Gender Issues and the Bible

WHEN BOYS WERE BOYS, AND GIRLS WERE GIRLS
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1) The Creator also created sea creatures and fowl, as well as animals. But of all creation the crowning glory was man. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27).  Adam and Eve were made in the image of God. The image of God in which male and female were created is not a physical image. Male and female were created “in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Man was like God, holy, pure, perfect. When creation was finished, the divine Planner, Designer, and Creator declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). This included man and woman in their design, their make-up, and their emotion, as well as their understanding of who and what they were.
God did not create sin. He did not create murderers, thieves, alcoholics, adulterers, addicts of any sort, drug abusers, or pyromaniacs. He did not create homosexuals, lesbians, transgenders, bi-sexuals.  All departures from the original perfection are a consequence of the fall into sin, when Adam and Eve inexplicably listened to the devil, twisted God’s Word, and chose to go their own way. When they sinned, the image of God was lost. It is blasphemy when people try to excuse evil by saying they do what they do “because God made them that way.”
In creation with respect to their being as well as to the method, there was a distinction between human beings and animals. Animals were not created in the image of God. Animals are for the service of man. In the sin laden world in which we live, divine creation is denied and the evolutionary mind equates humans with  animals. The foolishness of unbelief borders on comedy, if it were not spiritually and eternally fatal.
When the Triune God made male and female, He created them distinctively different.  Since creation there have been male and female, men and women, boys and girls. That some today alter their birth identity claiming not to like what they are, don’t know who they are, or wish they were something else than what they are is a manifestation and consequence of sin. Period!
Behavior of any sort contrary to the will of the holy God is not the way it was.  As God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to redeem and save fallen mankind (we number ourselves among them), we implore those caught in the confusion and sins named above to seek spiritual help from the Word, as well as help offered by the medical, and mental-health professions.  Since sin came into the world, truth, including that of the divinely instituted roles of men and women respectively, falls on many deaf ears.
Whatever our Lord addresses in His Word is truth. Jesus spoke truth. He said to the Jews, “Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me” (John 8:45).  Paul asked the Galatians, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth” (Galatians 4:16)? To those who hate the truth, truth is hate speech. Jesus said to His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Inasmuch as we cannot serve God and love the world, the Christ-believer fully cognizant of his own sins nevertheless must speak the truth and bear the scorching hatred of the world.
It is a horrible indictment that within Christendom churches are more and more buying into the will of society. Rather than running the risk of offending the world by speaking the truth, God’s truth is being sacrificed on the flimsy altar of love and hope. But how is it love to approve what God disapproves—whether in doctrine or life, whether in the church or in society? What hope does an apostate Christianity offer to those who are caught in the snare of sin and don’t know it.  Zechariah, the prophet, said to the people of Judah, “These are the things you shall do. Speak each man truth with his neighbor: give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace; let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate says the Lord”(Zechariah 8:16). To the Ephesians Paul wrote, “Therefore putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor” (Ephesians 4:25). It is not love to withhold the truth from the neighbor, especially when withholding the truth becomes cover for sin, and the consequence of it. The truth spoken in love may hurt, but so does surgery that is done to save one’s life.  The balm for such hurt is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Who as true God came to earth as Man to live among men and give His life a ransom for all. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). This promise is meant for all. But it is effective and meaningful only to those who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Churches that will not preach the law for fear of offending sinners are destroying souls. Without the law they are preaching another gospel!
In our post-Christian culture, the male/female issue and all the accompanying issues are not merely political issues. They are spiritual ones; they are issues which much of Christendom out of fear has refused to address. They are also issues because many have bought into Satan’s original question to Eve: “Has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1). They are the consequence of rejection of the Triune God and His Word.  Yes, in a progressively political and post-Christian society gender identification is falling to political manipulation and political correctness in the public square.  Princeton University has just declared: “Gender-inclusive language is writing and speaking about people in a manner that does not use gender-based words…Gender binary is the traditional view on human gender, which does not take into consideration individuals who identify as otherwise, including and not limited to transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and/or intersex.”
“Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). The word “man” or “woman” is no longer acceptable on the Princeton campus. They have a new set of gender-neutral pronouns— “se, sie and hir, ey, em, eir and emself.” (*) This is not simply linguistically absurd and meaningless. It is anti-Christian.  The school has provided a list of expressions to replace the unacceptable ones. This, by the way, is what your children are exposed to in many public institutions which are bent on bending the minds of students who will one day be future leaders.
Furthermore, the Creator established marriage as a union of male and female. Men and women were created to complement each other sexually and emotionally.  The Lord God also in His grace, wisdom, and love instituted different roles for men and women respectively.
To the extent that the church compromises the role of men and women in the home, it contributes to the breakdown of the home and family. If mother and father are not bound by the authority of Scripture in their divinely assigned roles, why should children be in relationship to parents? As the church buys into society instead of setting forth the truth and making known the will of God, it is casting out the authority of the divine Word.
A lax–whatever makes you feel good–attitude toward Scripture, concerning gender issues and God’s intent for marriage, defiles  the picture of the relationship of the Church to Christ, a relationship which the Lord through the apostle Paul uses to describe His will for husband and wife in marriage. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Doubtless, we will be accused of being harsh, hard-hearted, cruel, uncaring, mean, ignorant, and guilty of hate-speech. Be that as it will, we simply stand on the Word of God, which is abhorrent to unbelief.
Nevertheless, the word and promises of God stand sure. The truth of the living God will ultimately prevail to the salvation of all who repent of their sins and in faith plead the merits and righteousness of Christ.
