The following is from a recent article by Dr. Kevin Bauder, Professor of Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, MN.
“In a sermon preached in 1855, Charles Haddon Spurgeon quoted what he referred to as an old proverb: ‘A lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on.’
The point of this proverb is that new falsehoods spread rapidly, while answers take time to prepare and to disseminate. Often, by the time a thorough answer has been given, people have already accepted the substance of the lie. It has become part of their mental and emotional furniture.
This is the exact situation in which biblically minded Christians minister at the quarter mark of the 21st century. The lies are being propagated through intellectual systems like post-colonialism and critical theory. They advance under labels like Social Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity. They have resulted in widespread public perception that the most sinister evils are structural rather than individual; that same-sex erotic activity must be affirmed and that the Bible’s teaching on this subject is either irrelevant or misunderstood; that it is possible for two people of the same sex to marry each other; that sex and gender are merely social constructs that exist along a spectrum (or even a matrix) and can be altered; that both erotic desire and gender are fundamental aspects of personal identity; and that the foregoing are so vital to human rights that all people must be made to recognize them through force of law.
These lies seem new, but they are really combinations of older lies that have been patched together in new ways. They were told first by artists, then by philosophers, then by educators, and then by propagandists. Eventually they reached ordinary people. By the time they burst out into public, they seemed to have gained irresistible momentum. They have swept across the West and around the world like an anti-intellectual and anti-moral tsunami.
Meanwhile, the truth has been pulling its boots on...” (Correcting Falsehood, In The Nick Of Time, July 21, 2023)
One such lie that has been foisted upon society is that it must accept as truth the gender that a person decides they want to be, regardless of what their chromosomes say they genuinely are. Society must also refer to that person with the “proper” gender pronoun or suffer severe consequence. A poll conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies on behalf of Newsweek on July 6 of 1,500 eligible U.S. voters found that 44% of millennials believe that "referring to someone by the wrong gender pronoun (he/him, she/her) should be a criminal offense. Last month, former Mexican Congressman Rodrigo Ivan Cortes was convicted of "gender-based political violence" because he referred to a trans-identified male politician as a "man who self-ascribes as a woman" in social media posts. Even though medical science says Cortes is telling the truth, he is wrong in the eyes of the court that convicted him.
If lies like this are allowed to be propagated, the following scenario could soon take place. A history teacher asks the question on a test: Who was the first president of the United States? A student answers, Christopher Columbus. The teacher marks the answer as wrong, which offends the student, who then complains to the administration and the teacher is fired.
The absurdity of society’s thinking that accepts this lie is well-illustrated in an advertisement for a T-shirt on Amazon. The message on the T-shirt reads, “There are more than 2 genders.” When ordering the T-shirt you must state what size you want and whether it is for a male of female. The lie is quickly running around the world, but in bare feet.