{"id":13089,"date":"2026-09-04T11:25:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/?post_type=articles&p=13089"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T18:36:14","slug":"christ-caesar-or-self-politics-law-and-the-national-anthem-of-hell-part-2","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/christ-caesar-or-self-politics-law-and-the-national-anthem-of-hell-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ, Caesar, or Self: Politics, Law, and the National Anthem of Hell \u2013 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI did it My Way!\u201d[1]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u201cThe way of the fool is right in his own eyes\u201d[2]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u201cHaving a rather accurate knowledge of the Way\u201d[3]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u201cI am the Way\u201d[4]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Idolizing the State \u2013 the collective – has created a modern Leviathan.\u00a0 Yet, idolizing the Self \u2013 the individual – remains a driving force shaping and deforming today\u2019s law and culture.\u00a0 Consider these popular song lyrics embedded in the wallpaper of today\u2019s culture:<\/p>\n

For what is a man?<\/em><\/p>\n

What has he got?<\/em><\/p>\n

If not himself, then he is naught<\/em><\/p>\n

To say the things he truly feels,<\/em><\/p>\n

And, not the words of one who kneels.<\/em><\/p>\n

The record shows<\/em><\/p>\n

I took the blows,<\/em><\/p>\n

And did it MY WAY!![5]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Christian philosopher Peter Kreeft calls this song the National Anthem of Hell.[6]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 But it gets worse: The Idol of Self does not stand alone; it combines with the Idol of State, which we\u2019ve explored previously. The toxic merging of the Idols of Caesar and Self accelerates the political and legal messes we currently face, causing more than individual havoc. The Church must understand and recognize these seductive and subtle pagan expressions of false worship. Why?<\/p>\n

Because many in the Church have unthinkingly imbibed the Idol of Self \u2013 what we might call My Wayism.\u00a0 We see this in churches that craft their \u201cworship experience\u201d along a consumer model:\u00a0 What do people want?\u00a0 What sells?\u00a0 What generates clicks and conference fees?\u00a0 What doesn\u2019t<\/em> rock the boat, thus avoiding public theology and politics[7]<\/sup><\/a>?<\/p>\n

This modality caters to the individual, his desires, and his cravings, and thereby treats people as consumers and customers, not converts.\u00a0 This has resulted in professing Christians \u2013 including some evangelicals – advocating for poisonous fruit fertilized by the Idol of Self:\u00a0 abortion,[8]<\/sup><\/a> homosexual behavior,[9]<\/sup><\/a> and affirming Transgenderism.[10]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 And in doing so, they become sitting ducks for the Idol of State.\u00a0 How did this occur?<\/p>\n

Advocates on the Left seeking approval for deviate sexual behavior understood that they needed to make a religious<\/em> argument for LGBTQ acceptance[11]<\/sup><\/a> and they have done so effectively among a swath of evangelicals \u2013 In the wake of such efforts, the Idol of Self has confused and convinced a number of evangelicals that they have somehow misunderstood Christian sexual teaching and the Bible for millennia.[12]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 All this results from the Idol of the Self, or My Wayism.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get to the gist.<\/p>\n

Non-Pauline Cosmology:\u00a0 The Idol of Self and Modern Law and Policy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Certainly, the Idol of State fosters great social chaos and Christians are not immune.\u00a0 Sure, certain social media yappers \u2013 both Left and Right – push Statism or some version of it, but today\u2019s default setting pushes libertine freedom and individuality \u2013 My Wayism.<\/p>\n

In fact, My Wayism expresses itself powerfully because it sets the Self as the center of moral authority,<\/em> thereby driving law and policy:<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he fundamental idolatry<\/em><\/strong> described by the Bible lies also at the heart of the varied modern idolatries:\u00a0 the idolatry of the self<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 The self is set at the center<\/em><\/strong> of existence as a god<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0 ultimate significance is found in god-like individual autonomy<\/em><\/strong>, self-set goals and boundaries.\u201d[13]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We see this culturally in things like Frank Sinatra\u2019s signature song, My Way[14]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em>, but also in dressed up forms like God-hating Ayn Rand and her Objectivism, here set forth in her book tellingly labeled, The Virtue[!] of Selfishness<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cMan has to be man\u2014by choice; he has to hold his life as a value\u2014by choice; he has to learn to sustain it\u2014by choice; he has to discover the values it requires and practice his virtues\u2014by choice.\u00a0 A code of values accepted by choice is the code of morality<\/strong>.\u201d[15]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note here, according to Rand, it is the allegedly autonomous Self and its choices that determine<\/em> morality:\u00a0 the individual\u2019s subjective choice dictates the supposed objective standard.\u00a0 This comprises reductionism, that is, rooting or deriving ethics solely within or from Creation.<\/p>\n

