Life

Is It Okay to Be Single?

October 28, 2019 by wagraham 2 Comments

In our day, we marry later and delay starting a family. Through selfishness, some North Americans have written off the institution of marriage altogether. In light of these realities, Christians rightly underscore the goodness of marriage and the family.

But, on occasion, we emphasize marriage so much that we give the impression that singleness represents a lesser state. It does not. It is not just okay to be single, but for those so gifted with singleness, it also represents a much better state of living than does marriage. [Read more…] about Is It Okay to Be Single?

How to Rejoice Always

October 19, 2019 by wagraham Leave a Comment

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Rejoice always” (1 Thess 5:16). For most of us, we probably read this command and wonder, “Is it even possible to obey?” What adds to the problem is that Paul claims that rejoicing always “is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess 5:18). How can we obey God’s will by rejoicing always when we all know by experience that joy seems elusive, partial, and impermanent?

The answer is not to live a life of affected joy and so wear a mask of happiness by forcing ourselves to act the part. Instead, the answer comes through a deeper meditation on what Joy means and what constitutes a person. [Read more…] about How to Rejoice Always

How to Talk to Christians Who Differ Politically—even If It Is Abortion Or Climate Change

October 2, 2019 by wagraham 1 Comment

Human life begins after conception. Yes, there may be a small gap in time before the fertilized egg can be defined as a human being in potentiality. But it starts early. The climate is changing, but the eleven-year time-table as well as all current solutions to the problem do not convince me. I want nuclear power and investment in better technology, not carbon taxes and radical plans to undercut current energy production.

So my cards are on the table. I have conservative views, and I am what many would consider a simpleton for them. So be it. My point here is not to defend my views but to persuade those who share mine to treat Christians who differ from them better. I am not going to argue for any of these political positions, but I am going to sketch out ways that we can speak the truth in love even with Christians who hold different political views than us. [Read more…] about How to Talk to Christians Who Differ Politically—even If It Is Abortion Or Climate Change

What Gender Is the XXY Chromosome?

August 21, 2019 by wagraham 3 Comments

Since human nature exists, sex does not amount to either biological or chemical properties in us; nor does it amount to a fluid identification of gender.

Human nature encodes capacity and purpose into humanity. Biology and chemistry can describe our constituent parts but insufficiently do so. We need to also define our capacity and purpose.

This means somewhat controversially that whether we have an xy, xx, or xxy chromosome pattern, these biological and chemical compositions do not tell the whole story. [Read more…] about What Gender Is the XXY Chromosome?

Time Does not Exist (It Has no Substance)

May 30, 2019 by wagraham 3 Comments

Time measures movement. It describes one rotation of the earth on its axis with the sun as a fixed point and defines that movement as 24 hours. Time points to the earth rotating around the sun over 365 single rotations with respect to the sun and calls that one year. While the earth makes its rotating orbit around the sun, its tilt creates temperature shifts across the world, which we call seasons.

When our bodies grow matter and develop, we call this age. When our bodies atrophy and begin to shut down, we too call this age. We define our own age on the basis of the earth’s rotation and orbit around the sun. One orbit of the earth around the sun, one year we gain.

Everything that has a beginning has motion. God created the earth, and so it began to spin and orbit a star we call the sun. The stars and celestial beings exist for the very sake of measuring motion: “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years’” (Gen 1:14).

Time has no substance, or matter of its own. Like a measuring tape expands across a board and defines the board’s length by inches and feet, so do days and years measure the distance the earth moves.

We define inches and feet and metres and yards to describe lengths. We define minutes and hours and days and years and centuries and millennia to describe movements.

[Read more…]

Does My Gender Define Me?

April 19, 2019 by wagraham 1 Comment

In the mid-nineteenth century, European legislators invented a taxonomy of gender to identify various sexual disorders (Blank 2012: 15–21). In this way, legal scholars created the idea of orientation, and new words like heterosexual and homosexual came into use.

As Michael Hannon explains, “Heterosexuals, like typewriters and urinals (also, obviously, for gentlemen), were an invention of the 1860s.” And according to Hanne Blank, “It has, in point of actual fact, only been possible to be a heterosexual since 1869” (2012: xiv). It would take about 60 years until these theories made their way into North America.

The straight truth is: heterosexuality is an invention of European legal philosophy. It is neither good nor bad for this reason. And yet we seriously need to question the validity of such gendered-identities. Especially now, since gendered categories have made their way into popular social paradigms.

[Read more…]