I guess I should be shocked, but I have to admit that the moral revolution makes you sort of numb after a while. Recently, CNN greeted me with this headline:
U.S.: Illinois transgender student must get full locker room access
As a father of four daughters and as someone who coaches middle school girls, it is hard for me to express how bad this decision is. It’s awful, of course, because our identities are tied to nature and to our bodies. Living in a world where we try to bend reality to suit our feelings or imaginations is pathetic in the classical sense (it should move us to pathos--strong and in this case--sad feelings).
Adults should be helping children who are struggling with identity--not forcing everyone else to pretend that their child’s alternative reality identity is acceptable.
As parents raising children in this culture, we need to be working hard to help and protect our children as they grow up. First, for our children we need to affirm them and help them understand the responsibilities and wonder of being who they are in their God-given bodies. The beginning of a move toward sanity and peace for our culture and for individuals begins with a more healthy view of manhood and womanhood. Christianity encourages positive views of masculinity and femininity. The Bible provides for us a great deal of freedom for men and women. In marriage, the Scriptures provide a specific authority structure and responsibilities. Husbands are to love their wives and to sacrifice their life for the life of their wives and families. Wives are to respect their husbands. These roles and responsibilities are glorious, supportive, and help us to focus our desires and aim for growth. We are growing toward something rather than trying to pull a view of man, woman, or third thing out of thin air.
Second, love and care for people struggling with gender confusion, but don't pretend that reality can be bent by confused desires. The first part should be obvious. When people are hurting (even when they don't think there is anything wrong); we should love them. This love cannot, must not, affirm their imaginations when these imaginations are obviously harmful. When someone despises their self and their own body, they need help. They do not need affirmation in their imaginings.
Third, if your school is forced to implement this insanity, don't submit. If your daughter is forced to change clothes in a room with boys (or vice versa), start looking at private schools. But beware! These issues are going to hit private schools very soon. Most private schools have accreditation that is tied to reciprocity agreements with the regional accreditors. I have heard rumblings that everything flooding into the public schools now will be coming soon to private schools soon. (Veritas' accreditation through the Association of Classical and Christian Schools (ACCS) is not (thank God) tied to a reciprocity agreement with Advanced Education or Middle States! If you are a private Christian school, I would recommend that you contact the ACCS and consider becoming a member now!)
Fourth, you eventually need to help your child understand what is going on in our culture and prepare him or her to navigate the challenges of the world in which they live. As a parent, it is easy to want to simply keep all of this away from your child hoping that our culture will eventually sober up and move away from the cliff. I hope and pray that this happens, but there is increasing pressure coming from many quarters to entrench gender confusion as a courageous choice that deserves the support of all people. As a parent, you need to help your child prepare for the real world. This means having some talks with them to help them understand what is going on in the world.
Finally, don't (not even for a second) pull back from celebrating that a lot of the best things in life are because of our gender diversity. God made the world in a glorious way! The world of humanity cannot continue--not even for one generation--without cooperation between men and women. God gave us a great responsibility to multiply and fill the earth. As a father of four, this responsibility is one of the most challenging. It is also one of the most joyous! Celebrate diversity. Thank God for the differences between men and women and between husbands and wives. Glory in difference because the unity of those differences produces incredible blessing for individuals, families, and for the world!
