Gender is Not our Choice
God Made us Either Male or Female
Matt Recker
I woke up today and asked myself, what in the world is going on in North Carolina? Why is the Obama Administration filing a federal lawsuit against the State of North Carolina? What is all this fuss about bathrooms, anyway? Is going to the bathroom now a political issue and is it really controversial about who uses what bathroom? What is really happening?1
In February of this year, the Charlotte City Council enacted an ordinance requiring all government and business bathrooms, including those with showers and locker rooms, to be open to all sexes. This ordinance included bathrooms with locker rooms and showers not only in state buildings, but it would force the same standards on private business owners and all public rest rooms, even churches. The bottom line of this ordinance was this: if someone thinks of themselves as female, they can have access to the woman’s facilities, and any who deem themselves male, can use the men’s rooms. This ordinance would threaten 23,000 businesses with fines and minor punishments if they didn’t comply. In effect, this would make any sex-specific bathrooms illegal. Yes, going to the bathroom is now a political issue.2
The North Carolina state government led by Governor Pat McCrory countered this city ordinance and legislated law HB2 which said that bathrooms will be used by the persons biological sex determined by anatomy and genetics at the time of birth.
A Christian would think that this is so basic, how can we disagree over this? The Bible is clear and Jesus Himself said, “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them at the beginning made them male and female” (Matthew 19:4). Nature’s law agrees as well, for when we are born, we are either male or female. Our birth certificates and our identification says we are either male or female. Sadly, our leaders have either not read or not believed the Bible, probably the latter, and have turned their back upon nature’s law.
Nevertheless, the public outcry has been outrageous. Bruce Springsteen cancelled a concert in North Carolina. The NBA threatened to move the All Star game from the Tarheel state to another state. Now the Obama Administration has filed a Lawsuit against the state of North Carolina.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that North Carolina’s law “harms innocent Americans.” How does using a bathroom harm anyone? Who is being hurt? She also compared this bathroom law to the notorious Jim Crow laws of the south, making it seem as if the bathrooms we have all used our entire lives are cursed remnants of the racist and bigoted laws of the past.
We are also being told by social media giants like Facebook that there are at least 58 genders or more. Facebook now proclaims, God did not make man either a male or female, but a gender is now something open to choose or to change, at a whim.3
This public and continuous rejection of God’s creation order by those who lead and influence millions of people, is deeply disturbing. We are being told if we believe in just two genders, that we are a bigoted, fearful and unjust in a way similar to the unjust Jim Crow laws. The blindness is growing and the darkness is spreading throughout our land, and it causes my heart to break.
The government is behaving like a bully state forcing us to bow to their newly evolving, immoral understanding of life. The music is playing and they are saying, bow to our demand or burn!
Nevertheless the cacophony of society, the Bible is clear on this. Our gender of either male or female is not our choice. Our gender is not interchangeable but is given to each of us at birth. It is up to each of us to submit ourselves to God’s will regarding how He made us. To do otherwise will lead to destruction.
Genesis 1:27; So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Men and women are different and not one sex. We are created by God as we are to complement one another in very distinct roles for our own blessing.
Genesis 2:18; And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
This helper suitable for the man was the woman, emphasizing the distinct roles from the beginning for the male and female.
As our culture and elite leaders reject God’s clear Word and proclaim their own wisdom, it is reminiscent of Wile E. Coyote who thinks he has outsmarted Roadrunner. Only at the last moment when it is too late does Wile E. Coyote realize that he is falling off a cliff to his destruction. As our leaders embrace foolishness and reject truth, they face the cliff of our national demise. The time is becoming late, and only a truly God-sent revival can prevent the ultimate collapse of our nation that was founded upon principles found in Scripture. In the meantime, we must not bow to the state. Rather, let us bow our knees in prayer to the One God who made us in His image, either male or female. ((I gleaned this Roadrunner analogy from Rob Slane’s blog: A Civilization Goes Splat! Accessed May 11, 2016: http://www.theblogmire.com/civilization-goes-splat/))
Matt Recker is the pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in New York City.
- http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/ag-lynch-states-cannot-insist-man-man-and-woman-woman-if-they-feel; Accessed May 11, 2016. [↩]
- http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article61786967.html; Accessed May 11, 2016. [↩]
- RT News; 58 gender options not enough? Facebook now allows unlimited custom identities. Accessed May 11, 2016; https://www.rt.com/usa/236283-facebook-gender-custom-choice/ [↩]