Articles for tag: Opinions

January 1, 2024

Christian Standard

How Should Christians View Gender Dysphoria?

By Rubel Shelly  Stated in the most basic terms, sex is an objective category defined by empirically discernible and set-at-birth qualities, whereas gender is a subjective self-perception and option for the presentation of oneself to others. The former is biological, while the latter is psychological. The former states who a person is in terms of bodily taxonomy, and the latter offers what a person may feel about one’s placement in the world’s social structures.   A biological male with a high-pitched voice, shorter-than-average height, and/or wearing a pink shirt is still male. A biological female whose voice has a lower pitch

January 1, 2023

Michael C. Mack

I May Be Wrong

By Michael C. Mack  What is truth? We seek to answer that big question in this first issue of 2023 because truth is foundational for our faith, our lives, our churches. This issue is like a seminary course on biblical truth; we seek to answer the most important questions about what it is, how to discern it from untruth, how to live it out, how it affects our worldview, how it relates to grace, how to respond when people question or reject truth, and more. If you don’t usually read Christian Standard cover to cover, you’ll want to do so

August 5, 2020

Christian Standard

ICOM Changes 2020 Gathering to Both In-Person/Online

By Jim Nieman As the world has battled the coronavirus the last several months, representatives of the International Conference On Missions have repeatedly been asked the same question about their annual gathering, “Are you meeting in person or online in November?” The answer finally came this week. ICOM 2020 will be both. The gathering that attracts thousands of missionaries and mission-focused individuals each year will take place Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21, at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. But (and this is important), some of the activities that draw the largest crowds—including main sessions and workshops—will take

June 29, 2020

Stuart Powell

Declaration

By Stuart Powell In the late 18th century, a colonist began writing a manuscript that summarized the political unrest of his time. He produced a startling declaration read aloud in a political hall in Philadelphia: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes

June 14, 2020

Megan Rawlings

Megan Rawlings

Unity Despite Politics

By Megan Rawlings We’re entering that time of year. We are inundated with campaign signs, slogans, brochures, and TV ads. Candidates are making promises, doing their best to make their competitors look bad, and trying to convince the public that they are the right person for the job. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. Serious disagreements erupt in the public arena, and even believers get caught up in the drama. But how are we, as Christians, supposed to politely express our political opinions without offending others? Good Manners Had Bad Results Etiquette books fascinate me. I read them and study how

June 1, 2020

David Faust

Application for June 7: Down in the Dirt with Your Friends

By David Faust My barber is my best friend. You see, my wife cuts my hair. During our first year of marriage, I was on the receiving end of a particularly bad haircut—a near-scalping experience in a smoke-filled barbershop. Arriving home afterward, I asked Candy, “Could you cut my hair from now on?” She gazed at my freshly shorn cranium and replied, “I can do at least as well as the barber you just visited.” The rest is history. We’ve done the math. According to www.mistershaver.com (yes, that’s a real website), the average price of a standard men’s haircut in

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