You need a manual these days to decipher all the social acronyms in use. Then there are the new designations of gender that are totally confusing and beyond reason. Facebook offers over 55 custom gender options for its U.S. users, and 71 choices in the U.K. (When I was growing up we only had two genders. Somehow, I do not think biology has changed that much in the past sixty years!)

Occasionally we meet those who are unfamiliar with the more frequent acronyms of self-designation currently in use. Here are some along with their meanings:

LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
LGBTQ: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning
LGBTQI: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, and Intersex
LGBTQIA: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and Allies

1. No matter how one self-identifies, God knows who you really are. The character of one's heart drives one's conduct. (See in Romans 1:20-32 how unthankful, proud hearts led to denying God, to idolatry and to all manner of immoral conduct.)

2. It is prideful for humans (the created ones) to subjectively assign their gender and proclivities instead of acknowledging their Creator's objective decision. "But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, 'Why have you made me like this?'" (Rom. 9:20) God created "male and female" (Gen. 1:27). We will not presume to be otherwise.

3. Sin remains a choice, not an inherited trait. You do not choose your gender, but you do choose whether you will honor God according to your gender. You choose whether to glorify God with your body or to defile it with sinful actions (1 Cor. 6:16-20; 1 Thess. 4:3-8; Eph. 5:3-7). 

- The Spirit's Sword, 8/26/18