We see this also in popular self-help paganism, as actress Shirley MacLaine intoned:<\/p>\n

\u201cEach soul is its own god.\u00a0 You must never worship anyone or anything other than self.\u00a0 For you are God.\u00a0 To love self is to love God.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>[16]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And, we see this in situations unsuited for chuckling.\u00a0 Treating the Self \u2013 and its choices and desires \u2013 as the determinative authority fosters turmoil and misery.\u00a0 Consider Chloe Jennings-White, an able-bodied 40-something Brit who desires to become a paraplegic<\/em> by having her sciatic nerve severed.\u00a0 As she explains:<\/p>\n

At age four, she visited her aunt who had leg braces . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted them too; I wondered why I wasn\u2019t born needing them, and felt something was wrong with me because I didn\u2019t have them.\u201d[17]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The news report relates that she actually found a surgeon willing \u2013 for a price \u2013 to \u201ctreat her\u201d however, she\u2019s not yet raised sufficient funds for this paralyzing procedure.<\/p>\n

Or, consider Jewel Shuping, a young, troubled girl who dreamed of being blind<\/em> \u2013 and convinced her psychological therapist to use drain cleaner to blind her as part of her \u201caffirming\u201d therapy.[18]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 And, he did so with apparent impunity because she had consented[19]<\/sup><\/a> to the procedure as part of her \u201ctherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In both foregoing cases, self-destruction and permanent mutilation are deemed appropriate \u201chealth care\u201d simply because the Self is deemed authoritative.\u00a0 Left to itself, the Self, because it is fallen, eventually treats evil as good and good as evil.<\/p>\n

Or, consider the young socially-conscious Brazilian woman who decided to raise money \u201cto build homes for poverty-stricken families\u201d by auctioning off her virginity<\/em>.\u00a0 But, of course, there would be rules:<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the terms and conditions of the auction, the winning bidder must have a medical examination and a police check<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Rules stipulate that they may not be intoxicated<\/em><\/strong> during their time with the virgin, kiss them, involve anyone else or sex toys<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d[20]<\/strong><\/sup><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Note the moral inversion here:\u00a0 ethics being used to protect and promote unethical practices\u2014exactly the point Paul makes:\u00a0 false worship manifests itself by approving unrighteous<\/em> practices.[21]<\/a><\/p>\n

Could it be even weirder or worse when the Self is god?\u00a0 Yes, indeed. Why?\u00a0 Because, as Paul notes, idolatry drives for the approval<\/em> of those practices which express idolatrous practices.\u00a0 It\u2019s one thing to do an unrighteous thing; it\u2019s quite another to have that thing culturally and legally sanctioned, which is Paul\u2019s point in Romans 1:32:<\/p>\n

Though they know God\u2019s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.<\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

This results in the Idols of State and Self combining<\/em> to enforce the Self\u2019s choices. Thus, the culture\u2019s law will be invoked to affirm and approve (\u201ccodify\u201d) the Self\u2019s autonomous acts, whatever they may be.[22]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Caesar and Self combine with devastating consequences.\u00a0 Decorum and good taste are optional, by the way.<\/p>\n

For example, consider the once-taboo topic of bestiality.\u00a0 This is increasingly being advocated as a \u201csexual orientation\u201d practiced by zoophiles[23]<\/sup><\/a>.\u00a0 And, guess what?\u00a0 Some argue that the law should affirm and approve such practices by protecting them constitutionally, surprising everyone, except the apostle Paul.[24]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Northwestern law professor, Eugene Kontorovich, hopefully writing tongue in cheek, notes how extant jurisprudence, a jurisprudence that often embraces and protects the Idol of Self, supports the zoophile\u2019s claims:<\/p>\n

