Theology in the Raw - Bonus Q&A: Does Church Definition of Masculine/Feminine Contribute To Gender Dysphoria?, Are There Single Issues That Should Dictate Voting?, and More!

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

Bonus Q&A: Does Church Definition of Masculine/Feminine Contribute To Gender Dysphoria?, Are There Single Issues That Should Dictate Voting?, and More! 0:00 Introduction 0:45 Does the strict definition of masculine/feminine by the church contribute to increasing gender dysphoria? 7:07 Since earthly marriage is a picture of the church's eventual marriage to Jesus, why are sex difference and procreation important to earthly marriage? 12:52 What's the difference between the Song of Songs and inappropriate erotica? 16:26 How do I articulate holding a firm conviction on an issue (like abortion) without being a single issue voter? Are there single issues that should dictate voting? 26:17 How do you prefer to hear God's voice? In what ways recently has he been growing you to hear His voice? 32:55 Do you have a webpage or someplace where we can see your reading library, sort out by topic? 34:16 ""Catholic complementarianism""--do you know anything about this? 37:30 Have you read ""The Unseen Realm"" by Michael Heiser? Thoughts? 41:19 Any resources you'd recommend for a seminary student interested in church planting? 42:45 How much of Revelation has actually happened vs. what's yet to come? Thoughts about the writing date of Revelation? 47:53 What is your view on the immaterial soul in light of scientific advancements? 52:39 Have you read ""The Wood Betwen the Worlds"" by Brian Zahnd? What do you think of his comparison of lynchings and the crucifixion? 53:47 How can someone who doesn't fit a church stereotype help break those stereotypes especially regarding interests or careers uncommon for their gender? 56:22 What responsibility do we have to immigrants and refugees if the government starts to separate or deport them? 1:01:44 When does ""cuddling"" become romantic for same sex attracted people wanting to be chaste?" -- If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe to my channel! Support Theology in the Raw through Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theologyintheraw Or you can support me directly through Venmo: @Preston-Sprinkle-1 Visit my personal website: https://www.prestonsprinkle.com For questions about faith, sexuality & gender: https://www.centerforfaith.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The exiles and Babylon conferences happening again, April 3rd to April 5th, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I cannot wait for this conference. We're talking about the gospel and race after George Floyd. We're talking about transgender people in the church, social justice and the gospel, two perspectives, and a dialogical debate about whether the evangelical church is good for this country. Featuring my new friend, Adam Davidson. He's an atheist journalist and Sean McDowell, my other good friend, they're going to banter around about that topic. We also have Latasha Morrison, Ephraim Smith, Mark Yarhouse, Malcolm Foley, and many other awesome speakers. We're also adding some breakouts

this year, and we're going to have a killer after party. I can't wait for that one. Actually, if you want to attend a conference, you can do so by going to theology, raw.com. You want to register early. We do have an early birth, a fairly aggressive early bird special. It ends December 31st. So if you are planning on attending the conference, you want to sign up before then you could also attend virtually. If you can't make it out to Minneapolis again, April 3rd to 5th, Minneapolis, Minnesota, exiles of Babylon, go to theology and the route.com. And I hope to see you there. Hey friends, welcome back to another bonus episode on the Algen raw, where I answer questions sent in by my Patron supporters. If you would like to send in questions, you can become a patron supporter by going to patreon.com forward slash theology in raw, or just click,

click on the link in the show notes. Got a lot of really, really interesting questions here. Does the strict definition of masculinity and femininity contribute to the increasing rates of gender dysphoria? Since earthly marriage is a picture of the church's eventual marriage to Jesus, then why are sex difference and procreation important for earthly marriage?

What's the difference between the song of songs and inappropriate erotica and how to articulate a firm conviction on an issue without being a single issue voter? Are there single issues that should dictate voting and much, much more. Let's jump into these questions. Okay, first question. Does the strict definition of masculinity and femininity by culture and the church contribute to increasing rates of gender dysphoria? I don't off the top of my head. I don't have any specific like data

or study on this specific question. There are several studies have been done on the more general like social influence that is contributing to the high one might even say skyrocketing rates of gender dysphoria, especially among young people, especially among biological females. And I do think that that research is debated, disputed in the broader conversation. Having looked at both the studies that have been done on this and the pushbacks, I do think that absolutely social environment is playing some kind of influential role in the increasing rates of gender dysphoria, especially among young people. However, your question is more specific than that though. Is the strict definition of masculinity

