Breakpoint

Recently, a denominational leader said to me that the best thing that the Church could do to handle the challenges of this cultural moment would be to "stay in its lane." That the so-called "culture wars" have been grueling, and the Church is primarily called to spread the Gospel. That when it comes to the most controversial issues, the best strategy is non-confrontation and to focus on what is most important. I think I know what he meant. There's certainly truth to the idea that Christians overemphasize politics. As I've said on more than one occasion, politics makes a lousy worldview. In a culture without better answers to life's biggest questions, politics too easily assumes the place of God, determining everything from our values to our sources of truth to who we're willing to associate with. When Christians embrace a political identity rather than a Kingdom identity, the riches of Christ are exchanged for the porridge of political gamesmanship. However, telling the Church to just "stay in our lane" and out of politics is an equally unhelpful answer. Typically, the "stay in your lane" mandate is only applied to unpopular issues, like abortion, marriage and family, or religious freedom. No one ever tells the Church to stop fighting against sex trafficking, or to no longer dig wells for communities without fresh water, or to cease sustainable economic development in impoverished nations. Christians should absolutely engage worthy causes because the Lordship of Christ and the implications of the Gospel demand it, not because they are deemed culturally uncontroversial. Historically, the Church's shining moments have often come in direct conflict with dominant cultural beliefs and practice. The Roman world needed Christians to take in abandoned children and oppose the gladiatorial games, precisely because the pressure was enormous to do exactly the opposite. When we engage with culturally acceptable causes but "stay in our lane" on unpopular ones, we fail the tests of courage and integrity. It also exposes a Church that loves the approval of our neighbors more than we love them, and wants to fill pews more than practice what is good and true. Also, every law and state action reflect a worldview and are based on consequential assumptions about human value, the nature and purpose of sex, what and how children should be raised, the scope of the state, and a million other things. The question is never whether politics will operate from worldview assumptions, but which worldview it will operate from. Systems that value work, protect human life, and allow for dissenting voices instead of silencing them will always be superior to systems that don't. Therefore, Christians should engage the political "lane" as a way to love God and to love our neighbors. However, the biggest issue with this "stay in your lane" approach to the Church is the question of what exactly the Christian lane is in the first place. Dutch statesman and theologian Abraham Kuyper put it best: "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!" In other words, because the head of the Church is Christ, who is Lord of everything, Christ's lane is the entire cosmos. The Scriptures are clear on this. Colossians 1 states that Christ is "before all things and in Him all things hold together." God was pleased through Christ "to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood shed on the cross." This means it all belongs to Him. Christian musicians should make music as if God is sitting next to them on the piano bench. Christian bakers should make sourdough as if God is going to have a slice. Christian citizens of a democratic republic should strive, with humility and wisdom, to influence and govern and live together as if Christ is over it all, because He is. We contend for the wellbeing of our neighbors, even when it's unpopular. The question isn't whether Christians should engage politically, but whether we will do it well. We don't live in a theocracy, and pastors aren't policy makers. But Christians are to apply God's truth about everything to everything. So, Christian, stay in your lane: do the good works which God has ordained for us to do from the foundations of the world. Just know that they encompass every conceivable aspect of human existence.

