Parshall Partners

A ‘woke’ Gospel

         “Woke ideology” is an anticipated outcome in a post-Truth world. But when that “woke ideology” starts working its way into the Church, we have a much more serious problem.

         The Dean of Trinity College at Cambridge is trying to justify a sermon given by a research fellow during an Evensong service that can only be described as blasphemous.  The fellow, Joshua Heath, showed paintings of Christ’s crucifixion and stated: “In Christ’s simultaneously masculine and feminine body in these works, if the body of Christ [is] as these works suggest the body of all bodies, then His body is also the trans body.”  He went further in describing the wounds in Jesus’ side as representing female anatomy.

         Those remarks not only didn’t solicit a rebuke but were justified by the Dean saying, that it “suggested that we might think about these images of Christ’s male/female body as providing us with ways of thinking about issues around transgender questions today”.

         “Woke theology” knows no geographical boundaries.  The Church of Iceland ran some Sunday school ads depicting Jesus wearing make-up and with female anatomy.  A spokesman for the church tried to justify the images saying, “We’re trying to embrace society as it is. We have all sorts of people and we need to train ourselves to talk about Jesus as being ‘all sorts’ in this context.”

         Let’s unpack this.  First, God is spirit yet He refers to Himself – through His word, as male. Jesus Himself said in John 4:24, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." God is called “Father” over 170 times in Scripture and in the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek) Still God knows the needs and emotions of both men and women as He created both in His image.

       Problems arise when we try to conform Jesus to us rather than transforming ourselves to be like Him.  Galatians 3:27-29 reminds us "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” 

       Jesus is fully God and fully man, a middle eastern Jew who referred to God as “Him,” being circumcised, according to Jewish custom, when he was a baby.  Numerous verses underscore Jesus as male. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5) “...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father…” (John 1:14) “But made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Phil 2:7)

         The choice before the Church is simple – accept what God says about Himself or reinvent Him into a culturally relevant woke visage of whatever you want Him to be.  One way leads to Truth and the other to total depravity.

Those are my thoughts.  I’m Janet Parshall.