Parents Rock!

Parental responsibility is underscored in the 6th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, which can give direction and encouragement to parents; we find these words of Moses:
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Possessing an intense love for God and for Jesus can completely transforming our thinking toward other people. If we love God, we also recognize that we will love those around us. The power of love is transformative and can energize our families.  God has given us His principles and His Holy Spirit so that we might walk according to the Word and to communicate it well. Parents have to be discerning these days and adhere in a passionate manner to the truth of Scripture rather than being impacted negatively by the philosophies of this world. 

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We are called to protect the vulnerable, and in Luke 17, Jesus shared some especially strong words about not leading or forcing children to sin; he taught:
1 Then He said to the disciples, "It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!
2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

The Bible gives parents an enormous responsibility to guide their children, and Christian parents are called - and equipped - to raise their kids in the ways of the Lord, to teach them Biblical principles, and to set an indelible example for them.

The pressures are great upon Christian parents today, and Tyler O'Neil, who has written for The Christian Post and Fox News, now serves as managing editor for The Daily Signal, where he writes this:

As a father, it is my responsibility to watch out for my children and to protect them from demonic lies and from medical interventions that would leave them scarred, stunted, and infertile.

Yet a growing chorus of activists and legislators seem intent on taking children away from parents like me, not because we would harm our children but because we would protect them from harm.

He laments those who "insist that if a child—barely old enough to grasp basic concepts of grammar, mathematics, or geography—claims that he or she identifies with the gender opposite his or her biological sex, that self-identity must override all other concerns. Woe to any parent who dares to disagree with the declarations of an 8-year-old."

One of those lawmakers is a state Delegate in Virginia named Elizabeth Guzman; O'Neil writes that she has proposed a bill that...

...would define as “abused” any child “whose parent or other person responsible for his care creates or inflicts, threatens to create or inflict, or allows to be created or inflicted upon such child a physical or mental injury on the basis of the child’s gender identity or sexual orientation.”

According to Decision Magazine:

Following Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s announcement last month of a new policy that supports parents’ rights when it comes to transgender identity and their children, Guzman said she was compelled to reintroduce her bill aimed at “protecting” children who identify as LGBTQ from their nonaffirming parents or guardians.

Meanwhile, O'Neil also points out the actions of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has already signed a bill that "defines 'gender-affirming care' as an absolute right. It will give California courts the ability to award custody over a child if someone removes the child from his or her parents in another state to obtain such 'care' for that child over the parents’ disagreement." 

The Daily Citizen of Focus on the Family reported that the governor set a letter to members of the state Senate; the governor said: “In California we believe in equality and acceptance. We believe that no one should be prosecuted or persecuted for getting the care they need – including gender-affirming care..." The Daily Citizen went on to say:

Here’s the ironic part of the letter:

“Parents know what’s best for their kids, and they should be able to make decisions around the health of their children without fear. We must take a stand for parental choice. That is precisely why I am signing Senate Bill 107.”

The governor proclaimed that he believes in “parental choice,” immediately after signing into law a bill that undermines and destroys parental choice.

After Gov. Newsom signed the bill, California Family Council, a Focus-allied organization, said in a press release that the bill empowers “state courts to remove out-of-state children from their parent’s custody if those children come to California because they can’t get sterilizing transgender drugs and mutilating surgeries in their home states.”

The Daily Citizen also reported on a Parental Rights Amendment, proposed by Rep. Debbie Lesko; the report states:

The House resolution, which hasn’t received an official bill number yet, would propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education and care of their children. Such rights, already affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in cases decided since the 1920s, are at risk of being lost by future court decisions unless firmly established in the Constitution.

The article notes that Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Advocacy Strategy Emilie Kao stated: "...as parents have stood before local school boards and state legislatures across the country to claim that right, they’ve been met by government officials who declare themselves the ultimate determiners of what’s best for children." She also said:

“This includes growing instances of schools actively hiding controversial curricula and critical information about children’s mental and physical health from parents. Thankfully, a growing coalition of parents, leaders, and organizations is standing up for the protection of our children and the fundamental rights of parents.

“Parents have a right to raise and educate their children consistent with their beliefs and values. Such a vital and fundamental right warrants explicit protection in our Constitution,” Kao added.

Parents prosecuted for denying so-called "gender-affirming care," which really means an attempt to change one's sex, information about a child's sexuality being hidden from parents, and schools teaching curricula that offends the sensibilities of the parents of their students.  These are the trends that we are seeing, and it is a clarion call for Christian parents to be informed and to be involved.  

Not only to parents have rights under our Constitution, but responsibilities as prescribed by the Bible. So, we have to recognize that the Bible gives us certain principles that we are to model and teach and that the Holy Spirit will give us the power to effectively communicate these principles.  The Word is powerful, living and active, and will counter the ideas that are all too prevalent in our world. 

Unfortunately, in the name of love and tolerance, unbiblical ideas can take foothold.  Dangerous, immoral, permanently damaging sex-change attempts become "gender-affirming care."  And, even the lawmaker in Virginia who wants to arrest parents who abide by Christian values for child abuse uses, astonishingly, a Biblical justification, as the Decision article notes; based on a story at WJLA Television:

She said her bill is designed to “help” parents “go by what the Bible says” about gender ideology and homosexuality.

“The Bible says to accept everyone for who they are,” Guzman said, in spite of the fact that there is no such verse in the Bible. “We all have a commitment to God. And for those believers out there, we know that there’s life after life, and there is going to be a conversation between that person and God and that’s what we’re after—to go by what the Bible says. It is not my job to judge anyone. It is my job to help people.”

The Bible calls us to holiness, not perversion. The Bible shows us that we are not to do harm to others, that that includes children. In fact, Jesus taught sternly about not causing these "little ones" to fall into sin.  When the culture says, "love is love" as a slogan for deviant behavior, we can demonstrate that we show love by obeying the One who loved us so much that He gave His life.