Gary weighs, measures, and analyzes the debate over transgender sports with track and field events.
The Christian’s starting point is the Word of God which rests upon God Himself. “[M]en need an epistemological ‘Archimedean point of reference’ to understand their cosmos and themselves; but only a revelation from One transcendentally outside of the cosmos can provide the pou sto essential to knowledge, since man can never break out of his finite cosmic perspective.”[1] God is the One who stands outside the universe. In order for us to know how the world works, we must turn to Him. God is our “Archimedean point of reference.”
When the sixteenth-century German Reformer Martin Luther “was called to defend his rejection of indulgences before the church and before the emperor, Luther, alone and in peril of his life, appealed to the authority of the Word of God. ‘Here I stand,’ he said; ‘I can do no other.’”[2] There was no appeal to tradition, the expert testimony of church scholars, scientists, or even the precisely fashioned creeds. It’s not that these aren’t helpful; they simply are not ultimate authoritative starting points.
In Matthew 7:24–27, Jesus points out that “the strength of a foundation determines whether a house will withstand heavy rains and strong winds. If a man builds his house on sand, it will fall; but if he builds his dwelling on solid rock, it will stand secure even in a fierce storm.”[3] If the foundation upon which the apologist uses to build his worldview is compromised in any way, then it will eventually collapse when challenged. Therefore, the starting point in any defense of the truthfulness of the Christian worldview is all-important. Will it be a foundation of sand or one of solid rock?
Thinking Straight in a Crooked World
The nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man" is an appropriate description of how sin affects us and our world. We live in a crooked world of ideas evaluated by crooked people. Left to our crooked nature, we can never fully understand what God has planned for us and His world. God has not left us without a corrective solution. He has given us a reliable reference point in the Bible so we can identify the crookedness and straighten it.
Buy NowGary weighs, measures, and analyzes the debate over transgender sports with track and field events. His expertise in this sport is both personal and deep. Gary threw the shot put competitively through high school, college, and at the masters’ level. He makes it obvious how ridiculous it is to argue that there is no inherent genetic difference between men and women.
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[1] Robert L. Reymond, The Justification of Knowledge (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976), 30n.
[2] Gene Edward Veith, “Millennium on our Mind,” World (August 7, 1999), 27.
[3] Richard L. Pratt, Jr., Every Thought Captive: A Study Manual for the Defense of Christian Truth (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1979), 1.