The reason there is “pain, and sometimes deep and lasting trauma, to the LGBTQ who seeks to remain faithful both to God and to their understanding of themselves,” is because they are being told their “selves” are equal to or superior to the will of God. This does not just apply to the LGBTQ community, mind you. ANY person who elevates their created “self” above the supreme and ultimate authority of the universe – from whom all existence proceeds, and upon whom all existence depends! – is absolutely guilty of the same thing. Myself included.

I’ve seen a joke several different times in different variations, usually involving a teenage boy who is struggling to get up the courage to go speak to a girl he and his friends consider to be out of his league. Wanting to be encouraging, his friend will urge him, “Just be yourself!” Then the punchline comes: after a reflective pause noting the stereotypically unattractive traits about him – nerdiness, height, awkwardness, he’s dirty or sweaty, dresses poorly, etc. – the friend issues a retraction, “Nevermind, be the opposite of yourself.”

Then there’s the Hollywood cliché of the nerdy or frumpy girl who is transformed into pure elegance and beauty after a two-minute makeover montage set to some peppy music. One common thread I’ve noticed about these makeover movies (yes, I’ll admit to having seen more than three) is the point of the makeover is to meet or conform to the expectations of an individual or an audience by altering their authentic or original “self”.

Those scenarios might make for good sit-coms or romantic comedies, and perhaps the reason they persist in different variations is because we connect on some level with our own daily micro-makeovers to present ourselves approved to our own audiences – our spouses, co-workers, bosses, customers, or children. But that is not the pervasive and stentorian message of our modern cultural philosophy. The serious arts wouldn’t dream of minimizing the importance of the “true self,” and psychologists would shudder to counsel inauthenticity for the sake of conforming to societal expectations. No, the supreme virtue in today’s philosophy is to elevate and liberate the authentic self above all else.

The latest example I’ve seen of this is the Human Rights Campaign’s self-help/religious proselytizing tract called “Coming Home to Evangelicalism and Self.” In true existentialist form, it presents its case why evangelical churches should celebrate the LGBTQ lifestyle as righteous and holy by presenting a series of short vignettes illustrating the individual and existential angst of persons dealing with external factors.

I’ve read the 32-page pamphlet twice, and it’s grossly offensive to Christian orthodoxy and to those holding orthodox Christian beliefs. It would take too long here to dissect all of its points (like the absurd statement that Adam was a non-gendered creation???), but it may be helpful to point out its overall theme. Contrary to what one might expect in a religious pamphlet, the message is not about God. Instead – as is contained in the title – the message is exclusively about the elevation of the authentic self.

In the introduction to every pamphlet in the series – with the exception of Judaism, interestingly – Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, exalts those “working to live openly and fully, as their true and complete selves.” Throughout the booklet, each existential crisis that is presented is a result of the angst, shame, and guilt catalyzed by an individual’s feeling that is morally contrary to the teachings of a given evangelical church.

I’ll admit: that’s kind of the point of the Christian church. Or at least it has been until the last century or so. Far from being an institution that glorified individual concupiscence, orthodox Christianity has preached the depravity of man for millennia, and any who does not fear and glorify God, “their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave,”[1] and “their minds and their consciences are defiled; they profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”[2]

[1] Psalm 5:9

[2] Titus 1:15-16

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