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Do I have to be a boy or a girl, a man, or a woman? Can I identify as a male, female, or something else? These are questions that many in our world ask; they are questions that our nation is struggling with. That the questions are even being asked is evidence that the moral fabric of our nation is being ripped to shreds. This is happening while activists, politicians, judges, the medical profession, school systems and even some religions within our country push full steam ahead to reshape our culture in an extremely radical direction. The popular argument today is that gender (what makes someone masculine or feminine) has nothing to do with sex (the body parts you’re born with). However, the Word of God makes no such distinction between the two. In reality the Bible reveals that masculinity or femininity is directly related to the physical body that we inhabit.
Not many years ago most people would not know what you were talking about if they heard you mentioned gender identity. For generations, a person’s gender was directly linked to, and determined how nouns and pronouns were used in the masculine, feminine, neuter, or common sense. However, with the advent of the modern and radical culture movement, all this (in the minds of many) has been thrown out the proverbial window.
When God created the world, He made a man (Adam) and a woman (Eve); they were made in His image. However, He made them male (Adam) and female (Eve). When the creation process was complete God declared His creation to be “very good” (Genesis 1:27- 31). In the mind of God there was a definite distinction, a difference between the two genders or sexes.
Until recently, mankind, for the most part respected what God had done in the creation. There was no fluidity in God’s perfect creation. For centuries there was no question or confusion as to what was meant by such prefixes as “Mr.,” “Miss” or “Mrs.” And, no offense was taken when identified by such. The terms “sir” and “ma’am” showed respect and were never a point of offense. Women were women and men were men and that’s the way they wanted to be identified; to do otherwise would have upset either gender. But in today’s world we are being told that such references are sexist or prejudicial and therefore offensive.
The old standard, God’s design, has become offensive because those pushing this radical cultural mindset are trying, by intimidation and force, to require everyone to accept their position that there is no difference between males and females. To do so they are making every effort to erase God given and cultural distinctions between the sexes. It is not difficult to see that there are truly significant differences between males and females and boys and girls. Certainly, there are the biological differences and God intended it this way. So why are so many people pushing for such a drastic cultural change in America?
There is little doubt that Satan is using sinful men to bring about as much destruction as he can. He is using those living in sin to draw others into their sinful lifestyle. One way they are doing this is by trying to redefine what sin is. This is a direct effort to force everyone else to accept their sinful actions. From the beginning gay activists insisted that they would never try to recruit, or mold young children to take up the gay lifestyle. They initially assured the world about them, that homosexuals were born gay at birth, and therefore to try and mold someone to that lifestyle would not work. However, their hypothesis is incorrect. As we have already noted God made male and female and instituted the family unit consisting of one man and one woman (Genesis 2:23-25). This new family unit would of course produce children which were to be raised to respect God and others (Eph. 6:1-3 & Ex. 20:12). To do otherwise was described by Paul as sin (1 Cor. 6:7-11). Paul shows in this reading that there were some in the Church at Corinth that had previously lived the homosexual lifestyle (effeminate). However, Paul declared that they had made a change when they learned about Jesus. So when we consider the sum of God’s Word we see that men were created to be with women, but some refused to follow God’s plan changing the intended use of their bodies. Then Paul said that there were those in Corinth that repented of their sins. If indeed they had been born such they could not simply make that change.
As I write this article there are some public-school systems that make every effort to encourage young children, some as young as middle school age, to examine their gender identity. Young boys are influenced to question whether they’re really boys, it is suggested to them that they might be a girl trapped in a boy’s body. Likewise, young girls are being encouraged to question whether their gender is correct; they are even at times being asked if they would rather be a boy. Friends, this is the reality that we and our children now live in.
It is incomprehensible and ungodly to suggest that children as young as eight or ten years old or even younger have the mental capacity to understand such matters much less to make a decision with such moral, physical, and emotional repercussions. Such thoughts would never or at least rarely enter the mind of a child unless they were prompted by another to do so. Many today are being prompted to ask such questions. It is being done directly by adults or by media (TV, Radio, Print). This is the epitome of evil and immorality. In essence (at least in my mind) what is being done against children in some cases is nothing more than child abuse.
God reminds us that morality is important in Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
(Tony Hoss is minister of the Centerview Church of Christ, Elizabethton)