Hey all! Just got my apostille back in the mail and I'm ready to send it off for translation but want a little guidance with the translation bit.
For my student visa, I'll be going through the Chicago Spain Consulate and on their website they outline what you need to get it. Under the criminal record certificate header, it provides a link to the American Translators Association. This is where I'm a little lost. Will any translator from this site do? Or should I seek ones out with specific credentials, e.g. "Credentialed Interpreter Legal", "ATA-Certified Translator"? Does the location of the translator matter?
Or, maybe a better question to ask: anyone in the Chicago Spain Consulate region have any recommendations on good translators to seek out?

Earlier this year I published a completely free novel writing and organizing tool called ExcellentWriter. It is supposed to be a tool which lets you organize, write and format your novel inside Excel and in the end lets you use the power of Word to do the finishing touches. Sounds crazy? Is crazy!
What Word alone lacks in this kind of features is provided with this tool. This way you can stay inside the Office family if you like these programs.
Overview:

• Organize your book, chapters, scenes, drafts, characters, items, locations, arcs, eras, events, notes and your world.
• Write your complete novel and even format it in Excel.
• Have multiple drafts per scene, to keep track of your progress.
• Export single scenes to Word to see them fully formatted or export the whole manuscript at once.
• Export a scene to Word with direct speech highlighted.
• Insert comments, footnotes and pictures in your text.
• Get a better overview with the outline, the plotgrid, the timeline view and the relationship matrix.
• Generate calenders with custom days, month, seasons, special phases and events.
• Get ideas from the name generator, which you can extend by yourself. Just add files and folders according to the structure under "NameGenerator".
• Track your progress.
• If there will be a new version just import all your data from a previous one with just a few clicks.

Get a visual impression and download it for free on itch.io: https://s3rdia.itch.io/excellentwriter

Curious if anyone has been successful in obtaining a spreadsheet outlining all hand configuration and policy settings? Thanks!
I do have a configuration profile reference guide from Apple, but looking for something up to date and in spreadsheet format.

Considerations on Sexual Immorality, Gender Identity, and my friends Non-Denominational Church.
A good friend of mine from a fairly conservative evangelical background is considering becoming a pastor at his non-denominational church. As part of the evaluation process, they asked him to write a paper on these topics that he is not an expert on.
He asked for my opinion and I offered to share it online to solicit constructive criticism, notes of encouragement, and or reading recommendations on these topics.
I believe his goal is to be faithful to the scriptures, loving to those outside the church, and challenging to those inside the church, as most of us could do better.
What he wrote is in the quotation marks below.
“1: Scope of the Issue
Sexual immorality has become a besetting and ubiquitous issue in our culture and in our churches. While many aspects of it are not novel or unique to this time and have clear scriptural input, there are others that bring challenges to our church for which we don’t have obvious precedent. The main point of these comments is to try and answer three questions with some degree of specificity: (1) how do we make ourselves a place where people who do not know Christ will feel welcome to come and learn of Him regardless of where they come from, (2) how do we pastorally care for people who have come in to the church with pre-existing circumstances related to sexual immorality, and (3) how do we equip our members to represent Christ to those in their lives that are dealing with these issues. We want to do this in a way that does not “walk a tight rope” or compromise to appease, but honors Scripture in its commands to both show compassion and exhort and correct. We must recognize that every individual circumstance is unique, and many will require careful and prayerful consideration, but this is meant to give a framework for that consideration.
2: Scriptural Basis for Corporate Response
There are many references we can point to that discuss and define sexual immorality throughout Scripture and many of these will be used below as we consider specific examples and situations. Let us start, however, by looking at passages that deal with corporate response rather than individual sin. It is clear that the Corinthian church had significant issues in this area, and much of Paul’s first letter was devoted to it. In chapter 5, Paul states that when sexual immorality is discovered in the church we should “mourn” over it and “not to associate with immoral people.” Importantly, he also makes clear in vv. 9-13 that these comments only apply to those “who bears the name of brother.” He explicitly writes, “not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world…for what have I to do with judging outsiders?” This is key in informing our response to those who are not members of the church. If it is our desire to see sinners come through our doors and come to know our Savior through our ministry, then we must be welcoming, accepting them where they are. This is not to say we hide or compromise the biblical position, but it is not an issue on which we want to filter people at the door. There are three categories of people in sexual sin that we need to form a response for. First, those just coming to the church who have not committed to it – these should be treated the same as any we are reaching out to with Christ’s love. They need Jesus, not behavioral change. Next, those who have recently joined the church but have pre-existing sexual sin patterns. This can and should be addressed with patience, dignity, and love. There are often many sin areas in the life of a new believer, and it is prudent to discern how and when to address each of them. Lastly, those who have been members in the church for some amount of time and fall into sexual sin. This is the group that Paul is primarily addressing in 1 Corinthians. While sex within marriage is a private issue, sexual sin cannot be a taboo topic. It needs to be addressed regularly and clearly. We need close enough relationships within the church that such problems do not fester in the dark. We must avoid the typical church pattern to vilify the first group, never see the second group, and pretend the third group doesn’t exist until it all blows up in scandal. May it never be.
3: Consistency Issue
There is a tendency in our Christian culture to treat some sexual sins as worse than others. Like the Corinthians, some things we seem to have accepted as just ubiquitous parts of our culture. Knowing the prevalence of promiscuity and fornication among teens and single adults and usage of pornography even within the church, we tend to address these as issues of indwelling sin, similar to anger or fear of man, with offers of accountability and understanding when someone falls. By contrast, when it comes to homosexuality or adultery, it is often a church discipline issue. We view homosexual marriage as a major problem, but remarriage after a non-biblical divorce is rarely addressed. These inconsistencies lead to stigmatization and polarization and should have no place in the church. The criterion for escalation should be unrepentance, not the nature of the sexual sin. It is clear from 1 Corinthians that all should be taken seriously, but none should be vilified above others.
4: Culture and Identity
The major underlying problem with many of the sexual sin and gender issues is that they have come to be culturally bound up with people’s identities. This is not a new phenomenon and is not unique to this issue. As far back as Acts 19, you see people becoming “enraged” because Paul had threatened the Ephesians’ cultural identity as worshipers of Artemis. People continue to find their primary identities in their employment, hobbies, sports teams, or families rather than Christ. None of these should be accepted, but none should be reviled either. If a person does not know Jesus, they are dead. How they identify themselves is of no concern. Once they have been made alive, they can be taught that “whose” they are is more important than “who” they are. All identity outside of Christ is not sinful, but if it takes paramount importance, it may become so. A person who recognizes a tendency toward same sex attraction may label themselves as gay or lesbian. This should not be considered a sin issue unless it becomes, for them, their defining characteristic or leads to sinful actions. We should recognize the difficulty of this struggle and support such a person rather than get hung up on labels. There must be clear distinction between identifying same sex attraction and engaging in homosexual behavior. These should be the guiding principles underlying everything that follows are regards individual cases.
5: Public Facing Information, Guests, and New Attendees
Considering what we have discussed, and Paul’s assertion in 1 Corinthians 5 that we ought to reserve judgment on sexual immorality to those we call brother, I would submit that public facing information regarding the church (i.e. website, app, etc) should not publish a position on sexual immorality, marriage, and gender identity. Doing so effectively places the filter at the door so that people who do not know Christ may be turned away from it. This is not tantamount to tacit approval. In appropriate contexts within the church, these topics should still be discussed and addressed, but I do not believe it is consistent with a biblical treatment of unbelievers to place it in a public facing forum. If we have guests or new regular attendees who appear to be engaged in a cohabitating or fornicating relationship, a homosexual relationship, or other sexual sin, this should not be a priority to address unless we have discerned that they are believers and join the church. Even then, it is important to draw a distinction between someone who deals with same-sex attraction and someone who engages in homosexual behavior. The next seven points are meant to discuss, in broad terms, how we should address those who join the church with pre-existing relationships or identity issues:
6: Promiscuity, Cohabitation – Hebrews 13:4, 1 Cor 7:1-2, Ex 22:16
Much of the biblical discussion on promiscuity is by inference. Clearly, sex was meant to be inseparably linked to marriage and outside of that context should be considered immoral. For those who join the church already in a sexual relationship who are unmarried we should apply Exodus 22:16 and encourage them to marry as soon as possible. If they do not wish to marry, they should be encouraged to separate. Paul acknowledges in 1 Cor 7:2 that marriage is the best remedy for “temptation to sexual immorality.”
7: Adultery, Divorce and Remarriage – Matt 5:32, Matt 19:9, 1 Cor 7:10-11
This issue is given much more explicit biblical instruction but is often glossed over in our Christian culture due to the messy landscape of divorces and remarriages. In cases where non-biblical divorce has occurred, if reconciliation is possible, this should be pursued. If reconciliation is impossible because one or more parties have remarried, it would not be sensible to divorce again in order to achieve reconciliation. The principle to apply here, I believe, is from 1 Cor 7:17-24 summarized in verse 20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” This is not an ideal circumstance, but it is the best way forward in an imperfect world. Of note, polygamy was common in the culture of the early church, and while not ideal, was accepted by the church, as evidenced by the qualifications for elder to be “a husband of but one wife.” We have polygamous cultures even within our local community and if they came to Christ, we should not counsel them to divorce all but one wife and thus disrupt their social structure. It is not ideal and would disqualify them from eldership, but they should remain as they are. Whether marriage after unbiblical divorce in the past disqualifies a man from eldership is a case-by case question for the eldership.
8: Pornography, Sensuality, and Lust – Lev 18:6-18, Matt 5:28
As mentioned above, use of pornography has reached a high saturation point within our culture and within our church. While once thought of as simply a male issue, there is a growing trend toward gender parity in pornography usage. It is an issue that should be discussed with some frequency within our church. For those that join the church and view pornography regularly, it needs to be made clear that while the world has largely destigmatized it, it is still sexual immorality. Furthermore, this isn’t just limited to nudity and pornography, but any sensuality that leads to looking at someone “with lustful intent” is the heart equivalent of adultery according to Matt 5:28. In our culture, it is not possible to avoid such things by just turning away. We need to address the heart issues of idolatry, selfishness, and satisfaction in Christ. Practically, how should we deal with those who have on-going struggles with pornography, sensuality and lust? Should this preclude them from eldership? From deaconship? Taken strictly, this would preclude nearly all men from eldership. These require individual evaluation from the elders, but a guiding principle should be, if the person is repentant and there is evidence of growth in their life, we should consider more responsibility and continued discipleship.
9: Homosexuality – Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, 1 Cor 6:9, 1 Tim 1:8-11
