Information Related to "The New Sexual Revolution"
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Do you see the words "boy or girl" in the lines above? My writing software's spell correction kept prompting me to change it to "child," a "more gender-inclusive term." Where I later write "bride and groom," I was prompted to change that to "couple." That's how pervasive this revolution is.
I grew up in the 1960s during a time of great cultural and social upheaval. A major transformation occurred that gave a name to the period -- the Sexual Revolution. A main driver behind it was "the Pill," an oral contraceptive for women approved for widespread use in 1960. With the Pill readily available, now people could engage in sexual relationships more freely without fear of pregnancy.
This was huge. Casual sex, euphemized by the term "free love," became the clarion call among youth and older generations.
Attitudes toward traditional morality and the family structure radically changed over the decade, especially with God and prayer removed from U.S. public schools in 1962 and '63. Then in 1973 came another event connected with increased immorality and further breakdown of traditional morals. The Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion. Since then, more than 60 million legal abortions have been performed in America alone.
I don't expect any of us to understand the full impact of this fact in our lifetime. I know it has cheapened the quality of life. The fact that we go about our daily life accepting abortion -- the murder of millions of unborn children -- as normal has desensitized us to the sanctity of life, motherhood and the value of the family to society. It appears that Roe v. Wade could be overturned with a ruling soon to be announced by the Supreme Court, but incalculable damage has been done. The battle for abortion has been fought along a deep and wide cultural fault line.
Today we face another stage in the sexual revolution. We can call it a "new sexual revolution," recognizing that there's really nothing new under the sun in terms of human degradation. Previous ages have always had sexual immorality. (Ever study ancient Greece and Rome?) Abortion and forms of infanticide were part of many ancient cultures.
However, when it comes to the depths of sexual confusion, self-loathing, vile sexual perversions and denial of biology by today's ruling media, government and entertainment elites, we may be seeing a new depth of cultural, social and spiritual perversion that would shock even those of ancient Sodom.
We will briefly examine what is happening. The news and headlines will be familiar to you, as they are a never-ending part of today's news cycle. Readers of Beyond Today should understand that what is occurring before our eyes is not normal and could lead to a shattering of the family structure as we have traditionally known it. In fact, that seems to be the clear intent!
If that happens, humanity will have severed itself from the divine institution God created for perpetuating the human race. The family -- the biblical family of a biological male (father) and female (mother) committed by marriage to one another -- is under direct attack in this new sexual revolution. It will impact every one of us!
As we consider here the consequences of sin on individuals and a nation and culture, we'll be looking to the Bible's teaching about families, morality and the alphabet soup of LGBTQ+. It's vital to know what God says about behavior that runs counter to His eternal spiritual law. All of us stand equally before God as sinners in need of forgiveness. God's law defines how we should live. When we cross the line into disobedience and sin, there are consequences. We are seeing those consequences today.
Our role in Beyond Today is not to condemn the sinner, but to clearly point out the sin. We want each individual to understand truth, God's truth, on the matter. We sympathize with those caught in behavior and patterns of thinking damaging to mind and body. To those who know they are trapped and enslaved to sin, we offer understanding concerning that struggle and the knowledge of God's love and truth.
Part of that truth is that there is a way out of the trap. The chains can be broken. We take no pleasure in the suffering of the many. We want to help people turn from destructive behavior and live righteously before God. All can find forgiveness, healing, hope and empowerment through Jesus Christ.
We understand the difficulty of changing deep-rooted patterns of extreme behavior and thinking. We also know there is competent help for those who desire. We stand on God's promise that "when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it" (Ezekiel 33:19, emphasis added throughout).
Like me, you were likely astounded when Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was questioned before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year as a nominee for the Supreme Court. When asked by Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, "Can you provide a definition of the word woman?" the judge could only answer, "I can't . . . I am not a biologist."