John and Shane discuss the place of the Olympics in framing our national identity and how we often objectify athletes as patriotic symbols akin to soldiers. This in the light of a recent situation where star gymnast Simone Biles took a mental health break from the Olympics, giving up her spot to other teammates to compete. Shane also asks John to expand upon recent BreakPoint commentaries, specifically one piece about a new sexual identity called "Demisexual." John then considers another that looked at a call to strip parental rights from moms and dads who challenge their children's desires regarding transgender chemical and surgical procedures.. To close, Shane asks John about recent court judgments that seem outlandish. In reply, John suggests that the religious freedom court cases are likely to land in the Supreme Court, and points out that many conservative lawyers and scholars are rallying with strong and surprising legal opinions against these threats to core freedoms. -- Story References -- Simone Biles Withdraws from Olympics Citing Mental Health When Simone Biles scratched most of the Olympic team final, she said it was not because of a physical injury, but her mental health. This doesn't mean she felt sad, or didn't have her heart in it to compete. It means that her psychological state put her at significant physical risk. If her brain wouldn't play along with what her body knows how to do, she could be seriously injured. CNN>> All I want to say about Simone Biles is this. She is a young woman. She is truly a remarkable young woman. Her achievements are extraordinary. What's more, she's endured some dreadful things. If she were my daughter, I would be extremely proud of her. Right now, I wouldn't be giving her a lecture or even advice. I'd be giving her a hug. She's a young woman--still a girl, really. And an amazing one. And what she needs right now is simply support and encouragement--not evaluation, or assessment, or disapproval, or (for that matter) even approval of choices or decisions she's made. Just support. Just a hug, really. ~ Dr. Robert George -- What Does "Demisexual" Say about Christian Hope? Earlier this month, Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo, daughter of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, announced that she now identifies as "demisexual." As she described in the interview, her journey has gone from identifying as straight to identifying as bisexual to identifying as pansexual to now, finally, demisexual. This latest identification refers to someone who is sexually attracted only to people with whom one has formed an emotional attachment. BreakPoint>> Journal of Medical Ethics Says Parents Should Lose Rights Over Children The Journal of Medical Ethics recently released a formal paper in which they argued that parents should lose their rights to care for their children. The paper referenced an article by Dr. Lauren Notini showing a supposed benefit in treating minors with so-called gender-affirming surgeries. BreakPoint>> -- Mississippi Challenges Roe at the Supreme Court Last Thursday, two months after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear what could be the most significant challenge to Roe v. Wade to date, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch submitted a brief clarifying how this case could impact the abortion debate. "Under the Constitution," she wrote, "may a State prohibit elective abortions before viability? Yes. Why? Because nothing in constitutional text, structure, history, or tradition supports a right to abortion." BreakPoint>> -- In Show Mentions -- When Will It Stop? 10th Circuit Rules Colorado Can Compel and Censor This Web DesignerAlliance Defending Freedom 10th District Written Decision on 303 Creative Decision -- Recommendations -- Upstream Podcast>> 10 More Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson>>

We are inundated with stories proclaiming, and often celebrating, the decline of Christianity and Christian morality. Headlines announce the rise of the "nones," the redefinition (and reimagination) of marriage and family, the cultural triumph of the LGBTQ+ movement, and a million other ways Christianity is losing its cultural privilege and influence. On and on it goes. An important factor to remember is that although America has been the leader of the Christian world for much of the last century, Christianity does stand or fall with America. When we look at the wider global picture, Christianity is more than alive and well. In fact, it is growing at an unprecedented rate. Consider the continent of Africa, which is poised to become the leader of world Christianity. According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, the number of Christians in Africa is increasing at a rate of 2.81 percent per year. That may not sound like much, but the compounding effect is huge. In 1900, there were about 9.5 million Christians in Africa; by 1970, that had risen to over 140 million. Today, the number is nearly 685 million, over twice the population of the United States. In Asia, Christianity is growing at 1.5 percent per year, with over 100 million more Christians there than in North America. By 2030, it is estimated that there will be more Christians in China than in the United States, though with the current wave of persecutions, precise tracking of these numbers is impossible. We are also seeing disciple making movements throughout the Muslim world for the first time in history. As David Garrison has documented, we are seeing large scale movements to Christianity in