24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
We can be thankful to God that He has called us to sacred purity rather than sinful passion. But, the world is determined to corrupt the clear principles of the Scripture. When we reject the teachings of the Bible, God will allow people to sow what they reap. We must be cautious to stay grounded in the Word of God and to follow the direction of the Spirit of God and to appropriate His power so we reject those sinful desires and conform our desires to His will.
In an age in which there is a trend to misuse the teachings of Jesus to accommodate sin, including the
support of homosexuality, it's helpful to recognize what He actually said. Matthew 19:
4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,'
5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."
The numbers are clear: two genders, one man and one woman in a one-flesh relationship.
There is so much confusing and confounding news out there about the issue of gender, isn't there? Of course, you have the transgender people who believe that they can actually change their biology through surgery, therapy, and hormones. You have those that say that children should not be taught that they are one particular gender. People identify as one of a host of different genders, and the drag queens dress up as women and are lauded for it. While Jesus taught God created us male and female - those are fixed, the world has created a whole assortment of genders that are fluid.
WORLD Magazine reported on a recent study about the views of teens in rural areas in the southeastern United States with regard to gender. The article says:
The article states, "...the study leaves out an important nuance, said Michelle Cretella, executive director of the American College of Pediatricians. Namely that homosexual feelings are a lot more fluid than heterosexual ones." It continues:
Cretella has spoken out in the past about the use of therapies on children that involve medical therapies that would enable someone to attempt to change his or her gender. According to Life Site News, in 2017...
The enemy will attempt to lure people into experimentation. He will tempt us to explore alternative viewpoints, so that we do not adhere to God's principles and hurt our witness. His aim is to make us less effective or even ineffective in representing our Savior.
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In an age in which there is a trend to misuse the teachings of Jesus to accommodate sin, including the
support of homosexuality, it's helpful to recognize what He actually said. Matthew 19:
4 And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,'
5 and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?
6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."
The numbers are clear: two genders, one man and one woman in a one-flesh relationship.
There is so much confusing and confounding news out there about the issue of gender, isn't there? Of course, you have the transgender people who believe that they can actually change their biology through surgery, therapy, and hormones. You have those that say that children should not be taught that they are one particular gender. People identify as one of a host of different genders, and the drag queens dress up as women and are lauded for it. While Jesus taught God created us male and female - those are fixed, the world has created a whole assortment of genders that are fluid.
WORLD Magazine reported on a recent study about the views of teens in rural areas in the southeastern United States with regard to gender. The article says:
The report, published in the Journal of Adolescence, used surveys from 744 high school students in the southeastern United States conducted from 2014 to 2016. Researchers from three universities asked each student about their sexual identity (whether they identify as heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual), their romantic attractions, and their sexual behavior for three years in a row.
Of those surveyed, 19 percent reported at least one change in their self-labeled sexual identity over three years, and 21 percent reported at least one change in who they were attracted to. For many, their identity, attraction, and behavior were inconsistent. Nearly 10 percent of female students said they were heterosexual and had at least some attraction to girls. Of the female students who said they were heterosexual and not attracted to girls, 12 percent reported engaging in same-sex sexual behavior.And, girls - biological, I presume, were twice as likely as boys to "report a change in sexual identity."
The article states, "...the study leaves out an important nuance, said Michelle Cretella, executive director of the American College of Pediatricians. Namely that homosexual feelings are a lot more fluid than heterosexual ones." It continues:
She said other research has shown young adolescents who experience solely opposite-sex attraction will likely always feel and identify as heterosexual, while homosexual attractions in teens are more fluid than fixed. Cretella pointed to a 2007 study on sexual identity fluidity in teens that found 98 percent of adolescents experiencing heterosexual attractions retained those into adulthood.WORLD notes: "the recent study showed that 75 percent of adolescents with homosexual attractions changed to experience heterosexual attraction only. That jives with a 2011 study of more than 13,000 teens that found 66 percent of teens initially unsure of their sexual orientation became exclusively heterosexual."
Cretella has spoken out in the past about the use of therapies on children that involve medical therapies that would enable someone to attempt to change his or her gender. According to Life Site News, in 2017...
...the Heritage Foundation sponsored a forum on transgenderism at which Dr. Michelle Cretella said it is child abuse to facilitate gender confusion in children by helping them “transition” to the opposite sex.
“Chemical castration is what you’re doing when you put any biologically normal child on puberty blockers,” said Cretella, the president of the American College of Pediatricians. “It’s treating puberty like a disease, arresting a normal process which is critical to normal development.”She added, "Indoctrinating preschool kids with the lie that you can be trapped in the wrong body … disrupt(s) their normal reality testing and cognitive development,” she explained. “Those things are abusive.”
And, the studies show that the majority of young people who experience gender confusion will eventually land on heterosexual feelings and practice exclusively.
Adam Donyes, the founder and president of Link Year, which is described as "a one-year Christian program for post–high school teens," according to the WORLD article, "...pointed to the fact that students today are primarily self-educated about sex and sexuality and believe they can determine for themselves what is right or wrong." He says: “Everything that is educating them and informing them is on their phones. … No longer are Mom and Dad, or teachers at school, the primary educators.” Everywhere they turn they see sexual identity fluidity, said Donyes, and so they begin to believe it’s the “new normal.”
Bottom line: we are called to accept and teach God's plan. There are many influences that attempt to sway young people to be more investigative and explore false narratives about gender, and we have to recognize the fixed nature of biology, as determined by the Creator. It's not up to a child or teen to choose his or her gender, and attempting to do so is an act of rebellion to God's ways.
The enemy will attempt to lure people into experimentation. He will tempt us to explore alternative viewpoints, so that we do not adhere to God's principles and hurt our witness. His aim is to make us less effective or even ineffective in representing our Savior.
And, we should always support therapy and tools that can help decrease gender confusion or deal with same-sex attraction, rather than complicate matters through embracing godless ideas. While some in the Christian community have spoken out against therapy that would help a person deal with these thoughts, emotions, and attractions, and governments have sought to ban counseling that violates their agenda that promotes the exploration of unbiblical ideas of sexuality, we can go to the Word of God to govern our perspective.
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