I was brought up a Catholic, and was taught from my earliest
school years that the commandment to “honor thy father and thy mother” was
Number Four in the Decalogue (the theological name for the “Ten Commandments” in
Exodus 20). As my spiritual journey brought me into a living, saving
relationship with Jesus Christ, I left the Catholic Church (with no animosity,
I want to add) to seek a purer, more Scriptural approach to this relationship,
At present, my husband and I worship and participate in Bible study with a
Southern Baptist congregation.
I say this because, long ago, Protestant exegetes and Bible
translators assigned a different numbering system to the Decalogue, resulting
in this present-day “problem”: Is the commandment concerning honoring one’s
father and mother the fourth or the fifth commandment? Well – guess what! – I’m
not going to get involved in that discussion (I was never really good at
numbers, either then or now).
So what do I want to say? It is this: the Bruce / Caitlyn
Jenner and the Rachel Dozeal / Dolezal (I have found both last names on the
internet, to my astonishment) storms are fundamentally issues involving
disobedience to God and His clear Word. But there is more beyond the
face-painting of “gender reassignment” and racial “identification”: in both
instances, these “instant celebrities” have publicly dishonored their fathers
and their mothers. How, you say? I respond: Isn’t it obvious?
When Bruce / Caitlyn was born, his parents rejoiced over a son “born of [our] flesh.” When a
baby emerges from the womb, one of the first things the doctor or midwife tells
the mother (and father) is the sex of the child. This fact is clear and
uncomplicated: if the child has certain genitalia, it is a boy; if it has
another set, it is a girl. The mother can verify the attending physician’s
pronouncement instantly; she does not have to go through any long process of “discovery.”
And, aided and encouraged by the child’s parents and other people involved in
the community surrounding that child, the child is affirmed with respect to his
/ her physical characteristics: the child is such-and-such a height; the child
is such-and-such a weight; the child is a boy
(in Bruce’s case). (Yes, I know I am ignoring the mental / spiritual side of
Bruce’s argument for the moment, because it is not quantifiable. Only these
sorts of facts are.) May I remind my readers that these physical
characteristics contributed heavily to Bruce’s sports accomplishments in high
school, college, and the 1972 and 1976 Olympics?
I wish to offer a sidebar at this point. If one is to take
Bruce / Caitlyn’s “gender reassignment” seriously, isn’t he ethically required
to return his Olympic medals? He competed as a male; he won as a male.
He didn’t win any of the female
competitions, because he wasn’t qualified.
If he now asserts (rightly or wrongly is irrelevant) that he has always
self-identified as a female,
then he competed unfairly, even in 1972 and 1976. The Olympics Games Committee –
whatever other faults we may accuse it of – is pretty strict on rules, and to
my knowledge, there is no rule allowing for “plasticity of gender.”
And while we are tackling that issue, please let’s consider
the fact that his biological children (presumably) have birth certificates
listing him as the father. Is
the plasticity evident in all this media hype surrounding Jenner’s assertion not supposed to affect the “products
of conception” that his wives brought forth? Are the children (yes, I know they
are grown – but they are still his
offspring) now supposed to call Jenner “mother”? Are any grandchildren now supposed
to call Jenner “Ga-maw” or “Na-Na” or “Granny”? You may not want to go there,
but it’s an issue – provoked exclusively by Jenner – nevertheless.
And now back to my original point: In taking the (very
public) steps that he has taken, Jenner has brought public shame on his
parents. “They lied when they called me a boy,” he is, in effect, saying. “They
conspired to make me into something I wasn’t.” Now, his parents are obviously
innocent of these charges. So is Jenner following this Fourth / Fifth
Commandment? I cannot – even using creative imagination – say “yes” to that
question.
Let’s move on to Rachel Dozeal / Dolezal. Apparently, not
only has her racial identity somehow mysteriously shifted (contrary to all
known laws of genetics and biology), but her birth certificate “neither proves
nor disproves” (her words) that her parents are
her parents (as she said in an interview with Matt Lauer on June 16, 2015)!
(Funny, I thought things like birth certificates were necessary things in
courts of law and suchlike because they could
prove those very things!) Is there something unique to R.D.’s existence that
precludes a biological association with the people who conceived her, cared for
her, supported her, and (until this nonsense) were actually identified as her parents?
Apparently, R.D. thinks there is, and this “uniqueness”
resides – sadly – in her own mind as pure re-invention. She acts as though she
is completely justified in denying her parents (and all the other details of
this bizarre event) because…well, because she has convinced herself that it is
true (all other factual evidence to the contrary). Ah, but there’s just a
slight problem in that situation: Scripture records that, “The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
(Jeremiah 17:9 ESV). Here the Old Testament prophet does not provide an “exception”
clause; all people are
deceived at one time or another by their mental machinations. It is the very
nature of sin. That’s why God gave us commandments to be truthful and peaceful…and
honorable towards our parents.
One cannot adequately judge by television appearances;
therefore, one cannot pronounce whether Rachel’s parents were good, bad, or
indifferent via that medium. However, that does not figure into the Fourth /
Fifth Commandment at all. God did not enunciate “Honor thy father and thy
mother” with an added stipulation that the parents be good, wholesome, and
conform to the latest Sinai / Negev Desert regional regulations related to
child-care practices. Instead of a stipulation – as Paul the Apostle pointed
out – God added a promise –
yes, a promise directed to the child,
not to either parent – “that
[life] may go well with you…” (Deuteronomy 5:16, Ephesians 6:3). God wants us
to honor our parents. Deserving or undeserving. Period. No asterisk.
Jesus Christ chided the Pharisees for their practice of “corban”
– cutting off aid to aging parents by declaring such aid had been “dedicated to
God” and therefore not available to mere mortals (Matthew 15: 4 – 6, Mark 7: 10
– 13). Furthermore, He made dramatic (and public) provision for His own mother
as He hung dying on the cross (John 19: 26 – 27). These are not the words or deeds
of an ascetic, imperious self-identifier; they are the words of pure love. Is R.D. trying,
through her NAACP work, to emulate the founder of Christianity (with whom the
NAACP used to be proud of associating themselves – check out Martin Luther King’s
“Letter from Birmingham Jail”)? If so, she should be paying more attention to
His words.
If Jenner and R.D. are guilty of breaking the command to
honor their parents, what should we do? Well, the first thing would be to not celebrate them! They cannot
dishonor their parents and somehow be honorable people. Forget those haloes
that the media have put around them; their actions are plain, and they have
acted against God’s law to be honest and truthful. Condemn
the sin and pray for the perpetrators.
And then let’s all work on following the Ten Commandments
and the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mizz Liz