all the major segments of the Islamic world. In fact, the fastest growing branch of the Church in the world is in Iran. One Iranian Christian described the situation in his country: What if I told you Islam is dead? What if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran? What if I told you no one follows Islam inside of Iran? Would you believe me? This is exactly what is happening inside of Iran. God is moving powerfully inside of Iran. Of course, this growth in numbers comes with a corresponding increase in persecution. Where God is at work, Satan resists. The death toll is probably highest in Nigeria, with nearly 2,000 killed in 2021 alone. There's also heavy persecution in other African countries, along with North Korea, China, across the Muslim world, South Asia, and too many other places to name. The global Church also faces challenges that come from the rapid growth itself. Syncretism, the combining of Christianity with other beliefs, has been a problem in the Church from the first centuries, and has continued whenever and wherever the Gospel enters a new area. Bad theological ideas from the West like Word of Faith and the prosperity gospel often make inroads into Christian communities around the world, particularly poorer areas. Drawing the line between the prosperity gospel and a reliance on expectant prayer is a tricky task for leaders in these regions. This is where we can help. One strength of the Western church is its long history of theological and exegetical thought. Training Global South leaders in these areas can help new believers from going off the rails. At the same time, there is plenty that Western Christians should learn from our brothers and sisters around the world. As Glenn Sunshine and Jerry Trousdale outline in their book, The Kingdom Unleashed, we need to recover the kind of supernatural worldview that they have retained, but we have lost. Lacking other resources, they rely on God for their needs and the guidance of Scripture for their practices. Their prayer lives put ours to shame. They follow Jesus' model for making disciples rather than following the habits that have developed in American traditions. They understand evangelism as making disciples and discipleship in terms of loving Jesus enough to obey Him. Still, be encouraged. The True Aslan is on the move and amazing things are happening around the world as His Kingdom advances. And know this: God has the same power here as in Africa. Christ is as much on the throne here as He is anywhere else. He can do here what He is doing in so many other parts of the world.

Last week, A friend forwarded me a letter circulating in his community. It called for him to apologize for his race and placed on him the burden of hundreds of years of institutional racism and past injustices. There was no room for dissent, no room for disagreement. Agree in every way or stand condemned. That's not uncommon in this cultural moment. There's an incredible intensity, as my friend put it, an incredible absolutism for each and every issue, not just the race issue. It seems that the entire world is at stake and what we think and what we say, despite near constant calls to have dialogue and conversations. Too often tempers flare and the whole thing devolves into diatribe, echo chambers, reinforcing what each side has already thought. And for christians, these moments threaten to steal our understanding of where we fit in a greater story. God is writing a great story for the whole world, and Scripture reveals that story. It's the story of creation to new creation, from the heavens and earth to the new heavens and new earth. We're somewhere in that timeline, in this tale of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. It is important to ground ourselves in the truth that we have been created by a good God, and have been created good as part of a marvelous story of redemption and renewal. Even though in the fall of Adam, so much of God's good creation has been twisted and frustrated, in need of reorientation and healing. The story is clear, that God has worked in history, in Christ, to renew His creation and to make people new. To help them understand their role in the grand story of the renewal of all things. As we see this story correctly, as we become part of this story, as we learn to find our moment in the larger story, then suddenly we can have the clarity that we all need, particularly in this confusing cultural moment. Right now, one of the most confusing things in our cultural moment are all the bad ideas that we hear all the time about who we are, about what it means to be human. The deepest conflicts in this cultural moment aren't moral ones. It's not a disagreement about what's right and what's wrong, even though certainly our views on that as a culture have dramatically changed. The deeper confusion is about who we actually are. On one hand, you have that scientific view of what it means to be human, that one that has dominated academia and the cultural imagination in so many ways for about 100 years now. It says that we're basically the result of mindless, costless, purposeless processes. There's no supernatural being that had us in mind, and we're not headed to any sort of goal or purpose in history. On the other hand, you have this postmodern construct that says that you and I are whatever we choose to be. It says that the number one responsibility to be human is to express our true selves, and the number two responsibility is to accept other people's "true selves". But those true selves might be completely