I understand the normal evasion that is part of politics. But this is one for the ages. This line could define our time as one of rank stupidity. That a sitting federal judge being considered for the highest judicial role in the nation would say this is astounding. What should be even more astounding, but sadly isn't, is that she was approved for a seat on highest court in the land.
Judge Brown knew that to be confirmed by a liberal majority of the U.S. Senate, she had to appear woke or progressive. She had to show alignment with the politically correct ideas of today's elites. She would not have received her confirmation without demonstrating she was on board with the new revolution in gender and sexuality. Her answer signals her decisions on cases before the court will tilt not toward adhering to the nation's Constitution, but toward the progressive agenda.
Never mind the fact this is a highly educated woman who knows the difference between men and women -- and the fact that being a woman was a stated prerequisite to her nomination by President Joe Biden. She is obviously willing to participate in a lie. It's that simple. To deny biology, genetic science and basic sexuality one must take part in a lie repeated so often by key influencers. Her answer shows the depth to which this new sexual revolution has taken the nation. It will be very hard to come back from such a position and its consequences.
To participate in a lie of this magnitude can immeasurably harm a culture. It goes against nature itself to deny biological sexuality within the genetic structure. A man has an XY chromosome. A female has an XX. Our sex is literally written into every one of the trillions of cells of our body.
This is how God made man and woman. Genesis tells us the first woman was taken from the side of the man and that the two are distinct. Their distinction goes beyond structure to function as well. The woman was made to carry another human life in her womb. That life can only be engendered by or from a biological male with specific distinctions. This is the natural order from God as revealed in the Bible.
Romans 1 describes the result of abandoning and denying what God has set in order: "Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!" (verses 24-25, New English Translation).
In March the U.S. state of Florida's senate took on current progressive politics by passing the "Parental Rights in Education" bill. Governor Ron DeSantis immediately signed it into law. This bill restricts "classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity" in pre-K to third grade.
That such a law would even be needed is staggering. Those early grade school years -- spanning ages 5 to 8 -- used to be a time of learning to work together and show respect within the context of a normal life of boys and girls playing amid a traditional family setting.
Opponents of the Florida bill dubbed it the "Don't Say Gay" bill even though it doesn't contain those words or the word "gay" at all. Calling it that is meant to stir emotions and cloud the facts, making it seem hatefully exclusionary to rally support in opposing it.
But polls show that a majority of people, even many on the liberal side, are against classroom instruction on sexuality and gender identity with children in that age group. And thankfully many parents are waking up to the dangers being inflicted on children within public schools.
Right-thinking parents in Florida and Virginia have banded together to resist the sinister changes that have crept into today's education elite. And the reaction is not only against gender indoctrination. Parents are also seeing the absurdity of critical race theory being taught to youth.
I suspect we are watching the rising up of what may be the diminishing remnant of a generation of people who knew a different America where at least the framework of biblical morals and ethics formed the foundation of religion and education. This is not to ignore the inequalities, injustice, racism and, yes, sin that has always been a part of every society. But there was a time when a majority knew right from wrong on matters critical to maintaining order in society. There was a time when a Supreme Court nominee would not hesitate to give an honest answer to the question, "What is a woman?"
Perhaps the biggest "canary in the coal mine" in this picture is the reaction from Florida-based Disney Entertainment. Irate Disney executives began openly saying they would inject more "queer" story lines and sexual deviancy into their entertainment offerings.
In a leaked recording of a video conference call, one Disney executive bragged about her "not-at-all-secret gay agenda" and attempts at "adding queerness" wherever she could in kids' shows. Another employee talked openly about his attempts to "explore queer stories" and introduce "gender non-conforming characters."
Astute observers of Disney have seen a programming shift from the traditional mores for some time. With the decades of family entertainment in the Disney archives, you must wonder if there will be a movement to remake much of it to fit an acceptable gender-progressive format. Will they make Davy Crockett a "trans frontiersman"? How about the seven dwarves? Will they have to go because they offend a particular group of people? Will there be male Disney princesses? One shudders to think what they would do to Mickey Mouse or Snow White.
