Dr. Preston Sprinkle said that “in many cases” he would someone’s preferred pronouns, even if those pronouns do not match the person’s biological sex. In a recent conversation on the “Deep End With Lecrae,” Sprinkle explained that he would be truthful with the person that he does not agree with their gender identity but would still use the preferred pronouns in order to meet the person “where they’re at.”
“We live in a multi-religious, multicultural context, and language is shared social space between people with different worldviews,” said Sprinkle, who is a speaker, New York Times bestselling author, and cofounder and president of The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender. “So people are going to use words differently. They’re going to have a different view of human identity. They’re going to have different worldviews, and their language might reflect that.”
Sprinkle appeared on Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae’s podcast Friday, Feb. 20, to discuss his new book, “From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says About Women in Leadership,” and his thoughts on how Christians should engage with the LGTBQ+ community.
Lecrae is a four-time Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist, author, and entrepreneur. In his podcast, Lecrae tackles “the hard things no one else will face and [talks] about what life looks like when you go off the deep end.”
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“As Christians, we’re kind of negotiating, ‘Ok, when do we meet people where they’re at?’” Sprinkle said. “Not because we agree, but just because we’re meeting them where they’re at. And when do we kind of hunker down and, [say], ‘No, I’m not going to give an inch with how you’re using that word’? And so the pronoun debate lives in the midst of that.”
“I’ve taken the view [that] in many cases, I would use someone’s pronoun, whatever they want, as a way of meeting them where they’re at,” said Sprinkle, “not because I agree with how they’re using it. I think Paul did some of that in Acts 17.”
Preston Sprinkle to Lecrae: ‘Language Can Be Complex’
Preston Sprinkle and Lecrae spent some time discussing Sprinkle’s new book and views on women’s roles in the church before turning to how culture understands sexuality and gender and how challenging it can be to keep up with all of the related terminology.
Sprinkle noted that it is common now for people to talk about sex and gender as “different aspects of the human experience. Sex is our biological sex. It’s innate, unchangeable. Sometimes people use gender to describe our psychological, social, and cultural aspects of being male or female.” Separating gender from sex, however, tends to lead to defining gender by cultural stereotypes, he said.
“I think biological sex should determine our identity,” Sprinkle explained. “It’s stamped upon us by God. I think biological sex is significant for human identity.”
On Lecrae's podcast, Dr. Preston Sprinkle shared his views on using someone’s preferred pronouns and explained his position based on Acts 17.Click to Post
