“My heart says that the way I feel most myself is to go by the name ‘Fred.’ That’s because I’m nonbinary and Fred is the name that fits me best. And I also use ‘they’ and ‘them,’ because calling me a she or a he doesn’t feel right to me.” This is how a nonbinary character “comes out” on a recent episode of Ridley Jones, a Netflix cartoon for two to four-year-olds.

This is just one way popular culture is normalizing LGBTQ ideology for children. As another example, Marvel is announcing its Pride Month Star Wars comic book covers for this June. And the first annual Children’s and Family Emmy Awards honored a “Muppet Babies” episode in which the character Gonzo tries on dresses and uses they/them pronouns to identify as nonbinary. Netflix’s Heartstopper won the most awards; the drama centers on a romantic relationship between two teen boys in England.

Christian school barred from future competition

The Mid Vermont Christian School girls basketball team refused last month to compete against a transgender student due to concerns that playing a biological male would endanger the team’s female players. Now the school has been barred from competing in any Vermont Principals’ Association-sponsored competitions across all sports.

Meanwhile, members of the Randolph Union High School girls volleyball team in Vermont were banned from using the girls’ locker room after objecting to a transgender student changing there. One student responded, “I feel like for stating my opinion—that I don’t want a biological male changing with me—that I should not have harassment charges or bullying charges. They should all be dropped.”

And several members of Congress wrote a letter this week urging the US ambassador-at-large for religious freedom to turn his attention to the worsening treatment of Christians in the United Kingdom.

Some British Christians have been arrested for praying silently outside abortion clinics; one was cited for displaying an “Unborn Lives Matter” bumper sticker on his car. A chaplain was reported as a terrorist and blacklisted by his diocese for telling students at a Church of England school that they are free to accept or reject LGBT activists’ claims. Another official was formally rebuked by the church’s highest-ranking clerics and reported to the police for opposing the sexualization of children on social media.

The fourfold strategy for cultural transformation

For years I have been describing the fourfold strategy for cultural transformation: normalize beliefs, legalize actions, stigmatize opposition, then criminalize opponents. However, there are two problems with my analysis.

One is that it might suggest that these “stages” can be completed one before the next. In fact, cultural change requires all four in a constant state of cultural application.

The less “normal” the behavior in question (such as the killing of unborn babies), the more it must continually be “normalized.” As society begins to accept this “new normal,” its behaviors can then progressively be legalized (from same-sex marriage to polygamy, for example). Such “progress” will inevitably spark disagreement, which is why opposition must be stigmatized (such as branding biblical marriage advocates as “homophobes”). To defeat such critics, their opposition must ultimately be criminalized (as we are seeing in the UK today).

The other problem with my analysis is that it might suggest that these “stages” are primarily transacted on political and legal grounds. In fact, we are seeing them much more widely practiced by popular culture and voluntary organizations.

Netflix, for example, can seek to normalize LGBTQ ideology among preschoolers more easily (and perhaps effectively) than advocates could accomplish through school curricula overseen by elected school boards. And local school officials can enforce LGBTQ ideology more easily (and perhaps effectively) than federal mandates might accomplish.

When Oral Roberts made the Sweet Sixteen in last year’s men’s basketball tournament, there were calls for the NCAA to exclude the school due to its alleged homophobic policies. Since the NCAA is a private organization, it can do what it wants in this regard. I predict we will see similar pressure brought to bear against evangelical schools by academic societies and other private organizations.

“I would not be a citizen where Jesus was an alien”

David prayed, “I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers” (Psalm 39:12). Charles Spurgeon commented: “I walk through this sinful world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. Thou art a stranger in Thine own world. Man forgets Thee, dishonors Thee, sets up new laws and alien customs, and knows thee not” (his emphasis).

Spurgeon was right: When Jesus came into the world, “The world was made through him, yet the world did not know him” (John 1:10). This was true even of his own people: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (v. 11).

When you are living in a foreign land, you have a binary choice: you can adopt the language, customs, and culture where you live, or you can remain as you are. The pressure to do the former is intense: everyone wants to be liked, to fit in, to be valued by others. For example, being branded an intolerant “homophobe” who engages in a “war on women” is something few of us want. It is far easier to go along to get along.

But if we would follow Jesus, we must refuse and resist the continuing normalization of unbiblical immorality. To do this, let’s pray daily for the ability to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4:1). Let’s seek to join “the mature . . . who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14).

