Showing results by author "Andrew T. Walker" in All Categories

What is transgender and gender fluidity? What does God's word actually say about these issues? How can the gospel be good news for someone experiencing gender dysphoria? How should churches respond? This warm, faithful, and careful book helps Christians understand what the Bible says about gender identity. It will help us to engage lovingly, thoughtfully, and faithfully with one of the most explosive cultural discussions of our day. If you want to learn more and love better, and are open to considering what God has to say about sex and gender, this hope-filled book is for you.

Religious liberty isn't a principle for Americans alone, though it certainly has played an important role in the history of the United States. Religious liberty is a matter of authority and allegiance for people of every land. To whom one owes ultimate allegiance is a matter of the conscience, and one that should be protected in every nation. But what if religious liberty gives way, and churches are faced with the difficult decision between allegiance to their country and allegiance to their conscience?

In the kingdom of God, it is not us against them. The problem of racism stretches back as far humanity's origin in the book of Genesis. Brother pitted against brother, tribe against tribe - people have warred against one another, fueled by contempt for racial differences. Yet the Gospel is a message of reconciliation. The kingdom of God is us reconciled to one another.

The Bible is unambiguously clear about marriage's definition and purpose. So, Christians are for marriage. The Bible's witness on marriage doesn't allow for same-sex marriage, not because the Bible gives attention to same-sex marriage, but because the biblical narrative on marriage doesn't conceive of same-sex marriage as within the realm of possibility. Yet, many Christians live among neighbors and under law-makers who disagree. So, what now?

Christians are often thought of as defending only their own religious interests in the public square. They are viewed as worrying exclusively about the erosion of their freedom to assemble and to follow their convictions, while not seeming as concerned about publicly defending the rights of Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and atheists to do the same. Andrew T. Walker, an emerging Southern Baptist public theologian, argues for a robust Christian ethic of religious liberty that helps the church defend religious freedom for everyone in a pluralistic society.

So often in America, we define who we are by what we do. We introduce ourselves by our job titles. We ask, "What do you do?" to be polite in small talk. We define others by their occupations. But there are good reasons to connect what you do with your time, whether that is 9-to-5 work or managing a household full of children. God created us to work, not as judgment but in cooperation with a mandate given to humanity long before the fall. Your work isn't who you are, but it is central to why you are here.

The problem isn't sex. God designed sex, and sex is good. Sex is a powerful union that brings men and women together. But when sex is distorted by sin, the misuse of our sexuality can alienate us from one another, causing immense harm and pain. Enter pornography - the most prevalent distortion of sexual sin in America. Pornography is not only a problem in terms of personal morality but a social epidemic that is making the possibility of sexually fulfilled marriages harder to achieve.

We live in a society of broken homes. Having parents in the home doesn't mean that parenting is actually happening. Parenting is a God-given task that ensures young children are protected and nurtured into maturity in the fear and admonition of the Lord. But America and the church face a crisis of parenting: detached or absentee fathers, single mothers, and grandparents raising the next generation.

While the culture has never been more confused about the definition of what marriage is, those who are married have never been more hopeless about how marriage should be lived. The times have never been more crucial for digging deeper, past the definition of marriage to the structure of marriage, the blessings of marriage, and the opportunity for living out the image of the gospel that's embodied within marriage. So, what now?

Every Christian isn't called to adopt, but everyone is called to care for orphans. The evangelical adoption movement is but one strand in a long cord of Christian care for orphans. While adoption trends have fluctuated over time in different contexts, the Bible has not changed its position. The gospel is decidedly pro-adoption and on the side of the orphan. Yet many obstacles stand in the way of the Christian's mission to provide care to the least of these. So, what now?

The pro-life moment didn't begin in the 1960s, but in the garden. Abortion has been a divisive issue in American culture since the sexual revolution. Yet the Bible is an unapologetic defender of human dignity. Moreover, Christians have always cared for the unborn, the orphan, and the least among us. The time is now for this generation to reaffirm what believers have always believed: everybody is created in the image of god. So, what now?