Ask the Pastor with J.D. Greear

Pastor J.D. discusses whether our attitude toward the United States should be one of pride or of shame. A glimpse inside this episode: Another way to frame this question is, What is the right attitude to have toward the United States—pride or shame? I would say: the answer is yes, but not because of our genetics, race, or national character. We are sinful, weak people like everyone else and have been driven by the same greed. Are we chosen by God, like a new Israel? No. But, we were gifted with a Constitution that was rooted in many Christian principles that made us thrive. Ordered liberty, Judeo-Christian morality, Protestant work ethic, dignity and self-reliance, limited government with checks and balances (recognizing universal human depravity and that all leaders need checks and balances). Those are not just a blessing to us, they are a blessing to anyone and they always lead to flourishing wherever they are fully embraced. Islam doesn’t lead to that (or other theocracies) Communism/socialism doesn’t lead to that Let me reverse the question for the cynic: How else do you explain America’s prosperity? Either our founding ideas were superior or our genetics were. I go with the former. And yes, we benefited from lucky coincidences (America’s vast resources, two ocean buffers) and from sin (slavery), but neither of those alone accounts for America’s stunning successes. Our view of humanity and government is exceptional, and it is freely available to all. Look at what happened to S Korea and Japan when they adopted it. So the United States isn’t better than other countries because of our race, or because God has chosen us. But are you saying that our Constitution makes it better than other countries? The question to focus on is, “Is there anything exceptional about the ideas that America are founded on? And do those ideas uniquely contribute to human flourishing? Or are all government charters equally alike?  I say, “Yes, American ideas are exceptional which has contributed to some unique moments of flourishing.” The true pluralist says “no.” Saying American ideas are exceptional is like saying the colors of our flag are exceptional. It’s just preference. The only reason America has prospered is slavery and exploitation.” But you can’t explain it away like that. Other civilizations have had just as much slavery/exploitation, and it hasn’t led to flourishing. Caribbean. And Thomas Sowell: no other civilization has reversed itself on slavery. Ultimately, it was biblical ideas that led to the overthrow of slavery; the same ideas that caused us to flourish I get we can be patriots and nationalists in an unhealthy way. But I think it is biblical in many ways to love the idea–or many of the ideas embodied in–America. Eric Metaxas: “If we do not love America and teach our children to love America—as God loves her—we can never love the world beyond our shores and can never teach our children to do the same. And that, precisely, is our promise. That is the promise of America. It is why we came into existence and it is why we have flourished and why we must continue to do so.”

Pastor J.D. talks about this rising issue, learning how to find Sabbath rest, and four ways of rest we need every day. A glimpse inside this episode: 1,500 pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or strife in their churches. 80% of pastors’ spouses feel their spouse is overworked. 80% wish their spouse would choose another profession. The majority of pastor’s wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry. Idolatry Rest in Christ: In Christ, you can rest even while you’re working. Without him, you’ll work even while you’re resting. A big key to not being burned out is learning to find Sabbath rest, and a big part of Sabbath rest is learning to find yourself in Christ. Beyond that, we have a failure to take an actual Sabbath: It is inconvenient! Psalm 127 Four kinds of rest you need every day: Physical A recent study found that a 30-minute nap three times a week cuts your heart attack risk by 40%. Other studies have shown that people who nap are actually more productive. A recent CNN study showed that those who work 11-hour days are 250% more likely to become depressed than those who limit their work 8-hour days. The reason is that when you are under work stress your body releases a certain amount of chemicals and hormones to deal with it—which is fine in normal rhythms but when you work too much it literally poisons your body, throwing off your levels and leading you more anxiety and depression. Especially for those in ministry: Archibald Hart: 30 minutes up front releases same amount of chemicals as 8 hours of labor   Those who study these things say that the vast majority of us need to be getting more sleep, not less. They say, “Only 1–3 % of the population is sleeping too much.” Historical context: Up until 1879, the average American used to sleep 11 hours a night.  What changed in 1879? Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb. Which is great, but it was then we started to sleep less. PHONE and LIGHT Our lack of sleep contributes to all kinds of health problems—and even makes us less efficient. I was watching this TED talk that explained that your brain doesn’t have blood vessels in it, which is how most of your cells remove waste. There is an enzyme the brain produces that carries away waste, and that enzyme is only produced in sleep. Which is why when you haven’t slept your minds feels cluttered and clunky. Mental Winston Churchill painted. Best way to rest is get really tired doing something you don’t typically do. “We need more ‘active’ rest – the kind that can make us more alert and effective, reduce our stress levels, and give us a better chance of a healthier and longer life.” Social One night a week you spend with people you like Our decision to move into community Spiritual Prayer time Working on vs. Working in the Church We do both. The temptation is to only do the former, but the real rewards of the body of Christ come from the latter. I once knew a prominent megachurch pastor who often spoke of how he only worked “on” the church not “in” any longer—i.e. little personal evangelism, no personal discipleship, small groups, etc. His greatest contribution was working on the structures and big picture. Being in full-time ministry means that the balance of our lives shifts to “working on,” but we should maintain a level of “working in.”