disconnected from reality, disconnected from biology, disconnected from bodies disconnected from families, disconnected from anything other than our own self determination. This has become a breaking point in our culture, but of course, we're not the first generation to face something nearly as challenging. The apostles, Peter and Paul experienced the decadent roman empire. St. Patrick faced a pre-Christian Ireland. Christians throughout history have found themselves in the rockiest of social soils, and at some level they have been able to survive, and even thrive, by remembering what is ultimately true, what is ultimately good, who they ultimately are in creation. These Christians have stayed the course through Christ, remembering that the Christian worldview is big enough for the challenges they faced. That reality is still true today. The Christian worldview is big enough for all the experiences in the world, both the problems and the glories. It is big enough for the groaning and the graces, the things that make us stand in awe and the things that make us weep in despair. In fact, if we have a correct view of Christian history, in a correct view of the sovereignty of God and the authority of Christ over all of creation, moments like these, as confusing and crazy as they are, can get us excited. We know that God is bigger than any cultural moment. We know that God is revealing himself to us in new and powerful ways. This commitment that Christ has made, to reveal himself in the world, it is what drives and grounds the Colson Center in almost everything we do. This is especially true in our rhythm of routine short courses. The newest series is coming out of the Wilberforce weekend, where we focused all of our attention on this idea of the image of God. We want to take that to an even deeper level. I'm so pleased that our next short course will be looking at additional aspects of the image of God. These aspects are housed in a brand new book, published by my colleagues Tim Padgett and Dr. Glenn Sunshine. The driving force of the book is to show that the image of God is more than a theological trivia point that we all know is true. It is fundamentally a grounding for our perspective and what it means to understand ourselves and everybody else that we encounter in this cultural moment. I invite you to join our latest short course, and get a copy of this book on the image of God, for a donation of any amount to the Colson Center this month. This is going to be an incredible short course. The course starts tonight, with Os Guinness, who will be talking about woke or awakened: how to provide an alternative vision for addressing society's ills. Then we'll offer a session one week later, with Chris Brooks, to provide a vision of the Imago Dei to someone else. We'll close this with a session by Angela franks, who will be joining us for a session called fluid or stable: why it's so hard in our culture to find identity. If you can't join us for the live sessions, you can always watch the recording of each and every session. This three week short course, and book on the image of God is our gift to you for a gift of any amount to the Colson Center this month.

John and Shane field a number of questions from listeners. One listener who struggles with same-sex attraction asks if Christians should stop using the LGBTQ acronym. Shane asks John a series of other questions from listeners. They include if Christians need to stop passing judgement on politicians who are out of step with moral principals and if Christians should offer reparations, noting the Canadian church arsons.

Last Thursday, two months after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear what could be the most significant challenge to Roe v. Wade to date, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch submitted a brief clarifying how this case could impact the abortion debate. "Under the Constitution," she wrote, "may a State prohibit elective abortions before viability? Yes. Why? Because nothing in constitutional text, structure, history, or tradition supports a right to abortion." This case goes back to 2018, when the Mississippi legislature passed the Gestational Age Act, which limited abortion after 15 weeks to only those pregnancies involving health emergencies or fetal abnormalities. In response, the state's lone abortion clinic, located in Jackson, sued and won in federal district court. When the state lost its appeal at the 5th Circuit, Attorney General Fitch brought the case to the U.S. Supreme Court as a challenge to the constitutionality of abortion on demand and the definition of viability that's been in place since Roe v Wade was decided in 1973. Previous attempts of states to limit or ban abortion have been squelched at the Supreme Court. However, according to Fitch, Mississippi's case doesn't rest on legal technicalities. She had made it clear that Mississippi's appeal is calling into question the constitutionality of abortion as a whole. It is notable that the Supreme Court decided to take another abortion rights case, and the court is thought to have a pro-life majority. On the other hand, this is also a court that has proved allergic to overturning precedent, and that is precisely what the Mississippi attorney general is asking it to do: "Roe and (Planned Parenthood vs.) Casey are thus at odds with the straightforward, constitutionally grounded answer to the question presented. So the question becomes whether this Court should overrule those decisions. It should." In her brief, Fitch offered clear arguments