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Five-year-old children often believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. Adults indulge, sometimes even promote, these harmless childhood fantasies. Those same children may also dress in their parent's clothes to play fantasy games. At that stage of development, boys occasionally play with Barbie dolls and girls may enjoy toy dump trucks and bulldozers. Gender differences don't mean much to children. Imagination and role playing are normal processes of development. Curiosity and exploration lead to learning and growth.
A bill currently working its way through the California Legislature, however, weights make-believe with potential danger. If, for example, that same 5-year-old announces that he wants to be a girl, or that she wishes to become a boy, California AB-957 would require parents to affirm the child's "choice" or potentially face charges for child abuse and neglect. If one parent acknowledges the child's "transition" while another refuses to go along, the courts would be required to consider the reluctant parent's refusal when deciding custody in divorce cases. The bill contains no allowances for the age, maturity or the mental health of the child. Writing for the Daily Mail, Hope Slope says that the bill could "also make it so that schools, churches and other organizations would also need to affirm the gender identity of a child or face repercussions."
In contrast to California's requirement for parents and organizations to affirm gender transition, England's National Health Service recently limited the use of puberty-blocking drugs to research projects and clinical trials. Sweden and Finland also limit the prescribing of these drugs to children and teens, and Norway and the French National Academy of Medicine have urged doctors to use caution when prescribing those drugs for children. In the United States, 20 Republican-led states have passed laws banning the use of puberty-blocking drugs and hormones. In the legal and governmental realm, there is no unity of thought on this issue.
The Bible doesn't share that uncertainty. Genesis 1:27 (NIV) records that "God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Only two genders, male and female, are part of God's plan, and no allowance is made in Scripture for anyone to "transition" away from their birth gender. Genesis 1:28 goes on to say, "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." In order to "be fruitful and increase in number," both male and female must fulfill their God-given role in the procreation process.
Genesis 4:1 tells us about the intended result in the Creation order: "Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, 'With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.' Later she gave birth to his brother Abel..." When male and female come together in the roles God assigned, reproduction is the natural outcome. Man and woman become "father" and "mother" and have the responsibility for their offspring. They are "parents" and, as such, have the primary responsibility to rear their children.
Under the Mosaic Law, the state's function was to support the role of the parents, not replace them. As Israel's parents dealt with their older teen and young adult children, Deuteronomy 21:18-21 commanded, "If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid."
American adults have the right to make decisions for themselves and must then live with the results of those decisions. Children, however, should be able to pretend, imagine, explore and play without adults treating that play or imagination as a "decision" that carries lifelong consequences. In most circumstances, kids should be allowed to act like kids and parents, not the government, should raise those children.
Mark Wilmoth
Pinehurst Christian Church
Marietta Minister@PinehurstChristianChurch.org