Pastor J.D. looks at the creation narrative and explains that an open Bible and an open mind are key when contemplating the concept of evolution. A glimpse inside this episode: The short answer is, “Yes.” This is one of those areas where Christians should be free to disagree. There are many conservative Bible scholars who believe in something like evolution. Notable theistic evolutionists: Alistair McGrath, Francis Collins, and maybe Tim Keller(?) Others do not. But they are able to remain in close fellowship with one another, because this is not a “first order” issue. I have serious problems with theistic evolution, but I don’t consider it a first order issue. Now, just because we can charitably disagree doesn’t mean this discussion is irrelevant. It has a lot of implications for how we read Scripture, which makes it crucial. If you are a Christian who believes in evolution, you’ll have to believe in what’s called “theistic evolution”—that even though the earth is billions of years old and it took millions of years for animals to come to their present form, God was orchestrating it. Hence theistic evolution—God + evolution. Now, many conservative scholars have issues with this. For instance, Wayne Grudem has an article called “12 Ideas You Must Embrace to Affirm Theistic Evolution.” His whole point is that if you affirm theistic evolution, you deny basic principles that are plain in Scripture, such as: Adam and Eve were not the first human beings, were born from human parents. God didn’t act directly or specially to create Adam out of dust from the ground; God didn’t act directly to create Eve from a rib taken from Adam’s side. Adam and Eve did not commit the first human sins because human beings were doing morally evil things long before Adam and Eve existed. (and weren’t sinless) Human death did not begin as a result of Adam’s sin because human beings existed long before Adam and Eve and they were always subject to death. Not all human beings have descended from Adam and Eve for there were thousands of other human beings on the earth at the time that God chose two of them and called them Adam and Eve. God did not directly act in the natural world to create different kinds of fish, birds, and land animals. God never created an originally very good natural world—a safe environment, free of thorns, thistles, and other harmful things. After Adam and Eve sinned, God did not place any curse on the world that changed the workings of the natural world, making it more hostile to mankind. According to Grudem, this position is just too fraught with problems for a serious Bible reader. Doesn’t Genesis 1 teach that God created the world in six literal days? Many people look to Genesis 1 and they want to know timelines. Are we talking about 24-hour periods here? Or does each day represent a period of time—millions of years, perhaps? Maybe there were gaps somewhere along the way? This is one of those questions that some Christians take very seriously. It often acts as a litmus test for whether you’re a “real” Christian at all. With all due respect to those who consider this a Priority One issue, I don’t believe that Genesis 1 itself gives us enough to come to rock solid answers about the creation timetable. Remember: whenever you’re interpreting a passage of Scripture, you have to ask why it was written before you pepper that passage with questions. If you start with the wrong questions, you’re not going to get to the right answers. And it appears rather obvious that the author of Genesis 1 was not intending to weigh in on the scientific nuances of our contemporary creation v. evolution debate. The focus of Genesis 1 is not specifically how God created, but that he created. It’s an artistic celebration, not a scientific documentation. When it comes to the age of the earth, that’s a question that scientists and theologians should explore together. I know godly, biblically faithful theologians who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and who think that the timetable of Genesis 1 was not a literal week (which, by the way, isn’t a new interpretation, but is a position that has been around since the first few centuries of Christianity). I know some who think that God used evolution as a part of that process. And I know highly intelligent, scientifically sophisticated, erudite scholars who believe that each of the days in Genesis 1 are literal days. My encouragement to everyone in this discussion is to study it out with an open Bible and an open mind—and not to look at other believers wrestling, in sincerity and faith, with disdain. If you believe in a literal 24-day in Genesis 1, don’t view your brothers and sisters who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible but approach interpreting Genesis 1 differently than you do as “enemies of the faith” or “compromisers of the truth.” That’s not always true. And if you don’t believe in a literal 24-hour day, don’t look down your nose on others as “primitive, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals.” That’s not always true, either. Be charitable and assume that others are trying to be faithful to God’s Word and God’s world, just like you are. God’s Scripture is never wrong. But we theologians and scientists often are. So we’ve got to resist the temptation to turn into a dogma a question that Scripture did not intend to settle. As Christians, we can agree: the universe is not the result of blind, random forces (NOT nothing x nobody = everything); God is the miraculous author and creator of all we see. That’s actually a significant common ground. Great book: 40 Questions on Evolution and Creation by Ken Keathley and Mark Rooker, two of my professors at SEBTS

