2018 | Week of July 30 | #1266

Slippery slopes. For all the 20-plus years I’ve been doing this work, I’ve warned about them.  Many times in response I’m told even by well-intentioned people, I’m just fear-mongering when I warn people that some law or some cultural acceptance is a slippery slope that will take us farther and faster than we’ve ever imagined.  I’m saying it again, however. Slippery slopes are real. They should be avoided at all costs—because the cost is always greater than we can imagine.

When the big push was to normalize homosexuality, we were told that sexual orientation is genetic; people are born “gay.” Never mind that there’s been no credible scientific evidence that supports that contention. That reality doesn’t matter if you can win the hearts and minds of people by repeating the lie often enough and have enough emotionally-laden stories.  Why is this acceptance of this fabrication so important?  Because it convinced people that it is discriminatory, hateful and bigoted to not allow them to, for instance, marry.

That belief is really the basis for the US Supreme Court 2015 decision that forced the redefinition of marriage on the entire country. Inherent in the belief of the majority of the justices is that people involved in homosexuality are born that way.  We can’t have laws that don’t treat them like everyone else, just as we can’t do that for black Americans. If you can make something an inborn characteristic, then it’s much easier to normalize the behavior, even legalizing the heretofore unthinkable.

A notable variation on this idea is the current transgender craze. With this particular aberration seeking full societal acceptance and normalization, we asked to set science aside. It doesn’t matter that people are born with either XX, male chromosomes, or XY, female chromosomes if their emotional and mental take on their gender conflicts with that biological reality.  Interestingly, those pushing this particular agenda often claim their biology has nothing to do with who they really are—that what they think about their gender is more real than their biology.  Hence, they want us to believe that the biology is wrong; that they were really born the opposite sex and should be accepted for how they “identify,” not how they were born.

It’s a crazy world; but when you present emotionally laden stories about personal anguish and ugly treatment, the public and policymakers listen more with their emotions than their intellect. Regardless of how this matter manifests, it is part of the slippery slope of accepting the lie that homosexuality is genetically predetermined.

Of course, on the heels of redefining marriage to include two persons of the same sex, we’ve had lawsuits filed to legalize polygamy and polyamory—because, well, these folks were born with a predilection to love more than one person.  Who are we to tell them that is wrong if they can’t help themselves?

And now, the talk is ramping up about pedophilia being an inborn characteristic. Earlier this month a German medical student gave a speech that showed up on the Internet. This student asserted that “pedophilia is an unchangeable sexual orientation…like heterosexuality.” She introduces her talk with a story about a 19-year-old young man who is a pedophile who has never acted on his feelings for children. She argued sexual attraction to children should be accepted and tolerated as involuntary feelings.

Admittedly, this speech received severe backlash and has been removed from YouTube, but the reality is that for several years right here in the United States, talk has been swirling about pedophilia being an immutable characteristic.  Given enough time and enough emotionally charged personal stories, we will eventually, likely much sooner than we think, will hear of states considering some form of protections for folks claiming this malady.

Talk about a slippery slope. Marriage was legally redefined just three years ago. Since then, with the slope greased, we’ve zipped down the slide quite far. We don’t have to finish the ride, but it will take concerned citizens staying alert and involved to stop the downward spiral. Christians with a Biblical worldview should be among the best at recognizing when we are standing at the top of the slope and where the slide will take us. We need to be the ones sounding the warnings—speaking truth even when it’s not popular.

This is Julaine Appling with Wisconsin Family Council, reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”