From the above references and others, it is evident that homosexual behavior is sexual sin. We cannot equivocate on that point. As we have discussed above, if a person who is already a believer and in the church and struggles with same sex attraction, we should approach them as we would handle anyone who is sexually attracted to someone to whom they are not married. If such a person decides that homosexuality is not sinful and begins sexually immoral activity, we should deal with them in the same way as any member who falls into unrepentant sin and go through the processes of correction and, if necessary, of church discipline. It is important that we draw a distinction between same sex attraction and homosexual behavior. We can do tremendous harm by demonizing same sex attraction and creating a taboo around it. A person who is struggling to abstain from homosexual behavior should be supported and encouraged. I believe Paul’s strong statements about not associating with sexually immoral people applies to those who remain unrepentant. Much more nuanced is the issue of how we address those that join the church already in a homosexual relationship. What about the married homosexual couple who join the church with their adopted child? Should we break up their family? I believe, in this case, the same principle should apply as to those who have gone through an unbiblical divorce in the past. We should apply 1 Cor 7:20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” We can recognize that this is not ideal, but it is the best we can do in a fallen world just as we do with someone who is married after unbiblical divorce. Whether should apply to a homosexual couple in a long term committed relationship who are not legally married would be an individual discussion with the elders. Again, these are nuanced cases that will need individual prayer, discussion, and discernment. I believe a great deal more patience is called for when a new believer joins the church that has a history or present reality of homosexuality, even if they are unrepentant at first, believing that homosexuality is not sinful, than we would demonstrate to a person who has been in the church for a period of time and then decides to pursue a homosexual relationship.
10: Bisexuality – Heb 13:4
Bisexual attraction is no more or less of an issue than anyone who finds that they are sexually attracted to someone other than their spouse. This is not a rare or unique circumstance, even within the church. Someone who is practicing bisexuality is, by definition, not confining sex to the marriage bed, and this, therefore, qualifies as sexual immorality. The issue, here again, is one of identity and cultural acceptance. If a person “identifies as bisexual,” the real issue is not the bisexuality, but the fact that they identify themselves primarily by their sexual desires, and not by Christ. It would be equally a problem if they “identified as heterosexual” and that was seen as their defining characteristic. If such a person were to join the church, our priority should be in helping them see their identity in Christ rather than focusing on renouncing their sexual preference.
11: Transgenderism/Non-binarism – Psalm 139: 13-15
It should be noted that the next two points should not be considered in the category of sexual immorality, but as they are connected to the same cultural moment will be discussed here. It should further be remarked that transgenderism is a modern issue with no direct reference in Scripture. It is a challenging issue that often falls prey to oversimplification and scapegoating. It is not sufficient to simply state that a person should identify with their born gender. There are those born with ambiguous genitalia and those born with sex chromosome abnormalities such that “born gender” is not necessarily accurate. These occur with a frequency of 1 in 448 births on average which is not particularly rare. The majority of people who consider themselves to be transgender do not fall into these categories, but the fact remains that these categories exist. Unless we plan to embark on genetic testing, we must be careful how we assert someone’s gender assignment. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that much of the gender confusion in our culture is due to a distortion of biblically accurate masculinity and femininity in our culture of which the church has been widely supportive for generations. Many transgender and non-binary individuals consider themselves so because they do not fit into the traditional boxes our culture has created for the genders. The church can start by recognizing that these boxes are incorrect. We can also acknowledge that gender differences and roles are far less important than most human cultures perceive. Christ himself challenged many gender norms in his ministry and Paul maintains “…there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28b) It is much more difficult to recognize this issue as a sin issue than many of the above concerns. If someone wishes to be addressed by different pronouns than they once did or dress differently than they once did, this does not amount to immorality. Once again, this can be an idolatrous identity issue if the person sees it as the central characteristic of their lives. There is often an inherent pride in asserting that such a person does not feel they fit in the body created for them, but if they come to love Jesus and understand and believe that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” then this issue may become moot. Whether or not they revert to dressing differently or using pronouns they did when they were younger is largely immaterial. This also addresses the issue of people who may have undergone permanent physical changes. While we should not endorse such modification if it is being considered, there is no reason to reverse such a thing in order to return to a base state. We must recognize that this is a group that has a high propensity toward mental health concerns, instability, and suicidality. They need love, support and prayer, not scapegoating and extra-biblical expectations of conforming to a cultural norm. We must further note that this group as well as the homosexual group have often experienced psychological and even physical harm from others in our culture, sometimes in the name of Christ. We must foster an environment of champions physical and psychological safety for these people.
12: Asexuality – 1 Cor 7:25-38
Asexuality also should not be considered sexual immorality. There is, in fact, wide support in Paul’s letters such as in 1 Cor 7 for people, if they are able, to remain unmarried and be “anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.” We tend to champion the model of the nuclear family in our Christian culture, but Paul sees chaste singleness as a better way. There should be no pressure from the church to make sure that single people pair off and get married because it is expected of them. As this state has been culturally identified with the LGBTQIA movement, it is seen on the same spectrum as the sexual immorality and gender issues discussed above, but it is not. It can still fall prey to the same issue of an idolatrous identity as some of the above issues, but it need not be so.
13: Glass Ceiling
In the event that God sees fit to bring people from these subgroups into our church, there would inevitably be a glass ceiling. The question is at what point. The four logical points are: regular attender, member, deacon, and elder. Regardless of their background or position, all should be welcome to be a regular attender. It is also clear, from the biblical requirements for eldership, that on-going problems or engagement in any of the sexual sins would disqualify them from that post. The middle two are less clear. I would submit that the bar for membership should be very low. This step, in my opinion, is when they would “bear the name of brother” and not before. Even if they disagree about the sinful nature of homosexuality, this should not disallow them from becoming members as long as they agree to submit to the churches position and not cause division. Allowing them to become members gives us the pastoral authority to speak into their lives, and we would hope that over time the Spirit would work in their hearts to convince them of the truth. Putting such a person in a deacon role would probably not be wise but would need to be evaluated prayerfully on a case-by-case basis. The difficulty here is that, while a position on homosexuality is not a salvific issue and should not be considered a core doctrine in the same way as the deity of Christ, for example, it is a sin issue. There is a limit to how far we can “agree to disagree” and still uphold our duty to root out sin in our midst. Once again, we should also distinguish between a struggle with same sex attraction and engagement in homosexual behavior when we consider our response. There is also a glass ceiling when it comes to marriage. While I believe we should not break up existing homosexual marriages, we should not participate in creating them. The marriage covenant between a man and woman was created, in part, to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 5). This should not be co-opted to excuse or normalize immorality.
14: Nuance and Edge Cases
The above outline is by no means meant to be exhaustive or definitive. It is meant to provide a lens, supported by scripture, through which we can view these issues and consider corporate and pastoral responses. It should inform how we view the people that walk through the door from a wide range of backgrounds and how we equip those in our church to be Christ’s ambassadors to those in our community. Every person and circumstance, history and baggage will be different, and any non-nuanced position would be inherently evil. I pray we have many opportunities to talk, think and pray through specific situations that God would bless us with the chance to be a part of. What an honor it would be to be used to reach into broken lives like these with the Gospel of Grace.
15: Action Steps
As we consider practical and philosophical ways of responding to the above, I believe we should start from a position of corporate repentance. If we wish to truly reach out and touch the lives of broken people in need of a Savior who live a life of same sex attraction or gender dysphoria, we need to begin by recognizing that a great deal of harm, emotional and physical, has been inflicted on this group by the Church for generations. There are homeless people living in our area who were kicked out of their homes by parents holding a Bible. There are those who have been subjected to horrific methods that amount to torture under the guise of “Conversion Therapy” from Christian organizations. The only “conversion” we should concern ourselves with is to a regenerate heart. Attempting to change someone’s sexual attraction is very much beside the point. We cannot hope to be a place where such people can hear about Jesus unless they feel safe to enter our doors. We must also fight the tendency to consider sin in this area as something worse than others, even in non-Christians. James 2 says “…For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it….So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” As we consider corporate and pastoral responses to the argument above, we must start by removing our own planks and repenting for the historical actions of the Church.
Practical steps that we could consider taking would include: removing the statements from the website about marriage and sexuality, especially directly under our Core Beliefs. Again, this is not meant to hide or equivocate on the truth, but not to set such a barrier before someone even walks through our door. Secondly, we should consider how to address these topics within the church. A Sunday morning sermon is not ideal as it is time limited and a unidirectional conversation. A small group course format would be a consideration. We need to equip parents and family members of adolescents, teens, and adults with language to talk about these things in loving, humble, God-honoring ways. In the longer term, we need to consider how we can make our church a place where people would feel comfortable inviting friends and family who look, think and act differently than we do. We need to find a way of projecting safety and inclusion even in our public facing information. This isn’t a balancing act where we must make it clear early and often that we “love the sinner but hate the sin” as the saying goes. We just need to love the sinner. Dealing with the sin can come later God-willing. A third application point is to be mindful of what we say and what we allow to be said without being checked. Certainly, joking at the expense of those who are dealing with these issues is unacceptable, but we also need to work to avoid getting dragged in to pseudo-political discussions on bathroom issues, sports issues or other divisive concerns that have no bearing on the church.
I recognize that these proposals have the potential to divide the church. There are some who may leave the body over these sorts of changes. I would argue that it is our responsibility to them as well as to the unreached in our community to have those discussions and risk some of them leaving over it. These are not all things we should change overnight but after ample opportunities for discussions and prayer.
16: Conclusion – Mark 2:15-17
At its core, these are not issues of who someone loves, sexual attraction, or even specific sex acts. The core is idolatry and identity. When acceptance by others, self-determination, or physical pleasure become the central force driving our lives then we have become idolators. Though our idols take on different shapes, the struggles in this space are shared by all. Whether you are identified by your profession, your family, or your gender identity, you are not being identified by your Master. Building fences around or within the church because someone sins in a different way than us cannot be allowed. Making the excuse that we are somehow “protecting our children” by shielding them from people in our community who desperately need a Savior will not show our children who Jesus is. Within the church, we cannot be afraid to “speak the truth in love.” We need not and cannot shy away from sin in the church, but we must recognize that the Spirit works in each of our lives. Often this happens over a period of time. We should be prepared to walk alongside our brothers and sisters in this journey for as long as they need.
There is a significant correlation between this community and their relationship with religious groups, and the “tax collectors and sinners” that Jesus sought out in His ministry and their relationship with the religious leaders of the day. Our heart should reflect His. Jesus responded: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) If our church was filled with transgender people and gay families that loved Jesus, God would be glorified.”
Thank you in advance for any constructive criticism, notes of encouragement to and or reading recommendations on these topics that I can pass along.

