Thoughts for our engagement with those holding our civilization captive
Pride month might be the best time to talk about this since the culture's proverbial gun is held to the heads of all who don't bow down to the demands of LGBT activists.
Our civilization is being held hostage by these activists and ideologues.
Thankfully, the resistance is building to a degree that I think the hostage situation could end (hopefully) soon enough. One of the bright spots of resistance to the gender hyteria is the new documentary from Matt Walsh called What Is a Woman?
I'm not going to brand myself as an apologist for everything Walsh says or does, nor am I an apologist for the Daily Wire. But this documentary did a great job highlighting the gaping holes in the logic of the trans movement - not the least of which is their inability to answer the titular question: What is a woman?
Walsh is refreshingly restrained in this documentary, opting to let the trans ideologues speak for themselves rather than attempt to "own them with facts and logic." One thing is for sure: The trans activists he speaks to are presented as evil, perverted, and (frankly) stupid. This presentation isn't Walsh's fault - it's their own. Walsh just let them talk.
But not all Christians are happy about the way these activists, doctors, and professors were portrayed in the documentary. A recent review from The Gospel Coalition had this to say:
The film is rife with easy targets: a San Francisco nudist, a trans wolf therian, various gender-ambiguous people interviewed on the street. And while it’s good to show the absurdity of it all, one wonders if a bit more empathy could have strengthened Walsh’s case. These people are tragically confused, after all. Yet within the film’s first few minutes, Walsh calls “idiots” those who reject differences between male and female. Name-calling is not a great tactic in persuasion, nor in evangelism.
For Christians, the posture of mockery cannot be the way. We aren’t going to shame anyone into reason, let alone into the kingdom. Trans people are broken and lost, and our endgame should not be to rub their nose in their brokenness but to lift their eyes to the hope that can finally heal: Jesus Christ.
Now, there are a few points here that I agree with. I don't think that Christians are going to "own the libs" into conversion. People are persuaded - wooed - into changing their minds. They can't just be told that their worldview is flawed, they must be presented with a better alternative.
Also, I don't believe any Christian should run an LGBT person's nose in their brokenness. Of course, this is evil. This is especially true for the "T" because of the mental illness possibly associated with their view of their own bodies. They need to be welcomed into our churches, invited to our homes, and pointed to our Savior. We should have compassion for these people.
But there is a difference between trans activists (many of whom are not trans) and trans people. I want to make the distinction because it's very important. Trans people - many times - are victims of activists and ideologues. These people need help, they need a positive vision of their bodies. We are fighting against activists for the sake of the well-being of gender dysphoric people.
But it must be asked: What was the goal of the documentary? Was the documentary aimed at trans people, specifically? Or was it aimed at the ideologues and activists who are pushing a worldview that is so extreme that even many trans people are alarmed by it? Was the purpose of the documentary to convert people to Walsh's Catholic faith? Or was it to hold up the ideology of trans activists and doctors to the world so that we can all see it for what it is? Did Walsh make them look stupid, or did they make themselves look stupid?
Evangelicals stay true to our name many times by making evangelism a zero-sum game. It's almost as if everything a professing Christian does at any time or place must be motivated by evangelism. We judge the success of many things by how they "reached" people.
Now, I certainly like evangelism. I minister at a proud sending church and have lived overseas with my family in the name of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Don't get me wrong: I desperately want these activists, professors, and doctors to follow Jesus. I want the trans movement to end because of mass conversions. I want that.
But
As some have pointed out, we are in a hostage situation right now. These activists have tremendous power - power even to separate non-conforming parents from their children (as the documentary points out).
They are pumping mentally ill children, who need help, full of hormone blockers and allowing them to socially transition their gender while keeping it a secret from their parents. They are rooting out professors, doctors, and other professionals who do not bend the knee to the new gender ideology. They have tremendous power over the HR departments at some of the largest organizations in the world. They have taken over nearly all Western governments.
Trans activists are holding our civilization hostage. So how should we resist?
Enter Righteous Ridicule
1 Kings 18 describes a time when the people of Israel were similarly held hostage by the prophets of Baal. These weren't outsiders who had snuck in. These prophets of Baal were Israelites, themselves.
