I always appreciate your clarity in writing and your keeping first things first (in this case, our baptismal identity). Yet while our Christian identity always relatives other identities, I think that your claim that it also deprecates them might reflect your perspective that identities are primarily vying for dominance (e.g. Christian nationalism, or excessive queer pride), without considering the ways that Jesus' work of restoration of all creation may also result in the lifting up or rejuvinating of identities that have been crushed or neglected. For instance, I believe that the cultural discourse on racial identity and the evangelical claims that you *only* have an "identity in Christ" have resulted in a neglect of ethnic identities, and I think Christians ought to (at least in the American context) build recognition of Italian/Mennonite/Mossi/Basque/Ojibwe/Hmong/etc ethnic identities and heritage.
If I understand correctly, your understanding of identity is primarily about defining roles, which if that were the case, we should be wary of holding any identities on ourselves because they primarily serve as constraints. But I think identity has quite expansive social functions and dynamics. I appreciate Kwame Appiah's The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity: Creed, Country, Color, Class, Culture" in how it illuminates the internal and external dynamics for identity formation. In this context, it is helpful to remember that homosexual identity was something that was foisted upon a group of urban men in the early 1900s by other people. Similarly, many religious groups (e.g. Lutherans, Mennonites, Quakers etc) were pejoratively named/identified by a prominent thought-leader or some peculiar point of difference which was eventually adopted by the group of people themselves.
To try to keep this short, all identities are sub-identities to the imago Dei and imago Christi, but ultimately I find that "not believing in" sexual identity tends to serve the people who are less gracious than you, rather than serving those who can relate to LGBTQ experiences and are trying to find their way in the church. That being said, I do think there are possible dangers associated with how we've socially constructed sexual orientation which can correlate to maybe the concerns you have with sexual orientation, but I think it is a matter of continuing to be involved in the work of how we hold these identities, not whether they exist (https://communionshalom.substack.com/p/31-you-keep-using-that-word-greg-690).
I accept this idea of being a being. And thinking of that in the terms of Christianity God said I am the I am. And he sent himself to this world in the form of a man for us to have something to strive to be. So if we are to be like God we are to be like Jesus ergo I am, to be, being. Any other label we put on ourselves therefore is as you say maybe a culturally human thing which human is fault. I wouldn't go so far to say it is a sinful something that should be dashed away from self but nearly recognized the necessity to say we each are I am I can get on board with. Thank you for the compelling and interesting thought processes in this work.
I think to many time people get caught up in what they believe they are and get stuck into thinking that this is something that they cannot change or cannot be changed. You are correct it is fluid and we move within the Christian concepts of how we should and shouldn’t act. This is one of the things that I have always said as a person who overcame such sinful desires if we allow ourselves to say that this is how we are and that we are born this way then we are stuck in this battle thinking that we cannot be changed because it is us. Like you said you can’t change that you are a human. But you can change that you are hungry. Knowing Christ allows you to have a new identity in Christ and you can change your desires away from that of sin. It is hard even Paul says that when he said I do what I do not want to do.
I always appreciate your clarity in writing and your keeping first things first (in this case, our baptismal identity). Yet while our Christian identity always relatives other identities, I think that your claim that it also deprecates them might reflect your perspective that identities are primarily vying for dominance (e.g. Christian nationalism, or excessive queer pride), without considering the ways that Jesus' work of restoration of all creation may also result in the lifting up or rejuvinating of identities that have been crushed or neglected. For instance, I believe that the cultural discourse on racial identity and the evangelical claims that you *only* have an "identity in Christ" have resulted in a neglect of ethnic identities, and I think Christians ought to (at least in the American context) build recognition of Italian/Mennonite/Mossi/Basque/Ojibwe/Hmong/etc ethnic identities and heritage.
If I understand correctly, your understanding of identity is primarily about defining roles, which if that were the case, we should be wary of holding any identities on ourselves because they primarily serve as constraints. But I think identity has quite expansive social functions and dynamics. I appreciate Kwame Appiah's The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity: Creed, Country, Color, Class, Culture" in how it illuminates the internal and external dynamics for identity formation. In this context, it is helpful to remember that homosexual identity was something that was foisted upon a group of urban men in the early 1900s by other people. Similarly, many religious groups (e.g. Lutherans, Mennonites, Quakers etc) were pejoratively named/identified by a prominent thought-leader or some peculiar point of difference which was eventually adopted by the group of people themselves.
To try to keep this short, all identities are sub-identities to the imago Dei and imago Christi, but ultimately I find that "not believing in" sexual identity tends to serve the people who are less gracious than you, rather than serving those who can relate to LGBTQ experiences and are trying to find their way in the church. That being said, I do think there are possible dangers associated with how we've socially constructed sexual orientation which can correlate to maybe the concerns you have with sexual orientation, but I think it is a matter of continuing to be involved in the work of how we hold these identities, not whether they exist (https://communionshalom.substack.com/p/31-you-keep-using-that-word-greg-690).
I accept this idea of being a being. And thinking of that in the terms of Christianity God said I am the I am. And he sent himself to this world in the form of a man for us to have something to strive to be. So if we are to be like God we are to be like Jesus ergo I am, to be, being. Any other label we put on ourselves therefore is as you say maybe a culturally human thing which human is fault. I wouldn't go so far to say it is a sinful something that should be dashed away from self but nearly recognized the necessity to say we each are I am I can get on board with. Thank you for the compelling and interesting thought processes in this work.
I think to many time people get caught up in what they believe they are and get stuck into thinking that this is something that they cannot change or cannot be changed. You are correct it is fluid and we move within the Christian concepts of how we should and shouldn’t act. This is one of the things that I have always said as a person who overcame such sinful desires if we allow ourselves to say that this is how we are and that we are born this way then we are stuck in this battle thinking that we cannot be changed because it is us. Like you said you can’t change that you are a human. But you can change that you are hungry. Knowing Christ allows you to have a new identity in Christ and you can change your desires away from that of sin. It is hard even Paul says that when he said I do what I do not want to do.
Great post!
Yes!!! This is good theology!