God’s design for gender and sexuality is fixed and unchanging. The way he created us is the way he means for us to live. The instruction he provides in the Bible is all we need to understand his purpose and live it out in a way that honors and pleases him. The wisdom he provides in the Word is all we need to understand how he made us and how he intends us to express our sexuality. God has spoken and it falls to us to believe and obey.

A Field Guide on
Gender and Sexuality

Yet the world is confused about these matters and always has been. Such confusion varies from age to age and context to context, but what is universal is that every culture finds different ways to rebel against God and against his good design. Today’s confusion in the Western world—a confusion that inevitably impacts the church—centers around matters of identity. For that reason, matters of sex, gender, and identity are at the heart of a helpful new field guide published by Ligonier Ministries: A Field Guide on Gender and Sexuality.
A field guide is meant to offer a concise introduction and explanation to a topic or area of study, and that is what this one accomplishes. It explains what the Bible teaches about gender, sexuality, and identity, and does so by following a question and answer format. Its 28 questions and answers are divided into four broad categories.
It begins with “Being Human” and answers questions about being made in the image of God, about the purpose of sex, about the right to personalize an identity, and about the number of genders and the distinctions between them. It then advances to “Homosexuality and Transgenderism” where it answers whether same-sex attraction is a sin (or only acting on it), distinguishes between gender dysphoria and transgenderism, considers the term “gay Christian,” and tells whether Christians with same-sex attraction can expect their desires to diminish (or even transform) as they grow in sanctification.
In the third section, the questions turn to matters of “Events and Associations.” Can I attend a gay wedding? Can I attend the wedding of a Christian to a non-Christian? Is it acceptable to use a person’s preferred pronouns? How do we know whether something is a matter of conscience or a clear teaching of Scripture? The final section, “The Gospel and Love” offers hope for sexual sinners of all kinds, explains the nature of true compassion, and tells how to serve fellow Christians who are struggling with same-sex attraction. It covers all this in a concise format and a mere 112 pages.
Because the guide is written from the unified perspective of a particular ministry, it offers a lot of unambiguous and unapologetic “yes” and “no” answers. Yet these are always explained and defended from Scripture. There are areas of any discussion of these matters that begin to move from what the Bible clearly prescribes to matters where Christians may have some disagreements on the basis of conscience, and for this reason, I appreciate the section on conscience and this helpful guidance: “Something is a matter of conscience when it is not forbidden by Scripture explicitly or not forbidden implicitly by good and necessary deductions from Scripture.”
Yet almost by definition, people will disagree about whether a particular issue is forbidden in that way. Thus it would have been helpful to me if there had been a question that asked something like this: How should Christians relate to one another when they disagree about whether a particular issue is a matter of conscience or a biblical decree? At what point do we believe that another person is so wrong that we need to pull back from formal or informal associations? This, I think, is going to be one of the pressing challenges of the next few years. I believe the church will eventually come to be unified on most or all of these matters—our consciences will more and more come into line as we commit ourselves to the Scriptures and the work of the Spirit—but there will first be a time of some uncertainty. I long for us, as a church, to navigate that in-between time well.
Ligonier’s A Field Guide on Gender and Sexuality is a helpful, timely, and valuable resource and one that offers sound answers to urgent questions. It is priced very reasonably which makes it ideal to purchase in bulk and distribute widely. To young and old alike, it will prove a trusted guide to some of today’s most pressing issues.

It was twenty years ago this week that I made the decision to try to post something to my blog every day for a year. At that time the site was suffering from a lack of attention. I would write occasional articles and often get positive feedback on them, but I lacked any real commitment and dedication. The time between posting articles had stretched from days to weeks, so I decided I’d give it one more shot by making the commitment to post something new every day for a year. If I failed, I’d just give up and find a new hobby.

