23: The Tipping Point

There they were – the bride and groom – beaming from ear to ear, dressed in matching black morning suits, accompanied by their pet dog, Arthur, and standing outside the same Windsor Guildhall where Charles and Camilla were “civically” married a few months ago. Surrounded by journalists from around the world, they were whisked away in a Rolls Royce escorted by police outriders. Before the approving eyes of the world, this new royalty, Elton John and his male lover (David Furnish), were publicly “married” according to the legislation on civil partnerships passed by the British Parliament on November 5, 2005. The previous day, in one of the most traditionally Christian nations of the world (Ireland), two lesbians, Grainne Close and Shannon Sickels tied the knot, according to the same legislation.

Ex–president Bill Clinton sent a message of congratulations to Elton John; Prime Minister Tony Blair declared: “I wish him and David well, and all the other people exercising their rights under the civil partnerships law. I think it is a modern, progressive step forward for the country and I am proud we did it.”

When there is hardly a whisper of social protest; when the Church of England is mute; when high–profile political leaders, raised in the Church and claiming to be Christian, find the normalization of homosexuality a great social good, we have reached a cultural tipping point. The brave new planetary world in which our children live, will be massively pro–homosexual.

Do not think, “this could never happen here.” It has already happened in Massachusetts and Vermont. A moral tsunami rolls silently toward our American cultural coastline, gaining in intensity by the day, waiting to engulf us in moral and sexual relativism. Very few see it, especially our young people, where the public school has done its job. Barna reports that only 4 percent of teens who claim to be Christian (down from 10 percent in 1995) can answer a few simple questions of biblical doctrine. Their core religious belief is: “… the central goal in life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.” If the pursuit of “happiness” rather than of holiness marks the rising generation of Christians, they will fail to see the immense moral implications of legalized homosexuality. I recently lectured on the pagan roots of homosexuality at one of the most theologically conservative seminaries in the world. Afterwards, a number of students told me they had been raised to think of homosexuality as either funny or cool.

Egalitarian fairness and social progress motivate many who work for acceptance of homosexuality. But what are the implications for tomorrow’s society? The normalization of homosexuality spells the end of sexual norms or standards. Everything is turned on its head. In Windsor, for millennia people thought they knew what the term “queen” meant, but Elton John’s well–wishers changed that. They displayed a cartoon depicting Queen Elizabeth, whose castle overlooks the town, saying: “I thought I was the only queen in this village.” Windsor Guildhall has not been kind recently to the “Head of the Church and Defender of the Faith.”

As homosexuality is normalized, Christian witness is demonized. Expression of belief and ideas on the college campus is no longer free. In the month of December, 2005, the Student Affairs Division at the California State University in San Bernardino, California denied the Christian Student Association a charter, refusing to recognize their constitution because the group reserved the right to restrict membership based on religious beliefs and sexual orientation.

The general acceptance of homosexuality thus represents a cultural tipping point in the way we think about God. As homosexuality is declared normal, the biblical revelation of God as Creator (specifically as Creator of the sexual distinctions of male and female) makes no sense. Such a God must be eliminated, for he stands in direct opposition to “progressive” evolution. We thus “tip” from biblical orthodoxy to pagan spirituality, in which the very idea of a Creator is anathema.

By now, you are saying, “You’re ruining my Christmas with all this bad news.” But there is good news. God the Creator, for the well–being and maintenance of human civilization, made a perfect, life–promoting world of heterosexual distinctions. What is more, in the feeding trough in Bethlehem, as well as in the the heterosexual love of Mary and Joseph, there is more good news. This majestic Creator stoops low to save rebellious, foolish and undeserving creatures like us and to grant us life and life eternal. So celebrate your Creator this Christmas – enjoy your marriages. Young men, if you’ve found the right girl – go forward! Build families for the good of society and for the glory of God. Celebrate the heterosexual reality of God’s good creation.