\u201cBestiality is private sexual conduct and thus prima facie requires a very good justification to regulate. . .<\/p>\n

Bestiality bans regulate human sexual expression.\u00a0 And, in the Supreme Court\u2019s jurisprudence, sex is special.\u00a0 The government can also regulate, even ban, consumer products, but not when they are condoms, because that is also a regulation of sexuality.\u00a0 Cock fighting can be banned not because the animal suffers, but because the government needs little excuse to ban any commercial activity.\u00a0 Sexual activity is different. . .<\/p>\n

The closest analogy would not be gay sex, or straight sex, but rather other kinds of autonomous sexual activity like sex toys. . .<\/p>\n

One could argue that ick factor aside, bestiality should if anything be more protected than the dominant social paradigm of 2-person sex.\u00a0 Once there are two people involved, it is a social issue, not purely \u201cprivate.\u201d\u00a0 Thus such laws can be justified by some purported negative social consequences:\u00a0 uncared for kids with heterosexual fornication; unmarried poor men for polygamy; mutation for incest.\u00a0 By these standards, bestiality (or any other kind of one person sexual activity) is the most innocuous, as it involves only a person and his property.\u00a0 Spill-over effects on other humans are minimal.\u201d[25]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

This sort of idolatrous thinking influences all facets of the culture — not just law and policy — including religious realms.\u00a0\u00a0 And, this stands to reason, as in Paul’s mind, \u201capproval\u201d occurs by the culture’s \u201capprovers,\u201d that is, those icons and institutions which convey public affirmation, whether by word or symbol.[26]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Churches and religious institutions stand\u2014at least in the Christian West\u2014as icons of approval, condemning or absolving conduct.\u00a0 With non-Pauline cosmology in play culturally, this produces shocking results, even within religious communities.\u00a0 Many professing Christians have been seduced by the Idol of Self.<\/p>\n

Consider fundamentalist C.S. Lovett.\u00a0 He trumpets a soteriology (that is, a theology of salvation) virtually indistinguishable from Pelagianism, a heresy rejected by all branches of Christianity.<\/p>\n

Pelagius, refuted by Augustine, argued that man\u2019s fall did not affect him volitionally or constitutionally.\u00a0 Thus, man\u2019s choice\u2014that which the Self wills\u2014reigns supreme, even after the Fall.\u00a0 That sounded good for evangelism and made \u201cgetting people saved\u201d easy: \u201cJust make a decision for Christ!\u201d[27]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 But look what happens when thinking that affirms unfettered volitional autonomy migrates to ethics.\u00a0 Lovett wrote these astonishing words – in a parenting book no less:<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some Christians this [abortion] is a bad word. A decision for abortion should not be based on public opinion, but your own<\/u> opinion<\/u> as to when the fetus becomes a person\u2026If you hold the opinion that God does not place the person in the fetus until after the fourth month (or when the mother feels life), then an abortion would be no problem for you.<\/em><\/strong> The fetus would merely be body tissue with no independent life of its own. It would be like removing an appendix or some other mass of tissue.<\/em><\/strong> Certainly it could not be murder as some claim\u2026If you feel there is no child until the moment of birth, then you could also consider abortion as a possible solution\u2026Aside from the moral issue, it has been my experience that abortion solves the problem with the least amount of bad side effects. If the girl is very young, say 13 or 14, then it can be done and forgotten. You avoid any risk of her not being ready for pregnancy. The surgeon’s scalpel removes the tissue and God’s forgiveness removes the guilt feelings.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>[28]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Choice prevails \u2013 the Self\u2019s decisions define<\/em> ethics.\u00a0 This idolatry knows no sectarian bounds.\u00a0 Note the distorted thinking attendant to professing Catholic Gary Wills:<\/p>\n

