Pastor and theologian John Piper criticized “gender pronoun hospitality” as unbiblical and harmful to trans-identified individuals on a recent episode of his podcast “Ask Pastor John.” . The practice of “gender pronoun hospitality” involves using preferred pronouns and the name of a person who identifies as transgender, even if one does not subscribe to LGBT ideology. christian post I will report.
On Monday's episode,Ask Pastor John,” one church elder asked Piper what he thought about the church's ministry at a nearby university that was recently considering the practice of “gender pronoun hospitality.”
“The argument is that a person may decide to refer to someone by their chosen gender for the purpose of evangelism, as long as it removes potential barriers to sharing the gospel,'' says the author. said Piper, president of Bethlehem University. A seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, responded:
“What we want from our church is for individuals to have the freedom to do this at this time, limited to the context of evangelism and limited to conversations with non-believers. Such a thing does not apply if the pronoun “hospitality” is claimed to be. ”
Piper, who served as a pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church for more than 30 years, took issue with the concept of “tying together the beautiful Biblical word 'hospitality' with the unbiblical concept of 'gender pronoun',” calling it “unhelpful and misleading.” I invite you.”
“We should be hospitable, but we should not affirm pronouns that represent destructive choices or false views of reality. It is possible to be hospitable and honest,” Piper said.
Piper pointed out that when it comes to direct conversation, the most frequently used pronoun is “you.”
“So it might be possible to have a direct conversation with a person without touching on pronoun issues,” he says. “Of course, that doesn't work when you're dealing with proper names. Is Andy now Angie? You might not even know that Angie was once Andy. So when you step into a conversation, unless you simply dodge , there may not be a choice 'name, but it is possible. ”
Piper went on to suggest using “sex” instead of “gender,” arguing that the latter was a “sinful compromise with reality” and a byproduct of the “radical feminists” of the 1970s.
“I think using the word 'gender' when the correct word is 'sex' is the same as using the word 'marriage' for a relationship between two men and two women. That's not marriage. “It's called a 'marriage,'” he said. continued.
“The Nashville Statement is correct in saying that 'one's self-conception as a man or woman should be defined by God's holy purpose in creation and salvation as revealed in the Bible.'” “To call a woman a woman or to call a woman a man is contrary to God's holy purpose,” he said.
Also quoted by the founder of Desiring God nashville statementa 2017 theologically conservative manifesto by the Council on Biblical Masculinity and Femininity. Piper was part of a broad coalition of Christian leaders, including JI Packer and Francis Chan, who signed the statement.
“The Nashville Statement is correct in saying that 'one's self-conception as a man or woman should be defined by God's holy purpose in creation and salvation as revealed in the Bible.'” “To call a woman or to call a woman a man is contrary to God’s holy purpose,” he said.
According to Piper, affirming a trans identity “involves living a lie,” which “regularly leads to destructive and irreversible surgeries and treatments.”
“Therefore, extreme caution should be exercised before forming a positive impression or even mild disgust towards so-called transgenderism,” he concluded.
Piper's statement differs from former Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greer, who previously said he uses the preferred name and pronouns of transgender people but also affirms the truth of the Bible.
“If a transgender person were to come to our church and come into my life, I think my inclination would be to refer to them by their preferred pronouns when I wanted to talk about gender,” Greer said. . said He said this on a podcast titled “Ask Me Anything” in 2019. “I'll be clear with him about the truth. The question is, is that the front line you want to choose?”
“That's how I lean into this,” he added. “I think this is probably one of those Romans 14 situations where you need to do what your conscience allows.”
Photo credit: ©John Piper Facebook
