Daily Encouragement

Friday, August 11, 2023

Swallowtail Butterflies feeding on our butterfly bush.

(Photo by Ester)

"Male and Female"

Note: Today's message tackles a current matter from a Biblical perspective and will go against the pc, woke narrative.

Message summary: The lesson for today is a call to remain faithful to the Bible and God's design no matter what is popular or trendy.

Listen to our message on your audio player.

"Male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). "They invent ways of doing evil" (Romans 1:30).

This week I had a doctor's appointment at a practice related to the Penn State Hershey Medical Center. In the waiting room I filled out a form prior to seeing the doctor, a pretty standard practice. However these forms have been revised in recent years to comply with the trans agenda sweeping our land. On this form I was asked to state my "Preferred" pronoun!

Initially I left the line blank refusing to go along with such nonsense. It occurred to me I could have fixed it by scratching out the "preferred". Prior to this we were never asked to state our pronouns since a male is a "he" and a female is a "she".

The line directly below requested a check mark beside either male or female and a third option I can't recall, either "prefer not to say" or "other". Neither one instills much confidence in modern medicine.

Then I remembered what Steve, a friend from the church we served over 20 years ago in New England does. Steve works for a government agency heavily infected with "woke" craziness. He told me of being in a meeting where each participant was to introduce themselves with their name and preferred pronoun. Steve shared his name and declared he was a "whosoever" alluding to John 3:16 "whosoever believeth in Him..."

I wonder how many picked up on that (probably not many). Some probably thought it was some trendy new identity, adding to the scores of pretend genders. They might have even thought he was cool!

So I filled the blank with "whosoever" as my preferred gender although after I told Brooksyne she suggested that I should have included the Bible reference as well! I wonder if that will go on my permanent medical record?

From the beginning of creation God created us male and female. It seems this was accepted in all of human history up to the last few years. Now modern man knows better (he thinks). But Romans 1:22 speaks to this "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools". Later in the same chapter Paul writes, "They invent ways of doing evil".

The lesson for today is a call to remain faithful to the Bible and God's design no matter what is popular or trendy.

Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, in the creation of Adam and Eve You provide the background and basis for gender distinctions, sexuality and even marriage, and for all who are birthed thereafter. While we live in an age where gender identity has come to be viewed by many to be subjective, You created humanity with two complementary counterparts—male and female - a pair that provides the framework for human relations. Yet we are witnessing our culture moving farther and farther from Your design, thus we have a growing number of people struggling to understand who they are. Father, we look to You, our glorious Creator for our meaning and purpose in life, for we are designed to be Your handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which You prepared in advance for us to do. We pray for those who are confused, troubled, or deceived regarding their gender identity and for their family members and friends who want to lovingly care and reach out to them in the midst of their confusion/rebellion. What a tremendous heartache and challenge it is for family members to deal with one living in such a pretend life. We also pray for those who labor in workplaces where they are expected/forced to repeat pronouns that are inconsistent with one's gender or are otherwise penalized or dismissed. Help us, O Lord, we pray to navigate our faith consistently and wisely when so many immoral behaviors are being thrust upon us under the guise of "love" when we know Scripture tells us to speak and walk in the truth. So help us to speak the truth in love whatever situation we're dealing with, in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources

Yesterday we wrote a message about being thankful for the watermelon and other seed-bearing foods that God has provided to bless us. Jackline, a reader from South Sudan, sent us this photo and assured me they have lots of watermelon in Africa!

"Counting My Blessings" Click to watch on YouTube Seph Schlueter Zane, a reader from western PA, suggests this song prompted by yesterday's message.

God I’m still counting my blessings
All that You’ve done in my life
The more that I look in the details
The more of Your goodness I find
Father on this side of heaven
I know that I’ll run out of time
But I will keep counting my blessings
Knowing I can’t count that high

What Is a Man? What Is a Woman? How Our Laws Should Define Male and Female
Justin Taylor A very thoughtful article

Last month we flew into the new Kansas City airport which now proudly has gender neutral restrooms (all gender). However the airport also provides traditional men's and women's restrooms.

Out of curiosity I walked in the all gender restroom. This wasn't a single stall family restroom for use by men or women that's been around awhile but rather a large communal one with many stalls where men and women are walking into the same bathroom (some appeared unsuspecting or confused). These restrooms are supposed to be more inclusive which is a god of this age.

Regarding these gender neutral public restrooms such as we saw at the KC airport. (These notes are written by Stephen.) The following may be too analytical and blunt for some so don't read if you're fragile! But consider:

1) I thought men pretending (identifying) to be women insist they are women and insist on using the women's restroom. Will these "all gender" restrooms really address that? I don't think so. They'll still insist on using the women's restroom.

2) Bluntly men have a variety of hygienic practices when using the toilet. These all gender restrooms have no urinals, only stalls with a toilet. Now in my home with all girls I always lift the toilet seat and seek to be considerate. But more than a few men don't, likely leaving a mess for those who follow. (I told you I am very analytical!)

3) It's a world I do not live in at all and never have but I've read some hanky-panky is known to take place in public bathroom stalls. The stall doors in these all gender restrooms go all the way to the floor for privacy. Maybe you better not imagine that.

4) I would anticipate someone pointing out that in some other culture or in another time men and women share(d) the same communal bathroom space. But in KC the all gender bathrooms are clearly an attempt by the LGBT (and whatever else you now add to that) activists to impose their agenda (see here).

Since I am on this topic and already could have a few angry readers (if you are woke) let me share another recent experience. I have seen the same doctor in Internal Medicine for about 20 years. I called several weeks ago for a checkup and to get several meds refilled. I couldn't reach him directly but the office recording informed me I had reached "internal medicine and gender affirming care". I hung up and found another doctor! In fairness I don't know if the doctor I have seen is into this (he's late middle-aged).

Today we share several photos Ester took of butterflies feeding on our butterfly bush a few years ago. So far this summer we have not seen any butterflies in our yard but perhaps we still will.

Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne

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