*) Patheos -on line, Mark Meckler
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1) The Creator also created sea creatures and fowl, as well as animals. But of all creation the crowning glory was man. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27).  Adam and Eve were made in the image of God. The image of God in which male and female were created is not a physical image. Male and female were created “in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Man was like God, holy, pure, perfect. When creation was finished, the divine Planner, Designer, and Creator declared it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). This included man and woman in their design, their make-up, and their emotion, as well as their understanding of who and what they were.
God did not create sin. He did not create murderers, thieves, alcoholics, adulterers, addicts of any sort, drug abusers, or pyromaniacs. He did not create homosexuals, lesbians, transgenders, bi-sexuals.  All departures from the original perfection are a consequence of the fall into sin, when Adam and Eve inexplicably listened to the devil, twisted God’s Word, and chose to go their own way. When they sinned, the image of God was lost. It is blasphemy when people try to excuse evil by saying they do what they do “because God made them that way.”
In creation with respect to their being as well as to the method, there was a distinction between human beings and animals. Animals were not created in the image of God. Animals are for the service of man. In the sin laden world in which we live, divine creation is denied and the evolutionary mind equates humans with  animals. The foolishness of unbelief borders on comedy, if it were not spiritually and eternally fatal.
When the Triune God made male and female, He created them distinctively different.  Since creation there have been male and female, men and women, boys and girls. That some today alter their birth identity claiming not to like what they are, don’t know who they are, or wish they were something else than what they are is a manifestation and consequence of sin. Period!
Behavior of any sort contrary to the will of the holy God is not the way it was.  As God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to redeem and save fallen mankind (we number ourselves among them), we implore those caught in the confusion and sins named above to seek spiritual help from the Word, as well as help offered by the medical, and mental-health professions.  Since sin came into the world, truth, including that of the divinely instituted roles of men and women respectively, falls on many deaf ears.
Whatever our Lord addresses in His Word is truth. Jesus spoke truth. He said to the Jews, “Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me” (John 8:45).  Paul asked the Galatians, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth” (Galatians 4:16)? To those who hate the truth, truth is hate speech. Jesus said to His disciples, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Inasmuch as we cannot serve God and love the world, the Christ-believer fully cognizant of his own sins nevertheless must speak the truth and bear the scorching hatred of the world.
It is a horrible indictment that within Christendom churches are more and more buying into the will of society. Rather than running the risk of offending the world by speaking the truth, God’s truth is being sacrificed on the flimsy altar of love and hope. But how is it love to approve what God disapproves—whether in doctrine or life, whether in the church or in society? What hope does an apostate Christianity offer to those who are caught in the snare of sin and don’t know it.  Zechariah, the prophet, said to the people of Judah, “These are the things you shall do. Speak each man truth with his neighbor: give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace; let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate says the Lord”(Zechariah 8:16). To the Ephesians Paul wrote, “Therefore putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor” (Ephesians 4:25). It is not love to withhold the truth from the neighbor, especially when withholding the truth becomes cover for sin, and the consequence of it. The truth spoken in love may hurt, but so does surgery that is done to save one’s life.  The balm for such hurt is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Who as true God came to earth as Man to live among men and give His life a ransom for all. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7). This promise is meant for all. But it is effective and meaningful only to those who repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Churches that will not preach the law for fear of offending sinners are destroying souls. Without the law they are preaching another gospel!
In our post-Christian culture, the male/female issue and all the accompanying issues are not merely political issues. They are spiritual ones; they are issues which much of Christendom out of fear has refused to address. They are also issues because many have bought into Satan’s original question to Eve: “Has God indeed said?” (Genesis 3:1). They are the consequence of rejection of the Triune God and His Word.  Yes, in a progressively political and post-Christian society gender identification is falling to political manipulation and political correctness in the public square.  Princeton University has just declared: “Gender-inclusive language is writing and speaking about people in a manner that does not use gender-based words…Gender binary is the traditional view on human gender, which does not take into consideration individuals who identify as otherwise, including and not limited to transgender, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and/or intersex.”
“Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). The word “man” or “woman” is no longer acceptable on the Princeton campus. They have a new set of gender-neutral pronouns— “se, sie and hir, ey, em, eir and emself.” (*) This is not simply linguistically absurd and meaningless. It is anti-Christian.  The school has provided a list of expressions to replace the unacceptable ones. This, by the way, is what your children are exposed to in many public institutions which are bent on bending the minds of students who will one day be future leaders.
Furthermore, the Creator established marriage as a union of male and female. Men and women were created to complement each other sexually and emotionally.  The Lord God also in His grace, wisdom, and love instituted different roles for men and women respectively.
To the extent that the church compromises the role of men and women in the home, it contributes to the breakdown of the home and family. If mother and father are not bound by the authority of Scripture in their divinely assigned roles, why should children be in relationship to parents? As the church buys into society instead of setting forth the truth and making known the will of God, it is casting out the authority of the divine Word.
A lax–whatever makes you feel good–attitude toward Scripture, concerning gender issues and God’s intent for marriage, defiles  the picture of the relationship of the Church to Christ, a relationship which the Lord through the apostle Paul uses to describe His will for husband and wife in marriage. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).
Doubtless, we will be accused of being harsh, hard-hearted, cruel, uncaring, mean, ignorant, and guilty of hate-speech. Be that as it will, we simply stand on the Word of God, which is abhorrent to unbelief.
Nevertheless, the word and promises of God stand sure. The truth of the living God will ultimately prevail to the salvation of all who repent of their sins and in faith plead the merits and righteousness of Christ.
*) Patheos -on line, Mark Meckler