When God Draws Lines

Line, Form And Texture in the Garden

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If anyone reading this blog today has experienced or is experiencing the awesome responsibility of child rearing, you know about the need to draw lines. All that I mean to say by 'drawing lines' is that at times, we must say that some things are OK to say and do while others are not. We draw a clear and distinct line, so our children will understand clearly. We teach our children very early about looking both ways before stepping into the street. We don't want them hurt badly or even killed, as they playfully put their fingers inside of a live socket in the home. So clearly, we are no strangers to drawing lines. It should not surprise us to know that our loving Heavenly Father also draws lines.

Lines Drawn by God

The Bible is replete with examples of how God draws lines for his children. We see many in God's dealings with the Jewish people as well as many reaching all the way back to creation. We then see others for the church today as God is calling out a people unto himself. So, let's look at just some of those lines, and why it would behoove us to recognize that these lines are drawn out of love--NOT out of hate or spite.

1. The line of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We are first introduced to this tree in the creation account from Genesis 2:9. We find the prohibition (or 'line' if you will) given in verses 16-17 of the same chapter. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:  for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (KJV). The breaking of this command, which followed soon after, is what is commonly known as 'The Fall'. The verb tense of 'die' in verse 17 could also be spoken this way: 'And dying thou shalt die'. This is certainly what we see today, and have seen ever since that day. But we should add that pointing the finger at Adam and Eve, certainly does not excuse us.   We are all their children, and we have the same sin nature. This would have been a good line not to cross.

2. The line of 'Kinds'. There are at least 6 references to God creating things "after their kind" in the first 2 chapters of Genesis. He states this about fruit trees and herb yielding seed and about every beast of the sea as well as the birds.  He also states it again about all animal life on earth and every creeping thing.  It seems clear that God intended each of these creatures, followed by the creation of Adam on day 6, to reproduce "after their kind".   So what is this kind? A well-known Botanist and creationist named Carl Linnaeus-- is also called the 'father of modern taxonomy'.   He created in the mid-18th century the taxonomic structure using the term species. That is commonly used today to identify all life on earth. It is important to see how this taxonomic designation would apply to the word 'Kind'. As we understand that God put a tremendous amount of genetic variability inside of His creation, we know that this has allowed for a great expansion of His original creation.  So 'kinds', as mentioned in the Bible, line up better with the 'Family' designation that Linnaeus created--Not the 'species'.  After the creation of Eve, we see God summing up best what this means for mankind with His creation of marriage. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be on flesh. (Genesis 2:24) KJV.  They would begin to 'fill the earth' after their 'kind'.   This is a line that God did not intend His creation to cross. If any of you have read or studied at all on the subject of transhumanism or transgenetics, you should know that these are clear violations of God's command. We are crossing a line in which there will be no turning back.

3. The line of gender. We are told clearly when referring to the creation of Adam and Eve, that " . . . Male and Female created He them." (Genesis 1:27b). God's intention has always been 1 man for 1 woman for one lifetime. Since chromosomes determine one's sex, this cannot be left to choice for someone who thinks they should not be what God made them.  Again, we are treading a dangerous path as a culture. When the people of Babel refused to follow God's command to spread and repopulate the earth, it became necessary for God to come down and confuse their languages forcing them to scatter and do as they were originally told after the flood.   There is no doubt that God once again, knows how to accomplish what He intends when His creation chooses to go in the direction of its liking. Transgenderism, is just one of the recent 'transes' that have invaded our 21st century world.  It seems that crossing lines has become our favorite pastime.

Final Thoughts

Our loving Heavenly Father, draws lines with the intent of keeping us from imminent danger.  His commands scream loudly from the pages of scripture, that He cannot be fooled!  A courageous man named Walt Heyer has written a book titled Trans Life Survivors. At the age of 4, his grandmother put a dress on him and told him he was a "pretty girl".  Many years later, after living 8 years as a female, and lacking fulfillment, he made the transition back to male. He also highlights 30 others out of hundreds who have written him that regret their attempts to transition.  Even though they were all originally celebrated by the LGBTQ community, they must now face their scorn. We must confront these individuals in daily life with the love of Christ without apologizing for the clear lines drawn by God.  So, this brings us back to the prefix 'Trans'--What is it?

If I should take a transatlantic flight, it is understood that I will transverse the Atlantic Ocean and go to the other side.  The current invasion of 'transes' it seems, are simply crossing over lines which God never intended for us to cross.  We have clearly reached a point in our wholesale embrace of humanism when God must, once again, step into the pages of history and turn the page. There are certainly many more lines drawn in scripture. But, our role in this is to understand first who has drawn the line, and second, why He has drawn it.   Once we do this, everything else will once again be 'self evident'. "That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7, KJV).