Christian Response to Social Issues

 

 If the best-seller listings on the Amazon "Christian Social Issues" page is any indication, the state of the professing-Christian-book-buying-community is in sad shape. And that is a direct reflection on the failure of pastors to lead in a biblical manner and on individual Christians who need to become biblically literate.

I'm not saying books shouldn't be written about Christian social issues. They should. I write about them myself. But why aren't Christian shepherds teaching their flocks to follow Christ and feed themselves from the Word of God instead of jumping on the band-wagon of every divisive media narrative?  

Social issues exist; and Christians often deal with them poorly. That is why so many [professing] believers write about them. Issues abound: Political hatred, religious hatred, woman hatred, white hatred, black hatred, Jew hatred, Asian hatred, gay hatred, and hatred of the unborn. 

The only reason for any of this is sin. 

Racism is sin. Regardless of which race practices it. Hatred against women is sin. Abortion is sin. Gender hierarchy is sin. Homosexuality is sin. But hatred against homosexuals is also sin. 

Good heavens, Jesus lived in a society where homosexuality was rampant, openly practiced, and socially approved. Did he single that one thing out and make an issue of it, even though the scriptures plainly declared it to be sin? Did Jesus single out any social issue or people group to harp on? If not (and he didn't), why didn't he? 

Because he is the Prince of Peace. He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life for everyone who chooses to follow him...regardless of where they come from. 

Yes, choices must be made. Old must be traded for new. But Jesus leaves the door open for all to make their own choices. Why would anyone choose to belong a God who hates them? 

I wouldn't.

It is not God who hates. It is fallen humanity. Schism within the Body of Christ because of social issues only exists because of the sin of hatred. Repentance is needed. Beyond that, the solution is so simple we trip right over it. 

Jesus gave his followers only one response to every social issue that might confront us. And if practiced by everyone, his solution would tear down every fence that separates believer from believer. Are you ready? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself Whatsoever you would have others do to you...you do the same to them."

This doesn't mean we accept everything, but it does dictate how we respond to issues that would otherwise divide. 

If every book we write confronts social issues from Jesus' perspective, then I say write-on! If it doesn't, don't write it, don't read it, throw it away. Don't support it with your money, time, or attention. And for Heaven's sake, don't promote it within your fellowships.   

What if others don't extend us the same grace? 

It doesn't matter. We must start somewhere, and it is the same place for everyone. We must each say [and put into practice] only one thing..."It starts with me. I will not return hatred for hatred." 

For by this, all will know that you are my disciples. That you have love one for another...Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall rest upon his shoulders. And he shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, PRINCE OF PEACE.

 Author and speaker, Jocelyn Andersen, is an eclectic Christian writer. She is a Bible teacher who writes about many subjects including Bible prophecy and equality of the sexes. She is best known for her advocacy in domestic violence awareness. Her book, Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence, has been a staple in the library of resources on that subject.  

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Intersex People: Conundrum for Complementarianism

Yes, women are different from men, and intersex people are  different from [and alike with] both men and women.

And they are born that way. 

Fact: Intersex people have characteristics of both male and female and can be considered neither and both. 

Fact: God does not make mistakes.

Fact: All people--intersex, female, and male--are created in the image of God, who is neither female nor male, yet portrayed in scripture as both. Does that make God intersex?

   Some of my ideas have been called "quirky." I get that. I have been told I don't think like "normal" people. I get that too. 

"Jocelyn, will you ever be normal?"

"Uh, I don't think so"

   But ever since I stumbled onto information about intersex people and began to educate myself on the subject, the question simply will not go away, "How does intersex impact the male leadership paradigm of complementarianism?"
   Complementarianism holds that men are created to lead and women are created follow and assist the men. In the case of intersex, what if a person physically appears as a women (is born with female characteristics), considers herself a woman, doesn't want to be anything but a woman, yet is chromatically male, and even though she was born with a vagina and develops breasts at puberty...a body scan reveals that instead of a uterus and ovaries, it turns out she has undescended testes instead. 
   What about the male who is chromatically female?  

What the conducter said to me when I had boarded the train with the wrong ticket!

   What a conundrum for complementarians and traditional-role-religionists. Is God's glorious hierarchical design for the sexes turned on its head by the existence of intersex?

Is it the genitalia that determine who's in charge, or is it the chromosomes?

   The Bible says, all people are made in God's image. I'm sure no human can fathom what the entirety of God's image would consist of. Does the image of God include the sexes? The texts of the Hebrew scriptures exclusively refer to the Holy Spirit as female. and in the Greek texts, the Holy Spirit is always referred to in the neutral, as neither female nor male. 
   The scriptures affirm that "In Christ," no one is either male or female, but we are all one. Does that make all Believers spiritually intersex?

   In the case of intersex people, is traditional-role-religion and complementarianism (the two are close but not synonymous) even possible? How could the male reality of an intersex person exercise "headship" over the female reality of that same person? How could the female reality of such an individual submit to the male reality of herself?

 Hmm... 

To clarify, this article deals with biological intersex people.  It does not address trans-humanism, transgenderism, nor LGBT issues but focuses solely on people who were born with characteristics of both sexes --hence, they are not "trans" but biologically born with characteristics of both sexes, so can correctly and biologically lay claim to either sex or both. 
   Intersex people are born as such and should be honored for who and what they are. 

   These are a but a few observations and questions I have on this subject. I am open to outside offers to publish a full and more extensively researched article based on the question of how the biological and scientific reality of intersex people muddies the waters of complementarianism and traditional-role-religion even more than they already are.

If the topic of God and Women interests you, join the conversation HERE.

Can gay people be saved?

 Jocelyn Andersen is the author of several books, including, Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence, and, Woman this is WAR! Gender, Slavery, and the Evangelical Caste System.