It’s hard to view any type of news feed nowadays without coming across something that seems crazy on a daily basis. For example, on July 12, in an exchange between Senator Josh Hawley and Berkeley law professor Khiara Bridges, the senator asked the professor if, by using the phrase, “people with a capacity for pregnancy,” she was referring to women.
In less than a minute, the exchange devolved into accusations by the professor that the senator’s line of questioning was “transphobic” and “opens up trans people to violence.” What I found particularly interesting about this exchange were the polar responses to it in news outlets and social media later that day. People on both sides of the issue claimed victory in the argument. Both sides feel that the other side is crazy.
Now, this is a blog written by a follower of Jesus, so it should be no surprise where I stand. God made people “male and female” (Gen 1:27) and designed sex for monogamous heterosexual marriage (Gen 2:24). God’s creative activity in Genesis 1-2 is defined by acts of separation/division and the drawing of boundary lines in many areas, including sexuality. With these boundaries intact prior to sin entering the world, God’s world is called “very good” (Gen 1:31).
The crossing of sexual boundary lines forms part of the reasoning behind God’s change of heart about creation. We’re told of His “regret” (Gen 6:6-7) immediately after the story of cosmic sexual rebellion, when the “sons of God” transgressed from the heavenly realm to have sex with the “daughters of men.” Adding color to the sexual promiscuity of this narrative is the character of Lamech, the violent descendant of Cain and the first polygamist in the Bible (Gen 4:19-24). (For more on this, see Chapter 10 of The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten.
After Babel, the worship of other gods (who Paul calls “demons” in 1 Cor 10:20) is characterized by sexual border crossing: incest, bestiality, and homosexuality (Lev 18). (See Chapter 11 of The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten.) If Genesis 1-2 wasn’t clear enough about these boundary lines, God’s opposition to their deconstruction in the rest of the Biblical narrative makes His viewpoint clear.
Now, what about the craziness of our modern world? How do we make sense of a culture where people don’t know what a woman is, where kids identify as animals (one step closer to bestiality), or where people try to redefine or erase their sexuality entirely? This type of craziness is almost as old as sin itself. If we understand the Biblical narrative and Paul’s observation that we struggle against the same ancient enemies (the “gods” of the Old Testament, who Paul calls “demons”) who once ruled the nations (e.g. Daniel 10:13, 20; Eph 6:12; see also Michael Heiser’s The Unseen Realm or The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten), then this type of crazy behavior becomes conceivable.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Romans 1:18-28 ESV
When people insist on denying God and serving demons, whether knowingly or merely through doing what is “right in their own eyes” (see the book of Judges), God’s pattern of behavior historically is that He eventually gives them what they want. They become “foolish,” having “debased minds,” having “exchanged the truth of God for a lie.”
The craziness of the modern West is the outcome of the denial of the Truth, which is manifested in the denial of truths. In the Biblical narrative, people insisted on this type of sexual perversity and worship of demons for generations before God handed them over (again, see The Epic Gospel We’ve Forgotten for more on this.) Eventually, God gave them what they wanted, and they went crazy.
So, how do we understand our crazy world? Foolishness, debased minds, and lies are incoherent to a mind set on the truth. These ways of thinking don’t make sense. It’s not supposed to make sense because it’s nonsensical. The point is that the craziness of our world is understandably not understandable. By its very nature, a mind diametrically opposed to the Truth must serve the “father of lies” (John 8:44).
Epic Gospel 