Exodus President Alan Chambers and staffer Mike Goeke pass judgment against “identities” that are “contrary to Christ.” They also slap Roman Catholics in the face with a sloppy repudiation of official church teaching on sexual orientation.
I invite readers to submit other identities that are contrary to Christ.
For example:
Republican
Democrat
Nationalist
Racist
High priests and politicians (powers and principalities)
Gas Guzzler
But not Jewish, because Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew.
Please specify Bible verses with each identity that you deem contrary to Christ.
Supermodel (female)
1 Timothy 2:9
“Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments”
Oh this is gonna get wild. Various texts in Peter, Ephesians, and Galatians; not to mention a lot of the Pentateuch.
Slave owner is an OK identity(?)(!)
I think Jan Crouch could be considered ungodly because of the verse I just posted.
I have to ask why the “real” Christians — who supposedly don’t approve of hate — so seldomly get around to rebuking their hate-mongering brothers and sisters? I have noticed that many Fundamentalist Christians are self-righteous, prideful, hate-filled bullies; while most other Christians (with a few shining exceptions) are simply too cowardly to challenge them. That’s not too surprising, I suppose, since such bullies are seldom reluctant to commit physical violence or other crimes against their “ungodly” opponents or any who would dare to defend them.
It seems to me, that if Fundamentalist Christians in America were to take one-tenth of the money and energy that they put into preaching hate and put it instead into feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, visiting the sick, and fighting for social justice — just like Christ suggested — our nation and our world could be genuinely transformed into a decent place to live for everyone, instead of just the wealthy and powerful. It might even make them look like good people and their ideas seem worth investigating.
Instead, many people who consider themselves Fundamentalist Christians (and therefore — not too surprisingly — who feel personally powerless) focus all their energy on attacking easy targets: people who believe, look, or act differently from them. Hate sells, and for 1,500 years it has made ultra-conservative Christian organizations and leaders wealthy and powerful — which is what they they have repeatedly shown, century after century, they are really after.
No, Scott, I’m afraid that “Supermodel” doesn’t quite cut it. Remember that a supermodel is engaged in BEHAVIORS that are inconsistent with the Timothy passage. Alan’s talking about an IDENTITY that’s sinful, independent of behavior. It’s much harder to come up with.
Perhaps simply identifying as a WOMAN could qualify. After all, you may not be engaging in all that braided hair or costly garment stuff yourself, but you are identifying yourself with an ENTIRE CLASS of people who often DO wear gold, pearls, and fancy ‘dos. By identifying as a woman, you might be tempted on occasion to engage in such unwholesome behavior.
Far better to call yourself an “adult female,” rather than a “woman” (it’s more clinical-sounding, and doesn’t quite imply the same sort of internalization of the gender, or a positive identification with it). On second thought, you might call yourself an “ex-woman,” and start dressing like a man, cutting your hair short, and wearing scruffy jeans and no makeup. THAT might reduce the temptations…
Oops. That might get us into a whole other can of worms. Let’s keep working on this. I’m sure we can come up with a solution.
This is an interesting topic, and a good discussion.
Of course, I would be willing to bet–and almost willing to agree, depending on what is meant by identity–that the Chambers idea is that *any* identity outside of Christ is a bad idea. But by that token. . .wouldn’t “ex-gay” be a bad idea? Or even heterosexual?
The question here is where simple defining yourself for the sake of being clear ends and where identification begins. Terms like male and female, heterosexual and homosexual are useful insofar as they provide us with a (supposedly true) concrete fact about something a person is or is not–but when the term becomes a primary method of definition, not a classifier but an end in itself, then we have a problem, especially from the Christian perspective Chambers has been espousing.
By that vein, though, I am tempted to ask: Which group is more likely to use their “identity” as an end in itself– “gays” or “ex-gays”?
NARTH member?
‘”Being a dad,” Haley muses, “is the most important identity I have.” The reason fatherhood means so much to him is because his life once revolved around another identity that brought only disillusionment and emptiness: For several years, Haley was a homosexual activist.’ (FOtF Citizen Mag., June 2004).
So being a dad is a more important identity than being a Christian? What would Jesus (or DID Jesus) say about putting family relationships before him? This whole concept of ‘which identity is wrong, which is more important’, etc. is silly. We all may identify as different things at different times. There’s nothing wrong with that, as even Alan has demonstrated above.
Myself.
I have no “verse” in supoort of it, but I want my identitiy to be in contradiction, so that should be sufficient enough.
Property foreclosers (Micah 2:2,9)
Thieves, greedy, drunks, slanderers, swindlers (1 Cor 6:10)
People who have sex with celestial beings (Jude 8)
Rich men (Mark 10:25)
Identity: Upper Class
Jesus’ says “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Forgive me, I can’t recall the biblical verse, but it is one of my favorites.
From Dr. Albert Moher, “president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention,” says in his piece Gender Confusion in the Kindergarten? —
So, even though I didn’t read this in the Bible, Dr. Moher has let us know that identifying as transgender is incompatible with identifying as Christian.