As a reminder, October 30th at 7:00, I’ll be teaching about Transgenderism via Zoom. It’s free for paid subscribers and available to others for $20. To RSVP, simply email me at ongley01@icloud.com.
Our culture has lost some key moorings which have secured our sense of self over the centuries: nationality, church, and family. With these anchors deteriorating, young people have found other communities to identify with online, with common interests serving as the glue. For distraught adolescents, it is often confusion over gender.
Borrowing insights from Carl Trueman, I want to shed some light on what makes tweens and teens so vulnerable to viewing themselves as trans. To illustrate the importance of identity anchors, let me introduce you to my father-in-law.
He most definitely understood who he was and whose he was. One word described his life: faithful.
Faithfulness to One’s Country
Without question, Larry was a patriot. While he did not see combat, he was part of that “greatest generation” which sacrificed so much to defeat German Nazism and Japanese Imperialism. This was not a blind allegiance to drumbeats from Washington. Instead, there was a deep commitment to the ideals of liberty—a willingness to not only die for one’s country, but even to die for someone else’s country if our leaders deemed it essential.
Since the days of Watergate, it seems we’ve made a sport of digging for the dirt on our leaders, both present and past. There is no virtue in being myopic, but neither is there benefit to ignoring evidence of the faith, valor, and good character of our founders and other national leaders.
Finding ways to shame Western culture has been the trend, with elites reminding us common folks that we’ve nothing to be proud of in America. The 1619 Project is but one example of this trajectory. Nikole Hannah-Jones, journalist for The New York Times, did extensive research on the impact of slavery upon our country, making the case for a prevailing systemic evil stemming back to the arrival of slaves in 1619.
Princeton historian Dr. Sean Wilentz recruited others from academia to harshly criticize this account of our history. Even though they agreed with many of the facts of the study and certainly understood how deeply slavery shaped the racism still evident in our society, they objected to the basic theme of the colonists founding a “slavocracy”. (Note this article in The Atlantic.)
This sparked a forest fire of controversy, some of it unfounded. But the resultant hysterics nonetheless demonstrated the effect of popular social media. The avarice and atrocities of American history were shouted while our steady march of progress toward justice was ignored.
Patriotism is not only out of fashion, it is decried and detested. Adolescents have learned to equate loyalty to one’s country with racism and bigotry.
Larry was not ignorant of America’s excesses, but he believed being a faithful citizen of this imperfect country was significant. He was an American and every inch a Hoosier. This helped anchor his identity.
Faithful to God
Larry and Evelyn Wilson had both grown up with single moms whose homes had been shattered by alcohol. Soon after marrying, they both gave their lives to Jesus and eventually settled in at Ritter Avenue Free Methodist Church. A few years later, after their house was built in a neighborhood of soy beans, he stood at the door of their new home and prayed, “Lord, I will have my kids in church every time the doors are opened.” Church and summer camp permeated their lives.
Trueman, a staunch Presbyterian, traces the erosion of the Church’s influence on Western culture back to the Reformation. In Europe, there was only one church. For better and for worse, it was often wedded to the nation’s government and identity. This reality began unraveling when people had a choice of where to worship.
That choice has been accelerated by today’s technology. Rather than walking to the nearest church when the bells are rung, one can now get in their car and drive past many other houses of worship to arrive at the one which appeals most. The abuse and corruption of clergy have spawned apathy and cynicism among broad swaths of culture.
As for teens, the internet provides a plethora of videos creating doubts about the Bible, Christian teaching, and the life of Jesus himself. And an “all roads leads to heaven” mantra permeates our culture. Why would the average unchurched kid give any thought to how this relates to his identity?
Finding his ultimate identity as a child of God, Larry was deeply devoted both to the congregation on Ritter Avenue and the denomination which nurtured his family. It’s just who he was.
Faithful to Family
Need I elaborate on the deterioration of the family? So many factors, including the Sexual Revolution, have eaten away at its foundations.
Larry was amazingly faithful to his wife, caring for her in their home the final six years of her life as she suffered an ever-worsening vascular dementia. Our family will never forget his example.
Today someone from his church told me he was ecstatic last July. The reason? The entire family would be gathered at his home in August. Thanks to the generosity of friends, I was able to take Lauri there in a borrowed RV, allowing her space to care for her health needs. It’s a week we shan’t forget!
Even though their own homes had been fractured by alcohol, Larry and Evelyn built their home on loyalty to God, family, and country. They have left a tremendous heritage for our family. It also inspires hope that the fractured families of today can find the grace of God for future stability.
Lacking these anchors to give them a sense of belonging, tweens and teens are adrift on the internet, finding dysfunctional communities to harbor in. Of late, they have tied themselves firmly to the piers of trans mania.
Larry certainly wasn’t trans. But over his lifetime, he was transformed by the Holy Spirit. And now he and Evelyn await each of us in the family for another reunion in the light.
Remember the seminar on the 30th at 7:00 pm ET. A Zoom link and study guide will be sent to all who contact me at ongley01@icloud.com.