Pastor J.D. discusses the common struggle of anxiety and what Scripture has to say about it. A glimpse inside this episode: When it comes to anxiety and depression, many people create a false dichotomy. Either this is a biological and chemical issue, or it’s 100% a spiritual one. But that’s simply not the case. God made us a “psychosomatic unity,” which simply means it is impossible to separate, at least on earth, our souls and our bodies, and what happens in one inevitably affects the other. For example—very simple example: You ever realize how unspiritual you get when you haven’t gotten enough sleep, or when you are hungry? I told you a couple of weeks ago, I can get really impatient and rude with people when I’m hangry. Now, in one sense, you could call that a spiritual problem, right? Nothing should justify my being rude. But the truth is, my rudeness—which is a soul problem—is being triggered and exacerbated by my physical condition. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t pray for more patience, just that I should probably also take a nap and eat a Snickers bar. It’s like one of my professors used to say, “Sometimes the best thing that you can do for your spiritual life is get a good night sleep.” (Now, to be clear, I’m not saying that what I experience when I’m hungry is the same as what you experience if you’re walking through depression or anxiety. Nor am I saying these problems can be fixed as simply. I’m just making the point that there is a lot going on in any emotion, factors that are not only spiritual and physical, but also psychological and social! To reduce the experience of anxiety down to only one of these factors is simply irresponsible. That’s why, at our church, we not only preach on the spiritual aspects of anxiety and depression, but we also offer ministries that focus more holistically on these struggles. And we encourage people to incorporate medical care into their mental health plan. How to deal with spiritual depression: Think on the promises of God. One of my favorites is Lamentations 3. I see four major pieces of instruction in it: 1.  Call to mind the goodness of God (vs. 21–23) 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Don’t you love this image of the new morning? God’s mercies and faithfulness are like the sun coming up new every morning, washing away the shadows and the darkness of the night! Today may feel like a terribly dark, never-ending night of mistakes and despair. But God’s mercies rise new and fresh every morning. If you’re not dead, God’s not done! His mercies are brand new this morning—and they will be again tomorrow morning. Your emotions may be telling you that there is nothing ahead but darkness and despair, but you must call to mind that Jesus got out of the grave which means he has good plans for you and your family, and ultimately your story will end in victory and not defeat. (Preach this glorious gospel to yourself. The most influential person in your life is you because you talk to yourself the most.) 2.  Learn any lessons God is trying to teach you (vs. 26–28) 3.  Realize that God’s plans are ultimately for good and for blessing (vs. 24, 32)  4.  Get up tomorrow and look for the goodness of God (vs. 22) How about anxiety? Matthew 6 Anxiety thinks too little of God (Matthew 6:24–29). It elevates the obtaining of other things besides him as essential for the good life. Jesus says: The good life is more than making a lot of money; it is more than good career choices and successful parenting techniques and finding the right person… (Or, as Jesus said, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”) The good life is walking with God and letting him provide all those things. It also thinks too little of God’s control. Not one hair… Anxiety minimizes how much God thinks of me (Matthew 6:26, 30) Isaiah 49:16, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? (Has that ever happened?) Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” What more would God have to do to prove his commitment to you? This reminds me of my kids sometimes on vacation—after spending the day at Disney World we are 30 minutes behind when we would normally eat dinner, and my kids say, “Dad, are we not going to eat?” And I’m like, “You think I brought you this whole way to starve you? Isn’t just being here proof of my commitment to you? Do you know how much it cost to get you here? Do you think I’m standing in a 2-hour line to ride Dumbo for 90 seconds for me? Surely if I care enough to bring you on vacation, I care enough to keep you fed. Not that this has happened recently… Surely if God cares enough for us to send his Son to the cross to die in humiliation for us we can trust him with our bills, our spouses and the future of our families. Anxiety usually is a false prophet (Matthew 6:27, 34). It offers false solutions, makes false promises and offers false predictions. Anxiety is a false prophet because the vast majority of the things we worry about never take place! You worry about 1000 things that never take place. I’ve heard it described as paying interest on a debt you may not even owe. Or like hearing the threatening music in the soundtrack of your life when there is actually no danger. I remember watching a scary movie with my wife and they are in some peaceful scene by the lake and all of the sudden the ominous music starts and you know it’s about it to go down. And I told Veronica that it would be great if I could have ominous music play when something bad was about to happen me. Like when some relationship was really going to go bad, when I first met (her) this sinister music would play in my ears… and I’d know, “This is not going to turn out well.”)  That would have been great in college. And then I realized the bigger problem was that ominous music plays in my heart when there is nothing for me to be scared of! Think about how many things you worry about that never happened! Psalm 27:13: it’s not wrong to be an optimist. ______________________________________________________ Sponsor: Blackbaud Church Management connects your staff and congregation, ensuring deeper relationships and effective ministry. To see how to connect your church community with one holistic system, visit hello.blackbaud.com/blackbaudchurchmanagement.

