Erase

Here in this time leading up to Valentine's Day, we can consider healthy marriages and relationships outside of marriage that honor God. God has given us His Word as a guide that can be instrumental in an orderly society. Jesus taught in 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."

In these verses, Jesus addresses several concepts that are being challenged in these days. He speaks to the issue of gender - God made male and female.  This is very plain; God made two genders, not multiple, and He is the One who has made the determination.  Jesus gives the definition of marriage: one man for one woman in a one-flesh relationship.  If we adhere to His standards, individually and collectively, we can discover the abundant life and relationships that He intends for us to enjoy.

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Paul could have been sitting at a computer screen and watching the degradation of our culture when he wrote the words in Romans chapter 1, given to Him by the Holy Spirit, containing enduring truth. He said:
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
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.

Bianca Stanescu is the mother of a female track-and-field athlete in Connecticut, whom she described in a USA Today op-ed piece last year as "elite." In that state, the powers that be who regulate youth sports have decided to allow biological males to compete against females.  She is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against that governing association, a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom. She writes:

Boys with mediocre times can compete in the boys’ category and then completely dominate girls’ events just a few weeks later. I’ve already seen this happening in Connecticut. After a series of unremarkable finishes as a boy in the 2018 indoor season, the same athlete began competing — and winning — as a girl in the outdoor season that started just weeks later.

My daughter would have qualified for the New England regionals in the 55-meter dash in Spring 2019, but instead, the top two spots went to biological boys who identify as girls. She lost her chance to compete and instead had to watch from the stands.

And, people across the political spectrum are taking notes. In an article published at The Stream, Tony Perkins of Family Research Council says:

In an unlikely coalition, outspoken LGBT activists have joined forces with soccer moms and conservatives to fight for the right to keep competition on a level playing field. Groups like Save Women’s Sports popped up, working in state legislatures like Idaho to keep the two genders separate. “We strongly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to compete, but true athletic parity for women demands that women’s sports be protected for biological females.”

He goes on to say:

The science, it turns out, supports them. In a study that even NBC felt compelled to cover, Dr. Timothy Roberts found that men undergoing a female transition still have a competitive biological edge. “At one year,” which has been the typical cutoff for organizations like the Olympic committee, “the trans women on average still have an advantage…” he said.

Polling data has been favorable toward this position, as well; as Perkins notes: "Fortunately, most Americans can see through the political correctness to common sense. In polling late last year in 10 battleground states, 75% of voters said they object to mixed-gender sports."  He quotes Doreen Denny of Concerned Women for America, who said: “I think we’ve made some progress in [warning the country about] what’s happening. And I think it’s so common sense and basic for people that they’re kind of wondering, ‘Why are we even having this discussion right now?’” 

Well, the discussion has ramped up due to the action taken by the President, who has stated, "transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time," and has signed an executive order that aims to prevent so-called "discrimination" against transgender individuals.  An article from The Daily Caller published at The Daily Signal quotes Christiana Holcomb of Alliance Defending Freedom: “President Biden’s executive order has directed federal agencies to eviscerate legal protection for women and roll back nearly 50 years of gains for women...We’re going to have to wait and see how each agency either revokes current protection for women based on their sex or issues new policy guidance that allows biological males to, for example, compete in women’s sports.”  As the article states, the order prompted the hashtag, #BidenErasedWomen.

There are certainly some building blocks, rooted in absolute truth, that we embrace not only as Christian believers, but that have been rock-solid truths to which societies have adhered. The truth of two sexes is paramount - God created male and female.  You can't "choose" your gender, and biology teaches that a gender is not "assigned" to you by your parents or who delivered you.  I think back on Gary Bauer's comments from a few days ago that I shared; he said, related to a call from a New York Times columnist for a "reality czar" to combat so-called "disinformation:" "...I'm happy to do the job. But I'm going to begin with the reality that there are only two genders or sexes, not dozens."

It is interesting - you have people yelling about conspiracy theories and "deprogramming" their fellow citizens who support special rights based on the so-called "gender" with which they identify that is somehow different than their biological one.  Willing to ignore the "science." And, advocating punishing those who will not support the objective biology in favor of a subjective agenda.  In the face of such upside-down thinking, we have to continue to be strong in the Lord and standing on His truth.  We don't have to believe delusions, but we have to recognize them when they come, because they can be subtle - but we have the standards of God's Word and the discernment of the Spirit to fortify us.