Riley Gaines (Riley Gaines’ Website; Save Women’s Sports): If you are not familiar with that name, then do a Google search. She is pushing back against the idea that we must allow biological males to compete in female sports if they feel like they are actually female. Good for her. The key word here is “feel,” and is about all you have left when metaphysical and moral absolutes are rejected. Emotions are now exalted in this postmodern age as the ultimate arbiter of the true, the good, the right, and the beautiful. Anything goes so long as one is expressing how they feel. But is this rational? Is this logical? Are feelings a reliable guide to truth? Can someone be a dog if they feel less like a human? Can a person justify racist actions if they feel that their view is correct? Can someone molest a child if they feel that it is the right thing to do for their own self-improvement and pleasure? The trouble in our age is something that Carl Trueman masterly handles in one of his books (The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution). “Expressive individualism” rules the day, and this allows for a person to say or do anything so long as they are being “true to themselves.” What does that mean? Which self? Is this identity-related language really just a cover-up for, “I will do what I feel and no one should be able to stop me.” The individual is god. I digress. Needless to say, Riley Gaines is a voice and she is boldly fighting to protect women’s rights and sports from the intrusion of not only biological males, but at a deeper level, an emotionally-based, relativistic philosophy that has deep roots in the Western psyche that claims that an individual’s feelings are god above all other realities (including biological reality). Similar to Plato, the physical world–in this case the world of biology—has once again been denigrated.
Rest for the Soul: Sleep and rest are two different things. One can rest the body by slowing down or sleeping, but still avoid mental, emotional, and/or spiritual rest. I am reviewing a book for a journal in the U.K. where author Michael Bräutigam writes: “Following Christ means an end to restless pursuits to identity formation as the Master speaks his shalom into the core of our being” (Flourishing in Tensions: Embracing Radical Discipleship). I read this and respond, “Yes, Lord.” It reminds me of one of the most famous lines on rest in church history (Confessions):
B.J. Condrey, Ph.D. 