Politics, Gender and the Church
In his speech to the joint session of Congress this week, President Trump declared that there are two genders: Male and Female! As I heard him say that I thought to myself, "What have we come to that we have to tell people that there are only two genders??!!" Part of me was wishing the President would have added, " ... just as it says in the Bible in Genesis 1:27: So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them." The authority to declare that there are two genders comes from God Himself, our Creator, and it should be common sense. The fact that it isn't reveals that mankind as a whole is straying further and further from the truth revealed in God's Word, and it is an extremely dangerous place to be!!
I often think of what God says through the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:18-32. I encourage you to read it, as it explains what has happened to our nation, even as it explains what has happened to many other nations of the world in the past. Here is some of what Paul writes:
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools ..." (Romans 1:18-22).
The result of mankind's rejection of their Creator is found in the following verses: "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator ... ... For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error" (vss. 24-27).
That should be enough to convict even the most hardened heart that the whole LGBTQ+ propaganda is all a lie, that it is a perversion of God's creation design for male and female, that it is a result of mankind's sinful rebellion and should not be accepted by those who claim to believe in God and who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ. But this is only one result of mankind's rejection of God. Paul goes on to describe so plainly the results of the fall of the human race into sin and its application to the reality of human life throughout the centuries: "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them" (vss. 28-32).
For most of the first two hundred years of our nation's history the Bible was the foundation for morality, even if many people did not believe in Jesus Christ. There was a basic understanding of "right and wrong," based on biblical teaching. However, when the Bible was "cast aside," in the 1960's in particular, the result has been displayed in what Paul describes in the above verses. God created people to live in relationships with one another in a way that honored HIM and that honored one another. The LIE that so many have accepted is that we know better than GOD!! Abortion, divorce, sexual immorality of all kinds, hatred and rebellion are the results of the sinful nature with which we are all born, and which thrives where there are no "guardrails." Knowing the very nature of mankind following Adam and Eve's sin, God gave the law, His commandments, to His chosen people, the people of Israel. And Solomon rightly declares in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no prophetic vision (literally, no TRUTH, no commandment) the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." The "freedom" people imagine they have is actually bondage to sin!!
Politicians, no matter how well-meaning they may be, can only do one of two things: agree with what God says in His Word, or reject it. As in our personal lives, obedience brings blessing, disobedience bring judgment in one form or another. When God gives people over to their own lusts that is not a good thing! Judgment is sure to follow. Which brings us to the role of the true Church, of those of us who by God's grace know the truth, believe the truth and who seek to live the truth, acknowledging that we, too, struggle with the old nature of sin and are ourselves in need of repentance and forgiveness. Apart from the grace of God offering life and forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ, and apart from the work of His Spirit within us, changing our hearts and minds, we would all perish! BUT GOD ... (see Ephesians 2:1-10).
We who have experienced freedom in Christ are sent into the world to offer that freedom to others ... to call them to repent and to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In the current gender confusion in which so many are trapped, we must offer love and grace in the form of compassion and truth. In some cases (I suspect in more than we imagine), the bodies of young boys and girls appear to be affected by something which changes the natural levels of male and female hormones. I am not a doctor, yet it seems to me that since God's Word is true and God doesn't make mistakes, treatment of abnormal hormone levels, perhaps during puberty, would avoid the gender confusion of some who imagine or are being told that they are "trapped in the wrong body." Rather than doctors giving hormone treatments or "puberty blockers" to young children or teens to attempt to change their sex, why not enhance the natural hormones of a boy or girl to help them past this horrible confusion that will affect them the rest of their lives? Undoubtedly, there are other social factors that affect young people in negative ways, but the answer is not found in allowing them to continue in their confusion, but rather, in speaking truth from God's Word, and helping them to find their true identity in Jesus Christ.
The role of the Church, of Christians and the Bible, in speaking about gender and all the other issues facing our society and, indeed, the entire human race today, is to declare, "Thus says the LORD!" And we must acknowledge the truth that Paul writes in I Corinthians 12:3, "No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the Holy Spirit." Only God can change the human heart, and His instruments are His Word and His Spirit. He has entrusted His Word to His true Church, and my purpose and yours must be to continue to tell people what God says in the Bible. Whether they accept it or reject it is ultimately up to God.
Don't be deceived into believing our culture can be changed by politicians passing laws. We rejoice when righteous laws are passed and enforced, and yet we know that apart from the work of the Spirit in the hearts of loved ones, friends and others, they will ultimately perish in their sin, for they "suppress the truth" and refuse to worship the one true God, or confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Pray for those you know who are LOST, confused, wandering and drifting further and further away from God and the truth He reveals in His Word. Pray for the opportunity to speak truth into their lives and pray that God would open their ears, their hearts and their minds to hear the truth, believe and be saved. Hold fast to the truth yourself, and be encouraged that with God, all things are possible! To HIM be the glory!!