Pastor J.D. shares about the generosity matrix and how that can help us view finances biblically. A glimpse inside this episode: Short answer: Yes People like Abraham; Job at the beginning and end of his life; David; not to mention Solomon! Randy Alcorn points out in his book Money, Possessions, and Eternity that it is clear that some of Jesus’ early disciples were people of substantial means. Luke goes out of his way to point out three wealthy women who funded him: Mary, Joanna (who was Herod’s household manager), and Susanna. Some of Jesus’ followers in Acts evidently had large houses, as we know they hosted early church gatherings. Paul often addressed rich people in his letters. He didn’t tell them to get rid of everything immediately; he told them to be generous and to their hope in heaven and not on their wealth. Two extremes: The first one is that God wants 10 percent (that’s called the tithe–based on OT principle that the first 10% goes back to God); so, you give that, and after that, you’ve mostly fulfilled your duty and you can do whatever you want with the rest. It’s like a God-tax. After you pay it, you’re free. At the other end are those who assume that whatever we are giving, we could and should be giving more. They assume that God’s only real purpose with our money is spreading the gospel and relieving world poverty, and in light of so much poverty and the lostness of the world, if there’s something we could give away and still survive, we probably should.  Illus. John Wesley famously took down all the pictures on his wall because he felt like they were the “blood of the poor.” Each picture on the wall was another orphan he might have brought in from the cold. Or, do you remember that really stirring scene in the movie Schindler’s List where Liam Neeson, who is playing Schindler, looks at his watch and remorsefully says, “This watch … this watch could have freed two Jews.” Basically that. You see everything you have through the lens of what it could have done and feel guilty for not having given it. I think Scripture teaches us to view our possessions through a matrix—a set of principles we must hold in tension. We like rules, formulas, and black and white prescriptions. Instead, the Bible gives complementary values we should prize in our hearts. Individual decisions arise out of processing them through that matrix. Jesus’ generosity to us is a model for our own (2 Corinthians 8) God gives us richly all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6) God gives excess to some to share with others (2 Corinthians 8) It can be wise to build wealth. “The crown of the wise is their wealth.” (Proverbs 14:24) “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance.” (21:5) “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine” (3:9–10) “Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways … she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.” (and saves it) (6:6–8) “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” (13:22) Treasures in heaven are better than treasures on earth Look to God, not money, as your source of security and significance Two personality types: Money and birds Put God first Follow the Holy Spirit Any one of these principles, taken alone, will lead you out of balance. But holding all of these principles in reverent tension can provide you with a balanced and biblical approach to your money. God gives excess to some so that they can share with those who have less. Those of us who have been given more have the responsibility to share with those given less. The Bible teaches this all over the place, but one key place is Paul’s instruction in 2 Corinthians 8:13–15, where Paul uses the story of the manna to tell the Corinthians that those with excess should give to those with want. We should not hoard our materials or gorge ourselves with God’s provisions today, for, at the end of each day, it will all go bad, just as it did with the manna. Jesus’ generosity is the model and motivation for our generosity. Jesus did not merely tithe his blood, he gave all of it. Our responsibility is not to give up our 10 percent and go on our self-serving ways but to pour out our entire lives, recklessly, for him and for others, just as he did for us. God doesn’t give us more to increase our standard of living, but our standard of giving. The Holy Spirit must guide us as to which sacrifices we are to make. Not everything in heaven has your name on it … but something does. This is why the Pentecostals mobilize so well for missions. (And what is true for missions motivation is true for giving motivation, too.) In giving, I depend on the guidance of the Spirit. Otherwise, every time I hear someone speaking about some mission, I feel like, “Why shouldn’t I be a part of that?” God delights in our enjoyment of his material gifts and gives us richly all things to enjoy. Proverbs says he gives food and wine (fruit juices for us Baptists) to gladden our hearts, not just to nourish our bodies. Food is a gift of God that is about more than just life; it is about enjoyment. Psalm 35:27 says, “The Lord… delights in the well-being of his servant”(NIV). Like a good father, God loves to watch us enjoy the gifts He has given to us. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 says that God gives us richly all things to enjoy. In other words, God loves it when I bite into the succulent richness of a horseradish-crusted prime rib and every taste bud screams out in thanksgiving to God, etc. This can be taken out of balance, but it is a biblical principle. We are not to trust in riches and not to define our lives by the abundance of our possessions. Money is the top competitor with God for two things in our lives: security and meaning. Savers v. Spenders (and a third category … stewards) Wealth building is wise. Consider these clear instructions in Proverbs. “The crown of the wise is their wealth.” (14:24 ESV) “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance.” (21:5) “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.” (13:22) Proverbs 13:22 goes so far as to say that a wise man can leave an inheritance that blesses even his grandchildren! That’s a pretty significant wad of cash. Now again, if you held this principle alone and not in tension with the others, you’ll hoard money and not be generous—which is opposed to the other principles here. But we should also note that saving money and building wealth can actually increase your ability to be generous later. If you take all of those 6 principles into account, I believe the life that most glorifies God is one in which you live sufficiently and give extravagantly. ______________________________________________________ Sponsor: Blackbaud Church Management connects your staff and congregation, ensuring deeper relationships and effective ministry. To see how to connect your church community with one holistic system, visit hello.blackbaud.com/blackbaudchurchmanagement.

