Homosexuality, transgenderism topics at conference

This coming weekend, a conference will be held to guide Christians on how best to explain their beliefs to others who don't follow their faith.

The two-day event called Unveiling the Truth, is organized by New Hope Pentecostal Fellowship and First Baptist Church in conjunction with Faith Beyond Belief, an organization whose goal is to help Christians effectively explain their religion to others.

It will begin Friday, Oct. 14, 7 p.m. at the TransCanada Theatre when the topic will be What Is A World View?

The remaining sessions will take place at First Baptist Church, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Some topics up for discussion include defining evolution, homosexuality and transgenderism.

Jojo Ruba, the executive director of Faith Beyond Belief, will be speaking during the conference.

Response to pressure

Pastor Tim Bowen of New Hope Pentecostal Fellowship in Olds says the idea for the conference came from the pressures of today's society.

“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the whole society of going into homosexuality and transgenderism and society pushing an agenda, I believe, upon the church,” Bowen said during an interview with the Albertan.

“So it's just a really good time to talk about these questions that people have to understand what God's word says about these things – where the church really needs to stand and how to stand.”

“This is the first time we've ever done anything like this,” Bowen said, adding that if the conference is successful, there's a good chance more such events will be held in the future.

“I think the issue here is Jesus commanded us with two great commands: to love God and to love our neighbours as we love ourselves,” Ruba said.

“The question for many Christians is, ‘well how do we do that? How do we love our gay neighbours? How do we love our transgender neighbours?

“So part of our discussion will be, as Christians, how do we then go out to this world to share Christ's love with people who may not agree with us on lots of things,” he added.

“If we just have a subjective perspective – everyone can have whatever belief they have, then it's clear we're going to have a lot of problems in culture, because every person, in terms of their perspective, is not always right, and we have to be able to correct bad world views,” Ruba said.

“For example, when you have a family like ours – we're immigrants. We came from the Philippines to Canada – we have a different perspective of how things are.

“Back home in our culture for example, it's actually culturally acceptable to eat your dog.

“We had two dogs that we left behind when we left the Philippines. One of them died of loneliness. The other one my relatives had for lunch.

“If we were to do that here, there'd be a very different cultural response.

“But that's a different world view, and that's what I want to talk about, is that when it comes to world views, we have different ones. We all have different understandings of how the world works. But they can't all be right because they contradict (each other).”

Ruba said he personally accepts the concept of evolution but says it can still fit within a Christian view.

“Even how we breed animals. There's an evolution that happens, right? If you look at what dogs and cats and cows looked like five hundred years ago, they're very different from the animals we have running around. Why is that? Because they've evolved in some sort of way.

“What I would say in terms of our position is the world is designed; the universe is designed – regardless of how old it is,” he added.

Homosexuality

“As a Christian, I believe that God gives us a mandate to honour marriage between a husband and wife, because that's the best design for us,” Ruba said.

“It doesn't mean we ought to hate anybody else; it just means we ought to advocate for what we think is best and what we think is a good way that we ought to live – and live with our neighbours.

“Does that mean our neighbours have to agree with us? No, not at all. That's why we live in a pluralistic, multicultural society.”

Transgenderism

Provincial guidelines now call for transgender students to be allowed to use the washroom of their choice, depending on their gender or on whether they see themselves as being boy or a girl.

Ruba said that's a laudable effort to make those students feel safe and accepted. But he said it tramples on the rights of others.

“What if it was a Muslim child wanting a Muslim prayer room in a Christian school? Would that be allowed?” Ruba asked.

“What if it was reversed? What if it was a Christian child wanting a Christian prayer meeting in a Muslim school?”

“You see as Canadians, we don't want to rock the boat; that's part of who we are. We don't want to say anything offensive. But if we look at Jesus' example, Jesus said things that were often quite offensive; that's why they crucified him,” Ruba said.

“But every time he did that, he did so because he loved his neighbour, because he cared enough for them.

“I think our response is we have to be wise, we have to be gentle. But if real love is what defines us as Christians, as followers of Jesus, I mean sometimes, we have to say things that people might not like.

“Ultimately what I'd like to see in Alberta and our country are Christians who love their neighbours enough to be willing to engage them – even on the tough issues.”

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