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It is easier for me to show mercy to others than to myself. I think I know why this is: not too many years ago, I was harsh in my judgments of others, but gave myself a nearly infinite leash in matters of morality. My sense of right and wrong were desperately warped, both for…
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“Your PRIDE is good news,” touted a graphic posted on Instagram at the start of this year’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month, to thousands of likes. Another announced “PRIDE is still a PROTEST,” referring to the Stonewall Riots of 1969, which Pride Month commemorates. A few variations on the theme included “PRIDE is LOVE”; “PRIDE is GOOD…
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There’s a time and a place for almost everything, and that includes identifying oneself by the terms “LGB+,” “gay,” “lesbian,” etc. Note that I said identifying oneself by these terms, not identifying with them. The distinction is essential, especially for a Christian who holds to biblical morality and a biblical worldview. The ways we identify…
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Below is the transcript of a recent conversation I had with my daughter Jayne, age 16, about questions of sexual identity. In the conversation, she offers insight from her experience as a Christian teenager on love and attraction—and peer pressure—in the context of Biblical purity. Rick: Let’s begin by thinking back to a couple of…
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A friend of mine recently had a small crisis of faith. She is not prone to spiritual crises, so it got my attention. It seems she felt God was being distant since she didn’t sense His presence in her life. This sense made her question whether He exists. Her question is a common one among…
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The Reformation Project says it up front: “Celibacy is a gift, not a mandate.” So runs the common position among “affirming” ministries on the question of sexual abstinence and its practice by same-sex-attracted (SSA) individuals. It is unfair, they argue, and contrary to Christian teaching, to impose abstinence on SSA folks as a spiritual salve…
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How do you view yourself as a Christian? Do you see yourself more as a sinner, lurching through a life of defeat, disappointment, and frustration? Or do you see yourself as a conqueror in Christ, victorious even in the midst of your struggles? The difference is more important than you think. It’s hardly surprising that…
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The recent upswell in interest in desire as a theological concern is both invigorating and sea-changing. Two books in particular deal with the subject well and with satisfying complementarity: Jay Stringer’s Unwanted (2018) and A.J. Swoboda’s The Gift of Thorns (2024). The authors reach many of the same conclusions, Stringer by way of his experience…
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You might not expect to find a message about same sex attraction in the Book of Isaiah, and some might say I’m being wishful that there even is one. In this article we look at the “eunuchs” of Isaiah 56, this time in the context of identity, specifically the mysterious and elusive “name better than…
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When we talk about LGBTQ+ people in the Church, who exactly are we talking about? I count two main camps of LGBTQ+ Christians in the Church today. First, there are those who profess faith in Christ but who also, for a host of different reasons, selectively reject biblical teaching and tradition regarding homosexuality and choose…
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For Freedom 