One chic objection to the Nashville statement is that it lacks pastoral sensitivity. But we need to distinguish between real problems and ersatz problems. From what I can see, transgenderism is primarily a reflection of cultural decadence. It reminds me of the idle rich and royalty who explore perversion because they are bored to death.
Bracketing the individuals who are truly psychotic, transgenderism is only possible for people who have it too easy. For our ancestors, and many people in the Third World today, surviving was a daily struggle. They didn't have the luxury to indulge in naval-gazing.
Transgenderism is made possible by affluence and leisure time. Don't get me wrong: affluence and leisure time are blessings as well as opportunities for good. If, however, you have nothing to live for, no higher purpose in life, then having things too easy exposes the vacuity and lack of direction. It's like pop stars, sports stars, and lottery winners who are ruined by success. They end up worse off than before their dreams came true.
In my observation, most of the transgendered are pampered, spoiled, self-absorbed individuals who have too much time to think about themselves because they have nothing better to think about.
People like that can still have functional or even happy lives if they live in a society that channels them into naturally fulfilling social roles, as a spouse and parent. In that case, cultural expectations impose an external structure on their lives that makes their lives more meaningful. But when a culture loses common grace social norms, they no longer have the external direction to compensate for lack of inner direction. So their lives become aimless, frivolous, cruel, and debased.
In addition, adversity is a distraction from the vacuum of the soul. You are too busy making ends meet to suffer from existential ennui and fashionable malaise. If, however, you don't have those distractions, and you have nothing worthwhile to live for, then the absence of adversity leads to self-pitiful naval gazing.
Self-examination is only salutary if there's something better to aim for. But a secularized culture without a transcendent reference point has nothing to aspire to.
Notice that this is a general problem regarding the "human condition" in a fallen world. The solution is to evangelize the lost.
Steve this is a well written post and profound observation and I think you're dead on especially the observation about affluence that is the condition for this whole transgenderism to pop up
ReplyDelete"pastoral sensitivity"
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many critics who make this argument actually submit to a pastor's care.
On the other hand, how many pastors who have signed this have people that they know living in sexual sin of any kind who they are happy to have as members of their churches. Pastoral sensitivity is generally primarily rendered to a pastor's own church.
Furthermore, pastoral sensitivity also includes strong warnings against the sins that will destroy people. So there's the argument that this is actually full of pastoral sensitivity.
More like, bourgeoisie naval-gazing!
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