Bonaire church of Christ

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen 1:27). On the sixth day of creation, the Bible says God created a man. He made him male. God brought before man the animals, each of its kind, both male and female. Man recognized there was no one like him among the animals and so God took the man and from his rib made woman (Gen. 2:20-22). He made her female. Thus we see according to God’s pattern in creation there is, in respect to gender among mankind, male and female.

This concept is so simple even a child could understand it. Yet today it seems everywhere one turns in our country there are those who are intent on destroying not only the roles God has established for each gender, but the very concept of gender itself. Anyone who peruses the news will find many stories that demonstrate this problem. Some celebrated Chastity Bono’s decision to become “Chaz” and were lauding her appearance on “Dancing With The Stars.” A story earlier this year reported a lesbian couple in California giving their eleven year old son hormone blockers to delay puberty because they say he wants to become a girl (Chiaramonte, Park). This is one of many articles one could find where parents in this country and others are engaged in what could only be called a “social” experiment with their children in regard to their gender.

There is no place for such according to the scriptures. One is born into this world either male or female. It is not a choice one gets to make. For a male to decide to become or to behave as female or vice versa is wrong. God has always distinguished between the sexes (Deu. 22:5; 1 Cor. 11:3-5; Eph. 5:22-23). Those who are male and would become female or vice-versa not only in their attire and manner but especially in their sexuality are practicing homosexuality which is condemned (Gen. 19; Rom. 1:24-27; 1 Cor. 6:9). Those who have fallen prey to these desires are precious souls who are being deceived by the world and its lusts (1 Cor. 4:4)! The gospel cries out for them to wake up, listen, and turn back before it is too late.

Recently a report on NPR cited a new study published in the American Sociological Review that found that “working mothers spend significantly more time multitasking at home than working dads. And those mothers aren’t happy about it“(Neighmond). In fact the study found that “mothers spend 10 more hours a week multitasking compared to fathers and that these additional hours are mainly related to time spent on housework and childcare” (Offer, Schneider). Some of the working mothers in the study were so overwhelmed they described the hours when they arrived home from work, between 5 and 8 P.M. as the “arsenic hours” (Neighmond). Who among us is not touched by the plight of these working mothers and their families as more and more Americans have decided to have both mother and father working outside the home? What is the solution to this? According to the one of the researchers, Barabara Sneider, “employers could be more creative in scheduling, giving men more flexible hours and more time at home so that child care and household chores can be more equitably divided” (Neighmond).

This is just one of many examples where our culture seems to be blurring the distinction in gender; in effect, feminizing the male and masculinizing the female. How should we handle the stresses of our modern lives with its daily pressures? Don’t misunderstand, there is certainly nothing wrong with a man helping out around the house but is that what we are seeing? Is that what the world is suggesting? No, the world says that now we should have the males to “guide the house” and be “keepers at home.” What does God say about this? We can easily open the Bible and see it doesn’t explicitly forbid a women to work outside the home, but includes examples of that very thing (Acts 16:14; 18:3). Many offer the woman in Proverbs 31 as having some business that involved work outside of the home (Prov. 31:16, 24). Thus it can be demonstrated that women have in both the Old and New Testaments had work that was outside of the home. However, one would be wrong to conclude from this that a woman’s chief sphere is a career outside the home similar to the man’s role. This was never her primary role. Paul instructed Timothy to exhort young widows to, “marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully” (1 Tim. 5:14). Paul told Titus to exhort the older women to, “teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed” (Tit. 2:4-5). Even when one considers the virtuous example of the worthy woman in Proverbs 31, she was one who “looketh well to the ways of her household” (Prov. 31:27).

These aren’t the opinions of a misogynist, but they are what God called, “sound doctrine” (Tit. 2:1). There is a difference between the role of a male and a female. We all understand this. For example, biologically, in regard to human reproduction, men cannot conceive and bear children, only women can. Nor are women fitted to take the male role in that process either. Likewise, men are not told to be “keepers at home” or to “guide the house” but instead they are to be the head of the house (Eph. 5:22-33)! Again, those who have fallen prey to the wisdom of this world and its desires are precious souls who are being deceived by the world and its lusts (1 Cor. 4:4)! Do not be deceived. While a woman may choose to and sometimes may even be forced to work outside the home that doesn’t authorize her to neglect her role as a female. This is likewise true for the male. When one chooses to do something that causes the male or the female to neglect their God given roles such is wrong regardless of what the world might think or say!

God said it wasn’t good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). He knows better than you or me. He made a helper to complement man and that was woman. God intended for males to be male and for females to be female. Let us trust God and not man. Let us respect God’s design and purpose and glorify God in our bodies and perform our respective duties as men and women, boys and girls. Paul told the Colossians, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8). Let us look to God to guide us and not the wisdom of this world. – Phillip Stuckey

References:

• Chiaramonte, Perry. “Controversial Therapy for Pre-Teen Transgender Patient Raises Questions.” FoxNews. FoxNews, 17 10 2011. Web. 2 Dec 2011.
• Neighmond, Patti. “Working Moms Multitask, And Stress, More Than Dads.” NPR.ORG. National Public Radio, 01 Dec 2011. Web. 13 Jan 2012.
• Offer, Shira, and Barbara Schneider. “Revisiting the Gender Gap in Time-Use Patterns: Multitasking and Well-Being among Mothers and Fathers in Dual-Earner Families.” American Sociological Review. 76.6 (2011): n. page. Web. 13 Jan. 2012. .
• Park, Madison. “Transgender kids: Painful quest to be who they are.” CNN. FoxNews, 27 09 2011. Web. 2 Dec 2011.

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