Hi all, just asking for some help fleshing out my school list. Here are my stats:
ORM, Ohio resident, 4.0 GPA, MCAT TBD but FL average was 519, working on the assumption I scored between 512-520. I’ll know the score June 4th, so I plan to submit all of these schools on my list so far, and can do additional higher or lower tier schools right after based on this score.
500 clinical hours 200 research+ not significant author pub 500 clinical research (most are expected hours) 25 shadowing 300 non-clinical volunteering (one organization, fairly strong story, high involvement and leadership) 450 role through school, very leadership and community oriented, ~300 various hobby and extracurricular activity hours
Albany CMU Rosalind Franklin Drexel Quinnipiac Indiana Temple Loyola Chicago Northeast Ohio OSU Rush Toledo Cincinnati Colorado Pitt UMiami UVA Western Mich Wright State
I guess I’m looking for two different kinds of schools- a couple extra safeties if my MCAT is lower than expected, and a couple of extra higher tier, non-instate biased schools if it’s around where I expect or higher.
Are there any schools I should take off of here? I tried to do solid research through MSAR but a second pair of eyes would be great.
Edit I’m sorry for the formatting, mobile failed me

A good friend of mine from a fairly conservative evangelical background is considering becoming a pastor at his non-denominational church. As part of the evaluation process, they asked him to write a paper on these topics that he is not an expert on.
He asked for my opinion and I offered to share it online to solicit constructive criticism, notes of encouragement, and or reading recommendations on these topics.
I believe his goal is to be faithful to the scriptures, loving to those outside the church, and challenging to those inside the church, as most of us could do better.
What he wrote is in the quotation marks below.
“1: Scope of the Issue
Sexual immorality has become a besetting and ubiquitous issue in our culture and in our churches. While many aspects of it are not novel or unique to this time and have clear scriptural input, there are others that bring challenges to our church for which we don’t have obvious precedent. The main point of these comments is to try and answer three questions with some degree of specificity: (1) how do we make ourselves a place where people who do not know Christ will feel welcome to come and learn of Him regardless of where they come from, (2) how do we pastorally care for people who have come in to the church with pre-existing circumstances related to sexual immorality, and (3) how do we equip our members to represent Christ to those in their lives that are dealing with these issues. We want to do this in a way that does not “walk a tight rope” or compromise to appease, but honors Scripture in its commands to both show compassion and exhort and correct. We must recognize that every individual circumstance is unique, and many will require careful and prayerful consideration, but this is meant to give a framework for that consideration.
2: Scriptural Basis for Corporate Response
There are many references we can point to that discuss and define sexual immorality throughout Scripture and many of these will be used below as we consider specific examples and situations. Let us start, however, by looking at passages that deal with corporate response rather than individual sin. It is clear that the Corinthian church had significant issues in this area, and much of Paul’s first letter was devoted to it. In chapter 5, Paul states that when sexual immorality is discovered in the church we should “mourn” over it and “not to associate with immoral people.” Importantly, he also makes clear in vv. 9-13 that these comments only apply to those “who bears the name of brother.” He explicitly writes, “not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world…for what have I to do with judging outsiders?” This is key in informing our response to those who are not members of the church. If it is our desire to see sinners come through our doors and come to know our Savior through our ministry, then we must be welcoming, accepting them where they are. This is not to say we hide or compromise the biblical position, but it is not an issue on which we want to filter people at the door. There are three categories of people in sexual sin that we need to form a response for. First, those just coming to the church who have not committed to it – these should be treated the same as any we are reaching out to with Christ’s love. They need Jesus, not behavioral change. Next, those who have recently joined the church but have pre-existing sexual sin patterns. This can and should be addressed with patience, dignity, and love. There are often many sin areas in the life of a new believer, and it is prudent to discern how and when to address each of them. Lastly, those who have been members in the church for some amount of time and fall into sexual sin. This is the group that Paul is primarily addressing in 1 Corinthians. While sex within marriage is a private issue, sexual sin cannot be a taboo topic. It needs to be addressed regularly and clearly. We need close enough relationships within the church that such problems do not fester in the dark. We must avoid the typical church pattern to vilify the first group, never see the second group, and pretend the third group doesn’t exist until it all blows up in scandal. May it never be.
3: Consistency Issue
There is a tendency in our Christian culture to treat some sexual sins as worse than others. Like the Corinthians, some things we seem to have accepted as just ubiquitous parts of our culture. Knowing the prevalence of promiscuity and fornication among teens and single adults and usage of pornography even within the church, we tend to address these as issues of indwelling sin, similar to anger or fear of man, with offers of accountability and understanding when someone falls. By contrast, when it comes to homosexuality or adultery, it is often a church discipline issue. We view homosexual marriage as a major problem, but remarriage after a non-biblical divorce is rarely addressed. These inconsistencies lead to stigmatization and polarization and should have no place in the church. The criterion for escalation should be unrepentance, not the nature of the sexual sin. It is clear from 1 Corinthians that all should be taken seriously, but none should be vilified above others.
4: Culture and Identity
The major underlying problem with many of the sexual sin and gender issues is that they have come to be culturally bound up with people’s identities. This is not a new phenomenon and is not unique to this issue. As far back as Acts 19, you see people becoming “enraged” because Paul had threatened the Ephesians’ cultural identity as worshipers of Artemis. People continue to find their primary identities in their employment, hobbies, sports teams, or families rather than Christ. None of these should be accepted, but none should be reviled either. If a person does not know Jesus, they are dead. How they identify themselves is of no concern. Once they have been made alive, they can be taught that “whose” they are is more important than “who” they are. All identity outside of Christ is not sinful, but if it takes paramount importance, it may become so. A person who recognizes a tendency toward same sex attraction may label themselves as gay or lesbian. This should not be considered a sin issue unless it becomes, for them, their defining characteristic or leads to sinful actions. We should recognize the difficulty of this struggle and support such a person rather than get hung up on labels. There must be clear distinction between identifying same sex attraction and engaging in homosexual behavior. These should be the guiding principles underlying everything that follows are regards individual cases.
5: Public Facing Information, Guests, and New Attendees
Considering what we have discussed, and Paul’s assertion in 1 Corinthians 5 that we ought to reserve judgment on sexual immorality to those we call brother, I would submit that public facing information regarding the church (i.e. website, app, etc) should not publish a position on sexual immorality, marriage, and gender identity. Doing so effectively places the filter at the door so that people who do not know Christ may be turned away from it. This is not tantamount to tacit approval. In appropriate contexts within the church, these topics should still be discussed and addressed, but I do not believe it is consistent with a biblical treatment of unbelievers to place it in a public facing forum. If we have guests or new regular attendees who appear to be engaged in a cohabitating or fornicating relationship, a homosexual relationship, or other sexual sin, this should not be a priority to address unless we have discerned that they are believers and join the church. Even then, it is important to draw a distinction between someone who deals with same-sex attraction and someone who engages in homosexual behavior. The next seven points are meant to discuss, in broad terms, how we should address those who join the church with pre-existing relationships or identity issues:
6: Promiscuity, Cohabitation – Hebrews 13:4, 1 Cor 7:1-2, Ex 22:16
Much of the biblical discussion on promiscuity is by inference. Clearly, sex was meant to be inseparably linked to marriage and outside of that context should be considered immoral. For those who join the church already in a sexual relationship who are unmarried we should apply Exodus 22:16 and encourage them to marry as soon as possible. If they do not wish to marry, they should be encouraged to separate. Paul acknowledges in 1 Cor 7:2 that marriage is the best remedy for “temptation to sexual immorality.”
7: Adultery, Divorce and Remarriage – Matt 5:32, Matt 19:9, 1 Cor 7:10-11
This issue is given much more explicit biblical instruction but is often glossed over in our Christian culture due to the messy landscape of divorces and remarriages. In cases where non-biblical divorce has occurred, if reconciliation is possible, this should be pursued. If reconciliation is impossible because one or more parties have remarried, it would not be sensible to divorce again in order to achieve reconciliation. The principle to apply here, I believe, is from 1 Cor 7:17-24 summarized in verse 20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” This is not an ideal circumstance, but it is the best way forward in an imperfect world. Of note, polygamy was common in the culture of the early church, and while not ideal, was accepted by the church, as evidenced by the qualifications for elder to be “a husband of but one wife.” We have polygamous cultures even within our local community and if they came to Christ, we should not counsel them to divorce all but one wife and thus disrupt their social structure. It is not ideal and would disqualify them from eldership, but they should remain as they are. Whether marriage after unbiblical divorce in the past disqualifies a man from eldership is a case-by case question for the eldership.
8: Pornography, Sensuality, and Lust – Lev 18:6-18, Matt 5:28
As mentioned above, use of pornography has reached a high saturation point within our culture and within our church. While once thought of as simply a male issue, there is a growing trend toward gender parity in pornography usage. It is an issue that should be discussed with some frequency within our church. For those that join the church and view pornography regularly, it needs to be made clear that while the world has largely destigmatized it, it is still sexual immorality. Furthermore, this isn’t just limited to nudity and pornography, but any sensuality that leads to looking at someone “with lustful intent” is the heart equivalent of adultery according to Matt 5:28. In our culture, it is not possible to avoid such things by just turning away. We need to address the heart issues of idolatry, selfishness, and satisfaction in Christ. Practically, how should we deal with those who have on-going struggles with pornography, sensuality and lust? Should this preclude them from eldership? From deaconship? Taken strictly, this would preclude nearly all men from eldership. These require individual evaluation from the elders, but a guiding principle should be, if the person is repentant and there is evidence of growth in their life, we should consider more responsibility and continued discipleship.
9: Homosexuality – Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, 1 Cor 6:9, 1 Tim 1:8-11
From the above references and others, it is evident that homosexual behavior is sexual sin. We cannot equivocate on that point. As we have discussed above, if a person who is already a believer and in the church and struggles with same sex attraction, we should approach them as we would handle anyone who is sexually attracted to someone to whom they are not married. If such a person decides that homosexuality is not sinful and begins sexually immoral activity, we should deal with them in the same way as any member who falls into unrepentant sin and go through the processes of correction and, if necessary, of church discipline. It is important that we draw a distinction between same sex attraction and homosexual behavior. We can do tremendous harm by demonizing same sex attraction and creating a taboo around it. A person who is struggling to abstain from homosexual behavior should be supported and encouraged. I believe Paul’s strong statements about not associating with sexually immoral people applies to those who remain unrepentant. Much more nuanced is the issue of how we address those that join the church already in a homosexual relationship. What about the married homosexual couple who join the church with their adopted child? Should we break up their family? I believe, in this case, the same principle should apply as to those who have gone through an unbiblical divorce in the past. We should apply 1 Cor 7:20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” We can recognize that this is not ideal, but it is the best we can do in a fallen world just as we do with someone who is married after unbiblical divorce. Whether should apply to a homosexual couple in a long term committed relationship who are not legally married would be an individual discussion with the elders. Again, these are nuanced cases that will need individual prayer, discussion, and discernment. I believe a great deal more patience is called for when a new believer joins the church that has a history or present reality of homosexuality, even if they are unrepentant at first, believing that homosexuality is not sinful, than we would demonstrate to a person who has been in the church for a period of time and then decides to pursue a homosexual relationship.
10: Bisexuality – Heb 13:4
Bisexual attraction is no more or less of an issue than anyone who finds that they are sexually attracted to someone other than their spouse. This is not a rare or unique circumstance, even within the church. Someone who is practicing bisexuality is, by definition, not confining sex to the marriage bed, and this, therefore, qualifies as sexual immorality. The issue, here again, is one of identity and cultural acceptance. If a person “identifies as bisexual,” the real issue is not the bisexuality, but the fact that they identify themselves primarily by their sexual desires, and not by Christ. It would be equally a problem if they “identified as heterosexual” and that was seen as their defining characteristic. If such a person were to join the church, our priority should be in helping them see their identity in Christ rather than focusing on renouncing their sexual preference.
11: Transgenderism/Non-binarism – Psalm 139: 13-15
It should be noted that the next two points should not be considered in the category of sexual immorality, but as they are connected to the same cultural moment will be discussed here. It should further be remarked that transgenderism is a modern issue with no direct reference in Scripture. It is a challenging issue that often falls prey to oversimplification and scapegoating. It is not sufficient to simply state that a person should identify with their born gender. There are those born with ambiguous genitalia and those born with sex chromosome abnormalities such that “born gender” is not necessarily accurate. These occur with a frequency of 1 in 448 births on average which is not particularly rare. The majority of people who consider themselves to be transgender do not fall into these categories, but the fact remains that these categories exist. Unless we plan to embark on genetic testing, we must be careful how we assert someone’s gender assignment. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that much of the gender confusion in our culture is due to a distortion of biblically accurate masculinity and femininity in our culture of which the church has been widely supportive for generations. Many transgender and non-binary individuals consider themselves so because they do not fit into the traditional boxes our culture has created for the genders. The church can start by recognizing that these boxes are incorrect. We can also acknowledge that gender differences and roles are far less important than most human cultures perceive. Christ himself challenged many gender norms in his ministry and Paul maintains “…there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28b) It is much more difficult to recognize this issue as a sin issue than many of the above concerns. If someone wishes to be addressed by different pronouns than they once did or dress differently than they once did, this does not amount to immorality. Once again, this can be an idolatrous identity issue if the person sees it as the central characteristic of their lives. There is often an inherent pride in asserting that such a person does not feel they fit in the body created for them, but if they come to love Jesus and understand and believe that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” then this issue may become moot. Whether or not they revert to dressing differently or using pronouns they did when they were younger is largely immaterial. This also addresses the issue of people who may have undergone permanent physical changes. While we should not endorse such modification if it is being considered, there is no reason to reverse such a thing in order to return to a base state. We must recognize that this is a group that has a high propensity toward mental health concerns, instability, and suicidality. They need love, support and prayer, not scapegoating and extra-biblical expectations of conforming to a cultural norm. We must further note that this group as well as the homosexual group have often experienced psychological and even physical harm from others in our culture, sometimes in the name of Christ. We must foster an environment of champions physical and psychological safety for these people.
12: Asexuality – 1 Cor 7:25-38
Asexuality also should not be considered sexual immorality. There is, in fact, wide support in Paul’s letters such as in 1 Cor 7 for people, if they are able, to remain unmarried and be “anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.” We tend to champion the model of the nuclear family in our Christian culture, but Paul sees chaste singleness as a better way. There should be no pressure from the church to make sure that single people pair off and get married because it is expected of them. As this state has been culturally identified with the LGBTQIA movement, it is seen on the same spectrum as the sexual immorality and gender issues discussed above, but it is not. It can still fall prey to the same issue of an idolatrous identity as some of the above issues, but it need not be so.
13: Glass Ceiling
In the event that God sees fit to bring people from these subgroups into our church, there would inevitably be a glass ceiling. The question is at what point. The four logical points are: regular attender, member, deacon, and elder. Regardless of their background or position, all should be welcome to be a regular attender. It is also clear, from the biblical requirements for eldership, that on-going problems or engagement in any of the sexual sins would disqualify them from that post. The middle two are less clear. I would submit that the bar for membership should be very low. This step, in my opinion, is when they would “bear the name of brother” and not before. Even if they disagree about the sinful nature of homosexuality, this should not disallow them from becoming members as long as they agree to submit to the churches position and not cause division. Allowing them to become members gives us the pastoral authority to speak into their lives, and we would hope that over time the Spirit would work in their hearts to convince them of the truth. Putting such a person in a deacon role would probably not be wise but would need to be evaluated prayerfully on a case-by-case basis. The difficulty here is that, while a position on homosexuality is not a salvific issue and should not be considered a core doctrine in the same way as the deity of Christ, for example, it is a sin issue. There is a limit to how far we can “agree to disagree” and still uphold our duty to root out sin in our midst. Once again, we should also distinguish between a struggle with same sex attraction and engagement in homosexual behavior when we consider our response. There is also a glass ceiling when it comes to marriage. While I believe we should not break up existing homosexual marriages, we should not participate in creating them. The marriage covenant between a man and woman was created, in part, to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 5). This should not be co-opted to excuse or normalize immorality.
14: Nuance and Edge Cases
The above outline is by no means meant to be exhaustive or definitive. It is meant to provide a lens, supported by scripture, through which we can view these issues and consider corporate and pastoral responses. It should inform how we view the people that walk through the door from a wide range of backgrounds and how we equip those in our church to be Christ’s ambassadors to those in our community. Every person and circumstance, history and baggage will be different, and any non-nuanced position would be inherently evil. I pray we have many opportunities to talk, think and pray through specific situations that God would bless us with the chance to be a part of. What an honor it would be to be used to reach into broken lives like these with the Gospel of Grace.
15: Action Steps
As we consider practical and philosophical ways of responding to the above, I believe we should start from a position of corporate repentance. If we wish to truly reach out and touch the lives of broken people in need of a Savior who live a life of same sex attraction or gender dysphoria, we need to begin by recognizing that a great deal of harm, emotional and physical, has been inflicted on this group by the Church for generations. There are homeless people living in our area who were kicked out of their homes by parents holding a Bible. There are those who have been subjected to horrific methods that amount to torture under the guise of “Conversion Therapy” from Christian organizations. The only “conversion” we should concern ourselves with is to a regenerate heart. Attempting to change someone’s sexual attraction is very much beside the point. We cannot hope to be a place where such people can hear about Jesus unless they feel safe to enter our doors. We must also fight the tendency to consider sin in this area as something worse than others, even in non-Christians. James 2 says “…For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it….So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” As we consider corporate and pastoral responses to the argument above, we must start by removing our own planks and repenting for the historical actions of the Church.
Practical steps that we could consider taking would include: removing the statements from the website about marriage and sexuality, especially directly under our Core Beliefs. Again, this is not meant to hide or equivocate on the truth, but not to set such a barrier before someone even walks through our door. Secondly, we should consider how to address these topics within the church. A Sunday morning sermon is not ideal as it is time limited and a unidirectional conversation. A small group course format would be a consideration. We need to equip parents and family members of adolescents, teens, and adults with language to talk about these things in loving, humble, God-honoring ways. In the longer term, we need to consider how we can make our church a place where people would feel comfortable inviting friends and family who look, think and act differently than we do. We need to find a way of projecting safety and inclusion even in our public facing information. This isn’t a balancing act where we must make it clear early and often that we “love the sinner but hate the sin” as the saying goes. We just need to love the sinner. Dealing with the sin can come later God-willing. A third application point is to be mindful of what we say and what we allow to be said without being checked. Certainly, joking at the expense of those who are dealing with these issues is unacceptable, but we also need to work to avoid getting dragged in to pseudo-political discussions on bathroom issues, sports issues or other divisive concerns that have no bearing on the church.
I recognize that these proposals have the potential to divide the church. There are some who may leave the body over these sorts of changes. I would argue that it is our responsibility to them as well as to the unreached in our community to have those discussions and risk some of them leaving over it. These are not all things we should change overnight but after ample opportunities for discussions and prayer.
16: Conclusion – Mark 2:15-17
At its core, these are not issues of who someone loves, sexual attraction, or even specific sex acts. The core is idolatry and identity. When acceptance by others, self-determination, or physical pleasure become the central force driving our lives then we have become idolators. Though our idols take on different shapes, the struggles in this space are shared by all. Whether you are identified by your profession, your family, or your gender identity, you are not being identified by your Master. Building fences around or within the church because someone sins in a different way than us cannot be allowed. Making the excuse that we are somehow “protecting our children” by shielding them from people in our community who desperately need a Savior will not show our children who Jesus is. Within the church, we cannot be afraid to “speak the truth in love.” We need not and cannot shy away from sin in the church, but we must recognize that the Spirit works in each of our lives. Often this happens over a period of time. We should be prepared to walk alongside our brothers and sisters in this journey for as long as they need.
There is a significant correlation between this community and their relationship with religious groups, and the “tax collectors and sinners” that Jesus sought out in His ministry and their relationship with the religious leaders of the day. Our heart should reflect His. Jesus responded: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) If our church was filled with transgender people and gay families that loved Jesus, God would be glorified.”
Thank you in advance for any constructive criticism, notes of encouragement and or reading recommendations on these topics that I can pass along.