Then let’s pray for the Holy Spirit to lead and empower us (Ephesians 5:18) as we “fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Let’s remember that “God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (v. 14). And let’s remember that we are indeed sojourners in this foreign land and that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20).

Spurgeon prayed, “Lord, I would not be a citizen where Jesus was an alien.”

Would you make his commitment your prayer today?

Denison Forum

March Madness begins in earnest today, and if you have not yet added your bracket to the more than 80 million that are filled out each year, there may still be time to join the fun. If you don’t like to gamble, no need to worry. Though it’s estimated that more than half the adult population will place a wager over the internet—to the tune of roughly $10 billion in total bets—many people just play for fun and for office bragging rights.

That said, don’t be surprised if the office seems a bit more sparsely populated today. More than a third of Americans “are willing to call in sick or skip work to watch March Madness.” I suppose that’s still better than watching from the office, though, which the average worker will spend six hours doing over the course of the Tournament.

But while it’s estimated that the lost production will cost businesses around $163 billion this year, there is some benefit to be derived as well.

Of employees, 78 percent “say celebrating March Madness at work boosts morale,” and 39 percent report that “they became closer with a coworker after participating in an office pool.”

And if you still need a bit of guidance before officially joining the fun, there are a dizzying number of resources out there for your perusal—this list of facts from ESPN and this one from The Athletic are good places to start. Just be prepared for your picks to go wrong no matter how much work you put into them.

The odds of a perfect bracket

The odds of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion—that would be seventeen zeroes, lest you think I just invented a number. You’re twice as likely to win back-to-back lotteries as you are to fill out a perfect bracket.

Those long odds are why Warren Buffett felt comfortable offering $1 billion in 2014 for anyone at his company or its subsidiaries who could accomplish the feat.

He’s made the chance to win life-changing money a bit more attainable in the years since, though. While $1 billion is now off the table, a perfect first round will result in $1 million while any of his employees who can extend the streak through the second round will get $1 million each year for life.

However, considering that the longest anyone has stayed perfect is forty-nine games—it would take forty-eight to clear the second round—Buffett’s money is probably safe.

But if perfection is out of the question and many of those who participate in the Madness don’t even follow college basketball—as the vast number of (often winning) selections that are made based on school colors and mascots attest—how did the tournament become such a large cultural phenomenon?

Why do millions love March Madness?

One reason relates to the sense of chaos that infuses the games with an air of unpredictability.

Upsets are common and, unless they happen to your school, we get to embrace the seeming randomness of each game’s outcomes without being personally invested in the results. We can root for the underdogs without any sense of disappointment when they lose. There aren’t many other areas of our lives where we can emotionally invest in something without any real risk if it doesn’t go our way.

However, the second reason is, perhaps, more relevant to our larger calling as Christians.

March Madness—and, more specifically, the brackets, competitions, and good-natured fun that frequently accompany it—creates a sense of community for those who take part. It gives people a common interest to unite around and experience together. Even people who don’t care all that much about the sport can be included alongside those who live and breathe basketball.

There are not many parts of our culture where that’s the case, and the way people gravitate toward that sense of community shows just how much it’s needed.

If done right, the church should be able to help meet that need as well.

Shooting for community

In yesterday’s Daily Article, I made the point that asking if the church still matters is asking the wrong question. The basic idea was that it doesn’t matter if the church is relevant if it ceases to be the church in the process.

I still believe that is the case, but a point I could have made more clearly is that when our communities are built on the foundation of meeting spiritual needs, we become better at meeting other needs as well.

As the individuals in our communities of faith worship God and proclaim God’s truth, a funny thing happens along the way: we become more like Jesus. We start to love as he loved. We forgive as he forgave. And we serve as he served.

When that happens, we don’t have to bother with proving our worth or our relevance because it will be apparent to anyone who walks through our doors (even if those who remain outside continue to be perplexed).

As March Madness shows, people are starved for that kind of community. And if the church can be the church, we can help them find it in the body of Christ.

Creating that sense of community cannot be our focus and, paradoxically, the harder we try the more it will slip through our fingers. But when our eyes remain fixed on Christ and worshiping him, it will often happen naturally.

Throughout his ministry, the lost were drawn to Jesus because he exuded the presence of God in every facet of his life, and the same was true for his disciples (Acts 2:42–47).

Will it be true for us?

Denison Forum