I know a bunch of people who are mad about the Federal Government telling all public schools they must allow transitioning and transgendered people/students to use whichever restroom facility they feel is the one they identify with. I hear there are a few people who are happy. There are thousands of questions which come to mind, not the least of which is “Why?” Apparently because they can, or at least think they can.
How do Christians respond? Most learned believers know this verse from the first chapter of Genesis, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Personally I could stop right there. We are made male and female – period, from birth. God knows us as He knits us in the womb. But obviously there is a confusion in a world that is not stable. The Lord is stable. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever…” We must stand on that and be faithful.
As my wife is a first grade teacher, one must wonder exactly when does someone “identify” with something other than what they are? Third grade? Eighth grade? I sincerely believe this is one more weapon in the war on righteousness and the family. Our government is being used as a tool by Satan.
This is not about someone’s right or discrimination. This is about conformity, getting in line and submitting to power. That broad over-arching, overreaching mandate would be like telling everyone in the nation they must install a tornado shelter or safe room in their homes. “Um, most of them happen in Oklahoma. What does this have to do with me?”
We could delve into the extortion and coercion being applied by the threats of schools losing their federal funding, or the fact that this was done with no debate in the public square or even the crafting of formal policy. At this point, no one knows exactly what they’re supposed to comply with. They just fear being destroyed by Caesar because they don’t comply.
How do we respond as believers? Just like we are supposed to respond to everything: with love and grace and a bunch of prayer.
My observation is we approach prayer much too casually and flippantly. If we really believed in the power of prayer, shockwaves would fan out from every Bible-believing church in the country as our knees slammed to the ground. The sad thing is we have been duped for decades by those we elect to “lead” us. And even worse, we believed them when they said they were not going to take control of our schools or our children, our families or our other constitutional rights. Apparently, today, if you desire it badly enough, it becomes a right, even if it is mentioned nowhere in our nation’s founding documents.
Are we now in a 2 Timothy world? “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Tim 4:3-4).
We can dwell on that, or we can stand on the Truth. You see, ultimately, we have the same charge Paul gave Timothy. Take a stand for righteousness. Speak Truth to a world bombarded with lies and confusion. “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” (2 Tim 4:1-2)
Ultimately the real “trans” issue is the same as it has always been. People need the Lord and are doomed if they do not transition from condemned to redeemed. God can wipe away all confusion. Until a person identifies with Christ, they will never know who they truly are.