But it worked. From November 1, 2003 to October 31, 2004 I posted something every day. At the end of the year I decided I enjoyed holding myself to that kind of discipline so renewed the commitment. And somewhere along the way, it became a habit that stuck—and a habit that has remained two decades later. Tomorrow I’ll round out twenty years of daily blogging.
That’s not to say that I have always posted something of the highest quality—though I do try to ensure it is always worth reading and that it will benefit people in some way. And that’s certainly not to say I write every day or am even involved in posting it every day—there are people and automation tools that can do that for me when I am on vacation or taking a weekly day of rest. But it is to say that I’ve maintained the habit and enjoyed doing so.
So as I hit that 20-year mark, I want to express my gratitude to you, the readers. None of this would be possible if you didn’t commit to reading it. The fact that you continue to read this site is a blessing and encouragement to me. I’d say “Here’s to another 20 years” but I kind of doubt I’ll maintain the habit that long.
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And now, turning to a completely different subject, I thought I’d share a few thoughts and articles that may be of interest to you. While I link to several good pieces of writing each day in my A La Carte column, I focus almost exclusively on Christian material. Sometimes, though, I read other material and feel like commenting on it. That’s some of what you will find below—interesting articles from mainstream sources that are accompanied by some brief commentary.
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Happy birthday to Abby who turns 21 today!
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The Verge has an article that makes me chuckle: Apple’s new video reactions are making therapy incredibly awkward. If you have upgraded to the most recent versions of Apple’s operating systems, you may have noticed that they now include “video reactions.” When using FaceTime or another video app, you can use gestures to trigger certain reactions in your conversations. Some of these gestures are relatively common like a thumbs up or a thumbs down, but they can trigger uncommon on-screen reactions like a heart emoji or a fireworks display.
With that in mind, “SimplePractice, a company that offers a telehealth platform, is warning patients about Apple’s new video reactions feature that might let people unintentionally add heart emoji or virtual fireworks during a telehealth video call. Awkward.” Awkward indeed! The warning extends to other uses of video such as business meetings or litigation—times when an unexpected heart emoji or laser show may slightly disrupt what was otherwise a very serious conversation. Thankfully, it is possible to disable the feature—something you may wish to consider. And thankfully this feature came along well after that strange stretch of time during the pandemic when we seemed to be on video calls all day and every day.
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I was recently pondering the parable of the Good Samaritan and wondering this: if Jesus were to speak the parable today, who would play the role of the Samaritan in our modern Western context? If Jesus was attempting to challenge the kind of pious religious folk who are convinced of their own spiritual superiority, who would be the person who so revolts them that they would be infuriated to learn he was actually the one who had behaved righteously—the one who represented the sharpest cultural division of that day?
I was thinking the other day of the Modern Parable films that were released about 12 years ago. They provided a modern adaptation of the parable and, as I recall, the Samaritan was played by a devout Muslim. But that was not too long after 9/11 and what might have resonated in that day probably wouldn’t today. I know there is a lot of historical context that divided first-century Jews from Samaritans, but I’d be interested in knowing your thoughts on the closest comparison in our day.  Who is our modern Samaritan? (Facebook is probably the best place to leave a comment since I removed the commenting function on my blog a very long time ago.)
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“Something feels a bit off with Airbnb these days.” The Atlantic recently wrote about Airbnb and the way it has changed over the years. I remember the early years when every home or cottage we rented made us feel like we had been invited in as the guest of the homeowner. They would often be there to greet us and would leave a little welcome gift behind. There was something charming about it. But that was then and this is now. Today’s Airbnbs are often owned or at least managed by professional companies who want the experience to be very professional, bland, and sterile.
The author says, “You risk ending up, like I did in Vermont, in one of multiple cookie-cutter units listed by the same host, units that lean less ‘cozy ski lodge’ and more ‘IKEA display room that has never known human touch.’” And that’s exactly it. We recently rented one that had four chairs around the table and in the cupboards were four plain white IKEA mugs, four plain white IKEA plates, and four plain white IKEA bowls. Nearby were exactly 4 IKEA knives, forks, and spoons. The walls were stark and bare and there was no more furniture than absolutely necessary. It was a home devoid of warmth, character, or anything beyond the absolute necessities. I guess that’s fine as far as it goes, but I still find myself looking for listings that have a bit more of the older feel.
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Fast Company wrote about the note-taking app Obsidian. Whether it’s Obsidian, Roam Research (which I prefer), or one of several imitators, this new generation of note-taking apps offers features and power that previous generations did not. Their purpose is not just to help you write notes, but to help you figure out how to create ideas and bring meaning from those notes. So if Evernote or even your computer’s built-in notes app is meant to simply record information, these apps are meant to record information and then help you do something with it. I have found them invaluable and would say that if your work is in the realm of ideas, you may find they really benefit you as well. I continue to use Roam (as I’ve outlined here), though if I was starting over I’d definitely consider Obsidian as well.

When I was a child, the maps in my Bible got me through many a sermon. I was rarely interested in listening to the preacher, so I would flip to the back pages of the Bible to study the maps there. I would gaze at the contours of the lands of the Middle East. I would observe how Abraham had obeyed God and left his country and his kindred and his father’s house to journey to the land that God would show him. I would study the ancient world as the Patriarchs knew it. Best of all, I would see how God had miraculously delivered his people from their long captivity in Egypt.

Like just about every Bible, mine had a map that traced the route the Israelites followed after they escaped from Egypt and began to make their way toward the Promised Land. The map had a line in blue that began in Egypt and then traveled south for a time toward the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula. Eventually, it bulged north for a short while before dipping south again. Then finally it turned permanently northward and led the way to Jericho before it terminated on the banks of the Jordan.
The route the Israelites followed is far from straight and hardly looks efficient. Instead of taking a direct approach leading straight from Egypt to Canaan, the route appears to wander and meander, to turn this way and then that, to progress for a time and then bog down. It would be easy enough to look at a map like that and assume that it shows confusion or indecision, a lack of planning, and a lack of strong leadership.
Yet we know that all the while the people were following the Lord’s directives. He is the one who would tell them when to pick up and when to settle down, when to go straight, and when to turn to the left or the right. It was under his direction that they forded this river or turned away from that sea, in obedience to his command that they approached this mountain or avoided that plain. And if that’s the case, then the map does not truly wander and meander at all and does not truly show the least confusion or indecision. To the contrary, the map at the back of our Bibles shows the considered and well-thought-out plan of God, the route that existed in his mind long before he called his people to follow it. Their every step was deliberate and their every move was meaningful, for it was all the fulfillment of God’s good and perfect will.
There are times when it does us good to think back to our own lives and to picture them almost like a map—a map that traces our journey from birth to where we are today. And as we look at our lives so far, we can see how we passed through certain kinds of difficulties and avoided many more, how we scaled some mountains of joy but bypassed others. We can see how we turned this way toward success and that way toward failure. Our path through this life has been winding and twisting, rarely perfectly straight and rarely avoiding every hindrance and every stretch of wilderness.
And just like God was leading the Israelites on their journey, we can have every confidence that he has been leading us on ours. Just like every twist and every turn they took was within the wise providence of God, so too every step we’ve taken forward and every step we’ve taken back. He planned that we would approach mountains and valleys, rivers and seas, and he has used them all for his good purposes. And, just like he promised that his people would safely reach the end of their journey, he has promised we will reach ours. For like them, he is leading us to the Promised Land, the land of peace, the land of rest, the land where we most truly long to be.