\u201cBut is abortion murder?\u00a0 Most people think not.\u00a0 Evangelicals may argue that most people in Germany thought it was all right to kill Jews.\u00a0 But the parallel is not valid.\u00a0 Killing Jews was killing persons. . . . The question is not whether the fetus is a human life<\/u> but whether it is a human person<\/u>, and when it becomes one.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>[29]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Back to the fundamentalists, consider Dr. Robert Theime, who taught that after \u201cgetting saved\u201d by choosing Jesus, one could become an atheist and still \u201cbe saved\u201d because one\u2019s choice, having accepted God\u2019s offer, \u201clocks in\u201d salvation.<\/p>\n

Again, notice what happens when this sort of noetic autonomy is applied to ethics.\u00a0 Regarding Roe v. Wade<\/em>, Theime emphasized:<\/p>\n

This is one of the wisest and most brilliant decisions that the Supreme Court has made in many, many, many years.[30]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Is it coincidental that each of these professing Christians from different traditions favors abortion as a \u201cright\u201d?\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 They each to some degree have theologically <\/em>committed to an aspect of idolatrous autonomy, the Idol of Self.\u00a0 That idolatry, Paul tells us, expresses itself ethically <\/em>vis a vis human sexuality.[31]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 False worship generates unethical behavior, that is, unrighteous practices.\u00a0 Abortion is emblematic of this process.[32]<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It is a form of, or a precursor to, apostasy.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0\u00a0 Because the Christian position has long opposed infanticide and abortion from the earliest days of the church.[33]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

According to Paul, theological autonomy attaches itself to ethical autonomy, particularly sexual autonomy.\u00a0 Abortion reflects the consequences of unfettered autonomous sexual conduct. Abortion, as an approved public policy, thus coheres with Paul\u2019s reasoning about the Truth being exchanged for the Lie.\u00a0 Jonathan Burnside, a professor of Biblical Law, explains how the scriptural witness connects sexual ordering with public matters, including law.\u00a0 In other words, false worship eventually leads to societal chaos and disorder:<\/p>\n

\u201c[I]n biblical thought, sexual relationships can be used either to create community or to destroy community<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 . . . Sexual order helps to create relational order and sexual disorder leads to relational disorder.\u201d[34]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

And, Paul in Romans 1 tells us to expect exactly this, and the pagans<\/em> understand this as well[35]<\/sup><\/a>; too bad Christians<\/em> often do not.\u00a0 Note here, for example, how this pagan author connects Hetero-cosmology with heterosexuality (monogamy) and Homo-cosmology with homosexuality or pansexuality (many sexual partners).\u00a0 It’s almost as if he is channeling St. Paul:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have one partner under this one-god system.\u00a0 We maintained that for two thousand years, but now we have certain openness.\u00a0 We\u2019re coming up on a new pantheistic age. . . I like all the gods and goddesses.\u201d[36]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Consider also James Frey\u2019s The Final Testament of the Holy Bible <\/em>(2011), explicitly linking theology<\/em> \u2013 how we think about God – and sexual ethics<\/em> \u2013 how we may behave sexuality:<\/p>\n

\u201cLove and laughter and f\u2014king are what makes life better,\u201d God doesn\u2019t care about the petty dramas that mean so much to us.\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t care what we say or who we f\u2014k or what we do with our bodies or who we love or who we marry.\u201d[37]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

This sexual alchemy, a product of false worship, laces modern culture.\u00a0 Carla Bruni, France\u2019s former First Lady, recently indicted for witness tampering,[38]<\/sup><\/a> unabashedly (and incoherently) proclaimed:<\/p>\n

Monogamy is \u201cterribly boring.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI am faithful . . . to myself.\u00a0 I am monogamous from time to time but I prefer polygamy and polyandry.\u201d[39]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

In the same way, a not-so-famous co-ed from Arizona State University, again reflecting her presuppositional commitment to the Self\u2019s ultimate authoritative status, informs the world:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not a labelist and I do not consider myself anything.\u00a0 I am simply open to love.\u00a0 I\u2019m like anyone else in the sense that I am searching for the person who will make me<\/strong> the happiest<\/strong> and serve me best<\/strong>\u2014it just so happens that it may be a guy or a girl.\u201d[40]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Or, consider Ivy-Leaguer \u201cBi-gender\u201d, Britt Gilbert, as featured in the New York Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I definitely knew that I liked girls, I didn\u2019t know that I was one. . . I knew what it was before I knew what it was.\u201d[41]<\/strong><\/sup><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

