Author and Desiring God founder John Piper recently addressed the topic of gender identity and offered counsel to parents with transgender children.
“Communicate your love—the love that is willing and ready to go anywhere, do anything, at any cost to your life for the sake of the life of your children,” encouraged Piper during a recent podcast episode of Ask Pastor John.
The episode, titled “Is my child transgender because of me?”” begins with the statement: “One of the great anxieties that parents face is the fear of what our own sins could do to corrupt our kids.”
Additionally, an anonymous father wrote to the podcast with a brief description of his family. He shared that he and his wife have four sons, two of whom “suffer from so-called ‘gender dysphoria.'”
“We have talked to our pastors and asked for prayer, but we feel so broken and so alone and so helpless in this season,” the father wrote. “What do we do to fight against the despair we face every day as failed parents? How did we fail them? Please help us, Pastor John. We are so torn and heartbroken.”
In response, Piper outlinted 10 tips that parents can apply in this matter. For instance, he contended the parents to not “assume you’re decisively at fault.”
“We cannot draw a straight line from our own parenting to our children’s sin or righteousness,” Piper said, after citing from Ezekiel 18:1-32.
According to Church Leaders, he encouraged parents to “look to the God of the impossible” as well as to “grieve with hope.” The theologian also suggested to “love your children on God’s terms” and to be prepared “to sacrifice your life while standing for what calls right and what God calls true.”
Piper also shared the principles of “Speak truth to your child” and “communicate your love,” while at the same time clarifying it does not mean any sort of nagging or harassment. Instead, he stressed the importance of patience and communication.
Parents were also encouraged to “pray without ceasing” as a sign of trusting God even when things don’t make sense. Piper also contended that God has the ability to help parents “discern how often to address the issue”, whether they have been cut off from communication with their child or there’s some opening between them.
He also emphasized the need to “make the central gospel plain” without nagging and encouraging the child that they can come home, whether physically or spiritually.
“Press on with your ordinary life with brokenhearted but indomitable joy, and deny Satan the triumph of paralyzing you in your path of righteousness,” Piper added.
“So, let’s pray for each other, and may the Lord bring the day when there is a tidal wave of grace that sweeps thousands of precious prodigals into the arms of their parents and of the Lord Jesus,” he concluded.
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Image credit: John Piper Facebook
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
