How Did We Get Here?

 

---Bill Petite

 

If I were an English Language professor and on day one, I asked students to write 500 words about themselves, I would expect a lot of pronouns such as I, me, myself and so forth. But if I received a paper with a student describing themselves (my pronoun use) with pronouns such as them or they instead of me or I, the paper would receive a failing grade for the misuse of proper pronouns. Here’s an example of what I’m saying: “Them (I am) is attending this class in pursuit of them (my) degree in Journalism.” What has happened to the English language? When a young person, or even an older person for that matter, refers to themselves with these improper pronouns, it simply abuses the English language. But according to them, they don’t really care because they have decided to become either gender neutral or a member of the opposite sexual orientation.

Now, before anyone thinks I am attacking these people for their desire to be of a gender of their choice, allow me to say this. These are people, human beings, created by God in the same way as anyone else in this world. And, Jesus died for them as He did for anyone else around here. They need to hear about Jesus in a way they can understand and I’m not referring to some Tic Tok heretical preacher quoting from the gospel of Thomas (there is no such gospel writing included in the canon of scripture). What I’m referring to is the way they butcher the English language with their use of pronouns. I have read articles defending these people and I had to concentrate a little harder to make sense of what the writer was saying in reference to them (no pronoun pun intended).

I know what someone is thinking right now, “Well, many people in this country butcher the English language like those in the southern states with their long southern drawl.” That’s right, they do. I stopped at a place in Tennessee while traveling a few years ago. I could only understand about half of what a woman was saying to me. And some of them sound like they are just running all their words together and it’s up to you to figure out the word scramble. But even when you do understand them, they are using proper pronouns and putting sentences together that make sense.

Some professors have lost their jobs over refusing to use the pronoun the student demands they use. There are some places in this country where it is considered hate speech if a person refuses to use the desired pronoun when speaking to one of these people. Can you imagine that where you live? You refer to a female who desires to be a male and wants to be called by a male pronoun and you are charged with a hate crime. Or, you refuse to call a person them, they or some other requested pronoun because you speak the language correctly and you are charged with a hate crime.

Recently, a college professor was fired for not using the pronoun requested by the student. He was a Christian and told the school it violated his Christian ethics, not to mention the proper use of the language. He sued the school for wrongful termination and won. The school was ordered to pay him a large sum of money for their extremely woke act and give him his job back. I don’t know if he returned to the school or not.

Where has all this nonsense come from? How did we get here in this crazy time of gender transition and claiming one of many, many so called gender identities? Hey, I’m older but it hasn’t been that long ago since I was in school. There were two gender identities, male and female. I was raised by Christian parents who taught me not to be a racist, not to talk to elders with disrespect and not to be a troublemaker anywhere. At school, we had a dress code and to be honest, no, we didn’t like the dress code. Nobody brought their guns to school to shoot up the place. So, what happened? Some say it is because prayer was removed from school but I think it is something else. I just briefly explained how I was raised; both of my parents worked but still raised us to be good citizens of this country and model students in school. Did we act up and carry on with our friends? Of course, we did and I was in my share of trouble but I knew who and what I was and never claimed to be a girl or some other gender.

 So, I believe everything starts in the home and is the responsibility of the parents/parent. I was a child of the counter revolution of the 1960s. Hippies, pot, LSD and Woodstock. It is my opinion that it was in this era of time in which that generation changed and every following generation continued to change and move away from center. With center being the normal happy family and no radical activities, wide use of drugs and youth being led to believe their parents were bad for them. They needed to break away and run off to San Francisco with some flowers in their hair. I had some friends who did that and some others who found their way to Woodstock.

By the time I was 18, both of my parents were deceased and I didn’t have many choices in life to choose from. I decided I was draft bait and enlisted in the Marines. It was only two years and then I could get on with my life. But while I was serving in Vietnam, some of my friends from school were either running to Canada or to Woodstock. I was the freak with the super short hair and clean cut look. I quickly discovered who my real friends were. I noticed that many of the people I went to school with were wasting away in drugs, booze and other immoral lifestyles. I wasn’t a Christian back then but I was raised to stay away from that type of living and on top of that, the Marines had instilled in me the proper way to conduct myself as a person.

So, I believe it was that era of time which began to change the culture in this country. It has been a slow and steady process over time but here we are where people want to be called them and they and when they write it out, it destroys the English language.

In San Francisco in the late 1960s, Haight and Ashbury Streets became the center of that radical generational shift in our culture. It was flower power and free love. And, free love has led to an extreme counter sexual preference in this country. All that free love and anything goes sexually has led to San Francisco being one of the most Gay populated cities in the country. But our God doesn’t miss anything. Right in the middle of the Haight/Ashbury counterculture movement, He started a revival which would spread down the west coast, across the country, into Central America and Canada as well as England and parts of Europe. It lasted from the late 60s and all through the 70s and even into the early 80s in some places. It was originally fueled by some of the same Hippies which had been to Haight/Ashbury and other Hippies swarmed to hotspots and turned Christianity on its head in this country. God used parts of this counterculture movement to drive His revival. Was it openly accepted by all churches? No. Some, if not most local churches rejected these people and this Christian movement because they couldn’t see past their man made rules and doctrines. Can God do this again? Sure, if its His will. Is the condition of this country ripe for another revival like that? It certainly is and we should be praying for it every day.

As Christians, we shouldn’t be hating people who are confused or lost in this culture today. Just because they want to be recognized as a member of the opposite sex doesn’t mean they are a lost cause. They need to be told about Jesus. It doesn’t matter if they are Gay, Transgender or any other type of person who doesn’t know Jesus. They need to know; consider some of the people Jesus ate with and spent time with and the way He was treated for that. It was the religious leaders of His time who were critical of Him. He was criticized for eating with tax collectors and prostitutes. But as He said, He was here to heal the sick and not those who thought they were healthy (paraphrase).

The Apostle Paul started a Christian church in Corinth. It was considered one of the most immoral cities in the geographical area. Temple prostitutes, homosexual activity and sexual worship in their temple. There were other sinful practices but did that stop Paul from telling them about Jesus? No. He spent 18 months there teaching them about Jesus. It was an extremely vile place but he preached to them every day. The point I am making is in our current world and culture, there are many extremely immoral people but that should never stop us from telling them about Jesus. Who He is, what he has done for us and He is waiting with arms wide open to forgive them and accept them. So, the next time you see one of these people, don’t judge them but instead realize they are lost and need to know the truth. And, if God opens a door to talk to them, tell them about Jesus but don’t beat them up verbally or judge them for their sin, judging is Jesus’ job.