And the positive law responds – via the State – to these cultural embodiments of sexual alchemy, consistent with St. Paul\u2019s instruction.\u00a0 Increasingly, sexual conduct is being \u201ccodified\u201d in law along certain parameters, all consistent with and traceable to the Idol of Self, and enforced by the Idol of State.<\/p>\n

There exist un-argued pagan assumptions committed to non-Pauline cosmology that drive the law\u2019s understanding and thus regulation of sexuality.\u00a0 Sexual behavior is legally, and therefore, politically deemed:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Individualistic<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Private<\/em><\/strong>, instead of Social<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Consent<\/em><\/strong> is the ONLY \u201cstandard\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Purpose<\/em><\/strong>: pleasure and satisfaction<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Unwittingly, but surely following Paul, those advocating sexual autonomy do not mince words.\u00a0 The true goal is not so-called \u201cmarital equality,\u201d[42]<\/sup><\/a> but rather presses for cultural and legal sanction for the Self\u2019s sexual alchemy\u2014no matter how configured.<\/p>\n

    For example, a longtime activist and DC ACLU Board member expressed:<\/p>\n

    \u201cLet us have more and better enjoyment of more and better sexual perversions,<\/em><\/strong> by whatever definition, by more and more consenting adults\u2026If bestiality with consenting animals provides happiness to some people, let them pursue their happiness <\/em><\/strong>to some people, let them pursue their happiness.\u00a0 That is<\/p>\n

    Jeffery Levi, former executive director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, made the \u201cend game\u201d clear\u2014again unknowingly, but nevertheless echoing St. Paul\u2014when he asserted:<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe [homosexuals] are no longer seeking just a right to privacy and a right to protection from wrong. We have a right<\/em><\/strong>\u2014as heterosexuals have already\u2014to<\/em> see government and society affirm our lives.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/em>[43]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    Homosexual author, Urvashi Vaid, similarly proclaimed:<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe have an agenda to create a society in which homosexuality is regarded as healthy, natural and normal.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 To me that is the most important agenda item.\u201d[44]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    And this approval mechanism must be totalistic<\/em> and institutionalized<\/em> at every cultural strata\u2014or, as Paul says without qualification, the practice and those who practice it, must be approved.\u00a0 As Daniel Villarreal penned at Queerty.com:<\/p>\n

    \u201cWe want educators to teach future generations of children to accept queer sexuality.\u00a0 In fact, our very future depends on it\u2026 Why would we push anti-bullying programs or social studies classes that teach kids about the historical contributions of famous queers unless we wanted to deliberately educate children to accept queer sexuality as normal?<\/em><\/strong>…I and a lot of other people want to indoctrinate, recruit, teach, and expose children to queer sexuality AND THERE\u2019S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT.\u201d (Emphasis in original)[45]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    But, this ascendency of the Self did not arise from politics or radical activism.\u00a0 Rather, it arose from those ideas animating\u2014granting permission for\u2014its worldview to be a viable plausibility narrative, rooted in an idolatrous Self, and its handmaiden, supposedly-autonomous reason.\u00a0 In other words, we ought not ascribe principal blame for sexual anarchy on so-called \u201cGay Liberation\u201d and the raid on the Stonewall Inn.[46]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    Theologian Tim Keller explains that marriage was actually redefined when idolatrous Enlightenment thinking settled into the cultural atmosphere and provided an alternative plausibility narrative, or in modern parlance, shifted the Overton window[47]<\/sup><\/a>:<\/p>\n

    \u201cDuring the Enlightenment,<\/em><\/strong> things began to shift.\u00a0 The meaning of life came to be seen as the fruit of the freedom<\/em><\/strong> of the individual to choose the life that most<\/em><\/strong> fulfills him or her personally. . . . [M]arriage was redefined as finding emotional and sexual fulfillment and self-actualization.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cIn short, the Enlightenment privatized marriage,\u00a0 taking it out of the public sphere, and redefined its purpose as individual gratification, not any \u201cbroader good,\u201d such as reflecting God\u2019s nature, producing character, or raising children.\u201d[48]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    In sum, Keller explains in another context:<\/p>\n