The reaction to the Florida law by activist groups and Disney is the clearest example of where this new sexual revolution is going. It is to a new world where harmful practices such as gender transformation are accepted as normal. Where society has the right to teach your children, your grandchildren, your nieces and nephews and the young kids on your block that they are neither boys nor girls but whatever they feel like at the moment.
The goal is not just to teach them they can identify as whatever gender they think they are, but that they can also undergo harmful psychiatric molding and surgery to change their behavior and anatomy. The long-term damage is incalculable.
We are watching a systematic effort to groom children into a perverted system teaching an unnatural, unbiblical and destructive approach to sexuality. This is being done in the open before our eyes. The record of those promoting gay pride, LGBTQ+ normalization and the acceptance of other forms of sexual perversion is clear. There have been coverups in schools of sexual assault stemming from trans bathroom policies allowing biological teenage boys to use girls' restrooms. How about the five-day workshops to teach kids to dress in drag offered by the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture?
Institutions of education, entertainment and media are being weaponized to create environments where children, without the consent or knowledge of parents, are groomed to accept or become participants in a system of pedophilia and sexual perversion.
An article at The Federalist showed from the American Bar Association the definitions for those who groom children for their predatory behavior. Listed among the many behaviors that can be sexually arousing to adults preying on children was "discussing sexually explicit information under the guise of education" (Kylie Zempel, "Weirdos Who Want to Sexualize Your Children Should Absolutely Be Stigmatized As Groomers," April 7, 2022)
Yes, this is all unpleasant and shocking. You may think this out of place in a magazine devoted to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. Sadly, it is not out of place. It is in line with every prophet of God who cried out about moral corruption in ancient Israel and Judah. People of those nations went as far as to sacrifice their children in fire to a pagan god named Molech. Is not sacrificing our children's lives and minds to demonic perversion today in line with that?
If you think God doesn't see or care, remember that He cauterized the place of ancient Sodom on the earth with blazing fire from the sky (see our January-February 2022 issue for more about this event). Mankind had become so corrupt and evil in Noah's day that only the eight people of Noah's family were spared when God literally washed away the evil of that world. Should we think our evil age will escape judgment?
The new sexual revolution involves driving a wedge between parents and children, breaking down the natural order of the family. Those fomenting it are intent on teaching children sinful ideas on sexuality and morality that are starkly opposed to what the Bible teaches.
Such indoctrination used to begin in universities where hard-working parents would send their sons and daughters only to find them returning home filled with ideas based on critical race theory, immorality and an anti-god agenda. Now this teaching has crept into the very earliest classrooms, starting with children in pre-kindergarten. Hence the need for laws like the one recently passed in Florida. Of course, that is not nearly enough to turn the tide -- especially when schools deliberately keep parents in the dark about what their children are being taught.
You can take steps to protect your family from this pervasive evil culture. And make no mistake, it is evil.
First, realize this is happening in the public-school systems where your children may attend. Teachers today must conform to curricula shaped by "experts" -- with false ideologies about critical race theory, inclusiveness and social justice shaping what is taught about history, language and even science and math in some cases. The training of teachers today shapes their minds to accept and promote lifestyles quite different from what you find proper and would teach your children.
You can get more involved at your children's schools to register opposition to such ideas being injected into the curriculum. You can also be more proactive with your children about the ideas they hear at school, whether from teachers or friends. Do not abdicate your role as their primary teacher in life.
If you're able, you could even homeschool your children or send them to private education promoting proper values. One benefit of the Covid school lockdowns was that many parents finally could see what their children were being taught in online classes, and many parents realized they could provide their children a much better education at home.
You should also know what is on your television set or computer from streaming services like Disney+, Netflix and others. The programming today includes both subtle and blatant messaging promoting LGBTQ+ lifestyles. These are presented as acceptable and normal. Even the basic broadcast networks have joined in, featuring more and more LGBTQ+ characters and storylines.
