It would be nice to think that at some point this stops – that at some point, the adults speak up and say "enough." That sooner rather than later, those who cling to reality will recognize it is not compassion to cooperate and facilitate madness.
Yet a realist can't help but fear for the future of our civilization while watching legitimate news organizations run headlines like this one from CNN:
"Demi Lovato says they are nonbinary and changing their pronouns"
That sentence is, objectively and without prejudice, grammatically offensive. A singular person cannot be described with plural pronouns. So why did CNN write it that way? Because the rules of grammar are now trumped by the pretentious demands of a movement in rebellion to reason and moral order.
It would be a mistake to consider this a problem confined to the cultural conformists at CNN, however. In their own write-up on the story, Fox News contributed to the confusion themselves, detailing how,
"The 28-year-old singer recently opened up about the struggles they faced following their near-fatal drug overdose in 2018."
As if the English language was not confusing enough, this nonsense is now not only acceptable in news style, it is expected and required. The same can be said for institutions of higher learning, and before long all official government communications.
For Christians, this development is as predictable as it is lamentable. God is the foundation of science, logic, reason, and morality. Without Him, none of those things have any objective meaning, and thus none of those things ultimately exist.
So any culture that chooses rebellion to His authoritative existence, like our own American culture, will then necessarily (whether they intend to or not) be in rebellion to science, logic, reason, and morality. Practically, that means boys can be girls, girls can be neither, she can be called they, he can be called zir, and objecting or questioning any of those things can be called bigotry.
As mind-bending as all that may seem on the surface, it's not difficult to see how it happens. In a universe without God, man is his own ultimate authority. Each lives his own subjective truth, and therefore has no right or authority to deny or reject the claims of identity or reality that others make for themselves. Is that an untenable and unsustainable approach for any civil society? Obviously, but men without God are helpless to resist it.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about this Demi Lovato debacle is that the singer herself knows the absurdity of her claims, but also feels a moral empowerment to deny reality and dare anyone to contradict her. A morally castrated culture, neutered of any objective truth, has no choice but to sheepishly indulge the irrationality (see Fox and CNN), doing its best to put on a brave face and pretend it's all okay.
For those of us who have been liberated from the shackles of godlessness, we observe that Christianity offers a far superior approach – one grounded in reality and moral certainty. In an age where man's truth is subjective and changes by the second, Christianity offers something objective, binding, constant, and reliable. In Christ, we are liberated from our delusions and freed from the heavy yoke associated with our impotent attempt to fill a throne we are painfully unable to occupy.
What that means is that as believers our best and most productive response to this cultural chaos that envelops us is evangelism. While laws to protect religious liberty and the rights of conscience for those who embrace the truth of God over the lies of man are all significant and worthwhile, we have to realize they are but a feeble wall of sandbags facing an unrelenting tsunami.
That may seem pessimistic, but we live in a nation so self-absorbed that it believes it can rewrite the scientific realities of biological and physiological identity simply by willing it. How long can such a confused people be expected to respect or abide our right to dissent against their error? About as long as a sandbag resists a tsunami.
The best hope for the endurance of any kingdom of man is its people first offering allegiance to the Kingdom of God. A growing number of hearts surrendered to God's moral authority provides a bulwark against civilizational decay far greater than a growing number of well-intentioned laws.
That's why I'd humbly recommend that in our responses to frustrating stories like Lovato's plural pronouns, we Christians prioritize accordingly.
