(This post is, in part, a follow up to my previous post, “Love, Truth, GroupSpeak and Jenner”.)
I find myself a bit amused—and more than a bit bemused—by public reaction to the Rachel Dolezal scandal. To be honest, I have hesitated to say this because I don’t like the company I keep by doing so. I know others are thinking this, but the only ones I see actually writing it are from the far right—a place I don’t identify with. But, here goes.
If a man can say “I have always felt female. I have always wanted to be female. I have always considered myself female”, and then present himself to the world as female. And it is not only acceptable, it is “courageous”. Why is it wrong for a “white” woman to say “I have always felt black. I identify as black”, and then go on to present myself to the world as black?
I just read a post on facebook angrily objecting to what Dolezal did. The reason? “She is white!” But if who we are isn’t about our genetics, or what we are born to, but how we see ourselves and wish to be, why does this matter? Why do the same writers not object (without the anger perhaps?) to a man declaring he is a woman with the same reasoning: “He is male!”
The reason is simple. We don’t believe we should have to play the hand dealt to us—but only so far as not doing so is popularly accepted. (I am assuming a universal understanding of the idiom “the hand dealt to us”.) This isn’t new. Morals, sociologically, are determined not by an absolute construct of “right and wrong”, but by what the society as a whole considers “right and wrong”. That is why a society can consider something as wrong one day (or year) and right another. The determining factor is, “how does everyone feel about this?”
The problem with this is obvious: If everyone feels something is right, it isn’t necessarily right! 200 years ago everyone (well, at least a majority) felt slavery was right. So it was considered right by society and law. Everyone considered genocide of aboriginal people to be right (again, at least a majority did), so it was considered to be right by society and law. Today, we are horrified by these “morals” and laws—and we should be. Because they were determined to be right on exactly the same basis as people are making such moral decisions today: “How does everyone feel about this?”
As representatives of the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to remind people that there are absolutes—realities. People are indeed born a certain way, and simply declaring “I don’t like this” or “I don’t feel that way” doesn’t change that—not in gender, not in race, not in personal righteousness. Responding to these realities—regardless of how we feel about them—by simply saying “I don’t like this” and pretending they aren’t real doesn’t help anyone. The medical and psychological evidence presented by so-called “transgender” cases over the last 40 years is ample proof of this. Instead, we need to help people learn to play the hand they were dealt. We know this begins with personal reconciliation to God (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). We can’t facilitate that by joining people in a lie—whether it is about supposed gender, race, or righteousness.
Rachel Dolezal and Bruce Jenner are very much alike, and they serve as examples to many people dealing with real problems. They both feel strongly they were dealt the wrong hand. But their lives will not improve by lying to themselves and others about who they are. Do you know someone like this? Then today commit to walking through their pain and confusion with them, without joining in a lie!
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