One of my most treasured memories is Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Fred Rogers embodied what may have been the kindest personality on the television. I recently began watching an old episode of his show called, Mister Rogers Talks About Making Mistakes. Emotion flooded me as I remembered watching the show when I was a kid, but something nagged at me. The above picture is a screenshot from a scene where Lady Aberline and Daniel the Tiger were singing a song meant to address feeling different. Daniel felt that because he was a tiger, he needed to be like every other tiger. The problem was that he was often afraid and weak, while other tigers were not. He ended the exchange by asking if Lady Aberline liked him just the way he was, even though he felt the way he felt, looked the way he looked, and loved the way he loved. Lady Aberline then answered, "Especially because you love the way you love."
I believe that if Fred Rogers were alive today, he would be appalled at how this last concept has been distorted.
The above flyer was stapled to a phone pole in Oregon. The top line reads, "Pedophiles are people, too." The bottom line reads, "Because Love is Love."
In 2010, the book above was being sold by Amazon.com, but then was removed from stores because of the overwhelming protest from Amazon's customer base. Many threatened to boycott the retail giant until they removed the book.
NOTE: There was such an uproar concerning both the pedophile flyer on the pole AND the above book because the practice of pedophilia goes against society's sensibilities. The problem with this, however, is that society has been attacking the standard that FORMED those sensibilities since the sexual revolution in the 1960s. Observe the progression.
Psychologists document a technique called systematic desensitization. They take a patient and slowly familiarize them with something of which they are terrified. Eventually, the patient is no longer afraid of what formerly scared them. The sexual revolution began this process in the United States, not with anything people were afraid of, but with immoral standards of sexuality. The steps are as follows:
Before the sexual revolution, sex outside of marriage was widely considered to be wrong. Slowly, morality was nudged out and "free love" was pushed in. "If it feels good, do it" became the growing consensus. Society's viewpoint still held that marriage was sacred and that homosexuality was wrong, but we had bent on the rule of sex being appropriate ONLY within the bounds of marriage, especially if you loved each other. So...emotion ruled the day. Rules were made to be broken, right?
The sexual revolution also brought in the idea of what many call "swinging." The idea was that if a married couple both agreed to redefine the limits of their relationship, they could explore sexual relationships with other couples. So...if a couple agrees that it's okay to have sex with other people than their spouse, and the other couple agrees with them, then it was okay. So...if everyone is okay with it, it must be okay. Once again, emotion ruled the day, and any standard was replaced by subjective judgment. Rules were only rules if you agreed with them. Marriage was no longer sacred. Infidelity had been redefined to only apply as such if your mate was not in agreement with it.
At this point, homosexuality was still widely viewed as morally wrong, but the moral standard had already begun to crumble. The effort of systematic desensitization continued. Homosexuality began to be included in the margins of many Hollywood productions. It was often the subject of jokes. Slowly society adopted the "behind closed doors" mentality, suggesting that whatever happened in a person's bedroom is not anyone else's business. Homosexuality was now not looked at as morally wrong, but just something that needed to be kept private. Very quickly after that, "gay pride" became a movement, and the trip to our current climate was very short.
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy actually tweeted on November 7th, 2018, "the original show was fighting for tolerance. Our fight is for acceptance." The truth is that acceptance was the end goal from the start. No one wants to hear any type of condemnation for what they are doing. What the homosexual community has taught the world is that if you push long enough, you get what you want regardless of the rules.
Now the tactics to have homosexuality not only accepted but endorsed are being used to pry open the leaks in the dam of morality. If "love is love" as many who endorse homosexuality say, then there is no moral ground to condemn any sexual behavior. In fact, the movement to normalize homosexuality has even sought to bolster its ranks by allying with any type of sexual deviance. Note the growing label of the movement. It used to be the "gay" community. It quickly became LGBT, standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual. It currently has expanded to include LGBTTQQIAAP standing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, and pansexual. They now seek to include those who are not necessarily deviant in their ranks by labeling those who are "questioning" their sexuality as lumped in with those who are homosexual. They have invented the concept of transgenderism, though science has proven over and over that no amount of surgery or imitation will change a person's biological gender. Pedophiles now seek to normalize their perversion by citing the tolerance and even endorsement of this growing and nonsensical movement. If society can tolerate and endorse this vast array of sexual deviance and intentional confusion, why can it not tolerate and eventually endorse pedophilia? If society were to respond consistently, pedophilia would soon be among those sexual practices that are commonly approved.
Is this truly the end that should be?
What if society were to realize that the exceptions to morality should never have been made?
What if society had sought for unity through clinging to God's standard, rather than by abandoning it?
- Extramarital and premarital sexual promiscuity would still be something that was condemned. Galatians 5:19-21
- Marriage would still have its sanctity intact rather than there being a divorce rate of 50% + in this country. Malachi 2:16
- The convoluted falsehood of gender fluidity would be non-existent. Genesis 1:27
- Objective morality and objective truth would still have a hold in this country. John 7:24
- Marriage would still be defined by our country as God defines it: One man and one woman, together for life. Matthew 19:4-6
- Homosexuality would never have been endorsed by our country. 1 Corinthians 6:9
- The practice of pedophilia would be forever without traction in our country.
As is often the thrust of this blog, society in our nation has become a moral catastrophe. If you seek clarity in the blurred fog that has become society's moral view, reach out to God's people. Let us help you find truth in God's word.
Jeremiah Schnell, minister for the church of Christ at Vermilion
5116 Driftwood Drive
Vermilion, Ohio, 44089
440-967-6757
A great eye opening article! Thanks so much!
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