    \u201cClosely related to this radical new hope in human reason<\/em><\/strong> was the absolutizing of individual freedom<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Modern societies no longer saw the world as containing binding moral norms of truth to which all people must submit.\u00a0 Rather, they insisted that there was no standard higher than the right of the individual to choose the life he or she wanted to live<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 The only moral wrong, in this view, was to keep other individuals from choosing to live as they found fulfilling. That meant that, ultimately, there was no moral authority or cause higher than the happens of the self.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 As many have pointed out, this made \u201cchoice\u201d and feelings into something sacred and holy<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 In the modern world, now, an individual was the center of the universe<\/em><\/strong>, and the creature beyond all is entitled to absolute respect.\u00a0 In other words, the human self had replaced God.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>[49]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    What an entangled \u2013 and entrenched – mess!<\/p>\n

    This foregoing has surveyed in tangible and timely ways that a correlation exists between theology and ethics.\u00a0 Idolatry produces unrighteous practices, duping professing Christians \u2013 just as God\u2019s called Old Covenant people, Israel, fell into deep idolatry.\u00a0 As a result, Christians have been seduced by deluding pagan spirits, causing them at points to affirm abortion, homosexual behavior, and preferred personal pronouns under the guise of using reality-defying \u201chospitality pronouns.\u201d[50]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    We must identify where My Wayism has impacted our thinking \u2013 and our assumptions \u2013 and then politely refuse to stand for Hell\u2019s national anthem.\u00a0 Our allegiance is to the Way[51]<\/sup><\/a>, not My Way<\/em>.\u00a0 In fact, Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life \u2013 Christ, not some feel good, but deadly wayward idol.<\/p>\n

    \n

    [1]<\/a> My Way,<\/em> lyrics by Paul Anka<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Prov. 12:15<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Acts 24:22<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> John 14:6<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> My Way,<\/em> lyrics by Paul Anka.<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> https:\/\/x.com\/AscensionPress\/status\/901473107436851201<\/a><\/p>\n

    [7]<\/a> Compare, Jeffery J. Ventrella, Politics and the Pulpit:\u00a0 What Does God Require?<\/em> (2019).\u00a0 And unfortunately, some congregations that have started to address public moral and political matters have been seduced by the Idol of State as expressed to varying degrees in Integralism, National Conservativism, and Christian Nationalism, demonstrating that these concerns are not a Left\/Right issue.<\/p>\n

    [8]<\/a> Many today have forgotten that the largest US denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, firmly supported abortion until the 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 https:\/\/theconversation.com\/the-history-of-southern-baptists-shows-they-have-not-always-opposed-abortion-183712<\/a><\/p>\n

    [9]<\/a> Most recently, the United Methodists and the liberal PCUSA have done so.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/05\/01\/us\/united-methodist-church-lgbtq-clergy-reaj\/index.html#:~:text=The%20United%20Methodist%20Church%20overturned,the%20issue%2C%20CNN%20previously%20reported<\/a>.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.presbyterianmission.org\/what-we-believe\/sexuality-and-same-gender-relationships\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    [10]<\/a> See, e.g., https:\/\/www.williamsburgbaptist.com\/welcoming-and-affirming.html<\/a><\/p>\n

    [11]<\/a> See the efforts of V. Gene Robinson, the first homosexual ordained as a bishop in the Episcopal USA denomination.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WDiNK7gEnag<\/a>.\u00a0 See also the deceptively named The Reformation Project which claims to be a \u201cBible-based, Christian organization\u201d which \u201cadvances LGBTQ inclusion in the church.\u201d\u00a0 https:\/\/reformationproject.org\/<\/a>\u00a0 The point is that pagans are making [bad] \u201cChristian\u201d arguments for deviant sexual practices.\u00a0 These practices are driven by false worship stemming from the exchange of the Truth for the Lie.\u00a0 (Romans 1:25)<\/p>\n

    [12]<\/a> Compare:\u00a0 S. Donald Fortson and Rollin G. Grams, Unchanging Witness:\u00a0 The Consistent Christian Teaching on Homosexuality in Scripture and Tradition <\/em>(2016)<\/p>\n

    [13]<\/a> G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship<\/em> (2008), 139 citing Ian Provan.<\/p>\n