A good friend of mine from a fairly conservative evangelical background is considering becoming a pastor at his non-denominational church. As part of the evaluation process, they asked him to write a paper on these topics that he is not an expert on.
He asked for my opinion and I offered to share it online to solicit constructive criticism, notes of encouragement, and or reading recommendations on these topics.
I believe his goal is to be faithful to the scriptures, loving to those outside the church, and challenging to those inside the church, as most of us could do better.
What he wrote is in the quotation marks below.
“1: Scope of the Issue
Sexual immorality has become a besetting and ubiquitous issue in our culture and in our churches. While many aspects of it are not novel or unique to this time and have clear scriptural input, there are others that bring challenges to our church for which we don’t have obvious precedent. The main point of these comments is to try and answer three questions with some degree of specificity: (1) how do we make ourselves a place where people who do not know Christ will feel welcome to come and learn of Him regardless of where they come from, (2) how do we pastorally care for people who have come in to the church with pre-existing circumstances related to sexual immorality, and (3) how do we equip our members to represent Christ to those in their lives that are dealing with these issues. We want to do this in a way that does not “walk a tight rope” or compromise to appease, but honors Scripture in its commands to both show compassion and exhort and correct. We must recognize that every individual circumstance is unique, and many will require careful and prayerful consideration, but this is meant to give a framework for that consideration.
2: Scriptural Basis for Corporate Response
There are many references we can point to that discuss and define sexual immorality throughout Scripture and many of these will be used below as we consider specific examples and situations. Let us start, however, by looking at passages that deal with corporate response rather than individual sin. It is clear that the Corinthian church had significant issues in this area, and much of Paul’s first letter was devoted to it. In chapter 5, Paul states that when sexual immorality is discovered in the church we should “mourn” over it and “not to associate with immoral people.” Importantly, he also makes clear in vv. 9-13 that these comments only apply to those “who bears the name of brother.” He explicitly writes, “not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world…for what have I to do with judging outsiders?” This is key in informing our response to those who are not members of the church. If it is our desire to see sinners come through our doors and come to know our Savior through our ministry, then we must be welcoming, accepting them where they are. This is not to say we hide or compromise the biblical position, but it is not an issue on which we want to filter people at the door. There are three categories of people in sexual sin that we need to form a response for. First, those just coming to the church who have not committed to it – these should be treated the same as any we are reaching out to with Christ’s love. They need Jesus, not behavioral change. Next, those who have recently joined the church but have pre-existing sexual sin patterns. This can and should be addressed with patience, dignity, and love. There are often many sin areas in the life of a new believer, and it is prudent to discern how and when to address each of them. Lastly, those who have been members in the church for some amount of time and fall into sexual sin. This is the group that Paul is primarily addressing in 1 Corinthians. While sex within marriage is a private issue, sexual sin cannot be a taboo topic. It needs to be addressed regularly and clearly. We need close enough relationships within the church that such problems do not fester in the dark. We must avoid the typical church pattern to vilify the first group, never see the second group, and pretend the third group doesn’t exist until it all blows up in scandal. May it never be.
3: Consistency Issue
There is a tendency in our Christian culture to treat some sexual sins as worse than others. Like the Corinthians, some things we seem to have accepted as just ubiquitous parts of our culture. Knowing the prevalence of promiscuity and fornication among teens and single adults and usage of pornography even within the church, we tend to address these as issues of indwelling sin, similar to anger or fear of man, with offers of accountability and understanding when someone falls. By contrast, when it comes to homosexuality or adultery, it is often a church discipline issue. We view homosexual marriage as a major problem, but remarriage after a non-biblical divorce is rarely addressed. These inconsistencies lead to stigmatization and polarization and should have no place in the church. The criterion for escalation should be unrepentance, not the nature of the sexual sin. It is clear from 1 Corinthians that all should be taken seriously, but none should be vilified above others.
4: Culture and Identity
The major underlying problem with many of the sexual sin and gender issues is that they have come to be culturally bound up with people’s identities. This is not a new phenomenon and is not unique to this issue. As far back as Acts 19, you see people becoming “enraged” because Paul had threatened the Ephesians’ cultural identity as worshipers of Artemis. People continue to find their primary identities in their employment, hobbies, sports teams, or families rather than Christ. None of these should be accepted, but none should be reviled either. If a person does not know Jesus, they are dead. How they identify themselves is of no concern. Once they have been made alive, they can be taught that “whose” they are is more important than “who” they are. All identity outside of Christ is not sinful, but if it takes paramount importance, it may become so. A person who recognizes a tendency toward same sex attraction may label themselves as gay or lesbian. This should not be considered a sin issue unless it becomes, for them, their defining characteristic or leads to sinful actions. We should recognize the difficulty of this struggle and support such a person rather than get hung up on labels. There must be clear distinction between identifying same sex attraction and engaging in homosexual behavior. These should be the guiding principles underlying everything that follows are regards individual cases.
5: Public Facing Information, Guests, and New Attendees
Considering what we have discussed, and Paul’s assertion in 1 Corinthians 5 that we ought to reserve judgment on sexual immorality to those we call brother, I would submit that public facing information regarding the church (i.e. website, app, etc) should not publish a position on sexual immorality, marriage, and gender identity. Doing so effectively places the filter at the door so that people who do not know Christ may be turned away from it. This is not tantamount to tacit approval. In appropriate contexts within the church, these topics should still be discussed and addressed, but I do not believe it is consistent with a biblical treatment of unbelievers to place it in a public facing forum. If we have guests or new regular attendees who appear to be engaged in a cohabitating or fornicating relationship, a homosexual relationship, or other sexual sin, this should not be a priority to address unless we have discerned that they are believers and join the church. Even then, it is important to draw a distinction between someone who deals with same-sex attraction and someone who engages in homosexual behavior. The next seven points are meant to discuss, in broad terms, how we should address those who join the church with pre-existing relationships or identity issues:
6: Promiscuity, Cohabitation – Hebrews 13:4, 1 Cor 7:1-2, Ex 22:16
Much of the biblical discussion on promiscuity is by inference. Clearly, sex was meant to be inseparably linked to marriage and outside of that context should be considered immoral. For those who join the church already in a sexual relationship who are unmarried we should apply Exodus 22:16 and encourage them to marry as soon as possible. If they do not wish to marry, they should be encouraged to separate. Paul acknowledges in 1 Cor 7:2 that marriage is the best remedy for “temptation to sexual immorality.”
7: Adultery, Divorce and Remarriage – Matt 5:32, Matt 19:9, 1 Cor 7:10-11
This issue is given much more explicit biblical instruction but is often glossed over in our Christian culture due to the messy landscape of divorces and remarriages. In cases where non-biblical divorce has occurred, if reconciliation is possible, this should be pursued. If reconciliation is impossible because one or more parties have remarried, it would not be sensible to divorce again in order to achieve reconciliation. The principle to apply here, I believe, is from 1 Cor 7:17-24 summarized in verse 20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” This is not an ideal circumstance, but it is the best way forward in an imperfect world. Of note, polygamy was common in the culture of the early church, and while not ideal, was accepted by the church, as evidenced by the qualifications for elder to be “a husband of but one wife.” We have polygamous cultures even within our local community and if they came to Christ, we should not counsel them to divorce all but one wife and thus disrupt their social structure. It is not ideal and would disqualify them from eldership, but they should remain as they are. Whether marriage after unbiblical divorce in the past disqualifies a man from eldership is a case-by case question for the eldership.
8: Pornography, Sensuality, and Lust – Lev 18:6-18, Matt 5:28
As mentioned above, use of pornography has reached a high saturation point within our culture and within our church. While once thought of as simply a male issue, there is a growing trend toward gender parity in pornography usage. It is an issue that should be discussed with some frequency within our church. For those that join the church and view pornography regularly, it needs to be made clear that while the world has largely destigmatized it, it is still sexual immorality. Furthermore, this isn’t just limited to nudity and pornography, but any sensuality that leads to looking at someone “with lustful intent” is the heart equivalent of adultery according to Matt 5:28. In our culture, it is not possible to avoid such things by just turning away. We need to address the heart issues of idolatry, selfishness, and satisfaction in Christ. Practically, how should we deal with those who have on-going struggles with pornography, sensuality and lust? Should this preclude them from eldership? From deaconship? Taken strictly, this would preclude nearly all men from eldership. These require individual evaluation from the elders, but a guiding principle should be, if the person is repentant and there is evidence of growth in their life, we should consider more responsibility and continued discipleship.
9: Homosexuality – Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, 1 Cor 6:9, 1 Tim 1:8-11
From the above references and others, it is evident that homosexual behavior is sexual sin. We cannot equivocate on that point. As we have discussed above, if a person who is already a believer and in the church and struggles with same sex attraction, we should approach them as we would handle anyone who is sexually attracted to someone to whom they are not married. If such a person decides that homosexuality is not sinful and begins sexually immoral activity, we should deal with them in the same way as any member who falls into unrepentant sin and go through the processes of correction and, if necessary, of church discipline. It is important that we draw a distinction between same sex attraction and homosexual behavior. We can do tremendous harm by demonizing same sex attraction and creating a taboo around it. A person who is struggling to abstain from homosexual behavior should be supported and encouraged. I believe Paul’s strong statements about not associating with sexually immoral people applies to those who remain unrepentant. Much more nuanced is the issue of how we address those that join the church already in a homosexual relationship. What about the married homosexual couple who join the church with their adopted child? Should we break up their family? I believe, in this case, the same principle should apply as to those who have gone through an unbiblical divorce in the past. We should apply 1 Cor 7:20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” We can recognize that this is not ideal, but it is the best we can do in a fallen world just as we do with someone who is married after unbiblical divorce. Whether should apply to a homosexual couple in a long term committed relationship who are not legally married would be an individual discussion with the elders. Again, these are nuanced cases that will need individual prayer, discussion, and discernment. I believe a great deal more patience is called for when a new believer joins the church that has a history or present reality of homosexuality, even if they are unrepentant at first, believing that homosexuality is not sinful, than we would demonstrate to a person who has been in the church for a period of time and then decides to pursue a homosexual relationship.
10: Bisexuality – Heb 13:4
Bisexual attraction is no more or less of an issue than anyone who finds that they are sexually attracted to someone other than their spouse. This is not a rare or unique circumstance, even within the church. Someone who is practicing bisexuality is, by definition, not confining sex to the marriage bed, and this, therefore, qualifies as sexual immorality. The issue, here again, is one of identity and cultural acceptance. If a person “identifies as bisexual,” the real issue is not the bisexuality, but the fact that they identify themselves primarily by their sexual desires, and not by Christ. It would be equally a problem if they “identified as heterosexual” and that was seen as their defining characteristic. If such a person were to join the church, our priority should be in helping them see their identity in Christ rather than focusing on renouncing their sexual preference.
11: Transgenderism/Non-binarism – Psalm 139: 13-15
It should be noted that the next two points should not be considered in the category of sexual immorality, but as they are connected to the same cultural moment will be discussed here. It should further be remarked that transgenderism is a modern issue with no direct reference in Scripture. It is a challenging issue that often falls prey to oversimplification and scapegoating. It is not sufficient to simply state that a person should identify with their born gender. There are those born with ambiguous genitalia and those born with sex chromosome abnormalities such that “born gender” is not necessarily accurate. These occur with a frequency of 1 in 448 births on average which is not particularly rare. The majority of people who consider themselves to be transgender do not fall into these categories, but the fact remains that these categories exist. Unless we plan to embark on genetic testing, we must be careful how we assert someone’s gender assignment. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that much of the gender confusion in our culture is due to a distortion of biblically accurate masculinity and femininity in our culture of which the church has been widely supportive for generations. Many transgender and non-binary individuals consider themselves so because they do not fit into the traditional boxes our culture has created for the genders. The church can start by recognizing that these boxes are incorrect. We can also acknowledge that gender differences and roles are far less important than most human cultures perceive. Christ himself challenged many gender norms in his ministry and Paul maintains “…there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28b) It is much more difficult to recognize this issue as a sin issue than many of the above concerns. If someone wishes to be addressed by different pronouns than they once did or dress differently than they once did, this does not amount to immorality. Once again, this can be an idolatrous identity issue if the person sees it as the central characteristic of their lives. There is often an inherent pride in asserting that such a person does not feel they fit in the body created for them, but if they come to love Jesus and understand and believe that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” then this issue may become moot. Whether or not they revert to dressing differently or using pronouns they did when they were younger is largely immaterial. This also addresses the issue of people who may have undergone permanent physical changes. While we should not endorse such modification if it is being considered, there is no reason to reverse such a thing in order to return to a base state. We must recognize that this is a group that has a high propensity toward mental health concerns, instability, and suicidality. They need love, support and prayer, not scapegoating and extra-biblical expectations of conforming to a cultural norm. We must further note that this group as well as the homosexual group have often experienced psychological and even physical harm from others in our culture, sometimes in the name of Christ. We must foster an environment of champions physical and psychological safety for these people.
12: Asexuality – 1 Cor 7:25-38
Asexuality also should not be considered sexual immorality. There is, in fact, wide support in Paul’s letters such as in 1 Cor 7 for people, if they are able, to remain unmarried and be “anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.” We tend to champion the model of the nuclear family in our Christian culture, but Paul sees chaste singleness as a better way. There should be no pressure from the church to make sure that single people pair off and get married because it is expected of them. As this state has been culturally identified with the LGBTQIA movement, it is seen on the same spectrum as the sexual immorality and gender issues discussed above, but it is not. It can still fall prey to the same issue of an idolatrous identity as some of the above issues, but it need not be so.
13: Glass Ceiling
In the event that God sees fit to bring people from these subgroups into our church, there would inevitably be a glass ceiling. The question is at what point. The four logical points are: regular attender, member, deacon, and elder. Regardless of their background or position, all should be welcome to be a regular attender. It is also clear, from the biblical requirements for eldership, that on-going problems or engagement in any of the sexual sins would disqualify them from that post. The middle two are less clear. I would submit that the bar for membership should be very low. This step, in my opinion, is when they would “bear the name of brother” and not before. Even if they disagree about the sinful nature of homosexuality, this should not disallow them from becoming members as long as they agree to submit to the churches position and not cause division. Allowing them to become members gives us the pastoral authority to speak into their lives, and we would hope that over time the Spirit would work in their hearts to convince them of the truth. Putting such a person in a deacon role would probably not be wise but would need to be evaluated prayerfully on a case-by-case basis. The difficulty here is that, while a position on homosexuality is not a salvific issue and should not be considered a core doctrine in the same way as the deity of Christ, for example, it is a sin issue. There is a limit to how far we can “agree to disagree” and still uphold our duty to root out sin in our midst. Once again, we should also distinguish between a struggle with same sex attraction and engagement in homosexual behavior when we consider our response. There is also a glass ceiling when it comes to marriage. While I believe we should not break up existing homosexual marriages, we should not participate in creating them. The marriage covenant between a man and woman was created, in part, to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 5). This should not be co-opted to excuse or normalize immorality.
14: Nuance and Edge Cases
The above outline is by no means meant to be exhaustive or definitive. It is meant to provide a lens, supported by scripture, through which we can view these issues and consider corporate and pastoral responses. It should inform how we view the people that walk through the door from a wide range of backgrounds and how we equip those in our church to be Christ’s ambassadors to those in our community. Every person and circumstance, history and baggage will be different, and any non-nuanced position would be inherently evil. I pray we have many opportunities to talk, think and pray through specific situations that God would bless us with the chance to be a part of. What an honor it would be to be used to reach into broken lives like these with the Gospel of Grace.
15: Action Steps
As we consider practical and philosophical ways of responding to the above, I believe we should start from a position of corporate repentance. If we wish to truly reach out and touch the lives of broken people in need of a Savior who live a life of same sex attraction or gender dysphoria, we need to begin by recognizing that a great deal of harm, emotional and physical, has been inflicted on this group by the Church for generations. There are homeless people living in our area who were kicked out of their homes by parents holding a Bible. There are those who have been subjected to horrific methods that amount to torture under the guise of “Conversion Therapy” from Christian organizations. The only “conversion” we should concern ourselves with is to a regenerate heart. Attempting to change someone’s sexual attraction is very much beside the point. We cannot hope to be a place where such people can hear about Jesus unless they feel safe to enter our doors. We must also fight the tendency to consider sin in this area as something worse than others, even in non-Christians. James 2 says “…For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it….So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” As we consider corporate and pastoral responses to the argument above, we must start by removing our own planks and repenting for the historical actions of the Church.
Practical steps that we could consider taking would include: removing the statements from the website about marriage and sexuality, especially directly under our Core Beliefs. Again, this is not meant to hide or equivocate on the truth, but not to set such a barrier before someone even walks through our door. Secondly, we should consider how to address these topics within the church. A Sunday morning sermon is not ideal as it is time limited and a unidirectional conversation. A small group course format would be a consideration. We need to equip parents and family members of adolescents, teens, and adults with language to talk about these things in loving, humble, God-honoring ways. In the longer term, we need to consider how we can make our church a place where people would feel comfortable inviting friends and family who look, think and act differently than we do. We need to find a way of projecting safety and inclusion even in our public facing information. This isn’t a balancing act where we must make it clear early and often that we “love the sinner but hate the sin” as the saying goes. We just need to love the sinner. Dealing with the sin can come later God-willing. A third application point is to be mindful of what we say and what we allow to be said without being checked. Certainly, joking at the expense of those who are dealing with these issues is unacceptable, but we also need to work to avoid getting dragged in to pseudo-political discussions on bathroom issues, sports issues or other divisive concerns that have no bearing on the church.
I recognize that these proposals have the potential to divide the church. There are some who may leave the body over these sorts of changes. I would argue that it is our responsibility to them as well as to the unreached in our community to have those discussions and risk some of them leaving over it. These are not all things we should change overnight but after ample opportunities for discussions and prayer.
16: Conclusion – Mark 2:15-17
At its core, these are not issues of who someone loves, sexual attraction, or even specific sex acts. The core is idolatry and identity. When acceptance by others, self-determination, or physical pleasure become the central force driving our lives then we have become idolators. Though our idols take on different shapes, the struggles in this space are shared by all. Whether you are identified by your profession, your family, or your gender identity, you are not being identified by your Master. Building fences around or within the church because someone sins in a different way than us cannot be allowed. Making the excuse that we are somehow “protecting our children” by shielding them from people in our community who desperately need a Savior will not show our children who Jesus is. Within the church, we cannot be afraid to “speak the truth in love.” We need not and cannot shy away from sin in the church, but we must recognize that the Spirit works in each of our lives. Often this happens over a period of time. We should be prepared to walk alongside our brothers and sisters in this journey for as long as they need.
There is a significant correlation between this community and their relationship with religious groups, and the “tax collectors and sinners” that Jesus sought out in His ministry and their relationship with the religious leaders of the day. Our heart should reflect His. Jesus responded: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) If our church was filled with transgender people and gay families that loved Jesus, God would be glorified.”
Thank you in advance for any constructive criticism, notes of encouragement and or reading recommendations on these topics that I can pass along.