You and your children are being groomed to fit into a culture shaped by the new sexual revolution. This is not God's culture. The culture has entered our homes and lives in every manner. We must be vigilant to see this and proactive to push back and push it out.
Most importantly, you need to ground yourself in what the Bible says about sexuality, family and morality. Today's new sexual revolution is a full-on frontal attack against the family, described in the Bible as a divine union of a man and a woman with children as part of the union who are nurtured, protected and taught godly morality.
Today's families are evolving against the backdrop of this revolution. More children live in homes where two parents cohabit without the benefit of marriage. High divorce rates create huge numbers of single-parent homes without the father/mother role models children need. With children being targeted at young ages to consider changing their gender, the individual blocks of the traditional families of the future are being altered.
You can arm yourself with truth about God's design for the family. Let's look at some basic scriptures to understand this truth.
A foundational scripture is found in Matthew 19, where Jesus was tested with the question, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" (verse 3). Jesus responded: "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate" (verses 4-6).
This passage is important for several reasons in forming our biblical worldview on this subject. It goes to the foundation of the world and God's intent for the created order. God designed two sexes, male and female -- not an infinite number of genders.
When a man and woman come together in marriage, they are joined by God. Therefore, marriage is of divine origin. Marriage is not a humanly devised cultural institution. I have conducted many weddings. In each one I tell the bride and groom, "Marriage is a divine institution ordained of God at creation." This anchors them and their new relationship in Scripture.
When we go back to Genesis we see the first human parents, Adam and Eve, and from them family develops. This is the pattern that expands through all Scripture. A man and woman forming a nuclear family and having children, who grow and have their own families with children. Generation after generation follows this pattern. At the heart of each generation is the family, a father and mother and their children. This development repeats and expands. The Bible contains more about family than most realize.
Many scriptures also provide teaching about how to deal with a family that might be broken by divorce. Through what He directed Moses to write, God shows how to treat broken families and ensure continuity. Where there is a widow without a husband there is a law to protect her. When there are orphans there are built-in teachings for the community to protect and provide for them.
The well-known story of Ruth contains details showing how this works. Ruth, who was a widow, and her mother-in-law Naomi were provided for within Bethlehem by laws meant to preserve a family name and property. At the heart of the marriage of Ruth to Boaz are laws meant to preserve the order, peace and security of the nuclear family structure to which Christ spoke.
Indeed, God Himself promises to fill the brokenness if we turn to Him: "A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation" (Psalms 68:5).
In the New Testament the basic covenantal duty of marriage and family is reaffirmed in the Gospels and the teaching of the apostle Paul. The family is at the heart of the gospel message. In Ephesians we have a passage that centers on the duties of husband and wife. It is worth quoting its entirety for the accurate view it gives us about how this fundamental union of the family works and what it pictures on the spiritual level. Let us look closely to see:
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
"So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
"'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband" (Ephesians 5:22-23).
A man and woman bound in the loving, divine union of marriage is one of the most beautiful parts of human life. Giving birth to children and bringing them up to understand love, to come to know God, and to have respect for their bodies as instruments of godly conduct, embraces the whole purpose of human life. The family is a pattern of the divine relationship between God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We come to understand the destiny of human life as part of Their family when we examine the scriptural teaching of marriage and family. We are to be spiritually married to Christ, with all of us the children of God the Father.
The confusion generated by the new sexual revolution is intent on breaking down the biblical pattern of marriage and family. Make no mistake, it is a satanic lie that is working.
We are taught in Scripture to love one another and preach a gospel message of hope and reconciliation. Christ died for every sinner, and everyone will have opportunity for repentance and to know the love of God. But in preaching and teaching this truth we cannot deny the truth of human sexuality and marriage as God intended -- and what it means to corrupt it.
Nor can you ignore this truth either. We urge you to seriously consider the culture war around us. Arm yourself with truth to protect you and your loved ones!
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