You were purchased by Jesus Christ, not just your spirit but your body as well. Since they belong to God (doubly because He also created them) it is reasonable and expected that you should dedicate your body to His glory. Among your fellow humans, yes, you have a degree of ownership over your body. But on the highest level of reality, you own not a cell of it. It is completely a possession of God’s, given to you as a gift. You are obligated to obey God with your body. We must teach our children that their bodies were created by God and belong to Him.
The bodies of our children are under attack, and we need to teach them how to defend themselves.
In September 2022, conservative commentator Matt Walsh Tweeted a thread exposing a K-12 school in Tennessee for promoting Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic. Underneath the nice language of “equality” and “acceptance” lies the reality that preadolescent children are receiving cross-gender hormone treatments and reconstructive surgeries.
Cross-gender hormone treatments and reconstructive surgeries are becoming prevalent in children with gender dysphoria. These treatments are irreversible and often lead to the sterilization of children. There is no telling the long-term effects of these treatments.
But even before their parents decide to place them under the scalpel, these children are being bombarded with confusing messages about identity and the significance of their bodies.
Many popular YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and other social media influencers spread the LGBTQ message through their lifestyles or simply by verbally affirming it. Young people face increasing pressure to declare themselves as allies of the “trans community,” and it can be socially dangerous to refrain. Their Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat bios proclaim their pronouns, ranging from the biologically obvious (He/Him, She/Her) to the fantastical (Xe/Xem, Ey/Em, Zie/Zim, Ve/Ver, Ne/Nem).
You may be rolling your eyes, thinking that social media can’t have a real impact on the real world. But as a parent in the 2020s, you must understand something: social media is where your kids spend their time, and it’s where they are being discipled. Social media cannot be shrugged off or dismissed. It is and will remain a powerful force in everyday life.
This attack on the bodies and identities of children has been going on for decades, even centuries, and its effect on our culture will not be thwarted overnight. As Christian parents, we must teach our children what the Bible says about their bodies. Satan whispers many lies to us to pervert our understanding of our bodies, and unfortunately, some of these lies have gained a foothold in churches. Let’s look at some of these lies and how we can instruct our children in biblical truth.
The lie: “You can recreate yourself however you want… you can be your own god.”
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV).
One of the reasons Satan hates humans so much is because we bear the image of the God whom he sought to become like. It is a possession he could never have, and his existence now is defined by the hatred and anger he bears toward it. Every thought of his mind, every command he gives to his demons, is toward the goal of attacking the image any way he can. And he does.
All around us are voices telling us how we should feel about our bodies.
