[Background: SOGI stands for Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity. It is the name for recently approved resource for BC teachers (public and private). You can read all about it at www.sogieducation.org.].

Every Christian should be deeply troubled by the health of the church and our society. Troubled but not frantic. This a response to Christians that, like Chicken Little, believe the sky is falling due to SOGI.

First, the sky isn’t falling and it is falling.
Christians that believe the Bible, know that the sky is never really falling (in a chaotic sense) because Jesus is at the helm and He is working an eternal plan that is good. And yet, Christians that believe the Bible, know that the sky will fall (is falling) and that in those days (the here and now) Christians will get caught in the crossfire of Heaven coming and Hell lashing out. We also believe that Christians are to play a role Heaven coming (we pray, we proclaim the Gospel, and we lay down our lives for another – even our enemy). In a mysterious and yet beautiful way, God asks the church to participate (as a way to prepare us for eternity) in His providential plan.

Second, Christians are to fight with kindness.
A Christian with a placard is an oxymoron. Placards are perceived in our day and age as hateful (regardless of our motives or message). Christians win culture to Christ not through political coercion, but by being most loving neighbor and employee around. The only time Jesus got aggressive with the truth was towards the church, not sinners. Christians are to fight the good fight of faith within our own lives and lovingly encourage our brothers and sisters to good works that our light might shine bright.

Third, Christians are to fight with prayer.
I find it sad and telling when there are more Christians gathered with placards than at a prayer meeting. Belief in Scripture leads us to the understanding and practice that prayer is the most effective weapon we have against evil. It fights evil at its source (spiritual realm) and it ignites and informs our practice in the physcial.

Fourth, Christians should always raise their kids as though they are living in a “Daniel Generation”.
It is naive to think that even at a Christian school that our kids will just go through life without our beliefs and faith being challenged and opposed. (In fact, Christian schools can be more spiritually damaging as they carry the potential to inoculate our kids from the Gospel.) Parents must be well versed in Scripture and in culture. Parents must be awesome examples of Christ and live out successful faith in the real world. Parents must pursue deep relationship with their kids. Parents must make time to talk about each day and use discernment about when to speak and when to bite their tongue (give kids space to grow and think, appropriate to the age and circumstance). Parents must live and lead by faith and not fear. (It’s a hard pill to swallow for the religious parent to realize that many kids raised in the Jewish bubble rejected the Messiah.)

Fifth, Christians need to realize that we live in a post-Christian era.
Our culture has been inoculated to the Gospel. Our country feels like we’ve tried the Christian thing and it didn’t make everything right and in some cases, it made things worse (exploitation of others and the environment, residential schools, pedophile priests, faith by coercion, leverage of religion for personal profit, etc.). We will not win our country back (not that we ever really were Christian) by political force or well-crafted placards. We will win our country to Christ by being Christ (loving our enemies unto death). Read Acts 19 for a model of how to win a city to Christ: The church didn’t destroy the silver idol industry with placards, but by winning their neighbour to Christ (and that came at the cost of death to self). The market for idols dried up because the customers switched from worshipping idols to worshipping Jesus. Likewise, the market for the SOGI idol will dry up, when the balance of British Columbians switch to worshipping Jesus.

Sixth, why is it that Christians elevate gender and sex over God?
If I were to protest a political decision it wouldn’t be SOGI. Yes, SOGI is evil, but shouldn’t the removal of Jesus from schools be more alarming? I think it is telling when Christians are more alarmed about the entry of SOGI than the dismissal of Jesus.

Seventh, there is a silver lining.
Hopefully SOGI does awaken us to our hypocrisy, to our mistakes, to our complacency and comfort, to our mismanaged priorities, and to our call to be salt and light. We also know that God uses evil against itself. He brings good even out of evil and life from death.

 

— Why do I think SOGI is evil? —

Because it packs more harm than health; more bad than good. Of course, I love the ‘be kind and accepting of others’ part, but not when it does so at the cost of packaging cancer as a sweet treat. (Clarification: a transgender or same sex student isn’t cancer – they are awesome and made in the image of God and have the same value and worth as every other human being, but they believe or trust in a cancer or walk with cancer [and there will be a day where Jesus will remove that cancer]. It is also every human’s reality that we all are born with a “cancer” of sorts – we all need Jesus to become healthy and whole.)

Transgender and same sex students should feel safe in our schools. The rub however comes, when we feel our view of ourselves should be adopted (agreed) by everyone as good. Love does not equal agreement. We need to teach our students that we can disagree on what is right and wrong and still be loving and kind to one another.

What is the evil in SOGI?

• It’s preaches a Godless view of the world (and therefor a low view of human worth and purpose).
• It preaches that the church of LGBTQ+ is to be believed by everyone. It’s forcing a religious view on others (sound familiar 😉 ).
• It preaches that sex is just an appetite and as long as both parties consent then it’s not causing any harm (ultimately it preaches a very low and incomplete view of sex).
• It preaches that truth is subjective and we are the authority for what is right and wrong, good or bad (both science and experience actually defeat this belief very easily).
• It preaches that love equals agreement. That you must believe what I believe if you love me (when true love actually frees the will of another).
• It preaches views and practices of sex and gender that aren’t good or healthy (or even logical).
• Because of all this, it misleads our students into believing lies instead of truth and says what is bad is good.

What should be taught (at an age-appropriate level) is an unbiased analysis of all the world views so that our students are actually educated (not indoctrinated). And we should teach our students how to live peacefully and respectfully with those of different views. Lastly, we should teach our students how to think – how to reason and discern a good idea from a bad idea (but that’s a topic for another day).

 

–What is a Christian parent to do?—

It depends. On you, on your kid, and on your school. Education isn’t a one size fits all. Study the Bible. Study your culture (and school). Study your child. Talk to mature and loving family and friends. Pray with your spouse. Don’t act out of fear or pride, but rather faith and obedience. Listen to the Spirit of God.

We also live in a democratic society (very different from Bible times) so vote Biblically and share in gentleness your views with others and politicians.

I also find it better when engaging in conversations with others to err on the side of telling a better story. Rather than pointing out all the things wrong with another’s view, spend more time talking about the beauty and life and fruit that the Christian view brings you and our world (Christians have the most life-giving view of suffering, evil, eternity, identity, sex, gender, etc.). It’s Good News!