Blog

I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.

Carl Trueman opens his recent book with this sentence, and explains that his book is basically an attempt to understand how such a sentence has come to be meaningful in our day. He starts by saying his grandfather who died in 1994 wouldn’t have understood it at all like we do today. 

His sentence brings together two ideas in tight fashion: "I am a woman trapped" refers to the concept of gender, but "a man's body" refers to the concept of biological sex. And then in the sentence is the assumption that a person's perceived gender can be different from his or her biological sex, in this case the gender being female and the biological sex being male. A growing number of people in our culture would affirm such ideas. As Benjamin said in his sermon on transgenderism, many in our day would assume the following:

• Society determines what gender is, and it’s not connected to biological sex.
• The social construct of gender is used to oppress individuals.
• The individual has the right to decide which gender they are based on their desires.

This post is a response to such ideas but in an indirect fashion. I’ll do so by working toward a definition of a man and a woman.

“Unless the Lord does raise the house, in vain it’s builders strive”

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Co 15:58)

As anyone who has been a Christian, or been a part of a local church, for any length of time knows it is the sacrificial service of every member, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that keeps the mission of the church on track. Paul’s exhortation to “always abound in the work of the Lord” has a special clarity to…

Earlier this fall Ken Auer travelled to Tanzania and Zambia to explore future ministry opportunities. He was accompanied by Henri and Chimelle Kadima, friends of ours who used to attend Cornerstone but are now leading a church in Garner called International Group of Friends of Christ (GRIAC for short, from the French name of the church). We asked Ken to write a report about his trip. In December we'll have a reception for him, where he'll be able to say a little more. 

We are beginning our first of three Caffeinated History classes at church. Why church history? Few things bring together human interest, lessons for life, and insights from the Bible like church history. When you look at how God's people—our people—have faced challenges in their day and had to figure out what Christian faithfulness required, you come away better equipped to handle what God brings our way. 

The beginning of everything except God himself is found in this book we call “Genesis.” It is at once thrilling and intimidating to dive into this book, for “the truth—and this may sound shocking—is that almost every important church doctrine is found in ‘seed’ form in the book of Genesis.”[1]

The title of the book is a word that has come to mean “origin” or “source” in English just because of this Old Testament book. It was called genesis in the Greek Old Testament, because the word is found in key places throughout the book (2:4; 5:1; 6:9;…

Last week in Mike's sermon he offered a set of simple questions that can be used to turn a conversation into a gospel conversation. I mention this for two reasons. One is to serve as a reminder that our sermon pages include a full manuscript of the sermons (at least, most of the time). And second, these questions are really helpful. After an excerpt from Mike's sermon I'll mention an opportunity where you can put these into practice. 

Claire Talbott recently wrote a post for Agua Viva about her experience on our trip this summer. We wanted to pass it along to encourage you. 

Some sentences in the Bible are absolutely packed with content. Last week's sermon showed us that 1 Corinthians 16:22 is one of these:

If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!

Paul has a poetic wordplay here lost in the English. Behind the word “accursed” is the Greek word anathema, and behind the prayer, “Our Lord, come!”, is the Aramaic Marana tha. Put together they are "anathema. Marana tha." But more than wordplay, Paul is presenting us with two powerful ideas.

The first sentence is meant to provoke a…

Recently we looked at 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, where Paul speaks to a related issue, the values we project (and reject) by what we have on our heads. There’s enough complexity in this passage to take a second look at it here.

“Whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears.” (Prov 26:17)

This is what we call a “proverb,” and it’s from the Old Testament book of Proverbs. This is a favorite part of God’s word, because of verses like this one: you get bite-size nuggets of truth about things that help us know how to live well. Some have even defined the “wisdom” we get from Proverbs and other Wisdom books of the Bible—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon—as “skill in living.” Given the complexity and unexpectedness…