Peter Witkowski Apologetics

5 Thoughts On Last Week

1. Racism is Real

I am not saying that you are racist. Nor am I saying that all of our crises are racially Five-thought-blogmotivated. Nor are all of country’s problems tied to racism. But racism is real. The recent controversies make this fact abundantly clear.  Our black brothers and sisters and neighbors feel that the system is stacked against them. Throughout the history of our country, they have been attacked and belittled because of the color of their skin. And those feelings have been touched off over the last year or so.

If we pretend otherwise, we are closing our eyes to needs of our neighbors. We must recognize the pain many in the black community feel. We must admit there is racism in our towns, neighborhoods, and churches. We must confront it when we see it. And we must repent of it when we practice it. We cannot meaningfully speak into our culture until we have removed the log out of our own eyes (Matt 7:5).

2. Sin in the Ultimate Problem

The U.S. is coming unglued because of sin. As I John 3:4 makes clear sin is lawlessness. When we sin and when we live for self and for our wants, disorder and chaos always follows. As James 3:16 says,

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

Innocent people have been murdered because people are controlled by sin. If we want peace, we must address the sin in our hearts and the sin in our culture.

3. Evil Has Consequences

The controversy of late have involved some very sinful men and women. Now, one person’s sin in no way justifies another person’s sinful actions. As I Thess. 5:15 clearly says, “See that no one pays back evil for evil.” But the scriptures also don’t excuse sinful choices (Gal. 6:7). If we are driven by hatred, we will can expect to be destroyed by evil. Proverbs 26:27 says,

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone it will come back on him.

4. Only Jesus Saves

Because racism is ultimately a sin problem, there is only one solution. And it’s not a nationalized police force or body cameras. It’s the gospel. The gospel saves. Through the gospel men and women get the power to love their enemies and to bless those that curse them. Through the gospel men and women can stop viewing their race as superior and can begin treating other races with love. Only the gospel can save and bring peace. As Christians, we need to be quick to preach the gospel with our words and actions. We need to love those who are different from us by practically meeting their needs. And we need to tell them about Jesus. Only through the advancement of the kingdom of God can racism be ended.

5. Parents Have To Step Up

One thing I have noticed over the years is that kids are not inherently racist. If put together a whole a bunch of black, white, and Asian preschoolers into a room, you don’t get race riots.

To some degree kids have to be taught by adults to think that their race is superior. Admittedly, little kids are sinners and are ready to embrace sinful ideas. Parents can model the gospel and still have racist kids. But most kids adopt racist ideas because their parents practice them.

If we want gospel change to happen in our culture, we have to live it out in our families. We have to apply Colossians 4:11 to our homes:

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

We have to stop using racist language and criticizing minorities as if the color of one’s skin determines their actions.  We need to be open to having friends that look different from us. We need to encourage our kids to make godly friends, caring nothing about their friend’s skin color. We need to start modeling the gospel.  I.e, we as parents have to view all people as being created in God’s image.

Peter Witkowski Apologetics

Is The Transgender Movement Twisting Back Towards Biblical Ideals?

Ctransgender bloglose to two weeks ago, a monumental story broke with little fanfare. The Multnomah County Circuit Court of Oregon declared that Jame Shupe could legally change his sex to “non-binary.” The ruling is a historic win for the transgender movement. For the first time in the United States, a person has been officially declared to be a gender other than male or female. In the future, Jame Ship maybe able to write non-binary on his driver’s license.

Though the full ramifications of the ruling are yet unknown, Jame naturally considers the ruling a personal victory and a win from the transgender movement. As he said in a recent interview:  “I was assigned male at birth due to biology…I’m stuck with that for life. My gender identity is definitely feminine. My gender identity has never been male, but I feel like I have to own up to my male biology. Being non-binary allows me to do that. I’m a mixture of both. I consider myself as a third sex.” The ruling finally allows Jame to be truly himself.

And while the declaration is clearly a win for transgender movement, it also comes with a silver lining for Bible believing Christians By asking to be recognized as a third sex, Jame is discovering what Christains already know. Jame is admitting that hormone therapies, surgeries, and emotional perferences do not make a person a woman or a man. People are born we an inherent sexual identity that affects every cell of their body. Regardless of how hard they try, they cannot transform themselves into the other sex. By getting a judge to declare him to be non-binary, Jame is admitting that the natural and biblical reality is true and to some degree impermeable. As he said, “I have to own up to my male biology.”

At this point, I and those in the transgender movement disagree. Jame and those on the left are eager to create new genders. But as Christians I do not think the solution is to create additional genders. The way forward is to encourage Jame and all of humanity to embrace their God given biological gender. Instead of seeking to be non-binary, the scriptures encourage Jame to embrace the humanity of his masculinity. Freedom in found in the redemption of the created order and not in it violent manipulation.