and femininity by culture contributing to the increasing rates of dysphoria? I would say yes. I mean, at the very least, based on my anecdotal experience of looking at testimonies from trans people or even parents of trans identified kids and talking to several people who either experienced gender dysphoria or identify as trans or non-binary or gender fluid. I don't know if I've met anybody who in their testimony and their, in their description of gender dysphoria and what exacerbates gender dysphoria and their view of narrow definitions of male and female, or masculinity and femininity. I don't know if I've met anybody that hasn't revealed on some level that that does play a role in, in gender dysphoria. Now, I think, um, you know, you said contribute. Does these

do these strict definitions of masculinity, femininity, uh, contribute to the increase in rates of gender dysphoria? I think that that word contribute is sufficiently vague or, or, or broad. I think, I think that's a helpful term actually, because if you say, does it cause gender dysphoria? I'm going to say, well, contribute would be better. I wouldn't want to reduce the sole cause of gender dysphoria to be in an environment where there are these strict definitions of masculinity and femininity.

I also like the word exacerbate, that somebody who experiences gender dysphoria, that that gender dysphoria is often exacerbated when they're environments where strict definitions of masculinity and femininity are reinforced, either intentionally or unintentionally. For instance, I mean, just to pick one of many examples I can give, I have a friend who is biologically female experiences, can experience pretty severe gender dysphoria. And this person was telling me about a time when, when they were, you know, hosting, decided to host a women's Bible study at their house. And my friend was experiencing just massive spikes of dysphoria simply at the thought of a bunch of super feminine pink dress wearing tea drinking. Yeah. Anyway,

people pouring into her, her, her living room. Um, and you know, my, my friend was just, just the thought of that happening, you know, was experiencing genderless for anyway, turned out to not be that a bunch of women came to their house and, uh, not all of them were super feminine. In fact, there was a lot of diversity and how people, uh, carried their womanhood and, and it went well, it went well. It went well. It wasn't as difficult as they thought it would be. But again, just the thought of just piles and piles of femininity swarming their living room was enough to spike their dysphoria. So I think we should also make, you know, and I don't want to get too lost in the weeds

here because I mean, your question was more focused than this, but I do think when we think of gender dysphoria, I mean, there's, there's so there's, there's various kinds of gender dysphoria, different, obviously different kinds of trans experiences. You know, if someone experiences early onset, you know, moderate to severe gender dysphoria, like from an early age, from the time they were three, four, five years old, they experienced what could be clinically diagnosed as gender dysphoria. That's a certain kind of trans experience versus somebody who'd never even experienced gender dysphoria until maybe their late teenage years. And maybe they're in an environment where these strict definitions

are enforced. We also have to make a distinction, I think, between people who experience late onset gender dysphoria versus maybe somebody who experiences AGP, autogynephilia, typically a male who might experience autogynephilia. That's going to be a very different kind of, it's going to be a unique kind of gender dysphoria than maybe a biological female who didn't experience gender dysphoria as a kid, but is experiencing it now as a teenager. So we just, we can't take a one size fits all approach to trans identities, quote unquote

trans experiences or how someone experiences gender dysphoria. But yes, at the end of the day, I do think narrow definitions of masculinity and femininity do often exacerbate one's gender dysphoria and even apart from even exacerbating it can be a contributing cause to it. Next question, since earthly marriage is a picture of the church's eventual marriage to Jesus, why are sex difference and procreation important to earthly marriage? This is a really, really good question. In fact, a lot of the questions that came in here, I mean, I think I might say this in every Q&A podcast that these are really good questions, but the questions that came in here

are very complex theologically and philosophically. So, okay. My response. I, so, um, yes, earthly marriage is, is a picture of our marriage to Jesus, but they're also not just a picture like the Bible does draw upon earthly marriage as a way to express Yahweh's love and relationship with Israel. And then in the new Testament, Jesus's relationship with, uh, with the church. So they are a picture, but they're more than a picture there. I mean, human marriage is also the means by which humans procreate and therefore exist. Male female marriage is the designed context for human life to occur and be nurtured. In fact, one of the original commands given to humanity is be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Why? Because God wanted a bunch of his image images spread around the globe.

