“This incredibly beautiful, yet scarred woman was a bright ray of sunshine in that hospital bed. She could have been bitter… But every single day, Katherine and her husband Jay are pointing others to the Lord… Katherine is a living example that God’s grace really can be sufficient even when you’ve lost a great deal.” -Joni Eareckson Tada
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Should churches “dialogue” about sexuality?
As the PCUSA moves to conform itself to the world, Rod Dreher has a shrewd observation about the same-sex marriage debate within mainline denominations. The debate often begins with the liberals calling for more dialogue about the issue. He writes:
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Don’t waste your life in pornolescence
Tim Challies has a helpful, pastoral word about young people who are wasting the best years of their lives on pornography. He calls it “pornolescence.” He writes: An overlooked cost, and one that will only become clear in time, is that porn is stealing the best years from a million young Christian men and women. Porn is dominating their lives during their teens and twenties. It is controlling their lives during those years when energy is high and responsibility is low, when the world lies open before them and the possibilities are endless, when they are charting the trajectories for the rest of their lives. Their dreams and their abilities…
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Transgender and “Washed in the Blood”?
Alexandra Scott has a piece over at The Huffington Post that takes issue with the statement Southern Baptists made last week about transgender. Scott identifies as transgender and as a former Southern Baptist. Scott concludes with this: I am really curious why the SBC needs to establish such sharp boundaries, so many lines that cannot be crossed. Why can’t you worry about your eternal salvation and let me worry about mine? Is the sight of a transgender person or a gay couple so vexing and disturbing that somehow your world is rocked beyond repair? Why do you care if people different from you seek validation?
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Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
Laura Hillenbrand’s book Unbroken is easily one of the best books I’ve ever experienced. I love biographies, but this one is a stand-out. I first heard about this book years ago but only recently took the time to go through it myself. I just finished it Friday evening. If you are unfamiliar with the story, the book is about the life and times of Louie Zamperini, a 1936 Olympian and hero of World War II. His story is larger than life, painted on a global canvas, encompassing the heights of human triumph and the depths of human degradation. In short, Zamperini went from juvenile delinquent to Olympian (who met Hitler!)…
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10 ways to love your transgender neighbor
On Tuesday, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution “On Transgender Identity” that calls for Christians to “love our transgender neighbors” and to “seek their good always.” But what does that look like in practical terms? In light of that question, I thought it might be useful to post some reflections on how we might love our transgender neighbors. I’m sure there is more that might be added to such a list, but here are ten ways to love your transgender neighbor.
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The Daily Beast says SBC resolution is “harmful to the idea of democracy itself”
At The Daily Beast, Jay Michaelson excoriates the resolution on transgender passed by Southern Baptists earlier this week. His article is riddled with factual errors, not the least of which is the fact that he seems not to have read the actual resolution. Instead, he quotes from an early draft containing elements that did not end up in the final resolution. To wit, there’s nothing in the resolution about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, but Michaelson criticizes it as if there were.
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Good: The Joy of Christian Manhood and Womanhood
Desiring God Ministries and CBMW have just produced a new book celebrating biblical manhood and womanhood. It’s edited by Owen Strachan and Jonathan Parnell, and it’s titled Good: The Joy of Christian Manhood and Womanhood. I’ve got a chapter in it on transgender, which you can read here. John Piper penned a nostalgic forward to the book that takes a look back at just how much has changed among evangelicals since he and Wayne Grudem first edited Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood twenty-six years ago. Grateful for the fruit of that work, Piper concludes with this: I commend this book to you, and pray that the beauty of the vision,…
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Southern Baptists pass resolution on transgender
Last week, I wrote about a resolution that I proposed to the Southern Baptist Convention (along with my co-sponsor Andrew Walker). This morning, the resolutions committee included a revised version in their slate of resolutions for 2014 annual meeting. I think they did a fine job with it and offered many helpful improvements to the text that we sent them. The final draft of resolution #9 titled “On Transgender Identity” is printed below. The messengers just voted overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution. In fact, I couldn’t see a single ballot raised against it.
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The future of evangelical reflection on same-sex orientation
Last week, Matthew Vines had an extended interaction with Sam Allberry’s review of God and the Gay Christian. Vines digs his heals in and defends the main thesis of his book while critiquing Allberry’s book Is God anti-gay? Those who have read my own review of Vines’s book will not be surprised that I find much to disagree with in Vines’s remarks. He continues to argue that same-sex orientation is a morally neutral—and even praiseworthy—category of desire. I won’t rehearse all my reasons for disagreement but simply direct the reader to my earlier review. It’s worth mentioning, however, that I find myself in agreement with Vines about one thing (though…