The Shulammite Celebration of Gender, Part I
I had the great honor recently of co-preaching through one of the most confusing (and avoided) books of the Bible: The Song of Songs (aka, The Song of Solomon).
Category: Intergendered Intimacy
How intergendered relationships build Trinitarian intimacy.
Working with My Wife
One of the exceptional experiences I have had in later life is working together with my wife, Mary K. It is a certain kind of union to spend leisure time together, or to support one another on our separate endeavors, or to cooperate in childrearing, or to come together for physical touch. But it is another thing to collaborate on …
The Equality Act and Changes in Sexual Desire
The United States House of Representatives Bill, H.R.5, or “The Equality Act,” recently passed in the House on its way to the Senate. The bill seeks to extend protections against discrimination on the basis of sex to discrimination against what they call “sexual orientation and gender identity.” In the process, the text of the bill names the name that shall …
Teachers, Take Heart
The key members of our society now find themselves in a predicament. Can school teachers and home-schooling parents to address a new generation growing up in a gender minimizing culture?
A Poorly Gendered Wedding in the Bible
Does a passage in Ecclesiastes teach a negative view of women or the bitterness of a man who beds many of them?
Yoko Needs to Break Up the Band
The break-up of the Beatles broke the heart of a generation. A lot of the blame at the time fell upon Yoko Ono. Why does the idea of a girl coming in and disturbing the male company have such powerful resonance with us?
Incalculable Benefits I Get From My Wife
My wife, Marika, is the most extraordinary person I think I have ever met. Today as I awoke, I wondered how it was that, of all the people in the world, I got to be married to her. There are obvious benefits to marriage, of course, sharing life and pleasures with one another. But I have found some in …
Desires are Moral
A reader writes: My understanding has been that same sex attraction that is not acted upon is not sin. Is a Christian who struggles with same sex attraction, yet in living for the Lord, doesn’t act on these desires, sinning? Is being tempted, yet resisting temptation, still evil? I thought it would be correct to tell a friend wrestling with …
Exactly Backwards: Soul Mates, Part II
I was talking last time about how couples today often make the decision to marry based on a feeling of being soul mates. I thought similarly too, in my time, when I decided to marry my wife: that this is what will make our marriage last. But we are getting things exactly backwards. The story goes that a pastor once …
Soul Mates or Maturing Souls?
I officiated a wonderful wedding last week. There was talk, as there always is, of whether these two would be right for each other. I told the guests why I was there and why I was confident to pronounce them “husband and wife.” Many people today feel like two people should get married if they are soul mates. I …