Ep 40: Justin Lee—Gay, Geek & Christian

The Christian Transhumanist Podcast

Justin Lee navigates being gay & Christian, talks about Paul, the Bible, and Christian ethics, and bridges the ultimate divide: geeks vs nerds!

Bio:

Justin Lee is an American author, speaker, and LGBT Christian activist known for his focus on building bridges. He is the author of "Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate" and the director of a 2009 documentary, "Through My Eyes". He is the founder of the Gay Christian Network, and the current executive director of Nuance Ministries. His latest book is "Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World".

Topics:

• Being Gay & Evangelical
  • Side A / Side B: orientation, behavior, and why labels are important
  • Trying to become straight, and the truth about Ex-Gay ministries
  • The reality of intersex & why gender is more complicated than you think
• Missing the forest for the trees & Marrying the Gospel to Our Sins
  • The Civil War as a Theological Crisis & why many Christians got the Bible wrong about slavery
  • Following the Bible through the clobber passages
• Christian ethical philosophy
  • Romans 13:8-10 and Paul's ethical philosophy
  • Why this is not hippy-dippy nonsense!
  • "By their fruits you will know them" & Christianity's call for evidence
  • Why the Law of Moses won’t work outside of the ancient desert, but Jesus’ morality would work in the Andromeda galaxy.
• Polarization, Social Media, and why we should still fellowship across big theological disagreements
  • Why Christian ethics should play a bigger role in how we communicate
  • Justin's book: Talking Across the Divide
  • How we're being shaped in hidden ways: The Filter Bubble: How the Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think
• Geeks, Nerds, and the differences between
  • Ready Player One: the book vs the movie
  • Board games & Justin's Clue collection
  • Choose Your Own Adventure Books — which ones are best?
• Ryan North, Creator of Dinosaur Comics & Choose Your Own Adventure Hamlet
  • Choose Your Own Adventure Hamlet!
  • The novelization of Back to the Future
  • Dinosaur Comics: The Simulation Argument, Part 2—Diamonds!

Books & Links

• Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate
• Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World
• Justin Lee's Website