Shamefully, the rest of us have too long and too often encouraged aberrant behavior such as homosexuality, transsexuality, baby abortion, adultery, fornication and even God-denying with a wink-and-a-nod. That so-called “compassionate” misstep on the moralistic slippery slope grew over time into acceptance, then finally into mistakenly characterizing the wrong behavior as something good and desirable.
What could go wrong? Nearly everything, as we see today.
The slippery slope began when the first normal person agreed with abnormal people that they were just as normal as everyone else, and that it was O.K.
By abnormal we’re not talking about an odd desire to do something of no serious consequence. We are fully within our rights to tolerate aberrant behavior when it does no harm. In such cases, like that of a woman who wants to shave her head, the aberrant behavior harms no one, save perhaps the woman’s chances of attracting a man to marry.
But as soon as we agreed that aberrant behavior with harmful consequences was just peachy, we took that first step on the slippery slope. Once we tolerate – even with sincere, well-intended motives – we begin a moral slide that can be reversed only by becoming a hypocrite.
“Wait!” will be the legitimate protest. “You said it was all right for me to do this, to be this way. You hypocrite! Were you lying when you said that, or are you lying now? I refuse to accept your judgment of me. No hypocrite is going to dictate to me how I must behave.”
That’s an argument that carries moral weight. It’s reasonable for the abnormal among us to point out the hypocrisy. And it’s entirely logical for the abnormal to reject the standards of normal people once they have revealed themselves to be hypocrites.
We not only encouraged evil and sin, we made it problematic to call for repentance.
Consequently, it makes it much more difficult to undo aberrant behavior because complaining about it no longer appears to come from a higher moral plane.
Jesus rightly attacked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Their theology was just as wrong. But Jesus’s point was that their preaching carried no moralistic authority because they were hypocrites.
It's little wonder today’s aberrant recoil at being told what they do is wrong when those telling them are hypocrites, who conveniently for so long appeared unbothered by the behavior. The aberrant remember that previously their behavior was not only tolerated, but even encouraged by today’s Pharisees, who suddenly have turned 180 degrees and now attack them for doing today what they were led to believe was permissible yesterday. They can rightly feel betrayed, just as much as people using a bridge should feel betrayed when it collapses because the engineers who built it lied about its safety.
By tolerating and, worse, by encouraging and excusing harmful aberrant behavior, then appearing to change our minds later, we betrayed these people just as much as a dishonest engineer whose bridge collapsed.
Yes, the aberrant remain responsible for their bad behavior and its consequences. But add to those responsible for doing wrong all of us who at any time led them to believe their bad behavior was something good, even something wholesome.
Eventually, perhaps years later, a trans woman will awaken to realize mutilation of his body, removal of his penis and testicles, plastic surgery to feign female genitals and breasts and all the horrific drug and hormonal treatments in reality only destroyed what he naturally was and did not succeed in making him into a woman. Betrayed describes that experience to a T.
Little wonder the aberrant among us – homosexuals, transexuals, baby aborters, adulterers, fornicators and God-deniers – are outraged. For decades these aberrant behaviors were at the least tolerated, then in many cases normalized in the eyes of today’s Pharisees. What was deemed to be normal was defended. Protected by law. Those who objected risked ostracization, career suicide and even prosecution under hate laws.
After all, it’s only consistent that when one deems something to be normal to defended it as proper behavior. But to suddenly reverse course and tell these people that what they have been led to believe is right is instead wrong – even dangerous – is to suddenly betray them.
As a consequence, our land faces hugely disproportionate and horrific consequences today from a microscopically small number of people who claim to be trapped in a body of the wrong sex. Voila! Our fix has been to apply laws and surgery to correct mental delusion. Voodoo looks good in comparison.
What is even more amazing is that so many people now find it mysterious that our world is awash in evil and sin. But what’s surprising about decades of encouraging evil and sin then reaping a harvest of even greater, more depraved evil and sin? What fools thought we’d be blessed instead?
To some extent, nearly all of the rest of us share blame for having encouraged such wrong-headed thinking. Sure, most of the time it was done out of compassion, misguided compassion definitely. But many times it was done merely to avoid contentious debate. “Can’t we all just get along,” became the age’s new Golden Rule. Plenty of times we Pharisees selfishly found it more convenient to blow off the moral reality, even when we suspected it would lead to no good.
The mantra of the age became ‘I don’t care what they do behind closed doors,” which was the very first step on that slippery slope.
Christians should care. A Christian’s heart should break every time a fallen sinner opts for evil, rather than good; every time he sins rather than repents. “Ask not for whom the bell tolls,” the poet said.
Instead, Christian Pharisees today have too often opted for what they want others to believe is high-minded indifference. “I don’t care what they do…” are the Pharisee watch words.
In time, even such well-intentioned indifference is lumped in with misguided tolerance and dishonest encouragement.
In our land these trends may have gone too far to reverse them. But even so, that is no excuse, let alone justification, to continue the error.
If Christians desire to seek what is good for those obsessed with aberrant behavior, as Christians should, they will stop compromising truth. Evil is evil, sin is sin. They must be called what they are and not tolerated, excused, encouraged or otherwise portrayed as something good.
God never commands people to do evil to advance good. Quite the contrary.
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11)
Mark Landsbaum is a Christian retired journalist, former investigative reporter, editorial writer, and columnist. He also is a husband, father, grandfather, and Dodgers fan. He can be reached at mark.landsbaum@gmail.com.
