Ken Ham | Answers in Genesis
Stop and consider this for just a moment: for those over the age of 75 in America (known as the Greatest Generation), a mere 1.3% percent would identify themselves as LGBT. Only 1.3% percent—just a tiny fraction. Contrast that with today’s young people where, according to a just-released 2020 Gallup poll, 15.9% percent identify as LGBT. That means in a group of six American young people, one identifies as LGBT.
That’s staggering. It’s a dramatic shift in the culture.
What has happened?
Well, before we get into that question, let’s dig into those numbers a little bit. The survey found that nearly 16% of young people (18–23) claim they are LGBT. Of that 16%, nearly three-quarters (11%) would claim the “B” in LGBT—“bisexual” (being attracted to both men and women). Contrast that with the Greatest Generation, where only 0.3% identify as bisexual. Now that’s interesting!
Now, I want to bring out three things that I believe explain what is happening in our US culture today.
- These statistics—particularly the number of people who identify as bisexual—point towards the seismic shift in our culture. It’s increasingly becoming popular among young people to identify as LGBT. That is, to be “inclusive.” To celebrate LGBT identity. I’ve seen articles in the past that have mentioned how, to be “interesting,” young people think they have to be LGBT. It’s a massive cultural push—being pushed on children at younger and younger ages—to explore their sexuality, and it seems it’s creating a desire for people to identify as LGBT.
- This shift is built on a change in foundations. You see, in the past, generations were much more “Christianized.” That’s not to say everyone was a Christian, but American culture was much more “Christianized.” By and large, people respected the Bible, believed in God, and had a similar view of Christian morality. That foundation has been almost completely erased by the rise of secularism, which is founded on evolutionary naturalism and evolution occurring over millions of years (which is essentially the religion of atheism—there’s no God, no moral absolutes, we’re just animals, there is no ultimate purpose and meaning to life, etc.). Once the Christian worldview was no longer the dominant worldview because the Bible was no longer the foundation for thinking, secularism—founded on man’s word—quickly took its place. And if we can determine right and wrong for ourselves, if we define reality, then we can shape our own identities and what we’re seeing happening in our culture today is the natural consequence.
- We’re really seeing Romans chapter 1 playing out before our eyes. We have a culture that has abandoned the knowledge and worship of God, and one of the sins God turns a culture over to when they’ve rejected him is homosexual behavior.
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:18–32).
Young people today are putting their identity, worth, and value in their sexuality. But what they need is Christ!
They need to put their identity in Christ and his completed work on the cross for them. Putting our worth in ourselves and in our own sinful desires doesn’t bring freedom—it brings slavery to sin. The freedom, worth, value, meaning, and purpose that our culture so desires are only found in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, rose again, and offers forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift to all who will believe.
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin . . . So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34, 36).
