And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:18)
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:)
In the very opening of God’s revelation to the crown of His creation, God gives Adam and Eve the mandate to be fruitful and multiply. Here we see the first of the only three institutions ordained by God: the family, then the government, and finally the Church. It is the family where the principles and conditions are formed and passed onto subsequent generations to promote human flourishing. In contradistinction, it is not the village responsible for raising the child; God has given primarily responsible to the parents. I highlight the term primarily as recognizing the necessity and supreme value the larger nuclear family has to raise young boys and girls to adulthood.
My own life is a prime example of the impact aunts, uncles, grandparent, and cousins has been in my very own formation. Yet, I still push back on the general understanding most have when they state it takes a whole village to raise a child. Those on the Left attempt to use this ideology to replace the parent’s influence in the home. As a very recent example, President Biden just this week announced his plan to change the age at which children enter the public school system to three years old.
It would be beyond the scope of a blog to fully delve into the topic, but many are clamoring from the Left the need to remove the influence of mothers and fathers from their very own children. This worldview undergirds much of the resistance to what should be a straightforward educational option: School Choice. I find it most ironic the very people who so passionately defend to the death choice when it comes to the woman concerning abortion are the same ones so ardently against choice when it comes to educating our children.
As a quick aside, I believe Senator Tim Scott has skyrocketed to the top of the list for potential Presidential candidates from the Republican Party for the 2024 Presidential election. It is most certainly early, but he has impressed me in now two very prominent public appearances: the 2020 Republican Convention and the Republican Party’s response to President Biden’s address to Congress. I believe we will see the trajectory very much like the ascendancy of Barack Obama when he spoke so masterly at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Senator Scott deftly broached the need for school choice as one example our country would prosper as a nation and individuals would experience a better opportunity at human flourishing.
But back to the task at hand. Dwayne Wade (basketball great and certain future Hall-of-Famer) and his spouse, Gabrielle Union-Wade (noted actress), are featured on the People magazine cover. While I would be the first to acknowledge there is much to celebrate concerning the marital fidelity of two heterosexual African Americans in this day and age, I nonetheless am left with profound sadness after seeing the People magazine cover while at the checkout line at my favorite place to shop: Walmart.
I knew based on previous coverage of the Wades what the tenor the piece would convey. As a father to two daughters and a son, I heartily affirm supporting one’s children to the greatest extent possible. My late dad was always my NUMBER ONE fan. He was there for my Little League baseball; he volunteered to coach our Church’s basketball team and organize barbeques to raise money for our uniforms. When I was ordained, my father organized a caravan of family members to attend my ordination. My dad was there in attendance when I preached my first sermon.
I seek and still seek to do the same thing for my son, Ricky Jr.; my family would dutifully attend all of Ricky Jr.’s high school football game after first attending all of his Pee-Wee games. It would continue when Ricky Jr played a football game while attending college. So again, there is much to commend any man and given the AA father in the home pathology, especially commendable for an AA man.
Yet, here is the rub for the Evangelical. The Bible, not psychology, not tradition., not national, ethnic, or familial pride must rule supreme. I love my children, and I love my grandson, but that love is derivative and necessarily secondary and not even a close second to my fidelity to my Creator. Take a Biblical passage like the following:
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:37)
So, for example, if my son would announce to me, he no longer identified as a male and desired I refer to him as to say, Rachel, I am here to tell you “it ain’t happening, no way, no how!” If you recoil at such a brutish declaration, then that says much more about you than what you believe it says about me.
When Jesus Christ spoke this blunt and to the contemporary reader this harsh and arrogant timeless command, He could do so due to His status of Divine Creator. Just as you, the reader, have complete autonomy how you decorate the walls of your home, as one example of many examples that could be advanced, Jesus Christ, as Divine Creator, has full authority to dictate His Divine Will over all of His creations.
So, just as you can, with total impunity, paint your walls Orange & Green, if you like, God as the Creator has the unchallenged authority to create them as male and female (Genesis 1:27). For millenniums all of humanity has understood this basic worldview. Gender is not a social construct. No more than age or ethnicity are social constructs.
Given the same parental scenario while Dwayne and Gabrielle glee and delight, I sorrow and grieve. I believe this is because one view is man-centered, (Dwayne & Gabrielle) and the other is God-centered (Ricky_. One view has man upon the throne (Dwayne & Gabrielle), while the other view God is upon the throne (Ricky).
Dwayne Wade unfiltered:
My focus when it comes to any of my kids is to let them know who they are so that when other people’s opinions about them are formed, it’s not hitting them,” says Wade, whose daughter Zaya, 13, is transgender. (The couple also have Zaire, 19, who along with Zaya are Wade’s children from a previous marriage, Xavier, 7, Wade’s son with an ex and Dahveon, 19, Wade’s nephew.)”If we allow our kids to be their true selves,” he continues, “we don’t have to worry about them conforming with anything or anyone. Why wouldn’t we push our kids to be their authentic selves?” (emphasis mine)
So, there you have it. The reference to the Wades’ daughter Zaya transgenderism presented as normal, yet the Wades takes it a step further: society must celebrate it in concert with them.
What the Wades see as a sign of liberation is, instead, when viewed under the Biblical lens, the tools of the Evil One. Listen to the philosophical musing of Ms. Gabrielle Wade:
In her own childhood, Union says she didn’t encounter those freedoms. “I was raised to assimilate,” she recalls. “I was raised to conform. But we are raising our kids to know they are worthy because they exist. We don’t want them to ever shape shift for anyone else’s approval or acceptance. We want them to be free to be who they are.”
So, we have fallen men declaring their worldview leads to freedom, and we have Jesus Christ’s bold and unmistakable declaration that freedom is only found by yielding to His Lordship. Jesus Christ would go to say, “So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36).
Concerning the employment of words, “be their true selves” from the Dwayne Wade quote. There are two fundamental errors with such a worldview:
1) Since the Fall, our true selves are rotten to the core, irreparably stained with sin (Romans 3:1-1
2) Our true selves are at enmity to our Divine Creator (James 4:4) and our fallen and unregenerate true selves resist the mere thought of having God in our thoughts. That’s why Grace is Truly and Profoundly Amazing.
Tragically, the Wades believe they are displaying profound love to their children, but they are instead imbibing with the moral ideologues who think they’re on the right side of history. Others have already attacked me for speaking about Charlize Theron’s public support of her child, who self-identified as the sex not assigned at birth. Yet, my conscience is held captive by the Word of God. I thank God He blessed me with two parents who raised me to have confidence in myself. They instilled in me the need to never be pressured to conform to any ideology I was not convinced was correct.
I submit the worldview of Dwayne and Gabrielle will not end in human flourishing. I reach this conclusion not because gender binary is my way of thinking. I come to this conclusion because it is what the Divine Creator has explicitly and repeatedly revealed in the only objective source available to us: God’s Holy Word.
I have no sovereign but God. I serve no king but Christ. Nothing binds my conscience absent the Holy Writ. I grieve, and if I knew the Wades, I would plead with them to repent before it is too late. I do not delight in the eternal downfall of my worst enemy. While some will judge me as unloving, the most loving thing I can do is proclaim the truth. I hope and pray God will judge me as proclaiming the Truth in Love as demanded in the Holy Scriptures.
As always, free to let me know what you think. Until then, keep your hands to the plow and seek to Serve for an Audience of One.
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