More Thoughts on Gender Confusion; What Should Be the Christian's Response?

Over the past few weeks, I have had a very good friend of mine send me three articles concerning the almost, it seems, ever present discussion on the matter of gender identity.  One article, written by David French and published by the National Review on August 18, can be found at www.nationalreview.com/node/439126.  This article was not written from an evangelical perspective but from a scientific one.  The bottom line conclusion of the author is this: "Our youth may or may not be in the midst of a 'transgender contagion' - the data will ultimately tell the tale - but moral blindness is epidemic.  It turns out that the science doesn't say what the Left wants, and our responsibility is to deal with people as they are, not as identity politics defines them.  A boy is still a boy, even if he wants to be called Sue, and to claim otherwise is nothing short of cruel." 


The second article is a rather lengthy one.  Written by Ryan T. Anderson and published at the Patriot Post website on August 22, it is titled, "Almost Everything the Media Tell You About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity is Wrong."  You can find the article at www.patriotpost.us/opinion/44397.  Again, this article is not written from an evangelical perspective but from a scientific one. The main thesis is that what has been purported to be solid scientific evidence in support of gender issues really is not scientific at all.  The author relates his findings to the Supreme Court decision of last June 2015: "These findings - that scientific research does not support the claim that sexual orientation is innate and immutable - directly contradict claims made by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in last year's Obergefell ruling.  Kennedy wrote, 'their immutable nature dictates that same-sex marriage is their only real path to this profound commitment' and 'in more recent years have psychiatrists and others recognized that sexual orientation is both a normal expression of human sexuality and immutable.'  But the science does not show this.  While the marriage debate was about the nature of what marriage is, incorrect scientific claims about sexual orientation were consistently used in the campaign to redefine marriage."


The final article can be found at the American College of Pediatricians website.  It is a study co-authored by Dr. Michelle Cretella, President of that organization, Dr. Jane Orient, Executive Director of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, and Dr. Les Ruppersberger, President of the Catholic Medical Association.  This well documented article is titled, "A Medical Response to DOE & DOJ Guidance for Schools."  After reading this article there is no longer any doubt that what the Obama Administration was trying to foist upon our nation's schools systems had no scientific basis but was purely for the purposes of promoting a leftist-socialist agenda. 


I highly recommend that parents of young children and of adolescent teens read these articles. 


But, now for some good news concerning this same matter.  This past week Judge Reed O'Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, ruled that the administrative guidelines given to all the nation's school districts requiring those males who believed they were females to have access to the girls' locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms were based upon an illegal procedure and thus become invalidated.  This Judge's ruling impacts all of this nation's school systems.  Our thanks to Judge O'Connor for doing what was right.  Now it is up to all of us to contact our local school administration officials and school board leaders to voice our support for boys only being allowed to use boys' locker rooms, showers, and bathrooms; the same applying also to girls using only rooms designed and reserved for their use. 


I guess I am becoming more aware of how Satan has effectively used sexual perversion in the past.  I was working through passages in 1 Corinthians 6 and 7 this past week in preparation for a Bible study I will be having with a group of men from my church beginning in September.  And as I was reading I was reminded of what a cesspool ancient Corinth was with all its decadent sexual perversion.  After many became followers of Christ Jesus, the Apostle Paul had to remind them that now their physical bodies belonged, not to themselves, but to God.  They were no longer to be used for immoral, selfish reasons, but to bring honor and glory to God.  Read through the Old Testament and you will encounter story after story of how Satan used forms of sexual perversions to sidetrack the people of God.  So, we should not be shocked that Satan continues to use deviant sexual behavior today, wrapping it in the shroud of cultural and, at times, governmental authenticity. 


So, what are we to do?  First of all, we are to pursue truth.  Now we need to understand that truth is not to be found always at the wellspring of the main stream media today.  In fact, often that is the last place to look for truth.  We also need to understand that truth is not be found within the edicts of government, for government is more often a reflection of culture than of truth.  And sadly we need to understand that truth is not to be found in many religious societies today for many of those societies also are only a reflection of what is cultural and socially relevant.  So, where does one go in a pursuit of truth?  The answer lies in a study of the Word of God.  There simply is no other place to turn.  I am talking about a deeply probing study of the Word of God - digging into the very heart of what God has to say.  Truth is not always a beautiful thing but, when it is heeded, does produce a right living before God.


Secondly, we are to stand confidently and boldly for that discovered truth.  We are to be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3.  They were so confident of God's truth that they were even willing to die for that truth.  Many of us are not quite there yet, but we need to be.  Will such a stand for truth be costly?  Read through story after story related to us in "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" and you will find the answer to that question. 


Thirdly and most importantly, we are to pray diligently, applying daily those pieces of the armor of God described for us in Ephesians 6.  We will not be successful in our own strength.  But we will be successful in the strength of the Lord Jesus. 


It is time we rise up - become students of the Scriptures - become active in prayer - and exude a confidence before others that our trust is in truth found in God alone.