Should I Call Someone by Their Preferred Pronouns? | Sam Allberry #TrendingQuestions

it says mi compromising my beliefs by using a transgender person's preferred pronoun for instance calling someone going through a male-to-female change she thank you that's a really serious question isn't it I want to share with you a passage that helps me on this I've had the privilege and opportunity of spending some time not much time and not enough time with with transgender people and that question becomes very very immediate and vital when you're in an actual real-life context it is no longer abstract you've got flesh and blood in front of you how are you going to respond to that person there's a proverb I think that that helps with some of this proverbs 26 verses 4 & 5 I think give us a principle that can apply to this kind of issue let me just read these proverbs to you that they may make you raise an eyebrow because they I've heard this this these particular verses used as evidence for why the Bible can't be trusted and why it's full of contradictions so it's fun to dive in with that one isn't it proverbs 26 verse 4 and 5 answer not a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes sorry I've read the wrong verse answer not a fool according to his folly lest ye be like him yourself next verse answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes so it's one of those Bible do I answer a fool according to his folly yes or no and the Bible says yes and no there are times when you shouldn't answer a fool according to his folly and the times when you should whatis answering a fool according to his folly mean a fool in Proverbs is simply someone who is not orienting life around a Creator God the Creator God of the Bible so by using the word folly in the context of this discussion I'm not implying something demeaning about transgender friends it's just an example of people who don't have a Christian worldview so that the proverb seems to be saying there are times when you shouldn't run with an unbiblical way of thinking don't indulge someone's non biblical way of thinking in case you end up becoming like that person yourself in other words if you think okay I'm going to join in that particular unbiblical way of thinking the danger is that you you end up becoming part of it you bet you it wins you over but on the other hand there are times when you you should adopt that unbiblical framework in order to over time be able to show someone why that framework doesn't work and why there is the need for biblical wisdom so if I can apply that to this issue and this is why it's not a yes/no issue for me if I'm do I need to do something to stop that happening I'll just assume you'll wave at me if I do okay I'll blame Sean Sean's fault if I'm meeting someone for the first time who identifies as transgender say someone in this situation going from from sort of male to female and is identifying as ashy and presenting with a female name in that instance my my instinct as someone who is a Christian who is wanting to ultimately share Christ with someone is I want to be hospitable I would rather I was the one feeling uncomfortable rather than the other person and because I'm not wanting to immediately close down the possibility of future conversation I will probably in those instances be happy to adopt that person's name and pronoun simply because to start the conversation with the insistence that we're using my language and not theirs actually just means but that's going to be the end of the conversation it's going to be the end of the encounter I want to kind of make me the one who's doing the initial accommodating and hospitality because I want in time to commend a biblical view of gender identity to this particular individual now the dangerous that we just do that because we're conflict averse and it feels like the easy option that would be that would be I think where the Proverbs saying it's unwise because you're basically saying I don't want to resist your worldview or I'm intimidated by the kind of cultural climate that we're in but there will be other times and this this may happen where someone say at my church who's been a Christian for many years suddenly says to me I now want you to call me this instead of that and to address me by this pronoun and not that pronoun in that instance I'm most likely not going to because in that case this is someone who does no differently ah you your fault was in breaking this from there I'm gonna the green room yeah so it in some sense it does depend on who the person is and whether I think there's someone who has know if they got no background in the Christian faith I want to give them as much I want to be as flexible as I can be in order to be able to spend the time with them that I might be able to come in Christ and if it's someone who is professing to be a mature Christian and has suddenly springing this on me I think in that instance I'm gonna say I'm sorry but I can't agree with that so will to some extent depend on the person and where I where I think they may be heading spiritually

Channel: RZIM HQ

Views: 37,088

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Keywords: RZIM, Ravi, Ravi Zacharias, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, apologetics, evangelism, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, Christianity, Christian, Christian Apologetics, philosophy, God, truth, Bible, gospel, Lord, salvation

Id: 4ur-lfYF4dc

Length: 6min 4sec (364 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2019