PICK YOUR OWN GENDER (Truth #11)
Once Pandora’s box is open, there’s no going back. Postmodernism says that truth is whatever you want it to be. We see the results of that in many different ways today. One of the most extreme is the issue of gender. The focus of attention has moved from homosexuality. The whole issue of what is a male and a female, and how does a person know which one they are? For example, Facebook lists 58 options for gender. In looking through the list, I must admit I don’t even understand what most of them are. The sad part is, the list keeps expanding.
If the goal of man is to be happy, then nothing is to be denied. We know that outer circumstances do not bring real happiness, only Jesus does that. Yet man keeps going to greater and greater extremes trying to make life better. But we can’t return to Eden by our own efforts, especially if they go against God’s revealed truth for us. Yet man keeps trying. A relatively recent phenomenon is the fad of changing gender to find answers to life.
Those who promote this say it is a way of expressing individual freedom and helps people find themself. They demand that any traditions, religions, regulations or social ties that restrict individual self-expression must be destroyed. When man believes that the most important thing in life is happiness, which is achieved by his individual expression, then nothing can stand in the way.
These people say they are honestly trying to be themselves, and are not being fake or hypocritical. That can be nothing more than justification of sin and not resisting temptation. To them, doing what they want is all that matters. It’s all about them. Disney has long promoted the motto: “Follow your heart.” That is what people are doing. But is the ‘heart’ something we should follow? Does allowing every feeling we have and allow it to determine our actions really bring happiness? What does God say about the heart? Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can understand it?” Our emotions were not created lead us.
As we’ve seen in man’s other attempts to find meaning and purpose apart from God, this too fails. There is a very high rate of those who once question and ‘change’ their gender, returning to their original gender. High depression and suicide rates show that gender change is not dealing with the root issues, but only symptoms. Man’s problem is emptiness within, not circumstances without.
We know God loves transgender people the same as He loves all of us sinners, but what does He say about their sin? Deuteronomy 22:5 says “A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.” Deuteronomy 23:1 says, “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” These show God does not want crossdressing or mutilation of sexual organs. Much destruction and misery come from disobeying God’s created order.
Therefore, God commands us to stay away from such things. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.”
The good news is that 1 Corinthians 6:11 gives hope to all who have broken God’s law: forgiveness is available no matter the sin. “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (June 6, 2022 Doylestown, PA)
Who do you know who is struggling with this issue? What do you do to help them find truth? Are you afraid to get involved? How can you show them the love of Jesus while also affirming His truth, the truth that alone will set them free?
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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