Gender & Sexual Orientation: When ideas believed to be true are not rooted in God’s eternal Word, then they resemble fast fashion. They come and they go. They are popular and then they are not. For example, gender used to be considered binary (two: male, female) and something that was congruent with one’s biological sex. In other words, it was considered fixed. But now gender has been untethered from biological reality and has morphed into something that is chosen. On the other hand, sexual orientation used to be something that one chooses, and now is viewed as something biologically determined. Granted, I will quickly admit that sexual orientation is something heavily influenced by one’s genetics. So how can it be wrong whatever direction it takes? The Christian worldview is robust and has a complex answer to such questions. Due to The Fall (the first sin), human nature became fallen (Original Sin), and nothing lies outside the scope of what has been affected by sin. Thus, it stands to reason that within a biblical paradigm even our physical bodies—including our genetics and biology—are affected and can result in immoral orientations that must be redeemed. So, what does culture say? Gender used to be fixed but now you can choose while sexual orientation used to be chosen but now is considered fixed. Which is it? What will it be next? Oh the pain (and cost) of not having moral absolutes. It is a topsy-turvy moral soup where one cannot find firm ground upon which to stand (ironically, Nietzsche picked up on this with keen insight). In the Christian worldview, God’s moral nature is the absolute and fixed moral standard. One doesn’t have to live on the ideological roller coaster that resembles fast fashion in the social and moral arena.
Aristotle on Friendship: There are three types of friendship: (1) ones based on usefulness, (2) ones based on pleasure, and (3) ones based on the virtue and admiration of the other. The latter is the only type of friendship that is really not based on self-interest although the self will no doubt benefit. Yet, who has the character and maturity to enter a friendship that is just as focused on the other person’s good as one’s own? Very few according to Aristotle. He writes: “Naturally, such friendships are rare, because people of this kind are few. Besides, they require time and familiarity” (Book VIII, Nicomachean Ethics). Who said that philosophy is not relevant?! Consistent with his idea that ethics is primarily about being the right kind of person rather than figuring out the right or wrong course of action (like deontological and consequentialist normative ethical schemes), Aristotle emphasizes character when discussing friendship as well.
While It May Lack Integrity, It Is Funny!
BJ Condrey, Ph.D. 