Well, that's not going to happen unless males and females are procreating. And I believe, and probably many of you believe, that this thing we now call marriage, the Bible calls it a one flesh covenant union, this is the context in which human life should happen and multiply and be nurtured. So again, even apart from the symbolism, you know, human marriage is just built into the fabric of how God has wired creation. I would also say that I do think with regard to the picture, the analogy that human marriages offer in terms of pointing us to God's love for Israel, Christ's love for the church, that sex difference is still necessary for that picture to work. Sex difference between

husband and wife, for instance, allows for a Christ love for the church to make sense. This doesn't, you know, I'm thinking of Ephesians five here. This doesn't mean we map everything about Jesus onto the husband. This is the pushback that often comes up. What are you saying? The husband is just like Jesus. He's the Lord. He's perfect. He's sinless and the savior. And, and the woman is the sinful bride of Christ. No, no, no, no, no. That's not what Paul's doing here. He's picking a very specific aspect, Christ relationship to the church, namely his self-giving, self-sacrifice as an expression of love for the church. And he's telling husbands, you should be doing that to your wife. Okay? So it's, we don't map everything about

Jesus onto the husband. That's not the point of the analogy in Ephesians 5. In any case, for the analogy to work, we do need a husband and a wife, a male and a female. I would add also another aspect that we should consider is that procreation and even more broadly, procreative potential, reflects the creative work of God. We are created in God's image. Therefore, we reflect various things about God. One of the most fundamental truths about God is that God is a creator. He creates life. And we, since we're created in God's image, we also create life. In fact, one might argue that, Ooh, gonna be skating up the nice here. That the female plays a much more significant. Okay. Male and female are both necessary, but one might even argue this. This isn't

debated, right? That the female plays a more significant and beautifully complex role in I'm not going to repeat it, but he kind of is playing off of the sad nature of the male contribution to life. Anyway, I'll let you look that up. Um, but I'm not going to repeat it, but he kind of is playing off of the sad nature of the male contribution to life. Anyway, I'll let you look that up. Um, but I'm not going to repeat it, but he kind of is playing off of the sad nature of the male contribution to life. Anyway, I'll let you look that up. But yeah, I mean, a woman can carry life in her body and give birth to another human and then nurture another human from her body. Like that, that is a, a, that, that just radiates a picture of the divine who creates life.

It's just sad that in our culture, somehow, and I think this is almost like reverse patriarchy or kind of a patriarchy rearing its ugly head when for some reason women that are having kids, that's kind of diminished and that's reduced to like, Oh, you're just a woman who stays at home and has kids, had sons of babies, you know, and that's seen as like a less powerful thing when that is like the exact opposite of what's going on there. Anyway. Yeah. Hope that's helpful. Let's move on to the next question. What's the difference between the song of Solomon or more correctly, the song of songs and inappropriate erotica. what's the difference between the song of Solomon or more correctly, the song of songs and inappropriate erotica. Um, like this is a little bit, I mean, I think you, in a sense, you built into your answer

into your very question. I mean, the very word inappropriate is really, it's doing a lot of work in your question. I would consider, you know, you can almost consider song of songs. Well, I'll just go for it. Um, you might consider song of songs as a kind of appropriate erotica. So the definition of erotica is, you know, literature art intended to arouse sexual desire. I think song of songs is, you know, a literature that is designed to celebrate, uh, sex and romantic intimacy according to God's design. In fact, throughout the Psalms, throughout the song, you have this refrain that says something like, you know, do not arouse or awaken love until she desires, until it desires. It appears in Song of Songs, chapter two, verse seven, chapter three, verse five, and chapter eight, verse four. And I think, you know, the point of that is to give every

constant reminder that there are certain boundaries or, or certain, a particular context, a certain time when sexual desire should be acted upon. So the song of songs is designed to celebrate the beauty of romantic intimacy and sex in a way that follows God's design. Whereas the beauty of romantic intimacy and sex in a way that follows God's design, whereas secular, non-song of songs erotica doesn't have this goal at all. I mean, it's just trying to awaken sexual desire, period. I don't think it's concerned really about, you know, making sure that sexual desire is awakened within the context in which God has designed it to be awakened. Also, I would add to that, you know, the poetic genre of song of songs is it's more concealing than revealing. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's, it's tasteful. And in some sense, it's, it's hidden. It invites artistic inquiry rather than flooding your brain with an, uh, with, you know, tons of dopamine to just arouse

