Note: Ask Papa Bear, a furry Advice columnist, contacted the moderators on Christian Furry Fellowship Discord server asking for letters on how Christians explain its ok to be a Christian. Regrettably, I could not make the deadline due to work and commuting schedule. Still, I thought it would be a great exercise.
The question How do you, as Christians, explain that it is okay to be a furry?
I would like to answer this question in two parts: As a Christian who believes we all are created in the image of God to be creative and things indifferent that we have liberty in were the bible does not specifically speak.
Now for the case of being created by God to be creative, I will refer to an argument first brough up by Frank Schaeffer the son of Francis Schaeffer, the theologian and philosopher, that we are created in the image of God.
1 Gen: 1:26-27 ESV
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
The idea I want to get across is what does it means we are created in the image of God. This does not mean we physically look like God, but we share in traits such as will, sentience and the drive to be creative.
I am a Furry, Furry fandom is a creative fandom of fans of Anthropomorphic animals in Art, Literature and Cosplay (Fursuiting). Everyone In the Furry fandom is fan and creator. For me being a Furry also me to expresses our God give gift of being creative and share the good news of the Gospel while we are sinners, Christ died for our sins and brings us to forgiveness of our sin and to repentance.
The second issue is Furry is adiaphora. What we mean by adiaphora is things indifferent or things neither promoted nor forbade by scripture. The Christian has the liberty to partake or avoid without any condemnation, see Romens 14. There is a long debate on thing adiaphora which I will not get into, but I will leave the following principles. First, Christian can have scruples. Second, we who are mature in Christ cannot look down on other Christians who have scruples. Finally, the Christian with scruples cannot make his or hers scruples a rule for the entire Church.
Finally, I want to speak briefly about recent events and the attempts to links Furry with the LGBTQ and gender identity politics. First yes, there are Gay, Lesbian and LGBTQ elements in the fandom but one cannot say all furries, as activist and media influencers, attempt to say all furries are LGBTQ; this is false and a sweeping generalization fallacy. I hold this, the idea all furries are LGBTQ are either pushed by activist who misuse the fandom to push and ideology or a phenomenon by millennial generation who only know, and reference is those in their peer group (Male, LGBTQ, Twenty Something) and lack the skill to deal with those who exist outsides their peer group bubble (I.E Straight, Furries, 17 and younger, and furries older than 30).
On the Right, like CBN and some politicians have given into worldly false rumors, gossip, and sensationalism, with a lack of discipline and discretion in order to attract an audience, using and spreading rumors and false stories such as in students acting like cats and litterboxes in schools.
In addition, except those who feel it might bring them into temptation, one who is in Christians are free to interact and do business with those who are in the world; see 1 Corinthians 5:9-13.
Acton
A Furry Black Bear Greymuzzle who came into the fandom in 2006.
Not I had the wrong group It not Furs for Christ but Christian Furry Fellowship.