Potty Politics
Our family moved to a new community when I started the fourth grade. It was a tight, close-knit community where outsiders were outsiders! Many of the boys were 14 or 15 years old, and just waiting till they could drop out of school at 16. Because my brothers and I were outsiders, every time we went to the restroom, we got bullied and beaten.
Our elementary school had four classrooms with four female teachers, who taught grades one through seven. Obviously the female teachers did not enter the boy’s restroom. Thinking back on that horrible experience in the context of the current restroom overreach of our President and the Department of Justice, I kind of wish those female teachers could have entered the boy’s restroom.
Our culture has changed. With a 180 degree change in its value system, every value we ever held is up for grabs. Marriage has been redefined by the Supreme Court. The government is heavy-handedly forcing everyone to not discriminate on the basis of gender, declaring that anyone can use any restroom. Fads come and go, but when federal agencies enforce a public policy that goes against common sense, as well as deeply held values, we can feel run over and rather helpless.
Have we lost all common sense and basic decency? The New York Commission on Human Rights just announced that all employers, landlords, and business firms must refer to transgendered people in a politically correct way using the terms “Ze” and “Hir.” I suppose we will have to start asking people what their preferred gender pronoun is so no one will feel discriminated against. (Washington Times, B2, 5-23-16). A Colorado university professor says that those who refuse to apply the new rules should be “publicly shamed.” I am glad the North Carolina “Bathroom Bill” is pushing back on the federal overreach.
Studies tell us only 1/10th of 1% in American are unhappy with their sex or gender, yet all of us are having to pay the price of so-called discrimination against those whose identity is confused. The administration, with only 8 more months left in office, is putting the transgender issue forward as a top priority. Let’s not worry about ISIS and a host of other societal ills. In the midst of all this, the government has not yet voiced concern about churches providing gender neutral restrooms, but …. Eric Metaxas says, “This is a biggie, folks, on a number of levels: government overreach and ideological extortion, denial of biological realities, equivocation with civil rights, and on and on.”
Our church is now marketing the “We Are For” slogan all over our neighborhoods, so that we are becoming known as being for the ‘gender-confused.’ So, what are we as Christian disciples of Jesus to do? Do we go along? Do we complain and do nothing? Will we be labeled as Christian hypocrites because we say, “We are FOR” the transgender, while not jumping when the government cries foul?
Let me offer some action steps for disciples of Jesus.
Uphold biblical teaching. God created us male and female. To want to change one’s gender is to doubt our Creator’s sovereign design and is a result of sin. Changing one’s gender is to play god. Yes, there are those who are confused about their identity, but those with a confused gender are flawed by the ravages of sin.
Love transgendered people and show mercy to them without buying into their confused logic. There is a way they can live life with a Spirit-empowered identity that will affirm even their flawed understanding. It won’t be easy, but we believe Christ Jesus can bring healthy change.
Stand up and speak out against government overreach. It was the silent Christian majority that stood by while Hitler ruined Germany. Let’s not let it happen here.
Parents must affirm their children’s gender. Your kids are going to being hit savagely with this new agenda. Children will be taught to question their God-given gender. It is confusing enough to struggle with one’s gender identity; it is even more confusing for children who do not question their gender to be taught to question who they are on a whim.
As disciples of Jesus, we have a calling to address these kinds of issues as painful and disgusting as they are.