A good friend of mine from a fairly conservative evangelical background is considering becoming a pastor at his non-denominational church. As part of the evaluation process, they asked him to write a paper on these topics that he is not an expert on.
He asked for my opinion and I offered to share it online to solicit constructive criticism, notes of encouragement, and or reading recommendations on these topics.
I believe his goal is to be faithful to the scriptures, loving to those outside the church, and challenging to those inside the church, as most of us could do better.
What he wrote is in the quotation marks below.
“1: Scope of the Issue
Sexual immorality has become a besetting and ubiquitous issue in our culture and in our churches. While many aspects of it are not novel or unique to this time and have clear scriptural input, there are others that bring challenges to our church for which we don’t have obvious precedent. The main point of these comments is to try and answer three questions with some degree of specificity: (1) how do we make ourselves a place where people who do not know Christ will feel welcome to come and learn of Him regardless of where they come from, (2) how do we pastorally care for people who have come in to the church with pre-existing circumstances related to sexual immorality, and (3) how do we equip our members to represent Christ to those in their lives that are dealing with these issues. We want to do this in a way that does not “walk a tight rope” or compromise to appease, but honors Scripture in its commands to both show compassion and exhort and correct. We must recognize that every individual circumstance is unique, and many will require careful and prayerful consideration, but this is meant to give a framework for that consideration.
2: Scriptural Basis for Corporate Response
There are many references we can point to that discuss and define sexual immorality throughout Scripture and many of these will be used below as we consider specific examples and situations. Let us start, however, by looking at passages that deal with corporate response rather than individual sin. It is clear that the Corinthian church had significant issues in this area, and much of Paul’s first letter was devoted to it. In chapter 5, Paul states that when sexual immorality is discovered in the church we should “mourn” over it and “not to associate with immoral people.” Importantly, he also makes clear in vv. 9-13 that these comments only apply to those “who bears the name of brother.” He explicitly writes, “not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world…for what have I to do with judging outsiders?” This is key in informing our response to those who are not members of the church. If it is our desire to see sinners come through our doors and come to know our Savior through our ministry, then we must be welcoming, accepting them where they are. This is not to say we hide or compromise the biblical position, but it is not an issue on which we want to filter people at the door. There are three categories of people in sexual sin that we need to form a response for. First, those just coming to the church who have not committed to it – these should be treated the same as any we are reaching out to with Christ’s love. They need Jesus, not behavioral change. Next, those who have recently joined the church but have pre-existing sexual sin patterns. This can and should be addressed with patience, dignity, and love. There are often many sin areas in the life of a new believer, and it is prudent to discern how and when to address each of them. Lastly, those who have been members in the church for some amount of time and fall into sexual sin. This is the group that Paul is primarily addressing in 1 Corinthians. While sex within marriage is a private issue, sexual sin cannot be a taboo topic. It needs to be addressed regularly and clearly. We need close enough relationships within the church that such problems do not fester in the dark. We must avoid the typical church pattern to vilify the first group, never see the second group, and pretend the third group doesn’t exist until it all blows up in scandal. May it never be.
3: Consistency Issue
There is a tendency in our Christian culture to treat some sexual sins as worse than others. Like the Corinthians, some things we seem to have accepted as just ubiquitous parts of our culture. Knowing the prevalence of promiscuity and fornication among teens and single adults and usage of pornography even within the church, we tend to address these as issues of indwelling sin, similar to anger or fear of man, with offers of accountability and understanding when someone falls. By contrast, when it comes to homosexuality or adultery, it is often a church discipline issue. We view homosexual marriage as a major problem, but remarriage after a non-biblical divorce is rarely addressed. These inconsistencies lead to stigmatization and polarization and should have no place in the church. The criterion for escalation should be unrepentance, not the nature of the sexual sin. It is clear from 1 Corinthians that all should be taken seriously, but none should be vilified above others.
4: Culture and Identity
The major underlying problem with many of the sexual sin and gender issues is that they have come to be culturally bound up with people’s identities. This is not a new phenomenon and is not unique to this issue. As far back as Acts 19, you see people becoming “enraged” because Paul had threatened the Ephesians’ cultural identity as worshipers of Artemis. People continue to find their primary identities in their employment, hobbies, sports teams, or families rather than Christ. None of these should be accepted, but none should be reviled either. If a person does not know Jesus, they are dead. How they identify themselves is of no concern. Once they have been made alive, they can be taught that “whose” they are is more important than “who” they are. All identity outside of Christ is not sinful, but if it takes paramount importance, it may become so. A person who recognizes a tendency toward same sex attraction may label themselves as gay or lesbian. This should not be considered a sin issue unless it becomes, for them, their defining characteristic or leads to sinful actions. We should recognize the difficulty of this struggle and support such a person rather than get hung up on labels. There must be clear distinction between identifying same sex attraction and engaging in homosexual behavior. These should be the guiding principles underlying everything that follows are regards individual cases.
5: Public Facing Information, Guests, and New Attendees
Considering what we have discussed, and Paul’s assertion in 1 Corinthians 5 that we ought to reserve judgment on sexual immorality to those we call brother, I would submit that public facing information regarding the church (i.e. website, app, etc) should not publish a position on sexual immorality, marriage, and gender identity. Doing so effectively places the filter at the door so that people who do not know Christ may be turned away from it. This is not tantamount to tacit approval. In appropriate contexts within the church, these topics should still be discussed and addressed, but I do not believe it is consistent with a biblical treatment of unbelievers to place it in a public facing forum. If we have guests or new regular attendees who appear to be engaged in a cohabitating or fornicating relationship, a homosexual relationship, or other sexual sin, this should not be a priority to address unless we have discerned that they are believers and join the church. Even then, it is important to draw a distinction between someone who deals with same-sex attraction and someone who engages in homosexual behavior. The next seven points are meant to discuss, in broad terms, how we should address those who join the church with pre-existing relationships or identity issues:
6: Promiscuity, Cohabitation – Hebrews 13:4, 1 Cor 7:1-2, Ex 22:16
Much of the biblical discussion on promiscuity is by inference. Clearly, sex was meant to be inseparably linked to marriage and outside of that context should be considered immoral. For those who join the church already in a sexual relationship who are unmarried we should apply Exodus 22:16 and encourage them to marry as soon as possible. If they do not wish to marry, they should be encouraged to separate. Paul acknowledges in 1 Cor 7:2 that marriage is the best remedy for “temptation to sexual immorality.”
7: Adultery, Divorce and Remarriage – Matt 5:32, Matt 19:9, 1 Cor 7:10-11
This issue is given much more explicit biblical instruction but is often glossed over in our Christian culture due to the messy landscape of divorces and remarriages. In cases where non-biblical divorce has occurred, if reconciliation is possible, this should be pursued. If reconciliation is impossible because one or more parties have remarried, it would not be sensible to divorce again in order to achieve reconciliation. The principle to apply here, I believe, is from 1 Cor 7:17-24 summarized in verse 20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” This is not an ideal circumstance, but it is the best way forward in an imperfect world. Of note, polygamy was common in the culture of the early church, and while not ideal, was accepted by the church, as evidenced by the qualifications for elder to be “a husband of but one wife.” We have polygamous cultures even within our local community and if they came to Christ, we should not counsel them to divorce all but one wife and thus disrupt their social structure. It is not ideal and would disqualify them from eldership, but they should remain as they are. Whether marriage after unbiblical divorce in the past disqualifies a man from eldership is a case-by case question for the eldership.
8: Pornography, Sensuality, and Lust – Lev 18:6-18, Matt 5:28
As mentioned above, use of pornography has reached a high saturation point within our culture and within our church. While once thought of as simply a male issue, there is a growing trend toward gender parity in pornography usage. It is an issue that should be discussed with some frequency within our church. For those that join the church and view pornography regularly, it needs to be made clear that while the world has largely destigmatized it, it is still sexual immorality. Furthermore, this isn’t just limited to nudity and pornography, but any sensuality that leads to looking at someone “with lustful intent” is the heart equivalent of adultery according to Matt 5:28. In our culture, it is not possible to avoid such things by just turning away. We need to address the heart issues of idolatry, selfishness, and satisfaction in Christ. Practically, how should we deal with those who have on-going struggles with pornography, sensuality and lust? Should this preclude them from eldership? From deaconship? Taken strictly, this would preclude nearly all men from eldership. These require individual evaluation from the elders, but a guiding principle should be, if the person is repentant and there is evidence of growth in their life, we should consider more responsibility and continued discipleship.
9: Homosexuality – Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, 1 Cor 6:9, 1 Tim 1:8-11
From the above references and others, it is evident that homosexual behavior is sexual sin. We cannot equivocate on that point. As we have discussed above, if a person who is already a believer and in the church and struggles with same sex attraction, we should approach them as we would handle anyone who is sexually attracted to someone to whom they are not married. If such a person decides that homosexuality is not sinful and begins sexually immoral activity, we should deal with them in the same way as any member who falls into unrepentant sin and go through the processes of correction and, if necessary, of church discipline. It is important that we draw a distinction between same sex attraction and homosexual behavior. We can do tremendous harm by demonizing same sex attraction and creating a taboo around it. A person who is struggling to abstain from homosexual behavior should be supported and encouraged. I believe Paul’s strong statements about not associating with sexually immoral people applies to those who remain unrepentant. Much more nuanced is the issue of how we address those that join the church already in a homosexual relationship. What about the married homosexual couple who join the church with their adopted child? Should we break up their family? I believe, in this case, the same principle should apply as to those who have gone through an unbiblical divorce in the past. We should apply 1 Cor 7:20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” We can recognize that this is not ideal, but it is the best we can do in a fallen world just as we do with someone who is married after unbiblical divorce. Whether should apply to a homosexual couple in a long term committed relationship who are not legally married would be an individual discussion with the elders. Again, these are nuanced cases that will need individual prayer, discussion, and discernment. I believe a great deal more patience is called for when a new believer joins the church that has a history or present reality of homosexuality, even if they are unrepentant at first, believing that homosexuality is not sinful, than we would demonstrate to a person who has been in the church for a period of time and then decides to pursue a homosexual relationship.
10: Bisexuality – Heb 13:4
Bisexual attraction is no more or less of an issue than anyone who finds that they are sexually attracted to someone other than their spouse. This is not a rare or unique circumstance, even within the church. Someone who is practicing bisexuality is, by definition, not confining sex to the marriage bed, and this, therefore, qualifies as sexual immorality. The issue, here again, is one of identity and cultural acceptance. If a person “identifies as bisexual,” the real issue is not the bisexuality, but the fact that they identify themselves primarily by their sexual desires, and not by Christ. It would be equally a problem if they “identified as heterosexual” and that was seen as their defining characteristic. If such a person were to join the church, our priority should be in helping them see their identity in Christ rather than focusing on renouncing their sexual preference.
11: Transgenderism/Non-binarism – Psalm 139: 13-15
It should be noted that the next two points should not be considered in the category of sexual immorality, but as they are connected to the same cultural moment will be discussed here. It should further be remarked that transgenderism is a modern issue with no direct reference in Scripture. It is a challenging issue that often falls prey to oversimplification and scapegoating. It is not sufficient to simply state that a person should identify with their born gender. There are those born with ambiguous genitalia and those born with sex chromosome abnormalities such that “born gender” is not necessarily accurate. These occur with a frequency of 1 in 448 births on average which is not particularly rare. The majority of people who consider themselves to be transgender do not fall into these categories, but the fact remains that these categories exist. Unless we plan to embark on genetic testing, we must be careful how we assert someone’s gender assignment. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that much of the gender confusion in our culture is due to a distortion of biblically accurate masculinity and femininity in our culture of which the church has been widely supportive for generations. Many transgender and non-binary individuals consider themselves so because they do not fit into the traditional boxes our culture has created for the genders. The church can start by recognizing that these boxes are incorrect. We can also acknowledge that gender differences and roles are far less important than most human cultures perceive. Christ himself challenged many gender norms in his ministry and Paul maintains “…there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28b) It is much more difficult to recognize this issue as a sin issue than many of the above concerns. If someone wishes to be addressed by different pronouns than they once did or dress differently than they once did, this does not amount to immorality. Once again, this can be an idolatrous identity issue if the person sees it as the central characteristic of their lives. There is often an inherent pride in asserting that such a person does not feel they fit in the body created for them, but if they come to love Jesus and understand and believe that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” then this issue may become moot. Whether or not they revert to dressing differently or using pronouns they did when they were younger is largely immaterial. This also addresses the issue of people who may have undergone permanent physical changes. While we should not endorse such modification if it is being considered, there is no reason to reverse such a thing in order to return to a base state. We must recognize that this is a group that has a high propensity toward mental health concerns, instability, and suicidality. They need love, support and prayer, not scapegoating and extra-biblical expectations of conforming to a cultural norm. We must further note that this group as well as the homosexual group have often experienced psychological and even physical harm from others in our culture, sometimes in the name of Christ. We must foster an environment of champions physical and psychological safety for these people.
12: Asexuality – 1 Cor 7:25-38
Asexuality also should not be considered sexual immorality. There is, in fact, wide support in Paul’s letters such as in 1 Cor 7 for people, if they are able, to remain unmarried and be “anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.” We tend to champion the model of the nuclear family in our Christian culture, but Paul sees chaste singleness as a better way. There should be no pressure from the church to make sure that single people pair off and get married because it is expected of them. As this state has been culturally identified with the LGBTQIA movement, it is seen on the same spectrum as the sexual immorality and gender issues discussed above, but it is not. It can still fall prey to the same issue of an idolatrous identity as some of the above issues, but it need not be so.
13: Glass Ceiling
In the event that God sees fit to bring people from these subgroups into our church, there would inevitably be a glass ceiling. The question is at what point. The four logical points are: regular attender, member, deacon, and elder. Regardless of their background or position, all should be welcome to be a regular attender. It is also clear, from the biblical requirements for eldership, that on-going problems or engagement in any of the sexual sins would disqualify them from that post. The middle two are less clear. I would submit that the bar for membership should be very low. This step, in my opinion, is when they would “bear the name of brother” and not before. Even if they disagree about the sinful nature of homosexuality, this should not disallow them from becoming members as long as they agree to submit to the churches position and not cause division. Allowing them to become members gives us the pastoral authority to speak into their lives, and we would hope that over time the Spirit would work in their hearts to convince them of the truth. Putting such a person in a deacon role would probably not be wise but would need to be evaluated prayerfully on a case-by-case basis. The difficulty here is that, while a position on homosexuality is not a salvific issue and should not be considered a core doctrine in the same way as the deity of Christ, for example, it is a sin issue. There is a limit to how far we can “agree to disagree” and still uphold our duty to root out sin in our midst. Once again, we should also distinguish between a struggle with same sex attraction and engagement in homosexual behavior when we consider our response. There is also a glass ceiling when it comes to marriage. While I believe we should not break up existing homosexual marriages, we should not participate in creating them. The marriage covenant between a man and woman was created, in part, to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 5). This should not be co-opted to excuse or normalize immorality.
14: Nuance and Edge Cases
The above outline is by no means meant to be exhaustive or definitive. It is meant to provide a lens, supported by scripture, through which we can view these issues and consider corporate and pastoral responses. It should inform how we view the people that walk through the door from a wide range of backgrounds and how we equip those in our church to be Christ’s ambassadors to those in our community. Every person and circumstance, history and baggage will be different, and any non-nuanced position would be inherently evil. I pray we have many opportunities to talk, think and pray through specific situations that God would bless us with the chance to be a part of. What an honor it would be to be used to reach into broken lives like these with the Gospel of Grace.
15: Action Steps
As we consider practical and philosophical ways of responding to the above, I believe we should start from a position of corporate repentance. If we wish to truly reach out and touch the lives of broken people in need of a Savior who live a life of same sex attraction or gender dysphoria, we need to begin by recognizing that a great deal of harm, emotional and physical, has been inflicted on this group by the Church for generations. There are homeless people living in our area who were kicked out of their homes by parents holding a Bible. There are those who have been subjected to horrific methods that amount to torture under the guise of “Conversion Therapy” from Christian organizations. The only “conversion” we should concern ourselves with is to a regenerate heart. Attempting to change someone’s sexual attraction is very much beside the point. We cannot hope to be a place where such people can hear about Jesus unless they feel safe to enter our doors. We must also fight the tendency to consider sin in this area as something worse than others, even in non-Christians. James 2 says “…For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it….So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” As we consider corporate and pastoral responses to the argument above, we must start by removing our own planks and repenting for the historical actions of the Church.
Practical steps that we could consider taking would include: removing the statements from the website about marriage and sexuality, especially directly under our Core Beliefs. Again, this is not meant to hide or equivocate on the truth, but not to set such a barrier before someone even walks through our door. Secondly, we should consider how to address these topics within the church. A Sunday morning sermon is not ideal as it is time limited and a unidirectional conversation. A small group course format would be a consideration. We need to equip parents and family members of adolescents, teens, and adults with language to talk about these things in loving, humble, God-honoring ways. In the longer term, we need to consider how we can make our church a place where people would feel comfortable inviting friends and family who look, think and act differently than we do. We need to find a way of projecting safety and inclusion even in our public facing information. This isn’t a balancing act where we must make it clear early and often that we “love the sinner but hate the sin” as the saying goes. We just need to love the sinner. Dealing with the sin can come later God-willing. A third application point is to be mindful of what we say and what we allow to be said without being checked. Certainly, joking at the expense of those who are dealing with these issues is unacceptable, but we also need to work to avoid getting dragged in to pseudo-political discussions on bathroom issues, sports issues or other divisive concerns that have no bearing on the church.
I recognize that these proposals have the potential to divide the church. There are some who may leave the body over these sorts of changes. I would argue that it is our responsibility to them as well as to the unreached in our community to have those discussions and risk some of them leaving over it. These are not all things we should change overnight but after ample opportunities for discussions and prayer.
16: Conclusion – Mark 2:15-17
At its core, these are not issues of who someone loves, sexual attraction, or even specific sex acts. The core is idolatry and identity. When acceptance by others, self-determination, or physical pleasure become the central force driving our lives then we have become idolators. Though our idols take on different shapes, the struggles in this space are shared by all. Whether you are identified by your profession, your family, or your gender identity, you are not being identified by your Master. Building fences around or within the church because someone sins in a different way than us cannot be allowed. Making the excuse that we are somehow “protecting our children” by shielding them from people in our community who desperately need a Savior will not show our children who Jesus is. Within the church, we cannot be afraid to “speak the truth in love.” We need not and cannot shy away from sin in the church, but we must recognize that the Spirit works in each of our lives. Often this happens over a period of time. We should be prepared to walk alongside our brothers and sisters in this journey for as long as they need.
There is a significant correlation between this community and their relationship with religious groups, and the “tax collectors and sinners” that Jesus sought out in His ministry and their relationship with the religious leaders of the day. Our heart should reflect His. Jesus responded: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) If our church was filled with transgender people and gay families that loved Jesus, God would be glorified.”
Thank you in advance for any constructive criticism, notes of encouragement and or reading recommendations on these topics that I can pass along.

