The Good, the True, and the Beautiful
Last month, our oldest daughter, Sophie, and I spent a week in Washington, D.C. with her senior class. It was "fanfreakin'tastic,” to quote a friend: the kids!, the sights, the monuments and museums, sunsets on the Mall, and being immersed in language and symbols of courage, honor, service, and patriotism. Per usual, more quotes than people filled my camera. :)
We had somber moments too. At Arlington Cemetery, Sophie (second from the left) and three other classmates had the honor of laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The solemn ceremony with armed guards had the entire audience silent and spellbound. As the taps played and solitary notes spilled out to linger in the sultry May air, some wiped tears. Others stood and moved with their hands over their chests. I felt emotion rise up too — where else in society do we unite with strangers and meet to honor the value of a life?
As we boarded the bus, the kids burst into songs of sacrifice, courage, honor, and love of country. It is remarkable how people respond when given something outside of themselves to aspire to. It’s almost as if we were created for this. Lives formed around the center of loving God and serving others are not wasted, but the greatest way to live a life filled with purpose, joy, and contribution.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phillipians 4:8
Instilling a love for the good, the true, and the beautiful in kids has been a unifying priority for the Judeo-Christian West. Christian ideas created the backbone of Western civilization, and principles often flowed from the reality of God as the source of goodness, truth, and beauty.
But today, these ideas are more than just passe, they are objectionable. Instead of living for something outside of the self (God and others), the new culture CEOs mandate the love of self. They’ve rebranded virtues accordingly: Relative good, your truth, and a new kind of beauty. It’s a subtle twist, but a deadly one.
Relative good, your truth, and a new kind of beauty.
It’s a subtle twist, but a deadly one. Instead of deriving our basic identity, meaning, and virtue from God, this shift looks to the self. And the self is being defined primarily by deviant sexual and fluid gender identities.
It’s always good to read the fine print, and buying into this cultural shift is no exception.
One is rooted in reality, the other in rebellion against reality.
One is principled in humility, the other in pride.
One leads to a healthy civilization, the other to the demise of civilization.
One leads to life, the other to dehumanization.
The new virtues come wrapped up with social affirmation and are pushed at every public venue. Pride month is like Christmas for this sort of thing; everything’s glittery, on sale, and celebrated. But the target customer (the kids) are unaware that this isn’t a gift that keeps on giving, instead, it steals and destroys.
Seeing this process play out in real people, particularly kids, is disturbing. Drag shows and Pride parades celebrate and expose kids to explicit sexual acts. It’s abuse and should be prosecuted as such. Instead, it’s common, pervasive, and even celebrated.
And the teens! The campaign capitalizes on that question every person coming of age wrestles with: who am I? And Pride answers with libraries hosting drag shows, teachers with shocking TikTok reels, and medical professionals lining up with a surgical knife and hormone therapy. But who’s there for the kids when they emerge years later with altered bodies and despairing minds? It seems no one. The Twitter threads and Instagram reels are full of kids crying out. But the campaign has no place for returns: indeed, all sales are final.
Grief. Lust and loss masquerade as love.
I’ve struggled to know how to respond, how to talk to my kids, and then how to love the truth and love people (neither exists at the expense of the other).
In a time of spiritual famine, how do we point to the inexhaustible riches of Christ Jesus? I offer four suggestions as a start.
Recognize injustice and respond. The most vulnerable among us are being exploited with the approval of many pediatricians, teachers, politicians, academics, and even parents. In response, we need to pray and work through advocacy, policy, and a relentless embrace of truth in our homes, schools, and the public square.
Speak the Truth and Show Love. Today’s love is interpreted as an unquestioning affirmation. But to show love is to speak the truth, not affirm the lie. Lies bring death, the truth brings life. Jesus loved people enough to speak the truth to them. He didn’t affirm sin, but met people in their sin and called them to repent and follow him. Sin always dehumanizes, but Christ restores humanity.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13: 6-7
Meditate on God’s Word. It would be arrogant to think that being immersed in our culture has little effect on us. And so we need the daily washing of our minds in the Word and communion with God. Think back to Daniel, the Hebrew captive in Babylon. He was rooted in God’s word, and those waking by his windows could see his prayer life. This God-dependence renewed his mind in a dying culture. It gave him courage and strength when facing death for not bowing to the cultural gods. Dying for God’s truth is better than living for Babylon’s lies.
Love and Pray for Our Neighbors. It would be naive to think that this will not radically affect our communities in the coming years. And while it is overwhelming when one considers the confusion, mental breakdown, and loss of identity that victims of the new ideologies increasingly display— who will help? Who will love? Who will share hope? As people struggle with the gnawing question of who am I? we can respond with the good news of to whom they belong. The Creator is the Redeemer.
I pray that my life will show that I do not belong to myself, but to my faithful Savior. A life marked by welcoming, speaking the truth, setting the table, and sharing the incredible hope of Christ.
He alone is the source of all goodness, truth, and beauty.
Much Love,
Kara
P.S. For further reading, I give these two books 5 stars!
Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality by Nancy R. Pearcey. Nancy offers a riveting exposé of the dehumanizing secularist ethos that shapes the critical moral and socio-political issues of our day.
Strange New World: How Thinkers and Activists Redefined Identity and Sparked the Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman. A bit more accessible than his brilliant work, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. Both are excellent.
Well said and I totally agree. Thanks for writing this!
Thank you Kara so good and true. There is a book Called “Mama Bear Apologetics a Guide to Sexuality” by Hillary Morgan Ferrer you should read that. She touches on all of this.