as to why. After talking about the legal mess that Roe and Casey created, the attorney general explained just how out of touch U.S. abortion law is with the rest of the world. She then described what the legislature had considered in terms of fetal development, including that an unborn child's heart begins beating at 5-6 weeks gestation, begins moving at approximately 8 weeks gestation, and all basic physiological functions are present at about 9 weeks gestation. Mississippi lawmakers also have a legal interest in abortion restrictions, Fitch argued, because the state has interest in protecting the life of the unborn, the well-being of women, and the integrity of the medical profession. Specifically, she detailed how abortions after 15 weeks often utilize "barbaric" dilation-and-evacuation procedures, in which "surgical instruments crush and tear the unborn child apart before removing the pieces of the dead child from the womb." This procedure, Fitch declared, can only be called "barbaric" (and was called that by the Mississippi legislature and Attorney General Fitch!), and is dangerous for women, deadly for children, and "demeaning" to the medical profession. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 1,313 related laws have been signed since Roe was enacted in 1973, with over 500 just in the last decade. While many have been struck down in the courts, the pace and seriousness of abortion restrictions is picking up. The story of the abolition of slavery suggests this could be part of the shift in law and culture many have long prayed for and worked towards. In Great Britain, the work of Thomas Clarkson, Josiah Wedgewood , William Willberforce, Hannah Moore and others eventually bore fruit as the slave trade moved from being unquestionable in 1787 to largely unthinkable by 1833. This brief by Attorney General Lynn Fitch is the clearest takedown of abortion by a lawmaker to date. That's a win in and of itself. Her very words and approach to this case are a testament to years of work by pro-life academics, apologists, and activists. That's all good news. At the same time, it's far from clear what the Supreme Court will do. And, even if they do overturn precedent and strike down Roe, there's growing momentum for Congress to replace it. This would make the mid-term elections even more important, given the full-on embrace of the abortion-on-demand-for-any-reason platform of the Democratic party. At the very least, overturning Roe would return abortion law to individual states. That means our job, to make abortion not only illegal but unthinkable and to care for vulnerable women and children, only continues; in schools, in churches, in neighborhoods, from the state house to your house.

Earlier this month, Michaela Kennedy-Cuomo, daughter of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, announced that she now identifies as "demisexual." As she described in the interview, her journey has gone from identifying as straight to identifying as bisexual to identifying as pansexual to now, finally, demisexual. This latest identification refers to someone who is sexually attracted only to people with whom one has formed an emotional attachment. This kind of "I want it to be special" approach to sexual intimacy is nothing new, of course. (In fact, I think it was the plot of almost every teen coming-of age movie in the '80s and '90s.) On one hand, reattaching sexual behavior to emotional attachment is an improvement over the no-strings-attached hook-up approach, or the digital replacement of porn addiction. On the other hand, considering an emotional attachment as a way of expressing (and therefore identifying) oneself, rather than as a measure of relational maturity isn't an improvement at all. (Not to mention, the only way to be a "demisexual" in good standing, with all of the other identifications, requires that one not prefer male or female in one's emotional and sexual connections. So, it wouldn't be accurate to think of demisexual as the return of "Pretty in Pink".) It's difficult to keep up with these new identifications and all the rules governing them. As someone recently suggested, perhaps we should just change the acronym to "LGBTQ-TBA" and be done with it. After all, no sexual behavior was considered a category of identity until recently. Now all are; a move which ensures that none are considered wrong, unnatural, or immoral. The essential points to understand about this whole discussion are that, first, sexuality is no longer seen as behavior in our culture, but as identity. In other words, rather than something we do, sexuality is who we are. Second, who we are is considered fluid, not fixed. So, a journey through the acronym, like Michaela's, is self-discovery not a crisis. Increasingly, educational and social forces push the young on this journey, while the whole culture cheers them along. All of this may seem nonsensical, even observably wrong, but is widely assumed as true and normal. Christians must understand what's happening and be prepared to respond if we are to love God and our neighbors in this cultural moment. That will involve, at the very least, telling the truth. Anything less is not to love the victims of our culture's worst ideas. We must be prepared also to offer the far better vision of identity, love, sex, and friendship found in the Christian account of reality. To not offer the better way of the Gospel would be heartless and foolish. Not only do we have a better story to tell, but the timing is right. This late chapter of the sexual revolution is exhausting