Not long ago, a listener asked an important question about the topic of sexuality. This individual commented that, “not long ago, the church only dealt with adultery and fornication. Now it has snowballed into anything and everything from homosexuality to the transgender movement. How are we to understand that? Spiritually, what is happening? It is confusing.”
Indeed, it is confusing. Let’s see if we can put the matter into perspective.
The western world is now experiencing a vast moral revolution. There is almost nothing left of a biblical worldview, which was once central to our culture. In its place is the worldview of moral relativism. As Bob Seger sang a number of years back, “Stood alone on a mountain top, staring out at the great divide. I could go east, I could go west, it was all up to me to decide.” Our culture is embarking upon a road trip with no map, and no final destination. We are making decisions without knowing where the road will take us.
This moral revolution we are living in is felt in a number of areas, for instance in a woman’s right to choose an abortion. Did you know that right now there two political parties in Canada that refuse to run a candidate in the next federal election unless they are pro-choice? Other moral issues include the legalization of marijuana, the right to die with dignity (i.e. physician assisted suicide) and the full legalization of prostitution.
But there is no greater moral revolution in our society than the one that concerns gender and sexual identity. This includes the following: acceptance of sex outside of marriage as legitimate and not immoral; acceptance of couples living together and having children (common law); acceptance of no fault divorce; and acceptance of homosexuality and same sex marriage. Now, it even includes the power to prosecute and exclude from society those who may disagree with these new values.
On April 5, 2014, the New York Times produced an article entitled, “The New Gay Orthodoxy,” which stated that the debate regarding the acceptance of homosexuality is over. Furthermore, the endorsement of same sex marriage in every sphere of public life is now a “non-negotiable.” But how do they know that? The reason is that just 10 years ago, about 30% of North Americans accepted homosexuality as a normal practice. Today, that number has climbed to more than 50%, and will continue to grow significantly. Those who disagree will become a very small minority in the future.
But this road trip has just barely started.
The transgender movement may yet be the biggest revolution of all of these. The new approach to gender identity is the next “big thing.” Last year, Time magazine published a full article called, “The Transgender Tipping Point.” And recently this year, Bruce Jenner, a former American track and field athlete, publicly announced his transition from male to female.
But what does this movement say? Bewilderingly, the transgender revolution argues that gender has nothing to do with genetics, but it is merely a social construction. This contradicts a more traditional argument that defines one’s gender and sexual preference as genetically assigned.
The result of this is that our society will soon be taught to think of gender as fluid. A movement to remove gender assignment from government forms, public washrooms and normal modes of speech is already well underway. If this movement is successful, then the issue of same sex attraction will no longer be an issue at all.
The only thing that counts is attraction, since gender itself will be considered a questionable social construct.
So, where does that leave us as Christians? Stay tuned, as I will have more to say about this next week.
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