Following is my “Pastor’s Corner” column scheduled to appear in the Twin Falls Times News on Saturday, April 6, 2019. If they agree to print it, it will be printed the day before a special feature on transgender citizens in the Magic Valley. To my neighbors who identify as a transgender person, you will find the church of the Lord Jesus Christ loves you enough to speak the truth on these matters. All of humanity should live with peace that God speaks into all passions with truth so we might live in greatest joy by glorifying God in obeying Him.
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Created in the Image of God
-by Paul Thompson-
As a Bible believing preacher of a local church, I hold to truth held by the authority of the Holy Bible. Meaning everything is up against this plumb-line. The growing confusion in our culture will continue to unravel the fabric of a pleasant and happy society that governs how we live our lives and how society exists when that same society wants to invite ideas foreign to the laws of nature.
When one considers the most basic starting place for a secure and happy estate, the Bible shows that God’s creation is in happy existence when it obeys God. If one chooses to disobey God, then it would be right to conclude that disobedience of God’s created order would invite unhappiness.
The Bible is clear, God created male and female. In humanity, that is all he created.
Think about God’s creation. He created all things and established them. Day and Night are established. Fish and birds are established. Cattle and insects are established. Humanity is altogether established. The sun is never the moon. Water is never air. Male is never female.
In creation of mankind, the bible clearly describes humanity as male and female. The Bible does not offer another philosophy or path. It is clear that man will want to pervert this truth, but this perversion can not be argued as a biblical truth.
To say that gender no longer matters is to speak against the spoken order of humanity created by God in His image. To speak against the order of God is to say gender no longer matters, the distinctives of male and female are merely socially influenced rather than Holy and unchangeable.
If the sexes were interchangeable or not fixed, this would place the perception of sinful humanity as superior to Holy Almighty God. This attitude places man as the supreme and not God, who is altogether different.
To suggest that there is a fluid transition of the sexes, depending upon how one feels, is unscientific. One would have to reject the scientific clarity of male and female. If one is a male, he will not need to have hormone therapy to manipulate his scientific DNA. If one is female, she does not need to have her anatomy surgically adjusted to match the female gender.
1 Cor. 6 lablels men behaving/dressing feminine as an abomination. With this conclusion regarding men behaving effeminate, it is accurate to conclude that it is also an abomination for a woman to behave/dress masculine. This encompasses the expression of gender identity through clothing, hairstyle, makeup, mannerisms, or even surgery.
To undergoing “sex reassignment surgery” is actually a statement of rejecting the identity of the birth gender. It is a logical flaw to suggest that the gender one was born with is not the correct gender. To undergo reassignment is to acknowledge the current, reject it, and then assign an altogether different gender.
If a blind DNA test were done for Bruce Jenner, the science will tell you he is a male; in spite of his claim, dress, mannerisms, and choice of public restroom. He is a man and cannot be anything but a man, ever. To claim otherwise is an abomination against the image of God.
The duty of the believer in the bible is to exegete the text. In other words, the authority of the text governs the conversation. If the bible says that God created humanity male and female we must let the creator instruct the reader. The reader doesn’t have permission to impose his or her feelings above the authority of the text.
The church that claims the bible to be the “word of God” has no other choice but to accept what God has revealed. To reject this authority or equate other books equal to it is to not be Christian.
As it was from the beginning, so it is to this very day.
(For further reference see Genesis 1:28-29; Genesis 2:23-24; Matthew 19: 3-6; Mark 10: 6-9; Ephesians 5:28-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Pastor Paul Thompson is the preaching pastor at Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. Eastside Baptist Church gathers on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. www.esbcTwinFalls.com You can email Paul at paul@esbcTwinFalls.com
Thursday, February 23, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. at the Magic Valley Cinema 13, a one night only documentary on creation will show. 