The blurring of sexual identity

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Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The first Target store was opened in Roseville, MN in 1962, but as of 2015 operated 1,802 locations throughout the United States. The corporation is a component of the S&P 500 Index and headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.

On April 19 Target officials announced that transgender customers at its stores are welcome to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

The official statement from the huge retailer was, “We welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity. Everyone deserves to feel like they belong.”

An article on CNN Money’s online edition stated, “”Many major corporations are fighting against the 'bathroom laws,' saying they discriminate against both employees and customers."

Shane Roberson, pastor of Maysville Baptist Church, commented, “This is just one more brush stroke on the hedonistic mural depicting the days of Noah and Lot.”

Carl Marshall, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Lawrenceville added, “Target’s decision places everyone in danger, if not physically, then emotionally. Who wants to go to a public restroom with the opposite sex present? It is another step toward the destruction of all biblical, moral standards.”

The American Family Association is calling for a boycott of Target, saying, “Target’s policy is exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims.” Nearly one million people had signed a pledge on the AFA website indicating that they will boycott Target “until makes the safety of women and children a priority.” And adding, “I will shop elsewhere.”

Paul Baxter, former pastor of First Baptist Church on the Square in LaGrange and current missionary for the Pine Mountain Baptist Association in Harris County, exclaimed, “While Target’s select ‘inclusivity’ seeks to promote the transgender agenda without respect for women and children, and without any real justifiable necessity, I can’t help but thinking about its glaring ‘lack of inclusivity’ by banning Salvation Army bell ringers and greeting people with a ‘Merry Christmas.’ Target’s doesn’t mind not including my sensitivities about such matters, so it is easy for me to continue ‘not including’ them in my shopping.”

Baxter added, “My initial reaction is can’t we all rise up and say, ‘Enough in enough!’ Where are the limits of this ‘promotion’ that has brainwashed Americans in our education and entertainment – and now even shopping? We really are no longer slipping and sliding, but plunging into the Sodom and Gomorrah of old!”

How morality becomes antiquated

Benjamin Watson, notable University of Georgia and NFL football star, gets at the heart of this matter in his Facebook comments about North Carolina’s House Bill 2.

Watson beautifully expresses himself when he writes, “If our only reason for determining our social norms is popular opinion, we will continue to reset them with each new generation. We simultaneously live in the past and the future. There will be generations after us as there have been before. There is nothing new under the sun. Civilizations rise and they set, their great cities turning to dust and their once fabulous new ideas relegated to a page in a high school history book.

“Logic, common sense, and morality that are not based on absolute truth will always at some point seem antiquated, archaic, even abhorrent. God's word is the only absolute truth given to mankind and any individual, community or nation that turns their back on it can expect to ultimately fail. Change is good, but only that which upholds or institutes HIS prescription for life, freedom and equality.

“HB2 is not an isolated issue. It is one stop on the track, as we steamroll in our relativism. Many who support it are not malicious and many who oppose are not heathens, but like paper currency, of little value without its collateral backing, morals without God eventually succumb to similar perils and are rendered useless. The logical conclusion of a land where we all do what is right in our own eyes, unchecked, is lawlessness, chaos and even death.

“The simplest, most basic form of decision making is basing them on how they do or don't affect 'me.' When we justify or condemn laws and creeds because of the level of anticipated effects on 'my life' we miss the point. Whether in my own life or that of another's, sin always has macro and micro consequences and we all have a decision to continue living in it habitually or surrendering ourselves and turning to Him.

“I do not claim to understand the confusion, isolation, distress, pride or any other emotion of those who struggle with gender dysphoria or those in their families who support them. Because of this, as easy as it may be to do, it is not my place to speculate about their motives and character, or insult them for their lifestyle choices. Like me, these individuals are loved and valued by their creator. Like me they deserve to earn a living, enjoy friendships, and live free from slurs, disparaging remarks, and bodily harm. And like me, they stand condemned and separated from a Holy God except for the covering of the atoning blood of his Son, applied on their behalf through repentance and faith. Like me, they were created for a purpose, male and female, to be an earthly depiction of the spiritual union between Christ and his bride, his body, the church.

“As important as genitalia are in determination, gender roles do not stop at anatomy. They were created as complimentary differences that should be celebrated, embraced and encouraged. They build strong families, healthy communities, and ordered nations. There is great beauty in masculinity and femininity that fully blooms in the sacrificial oneness of marriage. To accept the blurring thereof is to deny and tacitly reject God's design and to condone what He has created as a reflection, albeit imperfect because of our humanity, of his immense love for us. This is the danger we face, not only with this issue, but also with any issue, when our feelings, genetic predispositions and desires take precedence over His principles.

“This is the crux of the matter. If I believe I am my own god, I am within all rights to do, say and believe as I please. But if I believe I was created, then He who did so is God and I am not. And my duty is to obey him for he knows what is best for those to whom he gave life.

I'm not in favor of any legislation to spite or demean others. However, I am in favor of legislation that governs human activity in a way that would be pleasing to the Lord, while still understanding that a heart that seeks to live for Him is infinitely more desirable than forced submission.

“Compassion is the gift of those who have been forgiven for they know the filth from which they continue to be rescued. Love is not love if it sacrifices truth. And that truth must not be held hostage by fear.”