Dr Paul Allen

Rosaria Butterfield, Ph.D., is one of the most articulate, clear-headed voices in the Church today addressing issues of sexuality and gender. As a former lesbian feminist, now a committed Christian, she understands the LGBTQ+ mindset and is able to confront it with eternal, biblical principles. At the same time, she is a human being, and like the rest of us, she has blind spots. Thankfully, in keeping with her Christian character, she has addressed one of those blind spots in her life, publicly confessing her error. As Butterfield explained, in 2014, in an article published by The Gospel Coalition, she wrote, “[Reparative therapy], a heresy, [is] a modern version of the prosperity gospel. Name it. Claim it. Pray the gay away.” Today, she writes, “This ranks among the most misguided words I have written as a Christian.” What a forthright, humble confession. False Concept of “Conversion Therapy” But how did she get things so wrong? Why did she believe that these efforts to help people ov...

The essential argument of GodHatesShrimp.com is that we should not condemn homosexuality as a sin based on the Old Testament because the Old Testament also refers to eating certain kinds of seafood (including shrimp) as an abomination, yet Christians do not have any problem with eating shrimp or any of the other forbidden foods. Does the “God hate shrimp” argument have any validity? Yes and no. The argument:  If God prohibits homosexuality, based on the Old Testament Law, then God equally hates those who eat shrimp. The Bible nowhere says that God hates homosexuals, however. There are lists of things that God hates in the Old Testament (Proverbs 6:16–19), and homosexuality does not make the list. Yes, homosexuality is a sin, and yes, God hates sin . But again, the Bible nowhere says that God hates homosexuals, or that homosexuality is any more difficult for God to forgive. Back to the “God hates shrimp” argument—is it valid? Yes and no.  First, a Christian s...

You’ve been there. You start the new year with the lofty goal of reading through the entire Bible before the next new year and…you run into Leviticus. Then your wonderful plans get derailed because…well because reading chapter after chapter of the Old Testament Law seems—if you’re being honest—boring and irrelevant. Yet these laws are in our Bibles. That means they are God’s holy, inspired words. So what do we do with the Old Testament Law? On top of this question, there’s another complication. It seems to be fairly common these days for people to point to the laws God gave Israel in order to discredit Christianity. Here is one such accusation: Murray McCoy I am pretty confident every Christian pick and chooses which scriptures they choose to follow and ignore. The same Leviticus that condemns homosexuals also says Christians can't eat prawns nor can they touch or eat pork. Pretty sure I've had hot dogs at every church fundraiser with pork, as a kid. The difference...

Beyond gender-inclusive bathroom debates, the transgender movement has enormous momentum behind it from both major political parties in the United States , forcing on Christians, whether we are ready or not, a number of truth-claims we must investigate. To find the core convictions driving the transgender movement we must listen to the new ways human beings are being defined and re-defined. We can hear it in the stories like in the bestselling autobiography of Charles Mock, turned Janet Mock , titled: Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More (2014). Mock’s transition story opens with a preface to make it clear that words like “nature” or “natural” will not be used in the book, and especially not in reference to people who feel no disharmony between their biological sex and their chosen gender expression .Cisgender, Mock tells us, will be the substitute term for what might have previously been mis-labeled natural. We also hear a new definition o...