sexual desire at, you know, period. It's it's, that's not what it's doing. The very genre say it invites you in rather than just throwing stuff into your face. So I remember talking to Trump or Longman who's like an expert, old Testament scholar, expert in, in song of songs. And he brought up this point and Trepper is not afraid to tell us what he thinks these images are talking about. And he is on the side of, yeah, there's, there's a lot of, you know, sexual imagery here. It is, you know, when you're like, wait, is it talking about what I think it's talking about? Yes. It's talking about what you think it's talking about. Okay. So, you know, but he says, but, but the fact that the genre is, isn't this poetry and has these images,

like it's inviting you in to explore these images rather than just kind of throw it in your face. So I think that's different than, um, secular erotica. I'm speaking as if I know about secular erotica. I don't, I've never read anything that would be classified as secular or just erotica. So anyway, yeah, I hope that helps. Again, I think your, uh, your term inappropriate, uh, the difference between song and songs and inappropriate erotica, I think, um, is, is a key word there. All right. Next question. How to articulate holding a firm conviction on an issue like abortion without being a single issue voter. Are there single issues that should dictate voting? My understanding

of a healthy view of single issue voting doesn't mean that this single issue is the only issue that matters or the only reason why you should vote this direction or that direction. It's, but it's more of like the deciding issue that I mean, if you think, no, this is the only issue that matter. Well, lots of issues matter. Lots of issues affect people. I would almost think of it like this single issue is the tipping point or yeah, the deciding issue, why I might vote in this direction or that direction or not vote at all. Um, obviously many issues matter. Maybe you're just not well versed in other issues. Maybe

you're like, yes, immigration matters. Economy matters. Foreign policy matters. You know, uh, certain worldviews that are baked into certain policies that this side is advocating for, you know, those are important. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue.

I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue.

I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue. I think that's a big issue, I think that's a big issue. I'm sympathetic with people that do make this kind of the deciding, their deciding factor why they might vote in a certain

reduction, direction. But I do want to say though, when it comes to abortion, I just, I don't think we can reduce the entire issue to simply passing laws. I don't think the church's job was done when Roe v. Wade was reversed. And that's, that's the pro. I mean, that's a big problem. I see with the interaction of church and politics is we invest all of our, or most of our attempt to embody truth and grace in our society to the direction in which we vote. And then we say abortion is the biggest issue. It's a huge issue. It's the issue maybe. And so, you know, as long as I can vote in a certain direction, then wipe my hands. I'm done. I played my role in trying to reduce abortions in the country we're living in.

I just think that's a way oversimplified view of the matter. I mean, according to one study, I read abortions, and you could fact check me on this, abortions actually went up after Roe v. Wade was overturned. And maybe there's a complex reasons why that is. And also I read one study. So whatever, in this day and age, studies can be very politicized. So if I read one study, I always tell myself,

make sure you read nine more studies, especially at least five that are critical. Hey friends, I hope you enjoyed this portion of the Patreon Only Q&A podcast. If you'd like to listen to the full-length episode and receive other bonus content like monthly podcasts, opportunities to ask questions, access to first drafts of my research, and monthly Zoom chats and more, then please head over to patreon.com forward slash theology in the raw to join Theology in the Raw's Patreon community. That's patreon.com forward slash theology in the raw. This show is part of the Converge Podcast Network.

Hey, so I'm launching a new season on the podcast, The Doctor and the Nurse. World renowned brain coach, Dr. Daniel Am Amon joins me as a co-host as we dive deep into the mind and the brain of everything high performance. I've been fascinated for years as I've worked with top athletes, high powered CEOs, Hollywood actors, and all high performers in all types of different fields of how they break through pressure, ignite drive, how they overcome distractions, how they put fear on the bench, how they tap into flow state and just dominate all these different areas of high performance. So on this season, my good friend, Dr. Daniel Layman will break down what is actually going on in the brain in these different areas and I will give actionable tools to be able to use

and apply in your life. So buckle up, the doctor and the nurse on The David Nurse Show coming at ya. Hey friends, Rachel Grohl here from The Hearing Jesus Podcast. Do you ever wonder if you're truly hearing from God? Are you tired of trying to figure it all out on your own? The Hearing Jesus Podcast is here to help you live out your faith every single day.

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