I would like to say I am sorry for being off these pages for the last couple of weeks. I am a pastor first and foremost, and the last few weeks have been really busy. The blog is back today, though!

         It was the first time I had ever heard of the question, although it is going to be a regular inquiry from now on. At first, I was a little taken aback, but as I thought about it, I understand the need for the question, especially in today’s social climate. A patient is to have surgery. One of the nurses, who comes around before the patient goes in for the procedure and asks question after question, walks in to the room and pulls out a clipboard and starts in.

          “Please excuse the question, but were you born male or female.”

          Just wat you don’t want to discuss immediately before surgery. But, when you think about it, it does make sense. You don’t have to stay with the sex you were born with. If you don’t like being a female, you can become a male, and visa versa. Not everyone retains their gender from birth. It is called gender reassignment. It requires surgeries and medications and counseling, but you can be given a new gender. For that matter, you can simply start living as a member of the opposite sex and begin to declare that you are something different and, in many places, you become different with a courts ruling. Back before same sex marriages were made legal, I knew of two young women who wanted to get married. One of them filled out the paperwork and was declared a man. They are even parents of two children, although “Ryan” had no part in the conception.

          But back to question; the reason it has to be asked is pretty simple. Even though a person might have all the surgeries and all the medications and all the counseling, there are still differences between the male and the female body. A surgeon, of course, can do surgery on either. But, if they go in on a male body and find something pertaining to a woman, they could make a mistake or they might have to change the whole procedure on the spot since the patient is already opened up. Asking if you were born male or female would be considered the least offensive way to gain the information. Medically speaking, it is a question that needs to be asked.

          Many would say that this is the society we live in. It is confusing and misdirected and, most of all, corrupt. All true. But another thought comes to my mind. Regardless what you think you are, what your sexual orientation is, what you feel like on any given day, you are what you are born to be. Someone will say, “Not so! Many babies are born as hermaphrodites! What do you say about them?” Just so you know, a hermaphrodite is someone with the sexual organs of both male and female. First, it is a birth defect. Second, only 0.033% of babies born in the USA are hermaphrodites. That is not 0.033 of every 100 births. It is 0.033 percent of all births, which is a really small number. Since it is a birth defect, many of these have other problems and may never reach adulthood. So, we are left with the fact that we are what we were at birth, regardless of how we feel about it or what we do about it.

          The question, after mulling it over in my mind, led to another thought. In the Bible, the human body is often used as a metaphor to explain our Spiritual essence. The whole passage dealing with the Spiritual armor is using physical things to explain Spiritual truth. Do we reflect what we are, or do we project something we are not? For instance, do you project the image of a Christian but have never trusted in Christ as Savior? Or, have you accepted Christ as Savior, but you are not now living or acting as a Christian? We tend to be negatively affected to some degree by someone who is homosexual or transgender, yet we make excuses when we try and change who we are Spiritually. We say nonsensical things like “Everyone in church is a hypocrite” or “I just sometimes cannot control myself” or whatever we have to say in order to make ourselves feel better. It can be a struggle, for sure.

          One day we will stand before the Lord. Maybe you believe that, maybe you do not. Whether or not you agree with something does not alter whether or not it is the truth. Some people have taken portions of Scripture out of context and announced that the Word of God is wrong. But taken in context and as a whole, the Scripture has never been seen to be in error. So, one day we will stand before the Lord. “Were you, or were you not, born again?” Not, “did you live a good life,” but are you a believer in the saving power of Jesus? The answer, which you will not be able to lie about, will determine your eternity. If you are a believer, will you receive a “Well done, good and faithful servant?” Or will you just be allowed in?

          I am a long way from perfection. I know that and I work at improving. But what you see in me is what I am. Deep down in the deepest part of your soul, what are you?