By now only the most isolated of people and the Amish, as reported by Jesse Watters last night, have not heard that Bruce Jenner is now a woman!
In the past several days Jenner has been lauded as courageous by most of the Hollywood elite, the liberal media and even the President of the United States. After Jenner changed his name and sent out his first Tweet on his new Twitter account, President Obama retweeted it with this comment, “It takes courage to share your story.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that the President was supportive of Jenner’s transformation. “The president does believe that (Bruce) Jenner has shown tremendous courage, as (he) has undergone this transition in a very public way,” opined Earnest. ”
Now ESPN has announced they will give Jenner their Arthur Ashe Courage Award at their ESPY award show in July. It is one of the most prestigious awards in sports. According to ESPN, ” the recipients reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe, possessing strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost.”
Really? What cost?
If Jenner had made this startling announcement in 1976 after winning the gold metal in the Olympics, that might have been courageous. Thirty years ago people had more sense. There was some general understanding between right and wrong. Not today. Anything goes. No matter how weird. Outlandish. Or twisted. In fact, the more bizarre the better.
Rob Shuter, VH 1 host of “The Gossip Table,” told the NY Daily News, “If the stars align, (Jenner) could be worth $500 million in the next 5 to 10 years. (He) is going to be a pioneer.”
I just don’t see the courage in admitting something that everyone is going to praise. Put you on the cover of magazines. Give you awards. Feature you in your own reality TV Show. And provide you with incredible financial opportunities.
Columnist Jesse Lee Peterson, of WND, put it this way, “I do not see a courageous woman. I see a weak, pathetic, shameless man. Jenner has no shame about being wrong. Once a person gets rid of the shame in his or her life, there is no limit to the destruction they are capable of.”
“The deceiver’s game is to make us believe that the abnormal is normal, that we’re being ourselves when we give in to what in reality is an evil identity making a home inside of us.”
Peterson’s observations remind me of two Biblical warnings from the Prophets regarding the sins of ancient Israel.
“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.” (Jer 6:15)
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!” (Isa 5:20-21)
Isaiah and Jeremiah eerily describe the condition of modern-day America, it’s leaders and more of more of its people who are blindly following the blind into a moral ditch of degradation, dishonor and destruction.
Courage is not having operations to transform into a man into a woman. In fact, Jenner will never really be a woman! He can change his outside appearance, shop in the women’s department at Neiman Marcus and go to the women’s restroom, but he can’t change the chromosomes that God gave him when the Creator made him a male.
Moral courage would be overcoming your temptations. Mastering your emotions. Not succumbing to your sinful desires. Conquering your baser instincts. And glorifying God in your body, realizing it is His, and not yours to degrade and disgrace. (ICor 6:19-20)
Is Bruce Jenner courageous? Absolutely not.
But Christians must be courageous to resist the wickedness of this world, denounce its sordid sinfulness and boldly defend God’s Truth.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
AMEN!!!
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Is Dr. Tony Campolo (who popularized the phrase “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming”) courageous?
http://tonycampolo.org/for-the-record-tony-campolo-releases-a-new-statement/#.VXcZ1NJVikr
Probably “the” big problem in our Christian Teachers talking about this is not talking specifically about sex.
What does Scripture say about this specifically — anything? We know that marriage is about loving somebody, caring about them in “exclusive” partnership. But is it also the actual “sex act” itself?
Danny Cortez talks a lot about this. How homosexuality practiced 2,000 years ago is nothing like that in today’s culture. Was Paul primarily talking about the horrible things that were going on in that culture (where slaves didn’t have a choice) — or was Paul talking primarily about the “sex act” itself?
As Tony Campolo says in his letter (reflective of the attitude of many straight Christians) — many of us a torn on this.
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Steve, I care about you deeply…and you will not be surprised by my comments here. Tony Campolo based his comments and the changes in his thinking on the subject on many things, including his familiarity with many “gay” couples. But he made no reference in his conclusions to what God wants; and really, that should be first in our thinking. When one looks at the Bible, and I know that you are a great Bible student, looking at the creation of marriage by God, at the words of Jesus, and in other places in the OT and NT, there is no reason to be “torn” on the subject. But I will conclude by saying, and I believe agreeing with you, that we want to love all people….and open our doors to all people…and try to help all people to find God and His truth. Keep searching….and feel the love.
