• The Atlantic has published an article that is as hard to read as it is necessary to read.  A Boy’s Life details the lives of several transgender children as well as various methods of treatment, surgery, and hormone therapy and the debate surrounding it all.

This was a very hard read especially when you consider that these are children. I do not know any children who are going through this nor can I imagine a place in culture where a four year old desires to change his/her gender. Regardless of what I can, or cannot imagine, there are places where this is occurring and such occurrences will be the ever increasing norm.

My question is what does the gospel have to say to this? If you are a parent how would you respond to your child? If you are a pastor how does this change the church’s mission or how does the church’s unchanging mission address these issues?

• In a similar vein Al Mohler has done a series of posts on the gay marriage debate that are worth reading. I appreciate that he points out that while many would argue that it homosexuality is normative that if one views this issue from a global perspective that “same-sex marriage is, by any measure, the exception rather than the rule.” I am not particularly interested in the politics of this debate; however, I do wonder if the only response that followers of Christ have to such a situation is the “opt out.” Your child will be exposed to sex, they will be exposed to it at an early age, and they will be exposed to a wider variety of accepted modes of sexual expression than at any point in US history. As parents desiring to run a gospel-centered home how do you address these issues when they are being raised at such a young age? As pastors how do you equip parents to address such pressing issues?

So, What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part One
So, What’s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part Two

Politics

• Der Spiegel interviews Noam Chomsky here.
• Thabiti Anyabwile has a series of posts, which I hope he continues, over at Pure Church that deserves your reading. Like most election years by this time of the cycle I am tired of the muckraking and incessant campaign ads. However, I appreciate that Thabiti points out much that we have tragically missed during this election and he is a well respected evangelical who is finding it difficult to vote.

The Presidential Election That Almost Was… Or Why It’s Difficult for Me to Vote, 1
The Presidential Election That Almost Was… Or Why It’s Difficult for Me to Vote, 2
The Presidential Election That Almost Was… Or Why It’s Difficult for Me to Vote, 3