting someone see the real me.  And yet I felt oddly stronger now, as though I’d finally stepped into my own skin instead of wanting to crawl out of it.” (page 209)

In Chapter 44 Paul tells his dad that he is gay.  He is surprised that his father, like Angie, is not shocked or angry and appears to be very accepting of his sexual identity.

Chapter 45 begins with Paul stating, “’Thank you Jesus, for giving me the strength and courage to be honest.’  I still wasn’t convinced it was God’s will for me to be gay, but I felt set free.” (page 214)

During one of his hospital visits to see Manuel, a nurse asks him to help bathe Manuel.  Manuel thinks, “At first I felt a little embarrassed at the thought of seeing him naked, especially when I recalled how lust-crazed I’d gotten from merely seeing his bare arms….There were other afternoons when I helped to clean and change him after he had soiled himself.”  (page 215)

In Chapter 46 it is Sunday morning and Pastor Jose gives a heavy hitting sermon about homosexuality in response to hearing that students are forming a homosexual club at Longhorn High.  (page 219)

“Pastor’s voice rose with passion. ‘But neither can we allow a sinful school club to seduce our children into a destructive lifestyle that can only led to death and damnation….What’s next?  An incest, bestiality , and pornography club?’” (page 220)

“ ‘Just as almighty God destroyed Sodom for its wickedness…today Jesus calls on us…to speak out and stop this vile and profane homosexual club.’” (page 221)

Paul, sitting in church with his pa that morning, tells his father that what the pastor said is not true and that the club isn’t what he says.  Pa stands up to the pastor and says, “Pastor, you’re wrong” and walks out of the church with Paul. (page 221)

In Chapter 47, Paul makes this comment about his pastor:  “Instead of preaching against the GSA and the sinful lifestyle of homosexuals, why didn’t he preach about the destructive lifestyle of homophobia?” (page 224)

Once again Paul is in the hospital seeing Manuel.  On page 225 Manuel requests that Paul kiss him. 

“Bracing myself on the silver bed rail, I leaned over and touched my lips to his.  It wasn’t a hard kiss, or very long, but it held my whole heart.  And with that gentle kiss, all my doubts, guilt, and uncertainties vanished for a moment, replaced by a million possibilities.  This was how it was supposed to feel:  natural and real.  It was how I was supposed to feel—to have life and have it more abundantly….When I leaned back up, Manuel’s one good eye was twinkling at me with mischief.  And all I could think was, Thank you, God.”  (page 225)

At the end of Chapter 50, Paul tells his grandmother, Abuelita, that he is in love with Manuel.  This is her response:

“She reached out with her frail arms and hugged me.  ‘Mi amor, I’m so happy for you.’  Then with her finger she gently poked at my heart.  ‘Now let yourself be happy too.’  She kissed my cheek.  And as she waddled away, I had this odd thought, about how Manuel sometimes called God ‘she.’  Maybe he was right.”  (page 232)

Chapter 51 focuses on the GSA—how the churches are united against it, but that according to the ACLU, it must be allowed.  While Cliff and Elizabeth lead a group in prayer in the hallway against the GSA, another group of students chant, “Pray, pray, pray, pray!  It won’t change people being gay.  Jesus loves them anyway!” (page 234)

The first meeting of the GSA is held and they discuss homophobia and how to create more tolerance—such a holding the Day of Silence since gay students risk being bullied.  (page 235)

In chapter 52, when Manuel asks Paul to prom and Paul seems fearful, Manuel asks:

“Are you ever going to stop living in fear?… ‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.’” (page 238)

Chapter 53 is prom night.  As Manuel and Paul dance, the writer states:  “Our eyes met and locked, taking me back to that first morning in homeroom.  Suddenly I understood the pull I had felt that day—and ever since.  It was love, beyond all reason.” (page 242)

By chapter 54, Manuel and Paul are officially boyfriends and Paul starts going to Manuel’s church.  Here in Pastor Ruth’s congregation they can hold hands and not be judged by other people. (page 245)

Angie has now met a new friend named Frank.  When she tells Frank that her best friend is a “gay guy,” he replies, “Actually, um, my moms are lesbians.”  Paul remembers what Angie taught him:   “If you truly love someone, you want them to be happy, no matter who they’re with.”  (page 246)

At the end of chapter 54—the last chapter in the book—Paul reflects on the childhood church he left a year ago.  These are his thoughts and the message the writer leaves with the young people reading this book.

“I think I did kind of die that night, to so many things that I had been taught to believe:  that the Lord condemns gay people, that homosexuality is a sin, and that being gay is a choice.  By buying into that story I had learned—slowly and subtly—to hate who I was.”

“I had had to let go of those old ideas and admit that I didn’tknow God’s will and could never be completely certain of it.  All I could do was surrender, so that Jesus could enter my heart—not on my terms, but on his.”

“I’m on that new path now, learning to love and accept myself as God created me.  After all my prayers for change, uttered and stuffed into my little box, God did change me—just not the way I’d wanted.  I still don’t understand why I’m gay, but now I accept what I always knew inside my heart:  It’s just how I am.” (page 247)

The story concludes with Paul dreaming of becoming a minister someday. He decides to just wait patiently for God’s will while “taking hold of Manuel’s hand.”  (page 248)

In conclusion:  The God Box is a book designed to purposefully challenge the morality, values and Christian beliefs of vulnerable youth.  It promotes homosexuality and may push children into prematurely embracing a sexual identity that can potentially damage their physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual health.  Reading the book could result in a casual, loose approach to sex as well as encourage the use of Internet porn.