Regardless, I think Christians should be excited that people in the transgender movement are starting to realize once again that gender is bigger than a mental disposition. They are starting to twist back to reality. Biology matters. I encourage all who read this post to join me in embracing God’s creative design. Join me in affirming the biological order. Join me in recognizing that all people are either man or woman.

Peter Witkowski Apologetics

How To Answer 3 Pro-Transgender Arguments

pastor-response-to-transgender-blogThe past week, the news cycle and social media have been abuzz with Transgender discussions. Because of President Obama’s new bathroom guidelines, we all may have to live with the reality of men being allowed to use female restrooms, locker-rooms, and dressing rooms. Quite naturally, many conservative Christians (self included) are greatly troubled by the transgender movement.

In attempt to help people like me embrace the pending changes, many on the cultural left are appealing to religious themes. So how do we respond to the claim that God is pro-transgender? Let’s take a look at how to refute three popular pro-transgender arguments.

Jesus Was Transgender

According to this argument based on a ‘literal’ meaning of scripture, Jesus was born with a set of XX chromosomes. Because Jesus did not have a biological father, God had to transform hm into a man. And he was not the first transgender person. Eve, the first woman, went through a similar experience. She was taken from Adam. She had XY DNA but was transformed into a woman. As Suzanne DeWitt Hall concludes, “If Jesus and Eve were walking around today…they’d have to swap restrooms.”

Response:

No. Jesus was born as a man. He was fully human down to his chromosomes (Heb. 2:17). If he was not a biological man, he could not save us from our sins (Rom 8:3).

Moreover, the lack of a human father does not necessity that Jesus lacked a Y chromosome. Jesus’s humanity was ultimately based on God’s plan and not on his mother’s biology (Luke 1:35).  And, Jesus clearly taught that God created the two genders (Matt. 19:4). Because God created the XX and the XY chromosome packages, we can be certain that Jesus had XY chromosomes. God never goes against himself.  Neither Jesus nor Eve evolved according to some half-hearted, miraculous process governed by the modern view of sexuality. Eve was created as a woman with XX chromosomes and declared good (Gen 1:26:31). And, Jesus is the perfect son of God and is beloved by his heavenly father (Matt 3:17). God did not have to transform anything.

Intersex

But not all people are created male and female. Every year, thousands of people are born with both male and female genitalia. The presence of these intersex humans challenges the very concept of our binary understanding of sex. And when intersex children are born, the child or the child’s parents get to pick the child’s gender. To be consistent with nature and our loving God, Christians must admit that they don’t fully grasp the diversity of found in God’s creation. We must be willing to expand our views of sex and gender. Or so the argument goes.

Response:

It is true that intersex persons do exist. And it is true that people have assigned intersex children a gender. But intersex persons do not represent a new gender. And, they do not disprove the existence of two genders.

Intersex is rather a perversion of gender caused by the fall. When genetic testing is done, intersex persons have either and XX or and XY chromosome set. In short, their genitals are different and may not correspond perfectly to their gender. But those deemed to be intersex are still biologically either male of female. Gender expands beyong genatilial but never exceeds the realm of nature.  Instead of assigning intersex children a gender or categorizing them as another gender, we should work with doctors and scientist to determine their God given identity.

Once we discover their idenity, we should use medicine to help them live out their God given gender. When a child is born with a cleft palate the loving response is to use modern medicine to help them return to health. The same principle should apply to intersex children. We should seek to help them overcome the effects of the fall as best as possible.

The existence of intersex people does not disprove the biblical view of gender.

It Feels Right

But what about feelings? Christians are encouraged to let men use the girl’s bathrooms and to let women shower in the men’s locker-room because we should want everyone to feel loved and validated. As Bruce Jenner famously said, “My brain is much more female than it is male. That’s what my soul is.” For Bruce to be fully himself, he needs the freedom to be a woman. And he needs culture to treat him as a woman. If people deny him access to women’s restrooms, people are attacking his very humanity and happiness. Surely Christians do not want to stand opposed to love?

Response:

I do not deny Bruce Jenner’s or any other transgender person’s feelings. I’m sure they are very real. And, I don’t deny that their expression of gender brings them happiness.

But for the Christian, one’s true humanity and happiness are found in Jesus. Happiness is never found in following one’s mental inclinations (Prov. 12:15). True happiness in found obeying Jesus. To be fully human, we believe one must be like Jesus. And to be like Jesus, we have stop listening to what our hearts say. We have to follow God as Jesus did.  Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 16:24. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” To love people, we must encourage them to escape from the recesses of their minds and embrace Jesus. We must encourage them to deny their transgender identity that leads them away from their creator.