May 30, 2015
This is a conversation had via group text a couple months ago, between my best friends and I.
Me:
What did Facebook just announce?
http://qpolitical.com/what-facebook-just-announced-is-an-attack-on-biblical-values-i-wont-stand-for-this/
Ah, this.
Jesus, come soon.
My heart breaks for this world. Absolutely breaks.
Friend 1:
Gender… What an interesting topic
Interesting… What a value neutral word meant to halt all intentional conversation. Forreal though, I doubt the 1st century gentile or Jew had a concept of Gender…
Me:
FRIEND 1-I literally was typing almost this exact same thing when you sent it. Lol. Brain wave.
So instead I will validate you, since you already said everything of import
1) yes, interesting serves that exact purpose
2) YES EXACTLY. That we are even having this discussion is indicative of the sickness of our current world. We are so sick, so very sick. As evidenced, in part, by the fact that a concept that has been black and white since the beginning of time is now so…translucent.
And what’s worse: we are completely unaware that what I just said is even INDICATIVE of sickness. It doesn’t occur to modern humanity that there is a PROBLEM here. THAT fact, in itself, is even more indicative of how the sickness has permeated deeply and widely.
Friend 2:
Wow j, thanks for sharing that. That makes me so sad and confused.
I mean, I just wonder what that must be like.. To have so many options in front of you for what to call yourself and thereby how you relate to others
Studies show that the more options we have, the less satisfied we are with our choice.
So interesting
I love the word you used J.
Can something become translucent because we call it translucent?
Friend 1:
Exactly, this cultural enshrinement and idolatry of choice–endless choice!– to define oneself in every arena. We forget that it all equates to how many ways we can be autonomous, masters and commanders of our lives, how far man can become the measure of all things, to what extent can we control nature, our very selves; which necessarily excludes obedience to an outside lawgiver… aka God.
Friend 3:
^So true!!!
Friend 1:
In short, Obedience vs. Autonomy. The latter is the guiding light of the self-made American hero, rousseau’s romantic individual divorced from place, family, tradition, lived-out values, cultural context, or obligation to his roots. I think of the movie blue like jazz
Me:
↑ amen.
Imagine how broken someone’s soul must be to be conflicted as to what gender to call themself.
Like of all the things we should be certain of in life, absolutely certain of, gender is top 5; right up there with needing oxygen.
So to be uncertain of THAT (to be ALLOWED to be uncertain of that) must cause so much turmoil. The problem, like Friend 2 said, is that our society has MADE it an option.
It becoming a choice LEADS TO gender uncertainty.
No different than the anonymous clicker quiz we took in health class when I was 14 and one of the questions was “what is your orientation?” And the options were
1) heterosexual
2) homosexual
3) undecided
“UNDECIDED?!” I remember thinking. “How has this become something 14 year olds just get to DECIDE?!” Can’t we just assume we are heterosexual (like, natural) until we need to consider otherwise? Why are we given a CHOICE to be undecided? That only creates more uncertainty.
↑ those were the thoughts going through my little sophomore brain
And YES, I believe things become what we call them. Things end up taking the shape of their name.
If society names a girl “fat” her whole life, she will most likely ACTUALLY grow into that name.
Words are the same.
If we begin to say gender is translucent, decideable, there will come a day when it actually IS. When we have believed the lie for so long that it has actually and literally become a reality.
Woe the day when the lies we concot become our realities…
Friend 1:
This is straight outta Lewis’ abolition of man. He thought liberalism–rights of man to free speech, expression, self-governance– insofar as it neglected the “Tao” or first principles, natural law, judeo-Christian values, etc, would eventually lead to this: personal “re-creationism”. We are creating man, we are creating ourselves, we are even creating our progeny (via genetic recombination) into OUR OWN IMAGE. Whatever we want! God’s image is done for, the only standard left is one we decide for ourselves.
Me:
Lewis was right.
So are scriptures.
We should not be surprised. But I am so broken, always, over the state of things
Friend 1:
We are way too serious a bunch..
Me:
↑ NO! There are enough un-serious, apathetic, “you do it your way, I’ll do it mine,” people in this world. We MUST maintain our seriousness about these issues. These things simply matter.
Friend 3:
Turn up. Shat that’s good, Friend 1! Dang J, I remember thinking the same thing in my typical Boulder middle school sex-ed class. It’s crazy how autonomy has become the greatest value in our society – I think it goes hand in hand with the moral relativism that seems to dominate our culture. And the idea of an individual person having an individual “orientation” is pretty new – before the 1700s, orientation was always referred to as a society’s “orientation”. Crazy how language can shape our thoughts and our actions.
Me:
And Friend 1-YEP to all you said. The day when WE ourselves are the standard-setters is here upon us. I suppose it has been since the Garden of Eden.
That is Hell. When we give ourselves over to ourselves.
When.
We.
Become.
God.
Friend 4:
The media frenzy on the Indiana law is where it’s at right now. The liberal sexual movement snaps and all fall in line. No tempered discussion whatsoever. Check out your boy Ryan Anderson on MSNBC, etc doe
missjordanjean 