Pastor J.D. talks about whether aliens are a possibility or a mere figment of the imagination. A glimpse inside this episode: Our faith doesn’t rise and fall with this question, so we have some liberty here. It’s not in our church’s statement of beliefs. C.S. Lewis seemed to keep the option open, and he’s smart … so there’s that. Evolutionists say yes: the likelihood of that much space. Stephen Jay Gould thought we should stop trying to send out signals because they in all likelihood would be hostile Astronomers estimate the number of stars at more than 3,000 billion trillion. Mathematicians says Septillion. 24 0’s. Now, if you’re like me, numbers like million, billion, trillion, or a septillion tend to sound all the same after a while. One million seconds ago. Do you know what you were doing a million seconds ago? 11 days ago.  What about a billion seconds ago? Do you remember what you were doing then? That’s 31 years and 8 months ago. Some of you, of course, can’t remember what you were doing then because there was no “you” to speak of. Sometime in the 1980s. The compact disc player had just been released. Rambo was saving our world from certain destruction. The Jedi were returning for the first time. How about a trillion seconds ago? How long ago do you think that would be? A couple centuries back? A trillion seconds ago was 29,672 BC. The 1st Rocky movie had just come out. And there are as many as 40,000,000,000 (40 billion) potentially habitable planets. So the likelihood is high. But: Anthropomorphic/Goldilocks Principals (chances are low) Creation thought: Did God really waste that much space? But: (Lewis: God creates for himself). Plus, according to Genesis 1, man is the center of creation: God created the Sun, Moon, and stars to give light (brightening the utter darkness of the night sky) and to assist mankind (see Genesis 1:14-15). Throughout Scripture: This centrality of man continues. “Thou dost make him [man] to rule over the works of thy hands, you have put all things under his feet” (Psalms 8:3,6). Why so many stars for these purposes? Is it any big thing to God? Plus, God says that all of Creation exists to declare the glory of God! Psalm 19:1. The very vastness of space declares to us the awesome power and majesty of God! The more we know the more we say with David in Psalm 8: “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth, Who hast displayed your splendor above the heavens! …When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, The moon and the stars (I say)…O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth!” Also: The Bible tells us that one day we will rule even angels, and the 2nd member of the Trinity became a man and now sits on the throne of the universe. It’s hard to read Scripture in a way that allows for other races. The Bible also pretty clearly indicates that God’s plan for mankind and the universe itself are intertwined. When Christ returns, he’ll destroy this universe and the Bible talks about a “…new Heaven and a new earth” (2 Peter 3:7, 10). So, what does that mean for aliens? Well, because the Bible talks about the destruction of the earth and the universe and the re-creation of a “new Heaven and the new earth”, it seems unlikely and unfair that there would be other life on other planets whose reality still revolves around us. Distant planets would be destroyed by God because of his plan for Earth. The implication of Scripture is that there are no other intelligent beings besides man, animals, and the angels.” I’m not sure we could TOTALLY close the door on other intelligent life, but another rebellious race that God gave himself for? That’s hard to integrate with Scripture. Practical question: If there were, could we ever be visited? Based on the physics of the universe, hard to imagine. The closest star to the Earth, Proxima Centauri (a-Centauri C) is 40.7 million million kilometers (approximately 25 million million miles) away. The Apollo flights took three days to get to the moon. At the same speed, one would need 870,000 years to get to the nearest star. Of course, one could accelerate (particularly unmanned) probes to a greater speed. At the incredible speed of one-tenth the speed of light, the trip, one way would still take 43 years. However, one would need enormous amounts of energy for such an acceleration, roughly equivalent to the electricity consumption of the entire world’s population for one month. Furthermore, in every cubic kilometer of space, there are an estimated 100,000 dust particles (made up of silicates and ice) weighing only a tenth of a gram. At such a velocity, colliding with even one of these tiny objects could destroy a spaceship. What is behind all the sightings? I don’t know. People’s imaginations. But something to consider, Sociologist Gerald Eberlain said: Research has shown that people who are not affiliated with any church, but who claim they are religious, are particularly susceptible to the possible existence of extraterrestrials. For them, UFOlogy is a substitute religion. Furthermore, in Ephesians the devil is called the “prince of the power of the air.” As Dr. Werner Gitt points out, “The devil has his own repertoire of deception in the form of various occult practices and a multitude of religious rites. It could be that behind those unexplainable UFO reports there is the work of the arch-deceiver.” All that to say: Believing in the possibility of aliens is probably fine, though questionable at best. But obsession over them might indicate something troubling for a Christian. We don’t need beings from another planet to save us; We’ve already had a heavenly being walk in our midst.