The QuickBooks ABS PDF Driver plays a vital role in converting financial reports and forms into Adobe PDF format, ensuring easy sharing and preserving document integrity. However, encountering issues during the installation of the ABS PDF Driver can disrupt document management and financial reporting processes within QuickBooks. This comprehensive guide aims to address the QuickBooks ABS PDF Driver Installation Issue, providing troubleshooting steps and expert insights to resolve the problem effectively.
Understanding QuickBooks ABS PDF Driver:
The QuickBooks ABS PDF Driver is a specialized utility designed to facilitate the conversion of QuickBooks reports and forms into Adobe PDF format. It ensures that documents retain their formatting and integrity, making them easily shareable and suitable for printing or electronic distribution. The ABS PDF Driver is essential for creating permanent records of transactions, financial reports, and other documents critical for audits, financial analysis, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Common Symptoms of ABS PDF Driver Installation Issue:

1. Installation Freezes: Users may encounter issues where the installation process freezes or gets stuck at a particular stage, preventing the completion of the installation.
2. Error Messages: Users may receive error messages during the installation of the ABS PDF Driver, indicating issues such as file corruption, compatibility problems, or insufficient system resources.
3. Compatibility Issues: The ABS PDF Driver installation may fail due to compatibility issues with the operating system, QuickBooks version, or other software installed on the system.
4. Incomplete Installation: In some cases, the ABS PDF Driver may not install correctly, resulting in missing or corrupted files, and rendering the functionality unusable.
5. System Performance Issues: Installation of the ABS PDF Driver may lead to system performance issues, such as slowdowns, freezes, or crashes, impacting overall productivity.

Identifying Possible Causes:

1. System Compatibility: The ABS PDF Driver may not be compatible with the operating system or QuickBooks version installed on the system, leading to installation issues.
2. Software Conflicts: Conflicts with other software installed on the system, such as antivirus programs, firewalls, or third-party applications, can interfere with the ABS PDF Driver installation process.
3. Insufficient System Resources: Inadequate system resources, such as RAM, disk space, or processing power, can prevent the ABS PDF Driver from installing correctly.
4. Corrupted Installation Files: Corrupted installation files or incomplete downloads can result in installation failures or errors during the ABS PDF Driver installation process.
5. Network Issues: Connectivity issues or network interruptions during the installation process can cause the ABS PDF Driver installation to fail or freeze.

Troubleshooting Steps:

1. Verify System Requirements:
   • Ensure that your system meets the minimum requirements for installing the ABS PDF Driver, including operating system compatibility, disk space, and system resources.
   • Check the QuickBooks documentation or the official Intuit website for detailed system requirements.
2. Disable Antivirus/Firewall:
   • Temporarily disable antivirus software and firewall settings to prevent them from interfering with the ABS PDF Driver installation process.
   • Remember to re-enable antivirus and firewall protection after completing the installation.
3. Run QuickBooks Diagnostic Tool:
   • Utilize the QuickBooks Diagnostic Tool to diagnose and fix common installation issues, including ABS PDF Driver installation problems.
   • Download and install the QuickBooks Diagnostic Tool from the official Intuit website and follow the on-screen instructions to scan and repair installation issues.
4. Perform Clean Install:
   • Perform a clean install of QuickBooks to ensure that all components, including the ABS PDF Driver, are installed correctly.
   • Uninstall QuickBooks using the Control Panel, then reinstall the software using the latest installation files downloaded from the Intuit website.
5. Update QuickBooks:
   • Ensure that QuickBooks is up to date by installing the latest updates and patches released by Intuit.
   • Updates may include bug fixes, compatibility improvements, and enhancements that can resolve ABS PDF Driver installation issues.
6. Check Disk Space and System Resources:
   • Verify that your system has sufficient disk space and system resources to accommodate the ABS PDF Driver installation.
   • Clear disk space by removing unnecessary files and programs, and close any resource-intensive applications running in the background.
7. Check for Corrupted Files:
   • Verify the integrity of the ABS PDF Driver installation files by downloading them again from the official Intuit website.
   • Ensure that the downloaded files are not corrupted or incomplete before initiating the installation process.
8. Install in Safe Mode:
   • Install the ABS PDF Driver in Safe Mode to minimize potential conflicts with other software or processes running on the system.
   • Boot your computer into Safe Mode and then initiate the ABS PDF Driver installation process.
9. Contact QuickBooks Support:
   • If troubleshooting steps fail to resolve the ABS PDF Driver installation issue, contact QuickBooks support for further assistance.
   • Provide detailed information about the issue, including error messages, system specifications, and troubleshooting steps taken, to expedite the resolution process.

Expert Tips for Preventing ABS PDF Driver Installation Issues:

1. Keep Software Updated: Regularly update QuickBooks and other software installed on your system to ensure compatibility and resolve known issues.
2. Backup Data Regularly: Create regular backups of your QuickBooks data to prevent data loss in case of installation or compatibility issues.
3. Verify Compatibility: Before installing the ABS PDF Driver, verify compatibility with your operating system and QuickBooks version to avoid compatibility issues.
4. Install from Official Sources: Download installation files from the official Intuit website or trusted sources to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the software.

Conclusion:
The QuickBooks ABS PDF Driver Installation Issue can disrupt document management and financial reporting processes within QuickBooks, affecting productivity and efficiency. By following the troubleshooting steps outlined in this guide and implementing expert tips, users can effectively resolve the issue and ensure seamless functionality of the ABS PDF Driver. Regular maintenance, software updates, and proactive troubleshooting are essential practices to prevent and address ABS PDF Driver installation issues, ensuring smooth document conversion and enhancing the functionality of QuickBooks for streamlined financial management.
Visit–https://www.errorsfixs.com/blog/quickbooks-abs-pdf-driver-installation/

I have ADHD and have increasingly found that my stress levels and ability to get things done are much better the more I offload stuff from my brain into some sort of digital repository.
I'm an iPad power-user (basically live on this thing) so I've been using the iOS Reminders app for most of this stuff. But while reminders has been great for, well, reminders/tasks, I'm finding I'm increasingly trying to use it for stuff it's not really well-suited for (like making lists of thoughts/info that I want to keep, not check off). I tried using Notes to fill in the gaps, but I just don't find it as pleasant and intuitive to use (reminders feels very structured, and color-coding in the sidebar helps keep me focused/find things). Plus there's stuff neither app does that I'd really like to find a good solution for.
Basically I think what I'm looking for is a personal knowledge/document/data management system. I've looked at a whole bunch and am frankly overwhelmed and struggling to figure out which would be best suited for my needs. Ideally the features I want (if possible to do all this in 1 app) are:

• Wiki type feature or decent linking allows me to connect related notes/docs. Can be offline but the ability to export to pdf or something would be cool so I can share stuff with people (like a topic ref doc for my kid, or a show viewing guide I'm making for my parents)
• Some sort of basic outline tools within the above docs/wiki (this doesn't have to be fancier than what Notes can do)
• WYSIWYG/rich text editor with decent/clear UI (I do NOT want to have to use markdown just to make entries. I'm fine copy/pasting stuff for unique formatting situations, but I am very much a visual person and not a programmer)
• Web clipper if possible/some way to send webpages to the database as a pdf or similar
• Annotation abilities, ideally with the ability to highlight bits of text and use the Apple Pencil to draw on top of these clips/pdfs.
• Ability to place images and other things into pages, but also the ability to browse a gallery of images with thumbnails (I'm an artist and while I use Visref for active ref while working, I need a better ref organization solution than the Photos app)
• Tagging (nested tagging is cool but not a requirement) with the ability to search/filter by tags
• Folders or workspaces with nesting/hierarchy. I just really need stuff "boxed" like this for my brain to keep track of it. I like to have a few basic folders and then dig down into detailed organizational systems within one. If this isn't possible, then nested tagging becomes much more important.
• Ability to put links to stuff in some sort of database/offline bookmarks managed where I can click them to open them in Safari. Basically I want to remove most of my bookmarks from Safari (I bookmark a lot of stuff just in case I need to refer back to it someday) and keep only frequently visited sites in there.
• Lists, like wishlists, with some basic organization/tagging (this might be accomplished the same way as the bookmarks database, basically I just want to be able to have like, a list of AppStore apps I may want to check out someday with links to them, or a list of books, or some other product and a link to where they can be purchased).
• Cloud sync/backup. Even though I mostly only use this one device, it would be nice to be able to at least reference my database on the rare occasion I need it on my iPhone or MacBook. Also I do not trust myself to remember to manually back it up.

Some stuff that would be nice to have but isn't absolutely required:

• Thumbnail views in image galleries display animations when there's an animated gif
• Modular layout tools (i enjoy stuff like kanban, cards, blocks, anything I can drag and drop and easily rearrange)
• Popup images/notes when a particular link is clicked (without navigating away from the current page/document)

I don't need tasks or calendar tools, fine using the iOS apps for those. Also a paid app is something I'm willing to consider if it's good enough. Infinite canvas is also not necessary and may be a detriment as I can easily forget about stuff that's drifted off-screen.
Some of the apps I've looked at are:

• Notion - I like the blocks that can be dragged and dropped, and the templates are cool. I'm not sure how I feel about the sidebar UI and the bare-bones look. Can stuff be nested on the left into folders and is there some way to add some more colostyling to the UI or documents? I also worry about it being online only.
• LiquidText - This doesn't do most of what I need but I like the select and drag out text snippet feature a lot.
• Evernote - I used this years ago and haven't looked at it in a while but I wasn't a huge fan of the UI back then.
• Others I know very little about: Obsidian, Anytype, Craft, Raindrop (is this just links/bookmarks?), Muse, Logsec, Devonthink, Flexcil, Funnel, Heptabase, Notesnook, Noto, Siyuan? Like I said, I'm overwhelmed.

