“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.’ So God created man in his image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.”

Genesis 1:26-27 (Christian Standard Bible)

In my last blog, I wrote about the majesty of creation. It is indeed an incredible thing to consider the vastness of the universe, and to think that God created it all by simply speaking everything into existence through the power of His word.

However, when it came to the creation of humanity, He invested Himself in a very personal way. He actually formed man from the earth with His own hands. It was a powerful way of displaying His intimate relationship with the crown of His creation. As the verses quoted above state, He created man in His image, and He created them male and female. Period. End of sentence. End of the established, created order of the human race. Male and female.

There are those today who are calling for more distinctive terms relative to gender. The following excerpt is taken from the YoungScot website:

Our gender identity is how we feel in relation to being male or female – and there are different terms, descriptions and labels for different types of gender identities. We describe some of those terms.

Agender – Not having a gender or identifying with a gender. They may describe themselves as being gender neutral or genderless.

Bigender – A person who fluctuates between traditionally “male” or “female’ gender-based behaviors and identities.

Cisgender – A person whose gender identity and biological sex assigned at birth are the same. For example they were born biologically as a male, and express their gender as male.

Gender Expression – The external display of one’s gender, through a combination of how they dress, how they act and other factors, generally measured on scales of masculinity and femininity.

Gender Fluid – A mix of boy and girl. A person who is gender fluid may always feel like a mix of the two traditional genders, but may feel more man some days, and more woman other days.

Genderqueer – A gender identity label often used by people who do not identify with being a man or a woman, or as an umbrella term for many gender non-conforming or non-binary identities.

Intersex – A person born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside.

Gender Variant – Someone who either by nature or by choice does not conform to gender-based expectations or society.

Mx. – A title that is gender neutral. Pronounced ‘miks’, it is often the option of choice for folks who do not identify as cisgender.

Third Gender – A term for a person who does not identify with either man or woman, but identifies with another gender. This gender category is used by societies that recognize three or more genders, both contemporary and historic, and is also a conceptual term meaning different things to different people who use it.

Transgender – A person who lives as a member of a gender other that that expected based on sex assigned at birth.

Two-Spirit – An umbrella term traditionally used by Native American people to recognize individuals who possess qualities of both genders.

Ze/Hir – Alternate pronouns that are gender neutral. They replace “he” and “she” and “his” and “hers” respectively.

Please note carefully the opening words of this quote: “Our gender identity is how we feel in relation to being male or female” (emphasis added). Each of these defined terms is based on feeling, not on fact. The fact is simple: God created male and female. Feelings are subjective, emotional, subject to changing periodically based upon life’s circumstances and situations.

It is an observable, empirical fact that every person is easily identified as either male or female. Just take a peek in the diaper! It’s pretty easy to see a distinct difference: male, or female. “He” is a boy; “she” is a girl; “it” is a, a, a: well, what exactly is “it”? The gender “it” does not exist. However, to some, “it” is exactly what DOES exist. “It” is the only means of truly understanding the human experience.

To illustrate the absurdity of it all, please read carefully the following quote by Kyl Myers:

“If you want to get technical, my partner Brent and I had found out our child’s sex chromosomes in the early stages of my pregnancy, and we had seen their genitals during the anatomy scan. But we didn’t think that information told us anything about our kid’s gender. The only things we really knew about our baby is that they were human, breech and going to be named Zoomer. We weren’t going to assign a gender or disclose their reproductive anatomy to people who didn’t need to know, and we were going to use the gender-neutral personal pronouns they, them and their. We imagined it could be years before our child would tell us, in their own way, if they were a boy, a girl, nonbinary or if another gender identity fit them best. (emphasis added) Until then, we were committed to raising our child without the expectations or restrictions of the gender binary.”

They were going to allow their child to decide for “itself” what “it” was! This, in the estimation of this author, is the epitome of absurdity! A female is to be taught how to be feminine by her mother; a male is to be taught how to be masculine by his father. It is crucial for the emotional well-being of the child to grow to be comfortable with his/her masculinity/femininity. This is the clear teaching of Scripture. God created two genders: male and female. His decree and desire is that they multiply through the reproductive process which can only be carried out through relations between male and female. And then, it is the responsibility of caring parents to rear their children to embrace their God-given identity as male or female, and to enjoy the blessings God has ordained for each of the two genders.

It is the opinion of this writer that boys and girls will grow to be healthy men and women, appreciating their God-designed differences, if they are reared in a home where the role of father and mother are embraced and lived out as examples of true masculinity and femininity. We are not to allow our children to develop in a gender-neutral environment and then expect them to be able know what it means to be male or female. The alternative is, as Kyl Myers states in the quote above, “We imagined it could be years before our child would tell us, in their own way, if they were a boy, a girl, nonbinary or if another gender identity fit them best.” This. in my opinion, will lead to a life of confusion and bewilderment for the child, having no true, clear understanding of what the God-designed and God-ordained order of humanity really is. So, let’s help our children embrace their identity as male and female, and celebrate with them the fact that they are fearfully and wonderfully designed by the hand of God Himself. That is where they will find fulfillment in their TRUE identity.