itself (and all of us) in its perpetual fight against reality. In other words, there is a grand opportunity in front of us. For example, the growing rift between the letters of the sexual orientation acronym, particularly the L's and the T's, will prove irreconcilable. While the T's attempt to silence all dissent from absolute gender fluidity, many of the L's still think that bodies and biology matters. The growing tension is leading some members of the LGBTQ+ community to cancel each other. This is the only way for those who have learned, even if subconsciously, their ideological rules of engagement from critical theory. The only way many have to advance their ideas is through power not argument. This is great if you are on the strong side of the issue, but not if you are on the other side. In the ensuing chaos, the church will have ample opportunity for victim care. And, we can be a voice of reason. My friend Kathy Koch often notes how ridiculous it is to ask grade school kids who are not sexually active what their sexual orientations are. While the culture treats sexual orientation like race, the Church has an opportunity to help children unlock who God has made them to be and how He has uniquely created them in His image. This can inject some stability into youth who are living in a culture that offers none. And it injects God into the conversation, a critical point in countering the rise in suicide among young people. As my friend Dr. Matthew Sleeth has argued, the greatest determining factor of suicide success, even among those who experience suicidal ideation, is whether the person believes that God exists or not. As C.S. Lewis outlines in The Four Loves, the biblical understandings of love are simply better than anything currently on offer, and are written into the very fabric of life. These loves point us to higher questions of meaning and purpose, and are beautiful when described and when embodied. I pray that Ms. Kennedy-Cuomo will find what she's looking for, but it will never be through identity tourism. Maybe a Christian can point her to a better way.

The Journal of Medical Ethics recently released a formal paper in which they argued that parents should lose their rights to care for their children. The paper referenced an article by Dr. Lauren Notini showing a supposed benefit in treating minors with so-called gender-affirming surgeries. To be clear, "gender-affirming surgeries" is a nomenclature for surgery that actually is gender-denying, in which a surgery performed changes the body in a mutilating and permanent way. To cut through the terminology, what's being said is that there is a benefit to allowing a thirteen-year-old the right to determine if she should have a mastectomy in order to affirm her inner self. Yes, you heard that right. Thirteen-year-old girls in the United States of America are actually going through surgeries to remove healthy breasts. The discussion is whether parents should have the right to interfere. The Journal of Medical Ethics argues that parents should not have the right to interfere. That they should not be able to guide their children in any way other than full affirmation. They shouldn't even be allowed into a conversation. Doctors should be free to treat minors without parental consent and parental influence. So, what is the actual role and right of parents in light of these developing so-called "rights of children"? My friend Katy Faust recently tackled this question in a What Would You Say? video: Do Children's Rights Override Parental Rights? Below is an edited transcript of Katy's talk: You're in a conversation and someone says, "We have to respect the rights of children. No-one, not even their parents should be allowed to interfere with their sexual autonomy." Children's rights are absolutely crucial. But does that mean parents shouldn't be able to direct their children's education and medical care? No. Many people have only heard the term "children's rights" misused. It's no wonder when top-tier U.N. agencies including UNICEF and the W.H.O. use the phrase to primarily promote the sexual rights of children. For example, some professionals argue that children have a right to harmful transgender treatments, even if their parents don't agree. But just because the term "children's rights" has been misused doesn't negate the reality that children have natural rights. Natural rights spring from our nature as human beings; what we need as a human person; and what we owe other humans, which can be called justice. Natural rights exist independent of custom or legal convention. When we apply that natural law framework, we see that indeed children have rights. It's helpful to apply the three rules that confirm a rights test to determine whether this "right" shares the three qualities to which all rights conform. First, a natural right is pre-government. Second, no-one has to provide a natural right. Third, a natural right is distributed equally. In natural law theory, rights correspond to duties and obligations. Parents have a natural moral duty or obligation to care for the children that they create. Because caring for children requires making decisions on their behalf, even at times when they disagree, parental authority flows from parental obligations. Parental rights protect that authority, enabling parents to fulfill their obligations in line with the dictates of their consciences. To see Katy Faust's full talk on children's rights and parents' rights on the recent What Would You Say? video, go to whatwouldyousay.org or visit breakpoint.org.

