C.S. Lewis called it “chronological snobbery,” the belief that somehow people today are more “advanced” than our ancestors. It’s the idea that we’ve somehow progressed morally or learned something about human nature that older generations didn’t know.
You hear this attitude in phrases people throw about: “That’s so '90s.” Or, “That’s so last century.” As if real truth were as transient as the latest fashion.
Perhaps this idea comes about because we have made technological and scientific discoveries. But people are deeply misinformed and confused if they think humans have “morally advanced.” They are confusing advances in technology with advances in human nature.
What have we really learned about what it means to be human that Hebrew Scriptures didn’t teach thousands of years ago? Or that Jesus didn’t know and understand 2,000 years ago?
The Scriptures that Jesus believed and lived by tell us that God created humans male and female — and that He intended sexual expression to be only within the context of a marriage between a man and a woman. Such a union unites a husband and wife physically and spiritually into one flesh. Marriage also brings about the next generation, to be raised, ideally, by a mother and a father. And marriage is used throughout the Bible as the primary symbol or picture of our relationship with God.
We know that humanity fell, and that we all suffer brokenness and sin as a result. Broken relationships. Broken sexuality. Sinful hearts. Sinful actions. Homosexual attractions, identity and behavior are consequences of humanity’s fall — along with other sins. Humanity hasn’t advanced or progressed enough to save itself. We still need a savior.
Our president, on two occasions now, has said to gay- and transgender-identified activists, “There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors, even loved ones — good and decent people — who hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes; who fail to see your families like their families. …”
In his latest speech to these activists, he added, “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”
Such statements reflect a presumptuous chronological snobbery. They minimize and belittle those of us who believe in and seek to follow Scriptural teaching. But even worse, such statements trample on Scripture’s teaching about God’s created intent for humanity and sexuality, swapping the truth for lies and exchanging real wisdom for political expedience and cultural trendiness.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To read more by Jeff Johnston and our other issue experts, please visit our DriveThru blog.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family Action is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
