Current Events

Conspiracy?

**This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

 
 
Have a look. It will be 13 minutes well spent!


Some times I wonder if I am misdirecting my time by writing about current political and social issues. I do enjoy writing about becoming better followers of Jesus, but if we buy into His message about the Kingdom of God, then we conclude that we cannot opt out of the issues that are shaping our future. We must be advocates of God’s ways in the public square, so I will continue to record my thoughts about current issues.

I am not writing because I think I am fully informed and right about all the issues I address, but I write because I want to provoke others to think–especially in a Biblical and Spirit-led framework and I hope more and more Christians will engage with current issues in a godly and thoughtful manner.

Do you wonder why the trans-sexual issue has become so prominent in the past couple of years? Is this some sort of conspiracy? Most of the research on sexual/gender issues confirm that only one in about 5000 people are born with uncertain sexual identity. I readily accept that, if I were one of those with “intersex” identity, it would be very important to me. But in the wider social context, why has this become so prominent?

I really don’t think there is some dark conspiracy behind this phenomenon, but I do think that there are some commonly held ideas which bind a very active, vocal and aggressive group of people together. The ideas seem to center around economic and political systems. The original Marxist assumption is that society and economies are evolving and that Capitalism will create such inequality that working people will rise up in rebellion against the middle and upper classes and overthrow the system.

But that has not happened and looks like it won’t. Most working people continued to work and prosper and were not that interested in violent revolution. My Dad was one of those working people. He grew up on a very small farm, only 27 acres, that had to yield a living for a family of 11. It was very tough, but Dad was highly motivated and bright and so were his many siblings. He got jobs at a very young age, studied and worked hard and, though university was well out of his reach, he qualified as an electrician and then as a gas-fitter, worked as a chemist, a watch-maker and a foreman in a munitions factory and graduated from a Bible school. He started his own business and then branched out into other businesses. He was not interested in revolution but was deeply committed to raising a family with all the benefits he could provide. He did well so that I and my siblings were enabled to get college educations.

With most of the working class of that era (the 1930s through 1970s) focusing on making the most of opportunities, the Marxist ideas were no longer credible, and yet some academics held on doggedly. After all, Marxism provided the only clear, non-religious alternate to Christian beliefs. Academia provided a sufficiently insulated environment that a few thinkers could cling to Marxist philosophy, even after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. They managed to hold onto the idea that capitalism would produce social conflict that would lead to its death.

In the original Marxist way of thinking, the proletariat were oppressed by the bourgeoisie oppressors. In the new way of thinking, any and all minorities were/are oppressed by those with more social and economic power. Most of our universities teach this version of history so students become adept at identifying the oppressed and the oppressors.

This way of thinking is very appealing because it equips the individual with the logic that is necessary if they wish to blame their hardships on others. So we see how often students demonstrate against governments and businesses. They have been convinced that their lives could be much better if the current system were to be toppled.

So that brings us back to gender dysphoria and our current policy of encouraging young people to self-diagnose if they would like to be the other sex and then to embark upon a path that leads to surgical mutilation.

I am well aware that the Walt Heyer, the speaker in the video clip above, has strong views that are disputed by others who have transitioned to the opposite sex–or, in some cases, a sexually ambiguous state. Nevertheless, his views provoke us to think and to question the assumptions of the activists who would want us to think that our sex and gender are relative and are a matter of personal opinion.

Let us be clear. This is not firstly about sexual identity. It’s yet another arena where social unrest can be fomented and where the historical norms of our society can be attacked with a view to replacing them. With what? A greatly empowered government overseeing all aspects of society and attempting to enforce absolute equality.

So how has that worked so far? I have had the opportunity to travel and meet people in several nations with centralized governmental control–the USSR, Bulgaria, Romania, Cuba and other Eastern Bloc nations in the 1970s and 80s. Every citizen I met just wanted freedom and they were universally poor. Yes, they were proud of some aspects of their societies, such as the medical services in Cuba, but they all wanted a better life and they wanted to be free from oppressive central government. It doesn’t work!

Finally, I am certainly not advocating that we should be dismissive or insensitive to those with sexual identity issues. Rather, let’s be alert and resist those who wish to promote more sexual dysphoria by teaching our children, at a younger and younger age, that they can choose their sex and that they might be happier as the opposite sex–or some other sexual identity.

There is no coordinated conspiracy behind the sudden rise of this issue, but there is a set of contagious and toxic ideas that will lead to nothing good. We must protect our children. But we must also keep “tweaking” our economic and governmental systems. They are not as good as they could be, but they are not nearly as bad as they might be.

 

 

 

 

Lynn Green and his wife Marti first came to England and began the work of Youth With A Mission here in 1971. From 2004-2011 Lynn was YWAM’s International Chairman. He continues to convene YWAM’s global leadership meetings, and focuses much of his energy on international leadership development.

4 comments on “Conspiracy?

  1. Lynn, thank you for a reasoned beginning to a conversation that has many tributaries. It seems that the tactic of enflame – separate – validate is the common practice of some who look to control through a veil of sympathy, denying truth and letting the ‘ chips fall’.

    Take care. Ed Sinke

  2. It baffles me why you insist on fomenting fear by positing wild conjecture that is unsubstantiated by anything concrete, especially given that the people this most directly impacts are already suffering from wide discrimination within most religious circles. You are an irresponsible leader who should know better than to write about that which you are clearly uneducated and unqualified to comment on.

    • I see you are back, Emily. I would be happy to have a personal conversation with you, preferably by video call so we can see one another. John Tyson recently said that all the the trans people he knows personally just want to get on with life in the gender they have chosen for themselves and are not comfortable with the politicization of the issue. I don’t have as much experience as he has, or as Walter Heyer has or as Ryan Anderson has, but I have listened and read pretty carefully and they are all saying pretty much the same thing. Each is advocating compassion for the individual but is troubled by the anger of the activists–who are not usually trans themselves and are not really authorized to speak on behalf of people with gender dysphoria.

      Please try to go easy on the personal attacks. That approach does not contribute to a conversation and conversation is needed rather than angry personal attacks.

  3. Thank you for this post Sir.
    Just stumbled upon it.

    Yes, the christians should not shy away from discussing and probing into such controversial topics. Laws and governments craft the systems we will operate in. We must not be like the ostrich who buried her head in the sand hoping what is around her does not affect her so long as she is not aware of it.
    Light was met for darkness and not for fellow light. Time to take our light into the darkest places.
    The world awaits the manisfetstion of the Sons of God.

    Thanks again sir.
    This is on point!

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