Thinking about productivity app experiences I’ve enjoyed, Reminders and Trello come to mind. Plus that drag and drop snippit feature in LiquidText…I guess I like modular stuff? My brain likes stuff to be neatly boxed in a visually clear way.
Sorry I know that was a lot! Thank you to anyone who made it through all that. I welcome your recommendations if there are any apps that do what I'm looking for.

I have ADHD and and have increasingly found that my stress levels and ability to get things done are much better the more I offload stuff from my brain into some sort of digital repository.
I'm an iPad power-user (basically live on this thing) so I've been using the iOS Reminders app for most of this stuff. But while reminders has been great for, well, reminders/tasks, I'm finding I'm increasingly trying to use it for stuff it's not really well-suited for (like making lists of thoughts/info that I want to keep, not check off). I tried using Notes to fill in the gaps, but I just don't find it as pleasant and intuitive to use (reminders feels very structured, and color-coding in the sidebar helps keep me focused/find things). Plus there's stuff neither app does that I'd really like to find a good solution for.
Basically I think what I'm looking for is a personal knowledge/document/data management system. I've looked at a whole bunch and am frankly overwhelmed and struggling to figure out which would be best suited for my needs. Ideally the features I want (if possible to do all this in 1 app) are:

• Wiki type feature or decent linking allows me to connect related notes/docs. Can be offline but the ability to export to pdf or something would be cool so I can share stuff with people (like a topic ref doc for my kid, or a show viewing guide I'm making for my parents)
• Some sort of basic outline tools within the above docs/wiki (this doesn't have to be fancier than what Notes can do)
• WYSIWYG/rich text editor with decent/clear UI (I do NOT want to have to use markdown just to make entries. I'm fine copy/pasting stuff for unique formatting situations, but I am very much a visual person and not a programmer)
• Web clipper if possible/some way to send webpages to the database as a pdf or similar
• Annotation abilities, ideally with the ability to highlight bits of text and use the Apple Pencil to draw on top of these clips/pdfs.
• Ability to place images and other things into pages, but also the ability to browse a gallery of images with thumbnails (I'm an artist and while I use Visref for active ref while working, I need a better ref organization solution than the Photos app)
• Tagging (nested tagging is cool but not a requirement) with the ability to search/filter by tags
• Folders or workspaces with nesting/hierarchy. I just really need stuff "boxed" like this for my brain to keep track of it. I like to have a few basic folders and then dig down into detailed organizational systems within one. If this isn't possible, then nested tagging becomes much more important.
• Ability to put links to stuff in some sort of database/offline bookmarks managed where I can click them to open them in Safari. Basically I want to remove most of my bookmarks from Safari (I bookmark a lot of stuff just in case I need to refer back to it someday) and keep only frequently visited sites in there.
• Lists, like wishlists, with some basic organization/tagging (this might be accomplished the same way as the bookmarks database, basically I just want to be able to have like, a list of AppStore apps I may want to check out someday with links to them, or a list of books, or some other product and a link to where they can be purchased).

Some stuff that would be nice to have but isn't absolutely required:

• Thumbnail views in image galleries display animations when there's an animated gif
• Modular layout tools (i enjoy stuff like kanban, cards, blocks, anything I can drag and drop and easily rearrange)
• Popup images/notes when a particular link is clicked (without navigating away from the current page/document)

I don't need tasks or calendar tools, fine using the iOS apps for those. Also a paid app is something I'm willing to consider if it's good enough. Infinite canvas is also not necessary and may be a detriment as I can easily forget about stuff that's drifted off-screen.
Some of the apps I've looked at are:

• Notion - I like the blocks that can be dragged and dropped, and the templates are cool. I'm not sure how I feel about the sidebar UI and the bare-bones look. Can stuff be nested on the left into folders and is there some way to add some more colostyling to the UI or documents? I also worry about it being online only.
• LiquidText - This doesn't do most of what I need but I like the select and drag out text snippet feature a lot.
• Evernote - I used this years ago and haven't looked at it in a while but I wasn't a huge fan of the UI back then.
• Others I know very little about: Obsidian, Anytype, Craft, Raindrop (is this just links/bookmarks?), Muse, Logsec, Devonthink, Flexcil, Funnel, Heptabase, Notesnook, Noto, Siyuan? Like I said, I'm overwhelmed.

Sorry I know that was a lot! Thank you to anyone who made it through all that. I welcome your recommendations if there are any apps that do what I'm looking for.
Thinking about productivity app experiences I’ve enjoyed, Reminders and Trello come to mind. Plus that drag and drop snippit feature in LiquidText…I guess I like modular stuff? My brain likes stuff to be neatly boxed in a visually clear way.
Also as a side question: I recently tried Drafts, literally just as a drafts app (for when I'm replying to something and worried about losing my comment, or the web's editor is frustrating to use, like reddit). But is there any way to use rich text in it, or is it markdown only? Is there a similar app as smooth as this for this basic use with basic formatting tools? Just bolding, bulleted lists, stuff like that. I can go back to using Notes for this but just wondering if there's something better.

Hey Redditors,
I’m diving into writing a research paper and thought I’d share some tips that have helped me along the way. Whether you’re a newbie or looking to refine your skills, these pointers can guide you through the process.

1. Choose a Clear, Focused Topic: Start with a broad area of interest, then narrow it down to a specific question or hypothesis. A well-defined topic helps you stay on track and makes your research more manageable.
2. Conduct Thorough Research: Use a variety of sources—books, academic journals, reputable websites. Take detailed notes and organize them by theme or argument. Don’t forget to keep track of your sources for citations!
3. Develop a Strong Thesis Statement: Your thesis is the backbone of your paper. It should be clear, concise, and reflect the main argument or finding of your research. Everything in your paper should support or relate to this statement.
4. Create an Outline: Organize your thoughts and structure your paper before you start writing. An outline helps you see the big picture and ensures a logical flow of ideas.
5. Write a Compelling Introduction: Grab your reader’s attention with a strong opening. Provide background information and clearly state your thesis. Your introduction should set the stage for the rest of the paper.
6. Craft Clear, Coherent Body Paragraphs: Each paragraph should focus on a single idea that supports your thesis. Start with a topic sentence, provide evidence or examples, and explain how it relates to your argument. Use transitions to maintain flow.
7. Use Credible Sources: Back up your arguments with evidence from credible sources. Peer-reviewed journals, books by experts, and official statistics are generally reliable. Avoid questionable websites and outdated materials.
8. Analyze, Don’t Just Describe: Go beyond summarizing your sources. Critically analyze the information, compare different viewpoints, and explain the significance of your findings. Show how your research contributes to the field.
9. Write a Strong Conclusion: Summarize your main points and restate your thesis (in a new way). Discuss the implications of your findings and suggest areas for future research. Your conclusion should leave a lasting impression.
10. Revise and Edit: Don’t submit your first draft. Take time to revise for clarity, coherence, and consistency. Check for grammar, punctuation, and formatting errors. Consider getting feedback from peers or mentors.
11. Properly Cite Your Sources: Avoid plagiarism by correctly citing all sources. Follow the required citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) consistently. Proper citations add credibility to your paper and acknowledge the work of other researchers.
12. Stay Organized and Manage Your Time: Break down the writing process into manageable steps and set deadlines for each. Use tools like reference managers (Zotero, Mendeley) to keep your sources organized. Staying on schedule reduces stress and improves the quality of your work.

Remember, writing a research paper is a process. Don’t rush it, and give yourself time to think, write, and revise. Good luck, and happy writing!

It is normal to be curious to know what is expected of you when you are told to attend a Driving Improvement Clinic Course in Virginia. These courses are targeted at aiding drivers in developing their driving techniques and ensuring safety on the road. Such schools are important because they provide knowledge you may need to acquire to attend school due to a court order, DMV requirement, or for other reasons; when you go to such schools you learn a lot of things about driving that are practical and helpful. It is in this blog that we shall touch on the outline for a driving improvement clinic course in Virginia. By completing this material, you will have the right understanding of how these courses work and why they are beneficial.

Classroom Instruction

The first format of a Driving Improvement Clinic Course Virginia is classroom instruction. This part of the course deals with the safety issues in driving. One of the lessons you will find is on traffic laws, driving in general and the safe way to overcome different situations.
You will also be provided with the study guides that will be used outside class. These resources will be useful for referencing topics that have been covered and preparing for future topics in the course.

Practical Driving Tips

One of the other main components of the Driving Improvement Clinic Course in Virginia is useful driving tips. These tips are aimed at making you a safer and being a responsible driver.

1. You will gain knowledge which will help you in recognizing the risks on the road and the actions that need to be taken to prevent them.
2. You will also know about the safe driving techniques like driving in the rain or snow as well as navigating a heavy traffic.
3. Lectures will inform you on how to avoid accidents and how to evade causing injury to yourself or others.

These practical tips should come in handy for any individual on the road who wants to become a better driver. They can assist you to maintain a cool head and focused state when driving and hence reduce the chances of accidents.

Evaluation and Feedback

The evaluation of a Driving Improvement Clinic Winchester is one of the most important elements of the course as it helps the participants get feedback on their work. One way to assess the students during the course is by testing their driving skills. This evaluation enables you to establish areas in which you can improve.
The instructing staff will give constructive criticism based on the performance. This feedback is meant to equip you with the information that can enable you to become a better driver. You will also find out the details of your personality and any of your habits that might be considered as bad and how to fix them.
The feedback is not just general but customized to your needs and skills. This makes it easier to put what one has learnt into action and the results that a person gets from his driving activity.

Conclusion

The Driving Improvement Clinic Course in Virginia is a worthy experience. The course is designed to equip you with wide classroom instruction, valuable driving tips and personalized feedback. This makes you a safer and more responsible driver and completes the course of classifying for the legal requirement. If you are searching for a reliable or trusted clinic, then Nova Online Driving School will be the one to trust. They provide high quality courses that are adapted to the client demands. Visit https://idrivenova. com/ or contact us now to enroll today.

If you're looking for an easy fix for finding a keynote speaker in London, here are some steps you can follow to streamline the process:

1. Define Your Requirements

• Topic and Theme: Determine the topic and theme of your event to find a speaker who specializes in that area.
• Audience: Consider the audience's interests and demographics to choose a speaker who can engage and resonate with them.
• Budget: Establish your budget for the keynote speaker, including fees, travel, and accommodation if necessary.
• Event Date and Location: Ensure the speaker's availability on your event date and confirm logistics regarding the location.

2. Research and Shortlist Speakers

• Online Searches: Use search engines to find keynote speakers in London. Look for those with expertise in your event's subject matter.
• Speaker Bureaus: Contact speaker bureaus or agencies like London Speaker Bureau, Speakers Corner, or Chartwell Speakers. They represent a wide range of speakers and can provide recommendations based on your needs.
• Professional Networks: Utilize professional networks like LinkedIn to search for and reach out to potential speakers. Look for endorsements and past speaking engagements in their profiles.

3. Review Speaker Profiles and Videos

• Website and Bios: Visit the speakers' websites to review their bios, areas of expertise, and past speaking engagements.
• Video Clips: Watch video clips of their previous speeches to assess their speaking style, engagement level, and audience reaction.
• Testimonials and Reviews: Read testimonials and reviews from past clients to gauge the speaker’s impact and effectiveness.

4. Contact Potential Speakers

• Initial Inquiry: Reach out to potential speakers with an initial inquiry email or call. Provide details about your event, audience, topic, and any specific requirements.
• Availability and Fees: Confirm their availability for your event date and discuss their speaking fees and any additional costs.

5. Evaluate and Select the Speaker

• Proposal and Agreement: Request a formal proposal from the speaker that outlines their speech topic, approach, and fee structure. Review and negotiate terms if necessary.
• Contract: Once you have selected a speaker, draft and sign a contract to formalize the agreement, including all details such as the event date, time, location, and payment terms.

6. Prepare for the Event

• Pre-Event Briefing: Schedule a briefing session with the speaker to discuss the event agenda, audience expectations, and any specific messages you want to convey.
• Promotion: Promote the keynote speaker through your event marketing channels, including your website, social media, and email campaigns, to attract attendees.
• Technical Requirements: Ensure all technical requirements for the speaker are met, such as AV equipment, microphones, and presentation materials.

Additional Tips

• Local Experts: Consider local experts or industry leaders in London who may not be professional speakers but have valuable insights and experiences to share.
• Flexibility: Be flexible with the format. Some speakers may offer virtual or hybrid presentations, which can be a cost-effective alternative.

By following these steps, you can efficiently find and secure a keynote speaker in London who will add value to your event and engage your audience effectively.
View Poll

1. ill just copy and paste.. your auto mod is standing up for filth like Cameron or backing paywall research.. wow thats not admirable.

