Complicity with the Lie

Word from the Center
Written By Peter Scaer

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What does it matter if you call him a woman, call her a man? You can pretend it's a game, but you are doing it under compulsion, whether it's simply peer or social pressure, or whether it's a matter of advancing in your career, or even keeping your job or business. If you can be made to say 2 + 2 = 5, you are owned by someone else, and your mind is not your own, nor can it be the mind of Christ who is the Truth.

What if I simply cross my fingers behind my back? Saul Alinksy knew that all he had to do was pick off the vulnerable targets, to make examples, so as to silence the opposition. Some are in positions more precarious than others. Church leaders are tempted to think that because their speech is protected within the church, they need not worry. But when the supposed good people are silent, what is the person, stuck in a difficult position, perhaps a teacher at a public school, supposed to think?

That politician, that pastor, that retired person is free to speak his mind, and yet is quiet, doesn't say a word against the lie. After all, it's a delicate situation. But that is of no help to the person whose career or reputation is actually in jeopardy for simply living and speaking according to reality. That is no help to the girl entering a restroom followed by a man in a dress, no help to the girl who just lost the race to mediocre male athlete. No help to children led to Drag Queen Story Hour as to the Gingerbread House. No help to the young woman who was lied to, waking up to the fact that she has been surgically mutilated based on delusion supported by sophisticated enablers.

It's the truth that is not allowed to be spoken, the truth that is suppressed that must be spoken by those still able. And in this way, by speaking and writing, and doing so in a bold and public way, we may encourage those who are feeling that they have no allies, no one who will support them when they are under fire for not capitulating. Cheers to JK Rowling, to Riley Gaines, and to all who say that a man is a man, a woman is a woman, and 2 + 2 =4.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is professor and chairman of the Exegetical Department at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

 

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