    [14]<\/a> Sinatra himself despised this song as he believed it to be wrongly self-aggrandizing and self-indulgent. Sinatra Loathed \u201cMy Way\u201d<\/em> http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/entertainment\/994742.stm<\/a><\/p>\n

    [15]<\/a> Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness<\/em>, 23; Cited in Wiker and DeMarco, Architects of the Culture of Death<\/em>, 57.<\/p>\n

    [16]<\/a> G.K. Beale, We Become What We Worship<\/em>, (2008), 296, citing Vitz, Psychology as Religion<\/em> (Grand Rapids:\u00a0 Eerdmanns, 1977), 125, citing MacLaine.<\/p>\n

    [17]<\/a> \u201cAble-bodied woman wants surgery to make her paraplegic,\u201d Fox News<\/em>, July 17, 2013.<\/p>\n

    [18]<\/a> https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-3256029\/Woman-dreamed-blind-DRAIN-CLEANER-poured-eyes-fulfil-lifelong-wish-says-happier-ever.html<\/a>\u00a0 Compare, Abilgail Shrier, Bad Therapy:\u00a0 Why Kids Aren\u2019t Growing Up<\/em> (2024)<\/p>\n

    [19]<\/a> \u201cConsent\u201d is the hand maid of \u201cchoice.\u201d\u00a0 Both serve the Idol of Self.<\/p>\n

    [20]<\/a> \u201cBrazilian Student Catarina Migliorini Sells Virginity for \u00a3483,000,\u201d International Business Times<\/em>, October 25, 2012.<\/p>\n

    [21]<\/a> Romans 1:32<\/p>\n

    [22]<\/a> Note the push by the Left, following the overruling of Roe v. Wade<\/em>, to codify in legislation the holding of Roe <\/em>via the Orwellian-named Women\u2019s Health Protection Act \u2013 it certainly doesn\u2019t protect any unborn<\/em> woman\u2019s health.\u00a0 It\u2019s the same dynamic, animated by Idolatry.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.hickenlooper.senate.gov\/press_releases\/hickenlooper-bennet-reintroduce-bill-to-codify-roe-v-wade\/<\/p>\n

    [23]<\/a> \u201cWhat\u2019s It Like to Date a Horse,\u201d NYMag<\/em>, November 20, 2014.<\/p>\n

    [24]<\/a> The same push is occurring with pedophilia, which is euphemistically labeled as a sexual orientation, \u201cminor-attracted persons,\u201d instead of the perversion it is. See, e.g.,<\/em> Connecticut Passes Bill to Ban \u201cDiscrimination\u201d Against \u201cMinor Attracted Persons,\u201d <\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/catholicvote.org\/ct-passes-bill-discrimination-minor-attracted-persons\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    [25]<\/a> The Volokh Conspiracy, The Bestiality Brief<\/em>, December 5, 2012, accessed December 6, 2012.<\/p>\n

    [26]<\/a> Elsewhere, I have described these icons as those that wear the \u201cRobes of Culture\u201d:\u00a0 The Ecclesiastical, the Judicial, and the Academic.\u00a0 These robes correspond to John Frame\u2019s triperspectival scheme, Person, Situation, and Norm.\u00a0 See<\/em>, John M. Frame, A Primer on Perspectivalism<\/em>, https:\/\/frame-poythress.org\/a-primer-on-perspectivalism\/<\/p>\n

    [27]<\/a> See, C. S. Lovett, Soul Winning Made Easy<\/em> (1959 [1980]).<\/p>\n

    [28]<\/a> C.S. Lovett, What’s A Parent To Do?<\/em>, <\/em>[1971], 230-231.<\/p>\n

    [29]<\/a> Garry Wills, \u201cAbortion isn\u2019t a religious issue,\u201d Los Angeles Times<\/em>, November 4, 2007, cited in Joel McDurmon, Biblical Logic in Theory & Practice<\/em>, (2009), 130.<\/p>\n

    [30]<\/a> http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Robert_Thieme_-_cite_note-campo-12<\/p>\n