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Hey Stephen, I echo an “amen” to Mike’s comments. Also marriage is designed to be consummated in sexual fulfillment–i.e. “one flesh” Gen 2:24; Mt. 19:5; Eph 5:31). This was both for the purpose of procreation (Gen 1:28), as well as pleasure (1 Cor 7:1-5). And Jesus said in Matt 19, this based on the fact God made them “male and female.” Any other marital or sexual arrangement other than one man and one woman married to each other, is a violation of God’s intention, plan and command for us, Dr. Campolo notwithstanding.
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Very well stated Ken…keep up the good writing!
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Thanks Jeanette! Glad to know your reading my blog. Good to hear from you.
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Who are we to judge Caitlyn Jenner’s decision? I thought that was God’s job not ours.
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Mike knows that I love him deeply. Ken should know that I have Agape love for him and value and respect him as one of my Teachers.
For ~10 years, I taught Sunday School. I told my kids, “there is no such thing as a dumb question”. I told them they shouldn’t just believe something in their Faith solely on what their parents, our Pastor, or I said or believed. At some point in their lives (when they got older) they would probably have some spiritual crisis, and they need to have a firm foundation “of what they believe”, not just on what somebody else said.
I know I put too much emphasis on people (especially my teachers), but this is why I connected so much to Marty Pickup when he constantly said “there are no dumb questions”. Oh how Marty could defuse any confrontational situation with a smile, his exceptional wit, and deep knowledge of Scripture.
Last year I took a distance learning course on St. Paul from Harvard that had a big impact on me. A major theme of the course was what they called “The Westernization of Christ” — where it seems like many Christians cherry-pick certain things in the Bible and “plop” it into today’s culture.
Most of the time this is absolutely correct (especially in our individual actions) as the nature of man and sin never changes. Still, other times it causes one to scratch their head.
As an undergrad, I majored in biological engineering. But in low level biology class I learned that homosexuality is present in Nature for all upper primates. When I hear scientists say that homosexuality can very well be genetic, and gay people cite this of that’s how they were made — I’m suppose to just blow them off and quote Romans?
But this isn’t about homosexuality. It’s about Authority of how many Christians and Christian Teachers approach Faith and primarily social issues. I went to Georgia Tech, and when I’ve “balked” at the teaching of Creationism in the Church I’ve been told: (1) I don’t understand the Bible; (2) I don’t understand the laws of thermodynamics. This pushes me away.
I’m old enough to remember what was taught in the Church when I was a kid on race. I attended Bob Jones (prep) for a short time.
I see how relationships have just been destroyed in the Church on Divorced People re-marrying.
I know a lot of people who got married and don’t want or can’t have (due to age) children.
But, I’ll read the Bible verses Ken cited — and probably have some “Dumb Question” follow-ups.
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Whatever your thoughts about Bruce Jenner, does it somehow help our case as Christians to blast him publicly? Does this kind of thing belong in the public forum? Why? Do blog posts like this somehow win people over to Christianity? It seems more divisive to me.
Here’s what I don’t see in this post: Love. Not one time do you express concern for Jenner, or for people grappling with the same things he has. Regardless of your views, this is a human being with a soul. (And a person who identifies as a Christian, if you didn’t know.)
In some ways, it seems like you may be guilty of the same thing you accuse Jenner of. To quote you, “I just don’t see the courage in admitting something that everyone is going to praise.” Your audience is largely made up of fundamentalist Christians like yourself, and I’m sure most of them will pat you on the back for posting this kind of stuff. But who is this helping? Do you expect that this approach will win people over to your side? If not, what are you trying to accomplish? Just congratulating other people who think like you? If there’s another point to this, I’ve missed it.
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Reblogged this on ThePreachersWord and commented:
Bruce Jenner’s story was big news in 2015 and our commentary on it was the 4th most read post of the year according to WordPress
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If you don’t stand for something, you fall for anything. We all have to take a stand, just pray it is Gods stand. And it must be with love, or it means nothing,Cor.13.
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