Changing the Order of Things . . .

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Last week the administration of the President of the United States shocked a lot of people when it issued guidelines for public schools. Essentially, those guidelines instructed public schools to accommodate children and teens who consider themselves transgendered, or gender fluid, by allowing them access to locker rooms or restrooms which they feel best serve their self-perceived gender. The guidelines came with the threat that if school districts did not heed the advice, they might lose federal funding. Transgendered people are those born as one particular sex, but feel like they should be the opposite sex. Gender fluid people are those who do not identify as any particular sex, but assume a sexual identity based on conditions and situations at any given moment. The administration’s guidance only requires that a student claim a particular gender identity.  It excludes the need for evidence, or even parental agreement. The administrations guidance is influenced by its interpretation of a law called Title IX.  That law states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance…”

The administration argues that for the purposes of Title IX, gender identity and sex are the same.  It contends that what you feel yourself to be is what you are, regardless of what your anatomy and biology show you to be.  So under the administration’s rules, a 16 year old boy known for being a girl chaser can tell his principal that he feels like a female on Monday, and that he needs access to the girl’s locker room after P.E. class, but then on Friday, tell the same principal that he is a boy again, and needs access to the boy’s locker room. Under the administration’s guidance, the principal must comply or face losing federal monies. Obviously, the administration’s guidance is rife with abuse potential.  But more than that, it is a sign of how times are changing, and how a world that is opposed to God is fully intent on changing the order of things.  This guidance is also a cautionary tale.  My home state of Mississippi, a religiously and socially conservative state has chosen to submit to the guidance.  The state’s political demographics strongly imply that this decision was not done because of the will of the voters.  In all likelihood it was done because of a dependence on government monies.  Whenever you submit to the world’s way of doing things, as opposed to God’s way of doing things, you can expect the world to try and change you in ways that are not pleasing to God.

But as disturbing as these changes are, be assured that God’s way of doing things will prevail and that he has already overcome the world (John 16:33), so keep your focus on him, and your walk in step with his