PSYCHIC DRIVING: DYNAMIC IMPLANT BY D. EWEN CAMERON
In an earlier communication, the procedure of psychic driving has been described in some detail.** Briefly, it is the exposure of the patient to continued replaying, under controlled conditions, of a cue communication derived from one of the original areas from which his current difficulties arise. A major consequence of such exposure is to activate and bring progressively into his awareness more recollections and responses generally from this area. The ultimate result is the accelerating of therapeutic re- organization.
It was early noted that continued replaying of a cue communi- cation sets up a persistent tendency in the patient to act in a way which can be predetenaained with respect to its general characteristics. In other words, by driving a cue statement one can, without exception, set up in the patient a persisting tendency for the cue statement and other components of the relevant "com- nmnity of action tendencies" to return to his awareness. This tendency has been termed the dynamic implant. By "community of action tendencies," a group of related activities and attitudes is meant--such as, for instance, those existing between the patient and his mother, or those related to his feelings of inadequacy.
Since, clearly, this continuing result of psychic driving might greatly enhance its effects, considerable study has been directed to the conditions controlling the setting up of the dynamic implant and to the effects of the implant. The findings are reported here- with.
PROCEDURE
The dynamic implant may be set up either by autopsychic or heteropsychic driving. The first procedure consists in the repeated playing of a cue communication made by the patient. The second is the replaying of a communication devised by the therapist from his knowledge of the patient's dynamics.
*From the Allan ~emorial Institute of Psychiatry, Montreal, Canada. This paper was read at the l l l t h annual meeting 'of the American PSychiatric Association in Atlantic City, M~y 11, 1955.
*'*Cameron, D. Ewen: Psychic driving. Am. J. Psychiat., 112:7, 502-509, January 1956.
704 PSYCI-IIC DRIVING: DYNAMIC IMI'LAlX:T
Since autopsyehic driving is more easily carried out, this re- port has been based upon that type, with implants set up by means of periods of 10 to 30 minutes' driving--repeated, if neees- sary, once a week.
Preferably, the communication should deal with one topic only and should not be longer than about 20 seeonds. In practice, the material is derived from a psychotherapeutie hour whieh has been recorded on magnetic tape. It has been found useful to transfer these communications to 14-inch records and to reproduce them through a high fidelity phonograph adjusted for continuous playing.
The communication should be derived from a community of action tendencies which are of basic signifieanee to the patient. Moreover, it is most effeetive if taken from the time of origin of this eomlnunieation. It may, for instance, be selected as ex- pressive of one of the great formative relationships of the earlier part of the patient's life, as in the following eommunieation, in which the patient is reliving her early relationships with her mother :
"Everything about me was wrong--the way I acted, the way I spoke, the way I dressed.., everything, everything I did. Many times she [the patient's mother] would just talk and talk and talk, and . . . well, I ean't go thinking up these things."
Or it may be drawn from a long-eontinuing elimate of rejection, insecurity, or hostility whieh prevailed during a critical early period in the patient's personality growth:
"Now that I think about it, seems to me that my parents had me just to even up the family . . . not because they wanted me 9 . . because of eourse their attitude towards me . . . Gee, I don't remember the boys getting as much hell as I did.., or my sister." The signifieanee of the eue eommunieation must be assessed, not only in terms of the therapist's conception, but also in terms of the patient's response. The two do not neeessarily eoineide.
The second is the more realistic guide. The following is an example of the patient's immediate response
to the implanting of a eae eommunieation. For the purposes of presentation, a response at the upper level of intensity has been seleeted. The ease is that of a woman suffering from anxiety
D. E W E N CAMERON~ IVi.D. 705
hysteria with many conversion symptoms. The cue communica- tion ran as follows:
"I stayed home all the time when my mother lived. I stayed with her.., didn't want to leave her. I was always left staying home with her and... I didn't have any life like all.., the other girls."
On the first implanting on January 4, 1955, the patient, who had come in that day and rather gaily said that she had nothing on her mind and nothing to talk about, was silent. At the end of five sdnutes she said, "It makes me nervous, you'd better stop it... it makes me feel bad." She was now restless and anxious and very different from the gay person she had been when she came at the beginning of the hour. At eigl~t minutes: "Doctor doctor, I've had enough, please stop it." Holds head. Nine min- ut,es: "That's enough. It makes me nervous to hear that." Ten minut,es: "Why don't you stop it, doctor. I've heard enough. It is always the same."
At the end of 10 minutes, the patient was asked: "What did you think about it?" Answer : "It made me nervous all over again. Everything hurt me all over as it did before. My voice sounds like I am going to die." She then went on to bring out a great deal of new material, saying: ")~iy mother almost might not have had me, I was so quiet as a child." And again: "After my mother died, my father gave up his music and began to drink. I tried to take her place for him. I wanted so badly to please him and I cried every night and I tried to carry on. i kept everything very much to myself. My father was like a child. I had no friends by the time my mother died, I had stayed at home so much."
If the cue communication evokes too great a response from the patient, it will, in a measure, defeat its own purpose, since defenses will be erected which may take a considerable time to reduce.
The writer would like to state here clearly an answer to a question which he is sure will arise in everybody's mind. In two years of exploration into this new field, covering more than 100 cases, in only one has there been seen a possible persisting trauma resulting from the implant; and even here, current events ---such as the breakdown of a love affair and threatened deporta-
706 PSYCHIC DRIVING: DY~A~IIC IMPLA~:T
tion--undoubtedly contributed to, if they did not cause, the panic state through which the patient passed.
As an example of a cue communication which is not well chosen, the following is presented. It was selected earlier in the writer's experience and, as can be seen, is drawn from a period when the patient's personMity structure was already well developed; it is representative of current stress and is not expressive of those forces which brought about a formation of the early neurotic traits which have got the patient into continual dif~.culties through her insatiable seeking for affection and endless understanding:
"Well... because... I%obert doesn't care.., and I have always thought I would have it in time [a house] . . . and I have been very patient . . . and I don't know whether it has just suddenly 9 . . I realize now it is all so hopeless, thinking about it."
After considerable experimentation, two additional procedures which facilitate the establishment of the implant have been found. The first is tha~ the sound should be conducted to the patient's ears through headphones. This causes the patient to experience the driving with much greater impact, the more particularly since he frequently describes it as being like a voice within his head. For instance, one patient said: "I've heard enough. It goes right through my head." Another reported: "It's too close; it's horrible; I hear all the stuttering."
A second procedure is to produce a filtered record: that is, having a recording made of the cue communication with the emphasis first upon treble notes and then upon bass; or, again, with the emphasis upon a low volume or a high volume; or with spacing or repetition of key phrases; or with the introduction of an echo-back into the communication. All these variations serve to keep the patient continuously oriented toward each repe- tition and, hence, serve to diminish the most common defense-- not listening.
On November 9, 1954, the first attempt was made, using an ordinary record to implant the following communication:
"I was afraid of them all the time. I mean I didn't dare... talk anything over with them whenever I went out on a date or something like that . . . I mean a lot of kids . . . you know . . . they'd come home and tell everything they did and everything .,. I never.. 9I always felt as if I would be scolded, I mean if
D. E W E N CAMEIION~ M[.D. 707
I ever did mention what I had done and then I wouldn't do it." At the end of 10 minutes, the patient, who had shown no re- sponse, said, "Is that a record, doetorf' Asked what she felt, she said: "I had no feeling at all as I listened; I was thinking
of something else." The same communication was then set up in filtered form. To
this the patient's response was at once different. ,She eommented that she felt extremely tired after listening to it, that the voice sounded as though it were inside her head; and she said: "It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood days." A few weeks later, when it was used again, the patient said: "When I listen to that voice now, I feel like screaming and putting on a tantrum. The voice seems to scream at me all the time. It is like the voice of a stranger, though I know it is my own. It seems to say, 'I was afraid of being scolded.' It says it over and over again. It makes me think that even with my husband and my father and my father-in-law I have to hide things from them. I feel trapped. I feel I can't talk to anyone."
Experience shows that the implant can most readily be set up if the driving is carried out during the last 10 minutes of the psychotherapeutic period, the reason for this apparently being that best results are obtained if nothing is done to interrupt the ongoing response of the patient to the fresh implant--as would be the ease if one continued therapy afterward. It is some- times useful, however, to spend some five minutes asking the patient what fresh recollections the implant has brought up. This inm~ediately widens the area of the patient's response and probably tends to stabilize the implant.
A question which must be met at this juncture is: Why is it that statements which the patients have already made, had for- mulated in their own minds, and had listened to themselves utter- ing, should be so potentially disturbing when replayed to t h e m - f a r more so than when they first made them, never more than a week before and sometimes only 10 minutes before. This question has been explored in some detail and reported earlier. Discussion will be limited to three brief statements: (1) The work involved in listening is far less than the work involved in speaking; hence the patient, when listening, is much freer to respond to what he hears. (2) The law of the summation of subliminal stimuli
708 PSYCI-IIC DRIVI~rG : DYNA~[IC I~iPLANT
seems to be operative: The longer one listens to a statement, the more response it evokes. (3) In all of us, a defense is set up against responding to all the implications of what we say. This defense appears to be with respect to a synthesis of air- conducted and tissue-conducted sound. The recorder, making use as it does of air-conducted sound only, evades this defense.
A. Findings R,el;ative to Process of Setting up of Implant
Several factors governing the establishment of an implant have been identified:
Intensity of Response. The intensity of the response of the individual to the driving period tends to increase the dynamic character of the implant which is thus set up. This is true whether t h e response takes the form of tension, anxiety, hostility, un- happiness or any other facet of the intensification response. This statement must be qualified in that, as the area involved becomes progressively activated by the patient and worked through by him, the intensity of the response will, after having risen to its maximum intensity, graduMly decline. Factors limiting the in- tensity of the response are: the patient's defense, his stress toler- ance, and his capacity for desensitization. These will be discussed la~er.
Amount and R.epet#i:on of Driving. Repetition of the driving of the cue communication on subsequent days will reinforce the dynamic aspects of the implant. Less clear is what the optimum amount should be, either of the driving on any given day, or the frequency of the driving within a series of .days. The practice has been to limit driving to 10 or 15 minutes on any given day, as it is found that thereafter the patient usually succeeds in establishing defenses or becomes so disturbed as to be unwilling to continue. The repetition of the driving thus far has been limited to a maximum of once a week and a. minimum o~[ about once a month.
Defenses. The defenses against the setting up of an implant are essentially the defenses against psychic driving itself.* The chief of these defenses are: (a) inhibitory reaction to implanting by thinking of other things; (b) suppression of emotional reaction to the material; (e) denial of responsibility for the statement,
'~Cameron, D. Ewea: Ibid.
D. E W E N CAI~IEIIONj I~.D. 709
as where the patient states, "I listen to it as though it were a stranger talking"; and (d) misinterpretation; this is much less frequent, but on occasion patients succeed in completely reversing the sense of a statement, even when repeated 30 or 40 times, by changing it from an affirmative to a negation.
Methods of penetrating the defense which have been most successful are: (1) continued repetition; (2) the use of the ear- phones; and (3) the use of the filtered record, as indicated earlier in this paper. This last procedure, by its continuous shift in pitch, in volume, in spacing, and by other devices, penetrates the patient's defenses by repeated evoking of what Pavlov has termed in the animal the "orientation reflex." Other methods, such as psychic driving carried out during mild sodium amytal narcosis or during continuous sleep or during the induction phase of ni- trous oxide, have not been nearly so successful. In practice, the penetration of defenses has not been found to be a serious prob- lem.

1. Stress Tolerence. Knowledge concerning this is rather limited; but it would appear, from preliminary observations, that patients vary considerably in their ability to bear stress. Those who can tolerate stress well will, in general, show less tendency to react to psychic driving by the setting up of a lasting implant. On the other hand, those who tolerate stress very poorly are likely to respond, either by withdrawal from the driving situation alto- gether or by the setting up of powerful defenses.
   
2. Capacity for Desensitization. Concerning this phenomenon, there is still less information. But~ from experience in other fields, it would appear that here, again, patients vary considerably in their ability to desensitize themselves; and those who cannot de- sensitize themselves readily will show a persistence of the implant for longer periods.
   

B. Findings ReLativ:e to the Effects of the Dynamic Implan.t
Mobi:li.zation of Action Tendencies and Progressive Problem Identificc~tion. The dynamic implant, especially when reinforced by repeated driving, tends to mobilize more and more of the com- ponents of the community of action tendencies from which it was taken. These components tend to appear in the patient's awaxe- ness. This fact, in turn, facilitates problem identification by the
710 PSYCHIC DI~IVING : DYNAIViIC II~PLANT
patient and the therapist. This progress may be assessed in the following ways: (a) by the extent to which the patient thinks about the cue communication in the period between his treat- ments, and the extent to which his ruminating over the cue com- munication evokes new material; (b) by the new material which is evoked at the time of reinforcement of the implant--namely, by playing the material back again on a subsequent occasion; (c) possibly by general shifts in the behavior of ~he individual subsequent to implantation; for instance, it may be possible to demonstrate that the fact that the patient is now sleeping better is related tooreorganization brought about by the implant; (d) dreams and psyehologieM testing may also reveal the reorganiz- ing force being exerted by the hnplant.
The first two methods of assessment are obviously the most direct and scientifically satisfying.
Illustrative of the progressive problem identification brought about by the dynamic implant, is the case of a girl who had come to therapy suffering from long-term feelings of inadequacy, marked dependency and a highly ambivalent attitude toward the male figure. The cue statement was:
"... and there's . . . uh... there's still that tendency to idolize or despise.., that tendency still exists.., uh... I perhaps don't do either quite as strongly now.., or feel either, I should say... But...uh... there still is that feeling, that one is a king and the other is a piece of dirt. Well...I mean...uh.., as you very well know.., you know exactly the type of feltow that I go for, and.., uh... all others I just seem to have no use for."
Immediately after the first implanting, the patient stated: "I sound bitter and dissatisfied ; I sound as though I am reaching for something I can't have." A change in behavior took place follow- ing this first implanting. After reinforcement, a further change took pla~e, the patient saying that her boss whom she had hitherto found extremely attractive to her because of his ability and business drive was now no longer so;she did not think of him any more as being a tyeoon, and a love affair with him ter- minated. A third period of driving brought about no change at the time; but a week afterward the implant had most considerable consequences: She gave up, she sMd, the whole idea of a "king"; she had now fMlen in love with a man of her own age. Asked how
D. EWEN CAMERON~ 1Vf.D. 711
this came about, she said: "I simply made up my mind that since I can't get a 'king,' I would give myself a chance to like John. I don't put people on a pedestal like I used to.; I don't feel the same way I used to about the boss. I used to have a bitter grudge against my father for my troubles; now I see him as a weak person I don't admire."

1. Durability of Implant. The writer's experience has shown that the implant, if not reinforced, declines in its activity fairly rapidly after two weeks; although, on occasion, it can be found operative as long as two or three months after the first implant- ing. As indicated earlier in this paper, the intensity of the implant can actually be progressively increased by a suitable reinforce- ment at rates of once a week to once a month.
   
2. Shift.ing At~itud,es Towa.rd Cu.e Comm~nication. The writer has frequently encountered the interesting phenomenon of the according of negative values to the pattern of behavior repre- sented in the cue communication: "I hate my whining voice"; or: "I don't have to please people all the time; I'm not like that any more." This imparting of negative values is particularly likely to occur either after repeated implanting or with the progress of psychotherapy in general. A working premise concerning it is that, since the patient comes more clearly to identify the neurotic components in the cue communication and to organize more efficient behavioral patterns, he tends to reject the neurotic patterns and to express negative feelings toward them.
   
3. Mobilization of Action Tenc~e~c~es. An interesting question which arises is whether an implant can mobilize action tendencies laid down before the event embodied in the implant. Experience indicates that, while this does occur, it is much less usual than the mobilization of action tendencies laid down subsequent to the implant and derived from the basic situation outlined in the cue communication used in implanting.
   

By continued replaying of a cue communication, a persistent tendency to act in a way which can be predetermined in its general characteristics can be established. In other words~ by driving a cue communication, one can, without exception, set up in the patient a persisting tendency for that cue statement, and other
712 PSYCI-IIC DRIVING
components of the "community of action tendencies" from which it was drawn, to return to his awareness.

1. The dynamic implant thus established, and especially if re- inforced by repeated driving, tends to activate more and more of the components of the relevant community of action tend- encies. These components tend to appear in the patient's aware- heSS.
   
2. This materia]]y contributes to problem identification by the patient and the therapist, and, hence, facilitates the processes of therapeutic reorganization.
   
3. The dynamic qualities of the implant are functions of: (a) the amount and repetition of driving; (b) the intensity of the response; (c) defenses; (d) stress tolerance; (e) capacity for desensitization.
   

(5) The major continuing effects of the dynamic implant are: (a) progressive problem identification; (b) resulting reorganiza- tion of behavioral patterns; (c) negative evaluation of the neu- rotic patterns present in the cue communication used in driving.
Allan Memorial Institute of Psychiatry 1025 Pine Avenue, West Montreal 2, Canada

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