Pastor J.D. discusses transgenderism, gender ambiguity, and the concept of pronoun hospitality. A glimpse inside this episode: Old maxim: Behind every question is a questioner. When I hear a question like this, I immediately imagine the sort of person asking it. Sometimes it may be someone trying to pick a fight. But behind those who identify as transgender, that experience is invariably a person filled with confusion, pain, and rejection. Sadly, the church has often failed to be the sanctuary of the hurting for people in the LGBTQ community. We need to acknowledge that and repent of it. Behind every case of ssa or gender dysphoria is a question about unanswered prayer. Before we talk about trans pronouns, I think it may be helpful to talk a little bit about transgenderism more broadly. Two excellent books (that far excel my own knowledge here): Ryan Anderson, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment He deals with these questions (about sex vs. gender, pronoun usage, etc) in a very straightforward while (usually) grace-filled way. Andrew Walker, God and the Transgender Debate. 1. What determines your gender? Anatomy? Identity?  The real answer is genetics: However things look on the outside, sex (male/female) is hardwired into our DNA. But since the external manifestations of sex do not always cohere with the genetics, scientists use the helpful phrase, “genetic sex.” This refers to whether a person has XY or XX chromosomes. Genetic sex is established at conception, and is a binary. Despite advances in medical technology, there is still no way of altering this, as it is a part of our DNA. No matter what sexual reassignment surgeries people undergo, or what hormonal supplements they take, they will always have the genetic sex they did at conception. There are periodic mutations in which individuals get other unconventional combinations (besides XX or XY), the most common of which is XXY. (This is called Klinefelter syndrome.) But even though this is the most common genetic sex disorder, it only occurs in about 1 in 1,000 men—and most of them never manifest symptoms. If they do manifest symptoms, it is usually via infertility. All told, when it comes to genetic sex, at the DNA level, there really is just male and female. QUESTION 2. What about ambiguous Genitalia and the “Intersexual” Now, when it comes to external anatomy, the situation is slightly different. Sometimes a genetically female child will have an enlarged clitoris (resembling a penis), or a genetically male child will lack one (or both) testicles. In most of these cases, the abnormality is minor and can be corrected surgically. This is sometimes referred to as “ambiguous genitalia,” though some people with this condition prefer the title “intersexual.” Again, the numbers here are very small. Only 1 in 1,000 babies undergoes corrective surgery for genitalia abnormalities. Not all cases of ambiguous genitalia require corrective surgery, of course, so the number of instances may be higher—though only slightly so. But here’s the important thing to note here: those who identify as transgender are nearly always not those with abnormalities in genetic and anatomical sex. Even the “Intersex Society of North America” admits that transgendered people “have an internal experience of gender identity that is different from most people,” not an identity based on their ambiguous anatomical makeup. It’s not found by looking within. Our hearts are inclined to be deceitful, not trustworthy (cf. Jeremiah 17:9). And as Tim Keller has shown in his recent book, Making Sense of God, the more we look within for our identity, the more we get confused, toggling between elation and despair. Our identity is formed by our Creator. We are who he has declared us to be. QUESTION 3: OK, the pronoun question… Andrew Walker, God and the Transgender Debate “Christians disagree—hopefully charitably—about pronoun usage. Some think that as a personal courtesy, you should refer to a transgender person by their preferred pronoun. … Others think that it is wrong to inject further confusion into a person’s situation by referring to them with a pronoun that is not aligned with their biological sex.” In other words, there is a spectrum of generosity of spirit vs. telling truth I tend toward generosity of spirit. Andrew Walker: “My own position is that if a transgender person comes to your church, it is fine to refer to them by their preferred pronoun. .. If and when this person desires greater involvement or membership in the church, a church leader will need to meet with them and talk about how they identify. … The best solution is to avoid pronouns altogether if possible. Calling a person by their legal name or preferred name is more acceptable because names are not objectively gendered, but change from culture to culture.” Best if you use the proper name over and over, even if it means it sounds weird Preston Sprinkle, who heads up The Center for Faith, Sexuality, and Gender, has a similar approach: He calls it “pronoun hospitality.”  The Bible appears to use accommodating language. ACTS 17. We know there is only one God. You might find a correlation in “wives” in polygamous society / to a divorced man: “your adulteress” I wouldn’t invest too much into language–”oh, I am lying” You can be clear in other ways. “I’ll argue in this paper that the most biblical response to transgender people’s pronouns is a posture of unequivocal pronoun hospitality.” That is, I believe that all Christians can and should use pronouns that reflect the expressed gender identities of transgender people, regardless of our views about gender identity ethics. If a person identifies herself to you as ‘she,’ I hope you will consider it an act of Christ-like love to call her ‘she’ out of respect, whether or not you believe that the way she expresses her gender identity is honoring to God” (11.1). “What does it look like for people who think differently about gender identity ethics to speak truthfully and effectively about one another? This paper considers the common reasons given by Christian conservatives for rejecting the idea of pronoun hospitality, then challenges two assumptions about the nature of language that such arguments make and lays out an affirmative case for pronoun hospitality based in a robust understanding of how language works” (11.1). “Christian arguments against pronoun accommodation—that is, using the pronouns with which trans people identify—are generally rooted in the importance of truth-telling. According to this view of language, the purpose of a pronoun is to make a statement about a person’s appointed sex” (11.4). “Whereas [the truth-telling position] emphasizes the importance of truthfulness for the sake of personal integrity before God, Andrew Walker’s position focuses primarily on how his truthfulness will impact others who are listening to his words” (11.5). “The arguments against pronoun accommodation summarized above all rely on two important assumptions about the nature of language. These assumptions are all the more powerful because they remain unstated: Assumption #1: Pronoun gender always and only refers to an individual’s appointed sex. Assumption #2: When our definitions of words differ from other people’s definitions, ‘telling the truth’ means using our own definitions” (11.6). “When we apply Paul’s linguistic approach to the pronouns we use about transgender people, I believe we arrive at a posture of pronoun hospitality: a willingness to accommodate the pronouns of our transgender neighbors regardless of our own views about the Christian ethics of gender identity” (11.10). Based off of Acts 17

