https://thepreachersword.com/2016/05/17/how-should-christians-respond-to-the-bathroom-battles/
How Should Christians Respond to the Bathroom Battles?
This is a confusing and frustrating time for Christians.
Homosexual relations, same-sex marriage, and transgender rights are more than social or political issues, they speak to Biblical principles. Our moral foundation. And our spiritual values. We have occasionally addressed these issues from the perspective of “What does the Bible say?”
The latest cultural bombshell now involves the use of public restroom facilities.
Following a bill passed by the North Carolina Legislature that people could only use restroom facilities based on their God-given gender, the Obama administration declared on May 9th that such legislation was illegal and discriminatory.
However, four days later came an ever bigger cultural shock. The President issued a directive requiring public schools to accommodate transgender students based on Title IX guidelines.
So boys who self-identify as girls must be allowed to use restrooms, locker rooms and shower stalls of their choosing, and vice versa. Schools that defy these directives could face the loss of federal funding and of course lawsuits. So far the Governors of North Carolina have vowed to resist these edicts.
ThePreachersWord is not inclined to wade into the battle over bathroom use per sae. We comment on social issues, such as a recent post on gender identity, when they fundamentally undermine the Truth of God’s Word.
This battle almost seems surreal. It’s an abandonment of common sense. Personal privacy. And common decency.
However, at the heart of this battle is something more. It’s another opportunity for liberals whose goal is social reengineering and fundamentally changing the culture of our country. Southern Baptist Convention president Ronnie Floyd bluntly expressed it this way. “It’s an outrageous attack on our Creator Himself, upon human sexuality and morality and a further advancement of the flagrant attack on religious freedom in our culture.”
Various other religious leaders have spoken out on this issue and called for Christians to get involved. It seems, as one writer put it that our “country stands at the edge of a great moral abyss.”
However, I am reminded that Christianity was born into a wicked world filled with pervasive perversion. In the midst of a moral morass of putridity, the Gospel flourished. Souls were saved. And the message of Jesus Christ spread to the far-flung corners of the Roman Empire.
We must remember what battle is really all about. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12)
We are not opposed to Christian involvement in social concerns and political issues. But let us filter our opposition with the fruit of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22)
Let’s not forget our purpose on earth. Our goal. Our message. And our God-given mandate.
Let us pray for our country. For the Church. And for our young people. May parents exercise wisdom in the spiritual training of their children. And let us “speak the Truth in love” to those who may oppose us and our God.
And may we live as Paul admonished, “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom (we) shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life” (Phil 2:15).
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman