Category Archives: Gender

LGBT: what does it mean to be ‘welcoming but not affirming’?

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In the eyes of many, the idea that churches can take a ‘welcoming but not affirming’ attitude towards LGBT people is absurd.  It inevitably leads to treating people as second class Christians, tolerated but not fully integrated into the life of the church.

The perceived absurdity is compounded by the myth that only two possibilities exist: either that of full and unconditional acceptance and affirmation, or that of rejection.  Any kind of middle ground is rarely explored.…

The Baptist pastor and his transgender friends

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In this video, Baptist pastor Mark Wingfield speaks about his experience of spending several months studying issues around transgender people.  He then wrote an article: ‘Seven things I’m learning about transgender persons.’  The article had, at the time the video was recorded, been read by over a million people.  Over 450 people had responded in writing or by phone to it.  A number of these were transgender persons, and their friends and families.  Mark Wingfield was then moved to meet some of these transgender people face-to-face, and valued friendships were forged. …

Recommended tactics for trans lobbyists

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How is it that a small number of organisations have achieved so much influence, in such a short period of time, over public policy regarding trans issues?  How is it that we have been expected to affirm non-binary gender identities, support transition, provide gender-neutral toilets, and use language (pronouns, especially) in new kinds of ways, when we feel that we were not asked for our opinions about these things?

How is it, in other words, that the trans agenda seems to have overtaken us?…

Advice for parents in today’s transgender culture

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Dr Sharon James works for The Christian Institute, and is author Gender Ideology: What Do Christians Need to Know (Christian Focus Publications)

What follows is based on this post.

A growing number of adolescents – mainly girls – are experiencing ‘rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ (ROGD).  Such youngsters often belong to a group of friends, most or all of them identify as transgender at around the same time.

A peer group (either real or virtual) fosters the mutual belief that anxiety and unhappiness may be caused by being ‘transgender’, and that ‘gender transition’ will provide the solution.

…

God’s good plan for men and women: our unfinished business

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If the Christian church is to adhere to (or recover) God’s good plan for men and women, then its pastoral care and witness will need some clarification and strengthening in a number of areas.

For example, we need to ask, How can we more effectively

  • witness to God’s good purposes in our own marriages and families?
  • recognise the distinctive roles of husbands and wives?
  • nurture young people who are capable of faithful covenant relationships?
  • honour both married and single people in the family of the church?
…

What are biblical masculinity and femininity?

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According to John Piper,

‘At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for, and protect women in ways appropriate to a man’s differing relationships.’

and,

‘At the heart of mature femininity is a freeing disposition to affirm, receive, and nurture strength and leadership from worthy men in ways appropriate to a woman’s differing relationships.’

It is not difficult to find fault with these definitions.  The most obvious complaint would be that they focus too much on the single issue of leadership. …

Sex in Genesis 2:18-25

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Summarising this, by Martin Davie.

  1. Humanity has always been sexually differentiated.  The man was always a man, and the woman was a woman from the moment she was formed from his side.
  2. Men and women can only fulfil their God given vocation together.  Even as he carried out his God-given work in the garden (Gen 2:15), it was ‘not good’ for the man to be alone (Gen 2:18).
  3. Men and women are suitable helpers for one another because they share in an equal humanity. 
…

How do I speak to a friend who is transitioning?

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What language is to be used to speak to, or about, a friend who is transitioning to the other gender?

Without answering this question directly, J. Alan Branch urges us to consider both the implications of Scripture and the requirements of compassion.

So, if I choose not to conform to transgender vocabulary, I might ask:

‘First, have I prayed for the person in question and are my actions motivated by love both for the truth and for the person?…

Does the end of slavery spell the end of patriarchy?

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The argument goes like this: the Bible does not outright condemn slavery, but it sows the seeds for its eventual demise.  There is a ‘hermeneutical trajectory’; a ‘redemptive spirit’ that leads inexorably (if painfully slowly) to abolition.

The same is true (it is argued) with regard to male and female roles.  The Bible assumes, but does not prescribe, some kind of hierarchical structure.  But the same ‘trajectory’, or ‘redemptive spirit’ leads us to abolish that structure, and to treat men and women just the same.…

Transgender 6 – Wisdom

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We’re not meant to face our struggles alone.  We’re meant to face them within the family of God.

If you’re a Christian who experiences gender dysphoria, remember that this does not define you.  You are defined by who you are in Christ.  Our goal, aided by the Holy Spirit, is to align our desires and behaviours in line with that identity.

A Christian church should respond by warmly welcoming everyone, just as Jesus did.  According to Acts, the first Gentile to become a Christian was a eunuch.…