UK High Court Rules Puberty Blockers Experimental, Minors Cannot Consent

In a stunning decision with international implications, the United Kingdom’s High Court ruled December 12 in Bell vs. Tavistock that puberty blockers (PB) and cross-sex hormone (CSH) use in gender dysphoric minors was experimental and should not, in most cases, be given to children under 16 without court order, adding that such petitioning was also advisable for 16 to 17 year olds. They clarified that the consent issue was not about the breadth and depth of information the minors were given, but that “There is no age appropriate way to explain to many of these children what losing their fertility or full sexual function may mean to them in later years.”

Read More

Marriage: Past, Present and Future

What is the state of marriage in Western society? How did we get there? What are the implications for the worldwide body of believers?

We began this series in June discussing a report from a study committee of the Presbyterian Church in America calling for a biblically based and scientifically valid sexual apologetic. Across a vast range of hot-button issues, beliefs about human sexuality create the greatest divide between Christianity and the secular community. Within the church there is persuasive evidence that sexual issues are a major contributing factor to declining church participation and membership. Let’s turn our attention now to the issue of marriage.

Read More

Has God Indeed Said…? A Biblical Perspective on Sexuality, Part 2

Part 1 of the series dealt with pre-marital sex, the biblical model of sexuality, porneia, adultery and polygamy. As a correction to the section regarding porneia in Part 1, it should have stated that forbidding fornication “. . . came from the Tanakh (the Old Testament)” rather than “. . .came from the Tanakh in the Old Testament.”

Read More

Has God Indeed Said…? A Biblical Perspective on Sexuality, Part 1

We are created as sexual beings, so sexuality rightly holds more than a passing interest to us. Likewise, sex sells, but the products offered are often flawed. Confusion lurks for our young people — older ones too — when encouragement for the loosening of sexual standards comes, as it sometimes does, from religious quarters. How should we respond?

Read More