John and Maria discuss a new reality that over other the past 2 months at least 48 churches have been burned by arsonists in Canada. While some charge the fires are backlash from First Nations members, who have discovered that many in their culture were mistreated by the Catholic church, some are saying the facts don't add up. John and Maria question if there is a growing distrust and violence against the church in Canada. John and Maria also revisit a BreakPoint from James Ackerman, who told his story of finding a sense of redemption after going to an abortion clinic to talk to mothers. They also discuss Simulation Hypothesis, a growing idea in the scientific community that assigns spiritual language to unexplainable realities in Science.

The most common refrain in Genesis about God's creation of the world is that it was good. Down through the centuries, many people both inside and outside the Church have tried to say that the material world is less valuable or important than intangible inner truths. This has been one of the main talking points for the new sexual orthodoxy: telling hurting souls that their bodies are somehow wrong. Kathy Koch has worked for years to undermine this demeaning perception. In her talk at our recent Wilberforce Weekend, she reminded us about the wonderful intentionality in the way God "knitted" us together as male and female. For today's BreakPoint, here's a portion of Kathy's talk. I'm Kathy Koch of Celebrate Kids here in Fort Worth, and I want to talk with you about how God made us good. I think God is good and God is a good Creator. And if children, teens, or adults don't know that, then it doesn't matter to them that they're created in His image. In Psalm 139, verses 13 and 14 declare that we have been formed by God in our inward parts. It says in Psalm 139:13 that Father God knitted us together in our mother's womb. Knitting is a precise skill; the knitter knows before starting what he is making, or he'd better not start. Otherwise he'd have a mittens-scarf-hat-afghan sweater thing with no purpose at all. The size of the stitch and the needle, the color of the yarn, and the design of the creation is known before the knitter begins. Do we praise God? Because we're fearfully made? Do we stand in awe of ourselves now? We're not God. Fear in the Old Testament is fear of God. That we would have this awesome respect for the creation of who we are. The verse that revolutionized my understanding of God's creative intent is the end of Psalm 139:14 where David writes on behalf of God: My soul knows very well that I am a wonderful work of the creative intent of God. A fearfully and wonderfully creation made in His image. I have tremendous empathy for young people who live in confusion in a chaotic, messy culture. I believe that if I was young today being called "sir," I might wonder if I was supposed to be a boy. I have empathy for these kinds of teenagers and young adults. We are privileged at Celebrate Kids to talk with those who do not believe they were created good. They do not believe in a good Creator. They don't understand the image of God and it is not their fault. Generations of young people are trying to change what they should not try to change. And they're unwilling to work on the things they could work on because frankly, the adults around them are weak. God is good. Therefore he made me good because I'm in His image and He is fully good! So there's gotta be something here and I choose to not see it as wrong. I don't see it as a mistake. It is a challenge. I'm surrounded by great people and I'm loved well by God, and by people who love me deeply; without that I would question so much. So I'm not a too-tall-Kathy-with-a-low-voice-who-can't-spell-all-that-well mess of a person. I am who I am, created in the image of God, and He is good. What's your story? And what story are we helping young people who we love live? Kathy Koch is founder and president of Celebrate Kids, reminding the Church and the world of the goodness of our Creator and the enduring beauty of His creation. In her words, we see a path forward to loving—truly loving—our neighbors who struggle with gender dysphoria. As she argued, the new sexual orthodoxy encourages hurting young people to change what shouldn't be changed and discourages them from working on the things that they can work on. While giving lip service to the claim that people are perfect just as they are, our culture's fascination with expressive sexual identities leads proponents to argue that the only way we can be truly ourselves is through a radical rejection of our physicality.