Pastor J.D. explains why slavery isn’t a problem we should brush aside and how we should view it through the lens of Scripture. A glimpse inside this episode: I want to start by pointing out that this isn’t a problem we should just brush aside. It’s a good thing for us to be offended at depictions of slavery, even in the Bible. We ought to be troubled by things and not explain them away… So, for instance, when we hear the basic story of the first slave described in the OT (Hagar), we are rightly troubled. Abraham sleeps with his wife’s slave girl. That’s not just slavery; that’s sex slavery. We ought to be troubled by things and not explain them away… I get it. There’s a sense in which you don’t want to judge people of old by today’s understanding, I get that. But you don’t want to lose the horror of it. That people in the NT like Philemon didn’t immediately recognize the injustice of the practice. A couple of key concepts to keep in mind: There is a big difference between description and prescription. In other words, just because the Bible talks about it, doesn’t mean the Bible approves of it. Actually, it’s quite the opposite. When Abraham took Hagar as a sex slave, the results were disastrous for everyone involved. Preferring the older brother Here’s another: Progressive Revelation It’s the recognition that Scripture sometimes left deficient systems in place, while planting the seeds into the system of its undoing. For example, here’s one we don’t often think about: primogeniture, where the eldest son got all the inheritance and the younger son got the shaft, was clearly practiced in the OT. But in Genesis, God always chose the younger. God subtly overturned the system. Many scholars see something similar happening throughout the Bible with slavery. When we look to slavery in the Bible, there are three things we need to keep in mind: 1. In the NT, the “bondservant” practice of the 1st century is nothing like what we think of when we say, “slave” (i.e. where you take someone captive and force them into labor.) That kind of slavery is explicitly condemned in the Bible: “Anyone who kidnaps another and sells him must be put to death” (Ex. 21:16). Or, in 1 Tim 1:8–10 Paul puts slave traders in the same category as those who kill their parents, adulterers, perjurers, and perverts. So, that can’t be the kind of servant Onesimus was. This was more like what we think of as indentured servanthood; and it was part of the economic system in Rome. If someone became extremely poor, or consumed with debt, the only thing left for them to sell was their labor. So in agreement for paying off debts and the promise of provision they would sell themselves to a wealthy person like Philemon. Now, that’s not to say this was a good system, or that it ever part of God’s plan… 2. The New Testament subverts the entire premise of (any form of) slavery.  The entire NT ethic can be summarized as, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” It calls us to treat one another as “brothers and sisters,” and tells us that in Christ there is neither “slave nor free.” That new view of humanity would ultimately undo any form of slavery. The ground is level at the foot of the cross: one RACE: human. One CLASS: sinner. One HOPE: JESUS. One FUTURE: resurrection. One FORTUNE: the eternal riches of Christ. 3. Rather than issuing a political manifesto, God planted seeds which undid the current order. Had God said, “This system is wrong; get rid of it now,” Jesus followers may have focused exclusively on political action. (And there is a time to work politically). But God had a different way of going about his agenda on earth: he was transforming the world from within, and the place he started was in the church. Eventually, this new vision of humanity will transform the whole society, but it starts in the church. Even the slave masters recognized the push of the Bible toward liberation! In the Museum of the Bible, I saw “The Slave Bible” where they had cut out large sections of Old and New Testament they thought would push the slaves toward desires for freedom! D.A. Carson says that the best work on slavery is by an African-American scholar named Thomas Sowell. Massive: 3 vols. He points out slavery was universal. The terrible European slave trade trafficked 11 million Africans; but twice that many were bought and sold on the Arabian Peninsula during that same time period. Furthermore, he says, almost every slave he says sold in the European slave trade were enslaved and sold to them by other Africans. So, in other words, slavery was a nearly universal problem. Here’s how Sowell put it:  Thomas Sowell on slavery: “Although slavery was a worldwide institution for thousands of years, nowhere in the world was slavery a controversial issue prior to the 18th century. People of every race and color were enslaved – and enslaved others. White people were still being bought and sold as slaves in the Ottoman Empire, decades after American blacks were freed. Everyone hated the idea of being a slave but few had any qualms about enslaving others. Slavery was just not an issue, not even among intellectuals, much less among political leaders, until the 18th century – and then it was an issue only in Western civilization. Among those who turned against slavery in the 18th century were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and other American leaders. You could research all of the 18th century Africa or Asia or the Middle East without finding any comparable rejection of slavery there.”   Why, he asks? Slavery is universal, but what stopped slavery it in the West? His answer? Undeniably, the Great Awakening: The preaching of men like John Wesley and the reforms of Christian statesman William Wilberforce. The gospel plants seeds that ultimately undid the broken systems of the world from within. Yes, Christians have been hypocritical with this down through history. But when they really reckoned with the gospel (as in the Great Awakening), it brought the entire system of slavery down on its head!