Elijah, who was the only prophet of God left, battled it out with hundreds of them on Mount Carmel. The stakes: The soul of Israel. He was battling proponents of a false religion - an ideology of wickedness, child sacrifice, and sexual perversion (sound familiar?).
How did Elijah respond to them in this confrontation? Surely he remembered that the prophets of Baal were made in God's image and therefore were owed a winsome and gentle rebuke? Surely he qualified all of his statements against them with the proper nuance? Surely he began his time by saying, "Now, you all know how much I love you, right? You are all such great people and you have so much good to offer. If I could just offer one tinsy little critique of your point..."
Nope. He mocked them.
Elijah sought to show the people of Israel what utter hopeless fools the prophets of Baal were. He wanted people to laugh them out of town. He wanted them to feel the weight of their own stupidity, the fruitlessness of their efforts, and the futility of their resistance to the one true God.
1 Kings 18:26-29 -
And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made.
And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
The Lord's prophet, probably laughing as he said it, asked the prophets of Baal if their god was on the toilet and perhaps that's why he didn't answer them. I have to imagine that this invoked laughter from any listeners.
It's safe to say that these prophets were confused and in need of repentance. But the stakes Elijah was playing for was the soul of the nation. The nation was teetering between whether or not to worship God or Baal. His primary concern was the well-being, worship, and right living of the people, not the false prophets (who were still image-bearing people in need of salvation).
What's the point of all this?
Right now, the soul of our civilization is at stake. Ideologues, who are spewing morally bankrupt and downright evil ideas, are winning. The goal is to combat them. Once they lose, then sure, let's put all efforts into converting them.
It's good to show the world how utterly ridiculous and stupid their ideas are. It is good to have radical professors laughed out of their classrooms. It is good for activists to be laughed at by the public. It's good to show people that their ideas are not serious, and therefore the activists themselves shouldn't be taken seriously.
This doesn't mean engaging in relentless ad hominem attacks, nor does it involve threatening people. It doesn't mean diminishing their humanity or treating them like they don't matter. This would be sin.
This doesn't mean cursing them or wishing pain or death upon them. Jesus tells us that we are to pray for our enemies (Matt. 5:43). But is there a way to reconcile the righteous ridicule of Elijah with the command of our Lord? There must be. Especially in hostage situations like the one we find ourselves in now.
Laughter is a weapon. It's not the only weapon in the arsenal, but it is an important one.
How often does God laugh at His enemies? Their fruitless efforts to resist Him evoke a deep belly laugh from Him (Psalm 2:4).
Laughter demonstrates that we see the gender ideology for what is it: Stupid. Idiotic. Dumb. Unserious.
Why else are activists coming so hard after comedians like Dave Chappell or Ricky Gervais - who have made jokes about trans ideology?
Thoughtful Christians can use satire, sarcasm, and silliness to show that the ideology of the LGBT movement is laughable. It doesn't make sense. It's absurdity to the highest degree. And laughing at the ideology can be an effective way to break its power over people.
So many people know that the ideology is absurd, but they're too afraid to say so. Righteous ridicule breaks down peoples' fear to call it for what it is.
Is there anything wrong with saying:
A man can become a woman? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. You don't really believe that, do you?
What are my pronouns? Give me a break! I'm not playing that silly game. This is absurd. If I get my own pronouns, can I have my own adjectives too?
Kids at drag shows? Are you crazy? No one in their right mind would send a kid to a drag show, let alone go themselves!
Birthing persons? Persons with ovaries? Bleeders? Breeders? I could never imagine saying phrases like that. Are you trying to get me to erase women? Sounds awfully misogynistic of you, don't you think?
The point of righteous ridicule is that we don't have to pretend that these ideas are serious enough to always warrant serious responses. We don't have to play the game - and often times we should refuse.
The point of Walsh's documentary is to show how stupid it is that we would even need to ask the question "What is a woman?" You're supposed to roll your eyes at the ideologues on the screen. You're allowed to laugh at their nonsense as well as weep at their wickedness.
I want them to be converted once this crisis is over. But until then, a little righteous ridicule might be what's needed to contend for the soul of our civilization.