Honestly, our society is going stark raving mad. It is literal insanity when the 10 Commandments must come down from the courthouse walls because it is an offense, but if anyone objects to bathing the White House in the colors of the flag of the homosexual rights movement, they are called out as bigots. It is craziness when men must be allowed to use women’s restrooms to express their “felt identity” because “we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, yet anyone who wants to express themselves by writing the name of a political candidate on the sidewalk of a college campus in chalk must be threatened with expulsion from school. It is pure lunacy when a commentator on ESPN can compare the Tea Party to ISIS and defend it as free speech, but it is grounds for termination if someone suggests that men should only use the men’s room.
The problem that exists in modern society is that the very understanding of what is “normal” has been turned on its head. So, where does this inability to determine normality come from? The answer is, actually, not that complicated. What we are dealing with, here, is a worldview foundation (Naturalism) which has no objective way of determining what is normal.
Based on naturalistic beliefs, there is no such thing as an objectively real morality. In order for objective morality to exist, there has to be some transcendent standard to base moral beliefs upon. But, since Naturalists do not believe in God, or any type of reality beyond the natural universe, all morality has to be determined using some kind of temporal standard. What we find being used in modern pop culture is “statistical normal” or “assumed normal.” To get statistical normal, pollsters do surveys to find out what the majority believe to be normal, and that majority opinion becomes the definition of normal. Assumed normal can be projected into society by the elites in the news and entertainment industries as they saturate the culture with their beliefs about what “ought” to be normal, and suppressing any other points of view. That being the case, “normal” can change over time as the majority opinion or moral perception changes.
And this is what we see happening in American culture right now. The lunacy that was expressed in the examples above are a very expected result of a naturalistic worldview being the basis for determining what is “normal” in society.
But Naturalism does not reflect reality. God, the structure of the material universe, and the moral principles God has revealed to mankind in the Bible are objectively real. Because of that, we do not have to depend on some kind of statistical methodology or the opinions of famous entertainers to determine what is normal at any given time. We can actually know an “objective normal.” When God created the universe and mankind, he did it in a particular way that can be objectively known.
So, what is normal? Normal is what is objectively real – and we can know what it is. Regardless of the efforts of people to assert what is not real as real, it doesn’t change reality. The insanity that is political correctness is just that – insanity.
Good blog. Normal… What a concept.
Seriously, right?
Actually, “normal” is relative, by definition: “conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural. ” What is normal one year may or not be normal the next. What is normal in one city may or may not be normal in the next.
I certainly don’t strive to be “normal.” I seek to be a faithfully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. I don’t seek to conform to this world, but to the heart of God and the mind of Christ and to have the same spirit as the Holy Spirit.
Looking to be normal — or for the society around us to be normal — is to seek something that smacks of godliness but misses the mark wide.
Actually, “normal” is not relative by definition – and I think I addressed that in the article. The definition of normal is based on the worldview foundation you are using to define the word. From a Christian worldview perspective, that which is based on what is objectively true is normal. Based on a Christian worldview, it is normal to live in an active relationship with Christ. The fact that many Christians (and others) do not do that, does not affect the definition of normal, it only makes their lifestyles abnormal. Our physical bodies were created to function in a particular way. People who try to “normalize” unnatural physical relationships by calling them normal do not change what is objectively normal, they only deceive themselves.
I believe it is admirable that you strive to be a devoted follower of Jesus Christ. I personally believe that kind of life is only abnormal if you go by a definition of normal that accepts the world’s values, rather than God’s. I have chosen to define normal based on a biblical worldview, not on a naturalistic and relativistic one. If you want to define things differently, that is your choice, but I have chosen a different route.