What comes to mind when I say the word “bat”? Some of you may think of a ball, a leather glove, and the smell of grass. Others imagine darkness, caves, and a moody superhero. Now think of the rather metaphysical question, “What does it mean to be a human?” Carl Trueman’s book, Strange New World, carefully constructs a narrative with historical building blocks to explain how our society arrived at this moment where “a particular statement has come to be regarded as coherent and meaningful: ‘I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.’” He writes that his grandfather, who died less than thirty years ago, would have “burst out laughing and considered [the sentence] a piece of incoherent gibberish. And yet today …many in our society regard [it] as not only meaningful but so significant that to deny it or question it in some way is to reveal oneself as stupid, immoral, or subject to yet another irrational phobia.”
“I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.” How does a twelve-year-old girl find this statement rational and foundational to the human experience? How does she get to the place where she considers disagreement about this an attack on what it means to be human? In other words, when we talk to our students and kids about humanity, sexuality, and personhood, you may be saying “baseball fields” and they are thinking “flying rodents.” Our society—and more specifically, our kids—are being indoctrinated into a worldview that most of us parents do not share or even understand. Both parties use the same words in an argument but are referring to completely different things.
Our society says to be a human is to be able to express your individual sexual identity and have that identity affirmed by those around you. To have that identity or expression curtailed is viewed as an aggressive act against someone’s personhood. At OCS we are dedicated to combating this worldview. When we accept the truth that we are made in the image of God and not products of our inner desires, we, therefore, have to accept that he is the creator, not us, and that he sets the rules for happiness and human flourishing. We have to accept his decree on what it means to be human and understand that he declares how to be human. Remove the creator and the world is left grasping for the answer to the question of what truly makes one human.
Trueman is a masterful historian who skillfully walks through the development of how our society arrived at this worldview. It will help us to understand how to approach a discussion with the ability to say “bat” and align our speech to the hearers’ definition. Only then can Christians start to have conversations about hard things. It will aid us in sharing the gospel. Education is important and Christians should never stop learning. Model this for your children by reading Strange New World and discussing it with your middle and high school students.
Matt Bowles
ORBC Senior Pastor
