Jan 10,
To Heidelblog and Christopher Rufo for the part of Rufo's article that Drag Queen Story Hour calls for the reconstruction of sex and associates it with Pedophilia.
Christopher Rufo's full article can be found at
https://www.city-journal.org/the-real-story-behind-drag-queen-story-hour
I guess if one applies all-or-nothing thinking here, what Rufo fears must certainly come about. That is especially true if one accepts Rufo's interpretation of Drag Queen performances as the deconstruction of sex.
However, if one employs Rufo's all-or-nothing thinking, can't any lack of conformity with Christian sexual mores be seen as the abolition of all sexual restrictions? After all, such logic was applied by some religiously conservative Christians as a reason to reject homosexuality in society. And the same logic was used to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage as some used such logic to conclude that polygamy and polyamory would follow same-sex marriage. Thus, Rufo is employing all-or-nothing to put something that he dislikes, and I dislike too, on a spectrum that is only meant to smear it.
We've had Drag Queens in this nation for decades in not more than a century. What is different now is that they are emerging from being marginalized.
Though I do not understand why some have chosen to be Drag Queens, I suspect that, like other groups, Drag Queens do not form a monolithic community. Thus the interpretation of Drag Queen performances and the conclusions drawn by Christopher Rufo are suspect. However, what is not mere speculation is that Rufo's take on Drag Queens and their story reading in schools is mean to incite fear in us religiously conservative Christians. We should note that the unwarranted inciting of fear in an audience makes that group more susceptible to embrace authoritarianism.
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To Heidelblog, Oldlife.org, and the Nicotine Theological Journal for the part of the article called Sectarians All from the Nicotine Theological Journal that was reposted in November of 2022 on the Oldlife.org website.
Link to the Oldlife.org reposting of the article:
https://oldlife.org/2022/11/29/sectarians-all-ntj-april-1998/
The Nicotine Theological Journal posting of the article:
https://oldlifeorg.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/2-2.pdf
The conflict between Reformed traditionalists and Bible-only advocates portrayed in the article quoted from above somewhat mirrors the relationship between traditionalism and narcissism. For traditionalism and narcissism are two sides of the same coin. While side elevates certain periods from the past way way above all other time periods, the other side elevates what can be considered the current time period way above all other past time periods.
So the issue here isn't the competition between traditionalists, Reformed ones in particular, and Bible-only advocates as the article correctly states. Nor is the claim in article from Oldlife.org that the issue is a contest between traditions that are accountable to the Visible Church, Reformed ones in particular, and either interpretations by either individuals or parachurch organizations. Here we should note that individual Christians and parachurch organizations actually make up part of the Visible Church and so we are back to comparing interpretations from different time periods.
Rather, the issue is about the size of the pedestal on which we place the sources of our interpretations of the Scriptures. For when the pedestals on which we put our sources of our interpretations of the Scriptures are too big, then those sources compete with the Scriptures for how we think just as the traditions of the Pharisees, about which Jesus spoke in Mark 7, competed for the minds of the religious leaders back in Jesus's time on earth. And a very good indicator of whether the pedestals on which we put our sources are too big is whether we acknowledge that our favorite sources can be corrected by other sources of interpretations.
One of the problems that the Reformed Traditionalists have made themselves very vulnerable to is that they have made their Reformed Standards into virtual Pope. As a result, they greatly struggle to interpret the Scriptures outside of what their favorite Reformers said. At this point, their favorite standards and traditions become a canon above the canon of the Scriptures. And thus, such traditionalists spend more time in showing their alignment with the views of the writers of their favorite traditions than on how what they state is Biblically sound. At this point we should adapt one of Paul's statements which said: <b>Did Martin Luther die for you? Were you baptized in the name of John Calvin?</b>
When we put our own sources for interpreting the Bible on too high a pedestal, we all too easily start to unnecessarily divide the Church and start showing partiality. And so both the Reformed Traditionalists and the Bible-only advocates need to learn from each other otherwise members from both groups will hurt fellow believers in Christ as well as diminish the significance of the Scriptures.
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To Heidelblog and Carl Trueman for the part of Trueman's article quoted in a Heidelblog article regarding the problem with celebrity Evangelism.
Carl Trueman's full article can be found at:
https://wng.org/opinions/the-establishment-conformity-of-bono-1669208491
Being an amateur musician who arranges and sometimes even composes music for myself to play, I heartily agree with most of Trueman's assessment of Rock music. I would have to disagree that when Rock seeks to be profound in its music, it becomes both 'self-important' and only appears to be profound. And I say that as someone who doesn't like Rock.
Trueman's criticisms of Rock is a mix of both truth and pettiness. The pettiness becomes apparent Trueman criticizes the social stands of groups like U2. Trueman strongly opposes support for same-sex marriage in society and abortion. And though I disagree with Trueman on the same-sex marriage in society issue, I agree with hin on the abortion issue even though I think that abortion is a far more complicated issue that he seems to acknowledge. My guess is that by attacking Rock music in saying that it lacks musical depth, he is sowing doubts into the social-moral views of its performers. And such is an authoritarian way of attacking a view that one strongly disagrees with.
What Trueman seems to miss about Rock music, including Punk Rock, and any other simplistic genre of music is that its value is most often found in the the meaning of its lyrics. And my guess is that the rejection of the status quo in the 1960s significantly displeased Trueman. But what was being rejected back then? Wasn't it the immoral war in Vietnam? Wasn't it Jim Crow? Wasn't it the materialism in which the Greatest Generation was raising its children to embrace? Wasn't it the oppression of women in society? And wasn't it the dangers full scale nuclear war?
And what has Bono objected to with his music and platform? Hasn't it been marginalization of the LGBT community? And hasn't it been against the restrictions on abortion?
Something else that Trueman seems not to recognize about Rock. While Bebop was rightfully taking over the Jazz scene and overly commercialized music of big bands and pop singers who appealed to the Greatest Generation types offered such a great disparity in musical quality, Rock was both musically accessible to play, which was unlike Bebop, and gave the emerging baby boomers an important voice on issues and the moral failures they saw in society. And there is nothing more disgruntling to traditionalists than to see and hear the traditional views that have become part of the status quo being denounced by kids.
Trueman both makes and misses a very important point when it comes to problems of a celebrity culture. And while Trueman addresses that in terms of pastors, it can apply to musical celebrities like Bono. Because of their celebrity status, their social views can lead us astray because we are more receptive to their views because of their celebrity status. But the cause of such is due mostly to our authoritarianism. And it is an authoritarian culture that has enabled Bono's social views to emerge in society just as it is out of authoritarianism that Trueman criticizes him.
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