Pastor J.D. discusses some misconceptions and implications regarding the issue of masturbation. A glimpse inside this episode: A friend of mine named Todd Wagner offered some helpful clarification for what it’s not: The unforgivable sin An unavoidable sin (1 Corinthians 10:13) A single man’s struggle (70% of married people—men and women—struggle with this question) A male problem (89% of women struggle with masturbation) FYI: “Onan’s” sin in Genesis 38 was not the sin of masturbation. What we do know: Lust is sinful. The classic Protestant answer follows a relatively simple syllogism: Lusting after women is a sin. It is difficult to masturbate without looking at or imagining a woman who is not your wife. Ergo, masturbation should be discouraged. But what if I think of something else while I’m masturbating? Not entirely possible–how God wired it. John Piper: “I know there are nocturnal emissions, which I regard as innocent and helpful, but I doubt that they are ever orgasmic apart from a sexual dream that supplies the necessary image in the mind. Evidently God has constituted the connection between sexual orgasm and sexual thought in such a way that the force and pleasure of orgasm is dependent on the thought or images in our minds.” Something else: It can be dangerous because it can be addictive. The physical act of orgasm releases certain chemicals (oxytocin, epinephrine, etc.). It has become a legitimate addiction for many people. We shouldn’t play with it. Hooked—it’s not a Christian book, but a scientific study written by a couple of neurologists showing how sexual stimulation rewires the brain Also, it objectifies the opposite sex and reduces sex to an erotic pleasure What about thinking of my spouse during masturbation? If a woman gives her husband permission to do this—maybe during a long military deployment—this is different, but I would still discourage it. Romans 8:12 says we are not under obligation to our flesh. Don’t be captive. Good news of God’s grace: We shouldn’t beat people up because of their sin. But we shouldn’t indulge their sin either.

Pastor J.D. talks about whether the legal use of marijuana is wise or helpful for Christians. A glimpse inside this episode: In the past, this was an easy enough question, because marijuana was illegal. It wasn’t a “gray area” for Christians. The drug was illegal, so it was off-limits to those who are “subject to the governing authorities” (Rom. 13:1). But as recreational marijuana becomes legal in more states, some Christians are having conversations about whether there could be an acceptable use. While the Bible never mentions marijuana, it does prohibit intoxication. If one hit of marijuana makes you high, there’s no way to smoke it and obey the Bible’s commands against drunkenness. No drug should not move us to the point of losing control. But that’s much of the intrigue and mystique of marijuana. Furthermore, marijuana has been demonstrated to have a lot of addictive qualities, more so than alcohol and nicotine, and Paul says: “Though all things are lawful, but I will not be ruled by them.” So, on the whole, it’s just hard to see how this could ever be wise. And that’s the wisest question: Is it helpful? I will add: marijuana use makes you demonstrably dumber. I mean, so does watching the Bachelor or 5–6 hours of golf. But it’s not a helpful variable in this equation. One deeper issue: the effects of marijuana work against the kind of community we should seek in the body of Christ. In Ephesians, Paul contrasts being drunk with wine vs. filled with the Spirit. That’s not an accidental comparison. Both are ways you deal with stress and problems. Wine (and we could add marijuana) dull your awareness of reality. The Spirit heightens your awareness of an alternate reality–the promises of the gospel and the sovereignty of God. And you speak those to one another in the church, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Some who speak from experience say that getting high “pulls you within yourself, causes you to become more disengaged, not only from people, but also from life in general.” One says: “Before I was a Christian, I smoked marijuana to . . . disengage from both people and issues.” One guy said: “By causing users to disengage from life, marijuana works against the love of neighbor Jesus commands. Christians seeking to honor God with their lives would do well to avoid it.