    [31]<\/a> Romans 1:24-27<\/p>\n

    [32]<\/a> Note that after 40 years of embracing a staunchly pro-life party platform, the GOP has removed large portions of that platform plank and now \u201capproves\u201d abortion in the States, including the use of the destructive abortion pill.\u00a0 Joe Carter, How the GOP Became Pro-Choice,<\/em> https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/how-the-gop-became-pro-choice\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    [33]<\/a> See, The Didache<\/em>, https:\/\/legacyicons.com\/content\/didache.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

    [34]<\/a> Jonathan Burnside, God, Justice, and Society: Aspects of Law and Legality<\/em> (2010), 328.<\/p>\n

    [35]<\/a> They are, as Cornelius Van Til often said, becoming more epistemologically self-conscious.\u00a0 See, e.g., Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til\u2019s Apologetic \u2013 Readings and Analysis.<\/em> (1998), 295.<\/p>\n

    [36]<\/a> Nathan Harden, Sex and God at Yale: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad<\/em> (2012), 279.<\/p>\n

    [37]<\/a> Ross Douthat, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics<\/em> (2012), Citing Frey\u2019s referenced work, 238.<\/p>\n

    [38]<\/a> https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/france-carla-bruni-sarkozy-illegal-finance-campaign-preliminary-charges-bda333b1ad26068e15040040d3183aa5<\/a><\/p>\n

    [39]<\/a> \u201cCarla Bruni: An unlikely First Lady?\u201d The Telegraph<\/em>, March 7, 2008.<\/p>\n

    [40]<\/a> College Times<\/em>, November 8, 2007, 10.<\/p>\n

    [41]<\/a> \u201cGeneration LGBTQIA,\u201d New York Times<\/em>, January 9, 2013.<\/p>\n

    [42]<\/a> Christian should<\/em> support \u201cmarital equality,\u201d but the key question remains \u201cWhat is marriage?\u201d\u00a0 Same-sex arrangements no matter how labeled, simply do not comprise marriages.\u00a0 See, Girgis, Anderson, and George, What Is Marriage? Man and Woman:\u00a0 A Defense<\/em> (2012)<\/p>\n

    [43]<\/a> Robert R. Reilly, Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything <\/em>(2014), 7.<\/p>\n

    [44]<\/a> Robert R. Reilly, Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything (<\/em>2014), 7.<\/p>\n

    [45]<\/a> Robert R. Reilly, Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything <\/em>(2014), 171.<\/p>\n

    [46]<\/a> 1969:\u00a0 The Stonewall Uprising, https:\/\/guides.loc.gov\/lgbtq-studies\/stonewall-era#:~:text=On%20June%2028%2C%201969%2C%20the,of%20gay%20and%20lesbian%20life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    [47]<\/a> https:\/\/www.mackinac.org\/OvertonWindow<\/a><\/p>\n

    [48]<\/a> Timothy and Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage<\/em> (2011), 28.<\/p>\n

    [49]<\/a> Timothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your work to God\u2019s Work<\/em> (2012), 141.<\/p>\n

    [50]<\/a> Even the traditionally orthodox evangelistic group, CRU, succumbed at one point to this idol by imbibing the false teaching of Preston Sprinkle.\u00a0 https:\/\/wng.org\/articles\/taking-sides-1708229211<\/a><\/p>\n

    For a biblical analysis and rebuttal of using \u201cpreferred personal pronouns\u201d see Jeffery J. Ventrella, Who Do YOU Say that I Am: \u201cPreferred Personal Pronouns, Ethics, Language, and the Gospel.<\/em>\u00a0 https:\/\/docsandlin.com\/2018\/06\/02\/who-do-you-say-that-i-am-preferred-personal-pronouns-ethics-language-and-the-gospel-by-jeffery-j-ventrella-j-d-ph-d\/<\/a><\/p>\n

    [51]<\/a> Acts 9:2, 18:25, 18:26, 19:9, 19:23, 24:14, 24:22,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":12109,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"publisher":[28],"class_list":["post-13089","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publisher-center-public-legal-theology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChrist, Caesar, or Self: Politics, Law, and the National Anthem of Hell \u2013 Part 2 - Trinity Law School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What if many of today\u2019s fiercest cultural and legal battles are symptoms of a deeper spiritual problem? 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