Hidden Reefs and Human Rights
September 26, 2016. Why is this date so important? On this date, California passed the first ruling legally recognizing the existence of a third gender. This ruling contradicts the Biblical record in Genesis which cites the creation of Adam and Eve as the culmination of God’s creative act. That act was when “God created man in his own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27). Is this third gender contradiction, which is becoming a fact, upheld within our own society through legislation being passed, meant to destroy the Judeo-Christian foundation of our faith? Is this another step towards affirming there is no Creator and that we control our own destiny? How will this ongoing cultural revolution challenge our Biblical world view? Can these two world views co-exist together?
We live in a society today where cultural relativism is on the rise. Perspectives and understanding vary greatly from the norms embraced by past generations. Absolute truth is being denied, due to the right every individual has to define one’s own circumstances and convictions. Progressive thought is challenging what was once absolute truth. And so, on September 26, 2016, Sara Kelly Keenan became the second person to legally change her gender to non-binary (3rd gender) and the first person to receive the label “intersex” placed upon her birth certificate. The first person who received this legal status of non-binary was Jamie Shupe from the state of Oregon on June 16, 2016. When Shupe requested this new gender classification be placed on his driver’s license, his request was denied. Eventually, the court handed down a decision in favor of Shupe’s request, and the DMV had to comply, making Oregon the first state to issue driver licenses with the new, non-binary gender classification. Shupe noted that airlines still require a gender choice be made between male and female when purchasing a ticket (Lauren Drake, The Guardian). It will take time to update all the social systems in use today with this third gender classification. Meanwhile, Shupe uses the pronoun they when referring to herself. This will cause a redefining of the English pronoun that has always been used in a plural context. Can this change within our society be absorbed peacefully and lovingly when it is in complete opposition to a Biblical worldview?
In 2014, India became the largest country in the world to have an official third gender option. They followed Pakistan, Australia and Germany in adopting and legalizing this third gender option (Kristian Foden-Vencil). This issue is not exactly a new issue here in America, but now, individual states have begun to legalize it. The following statistics come from an article written by Josh Magness of the Miami Herald. Washington, D.C. and Oregon led the way in 2017. Washington state and California legalized it in 2018. New York and Maine will legalize it in 2019. George Scott, who is running for Pennsylvania governor in the upcoming elections, is a staunch supporter of the LGBT (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual and Transgender) agenda. Meanwhile, the Human Rights agencies continue to advocate for more legislation that will protect the LGBT communities. How should Bible believing citizens of heaven view all the changes taking place within our society today? Are we to be the policemen, the judges, the teachers, fighting against the ungodly influences within our society? Are we called to rise up and protect our government, to live in conflict with our neighbors, to maintain the status quo? Or are we to represent God’s kingdom here on earth, to live peaceably with all men, to preach the good news that will affect change while waiting for the return of Jesus?
II Peter 3 gives some direction and some answers to these questions. Peter instructs us 1) to remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandments of the Lord, 2) to remember that scoffers will come in the last days, following their own sinful desires, 3) to remember that God judged the world once by water, and 4) to remember that God will come in the future to judge the world by fire. Peter goes on to ask a question. “What sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness[?]” (II Peter 3:11). Where should our focus be? “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish and at peace” (II Peter 3:14). Is anything happening today within our society that was not spoken about within the Scriptures?
When identifying social problems, Neubeck asserts that “a sociologists own values must inevitably become involved…[and that reference must be made to an] assumed ideal societal state” (Neubeck Qtd. by Stephen B. Cobb p. 210). Christians believe the Scriptures to be the unquestionable final authority upon which opinions are formed and adhered to. Therefore, right and wrong can both be determined by seeking to know the Biblical perspective on any issue that arises within society. If God is the judge who will mete out justice, albeit at the end of the age, do Christians over-step their boundaries when trying to control the outcome of very undesirable social ills that lie in unbelief? Evil is never a desired element within any society, yet evil exists. Can it realistically be eradicated from society? Is this another attempt to conform individuals to the mold that normative Christianity exports? The admonishment is to “take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:17,18).
There is a time and a place to contend. Sojourners live among the people who occupy the land. They are not part of the society, they only live among them. In Deuteronomy chapter two, the Israelites were leaving the wilderness and entering the promised land. They were not to “contend” with their brother, Esau (Deut. 2:15), nor were they to content with Moab (Deut. 2:9) or with Ammon (Deut. 2:19). They were to contend with the Amorites, first with Sihon (Deut. 2:24); then with Bashan (Deut. 2:2). Although God had given all these lands to Abram, he lived among the peoples as a sojourner. It wasn’t time to occupy and to own the lands. In a similar way, in today’s world, we have been promised a future. When the Lord returns, it will once again be time to contend and then to occupy.
Our land is polluted. God is no longer sovereign in our midst. The nations of Israel and Judah also became polluted because the people forsook the way of God. “[Ahaz] walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel” (II Kings 16:3). Their captivity in Assyria “occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God…and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced” (II Kings 17:7,8). In like fashion, Manasseh and Amon, both Kings of Judah, did not walk in the way of the Lord (II Kings 21:2,6,14, 20–22). The exile of Judah was postponed due to Josiah’s reforms, but inevitably, the WORD of God played out during the reign of Zedekiah (II Kings 24:2,3,19). “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Gal. 5:7).
Jude sums this issue up ominously, “But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them!” (Jude 1:10). Truth can be known. Something so obvious, like gender sex, is evident upon the birth of a child. “Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:15). “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil” (Prov. 3:7).
In conclusion, “What is the perversion of the grace of our God?” (Jude 1:12,13).
Jude discusses hidden reefs, waterless clouds, fruitless trees, wild waves and wandering stars. These are warnings about dangers, worthlessness, confusion and being totally lost. “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgement on all and to convict all of their deeds of ungodliness” (Jude 1:14). This is not our world. Thomas and Znaniecki, when defining the principle of situation, states, “We must put ourselves in the position of the subject…that the environment by which he is influenced and to which he adapts himself is his world…the individual subject reacts only to his experience” (Tomas and Zananiecki Qtd. by Cobb p212). The new laws that are being passed do not account for a holy God who reigns sovereign in all, over all, and through all. That doesn’t mean He is out of the picture. Sometimes, we must wait patiently for God to intervene and deliver us from evil.
A teacher exposes the LGBT agenda coming into in elementary schools
Works Cited
Cobb, Stephen G. Christian Perspectives on Sociology. Edited by Stephen A. Grunlan and
Milton Reimer. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1982.
Drake, Lauren. Jamie Shupe becomes first legally non-binary person in the US. June 16,
2016. www.TheGuardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/
Foden-Vencil, Kristian. Neither Male nor Female: Oregon Resident Legally Recognized as
Third Gender. June 17, 2016. www.npr.org/2016/06/17/482480188/neither-male-nor-female-oregon-resident-legally-recognized-as-third-gender.
Magness, Josh. Third Gender Coming to Birth Certificate in New York City. Where Else is it
Allowed? Miami Herald, October 9, 2018. www.miamiherald.com/news/national/article279731440.html
Metzger, Ianthe. HRC Endorses George Scott for United States Congress (PA-10). October 15,
2018. https://www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-endorses-george-scott-for-united-states-congress.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Crossway. 2002.
