Editor’s note: The Hillsong Church referenced in this essay is the same global megachurch network recently rocked by the firing of Stephen Carl Lentz, pastor of its New York City congregation, for “leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.”
Fear of others is a powerful emotion. It is a very human response toward the unknown. An unknown group of people or community can create this emotion in us. Fear creates an internal warning system in each person to keep the individual from doing things
On a recent Sunday I had the opportunity to preach on the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) at First Christian Church of Decatur (Ga.), where I am serving as an intern as part of my seminary studies at Candler School of Theology of Emory University. Without going
“Why should I feel punished by my gender identity?” It is a simple question, one that I’ve asked myself a lot over the last few years. I ask it because I’m often reminded why so many other Christians question my trans identity. A year ago
Editor’s note: Since this essay was written, Transgender Awareness Week has emerged as a weeklong celebration leading up to Transgender Day of Remembrance. The Transgender Day of Remembrance is an important day. Every year on November 20th we gather to mourn those who are murdered
The word “Transgender” has acquired an importance to me that I never could have predicted. I now recognize its meaning, its true meaning, as the key to Gay identity. Transgender refers to people who transcend biological gender. It has nothing to do with the idea
I’ve never dated another Christian. God, it’s embarrassing to type that. Even though Scripture says that we should be with other believers, I have never trusted that the same God who died on the Cross for me could possibly bring a Christian woman into my
What do transsexuals want? If I may propose an answer from my experience, it would be: To be respected as members of our chosen gender, as plausible objects of desire, and as reasonable people. Of course, transsexuals are not the only ones who harbor such
The boundary between physical and nonphysical is very imprecise for us. — Donna J. Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs, Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s,” in Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature A friend tells me psychics can provide direction, so
Listen to the podcast interview When it comes to transgender people and their issues, the media tends to portray them as either prostitutes or punchlines. Author and speaker Vanessa Sheridan believes being they are neither. Instead, for her, being transgender is a gift. “There was
