Biblical Anthropology - Made in God's Image, Male & Female

Okay. Good morning. They're getting here. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We've got a fresh handout. So make sure you got the bases covered here. Chris, you have one? Yeah. Okay. Donna needs one. So help her out. There we go. Okay. This one here, it's page four, five, and six in your handout. And if you don't have a binder, make sure you've got that covered, OK? Because the binder has last week's if you didn't happen to be here.

This is made in God's image, male and female. Alright, one of the things that stands out and it's really kind of wow when you see it is right there in Genesis 1 towards the last part of the chapter is, let us make man in our image. Let us make man in our image.

Now, what's interesting is you get to passages like this and a lot of the Jewish commentators, they don't believe in the Trinity. A lot of the Jewish commentators, they tap dance all over with passages like this. Who's us and who's our? What's the significance of this us and our when you look at it in the First chapter of Genesis.

We look at it, and from the rest of Scripture, including the New Testament, just a clear picture, you've got God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Here, all it does is implies plurality. So, as you look at it, does Genesis 1 tell us everything about God? No, it does not. It tells us a lot and certainly separates out what we could possibly think about God, you know, substantially different from what, for example, a lot of pagan and secular ideas are. It declares God's existence. And one of the things you see, us and our, and God said, we're talking about a personal God. This is not the God of Hinduism, but the God of some branches of Buddhism, right? where God is impersonal. So we have a personal God. Something else when we have this diagram on the handout that shows the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and you've got a circle on the outside and you see the is-nots. Why are the is-nots there? Why is they there? Why is the not-not there? That's right, yeah.

The Father is not the Holy Spirit, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and each of those verses indicates a distinction in between those persons. Now, here's the thing that gets to be a little bit of a brain teaser for us. We're used to thinking, because this is the way humans are made, we're used to thinking one being, one essence. Right? One being, one essence. God is Three personal beings, that doesn't mean three persons, but three personal beings, one essence.

That kind of blows our circuits, doesn't it? Ever talk to somebody who's three personal beings and one essence? That's a little scary. Yeah, that's a little scary, right? So I think this one thing, it kind of blows our circuits when we look at that. But the other thing you see, Here are the three beings. What was going on before everything was created among those beings? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Isn't that something? Fellowship and relationship between them, communication between them. Three personal beings, one essence.

That's kind of, like I said, that's mind-boggling. We're not used to that. People use different kinds of analogies, like water comes in three forms, but that doesn't quite get there, does it? God's not water. Or people will use an egg. You've got the shell and the white and the yolk. God's not an egg either.

So nice analogies, but it doesn't quite get the point across. I heard a rabbi, he was a Reform Jew rabbi, say that man created God in his own image. Yeah. What's wrong with that? Besides the fact that Doris is horrified, okay? Or puzzled. Pardon? Yeah, it certainly doesn't explain where man came from.

Also, it doesn't explain the fact that God has characteristics, a number of characteristics, that are not like man. The pagan deities, now those are more like man. Because the pagan deities, first of all plural, the pagan deities didn't know everything. The pagan deities were often amoral. So when God created man in his image, this is something that's quite unique. And I think our reformed rabbi was quite mistaken. God is a unique being and he has many characteristics, as we'll see in a little bit, that are inexplicable if you say that man created God in his image.

Okay, so there's this fellowship, this relationship that's going on. So now God says, let us create man in our image. And we've got several other references there, including a couple in the Gospel of John, where Christ talks about Him. himself in relationship with the Father, us and our.

Isn't that something? So we have that same kind of language. Yes? Can we just say that from the rest of Scripture we see too many singular pronouns, too many ways of speaking that clarify Did he say that about us and our? Is that note specifically there? Yeah. The Hebrew frequently has plurals. For example, in the first chapter of Genesis, it is translated God. That's Elohim, plural. And that is plurality indicating majesty and magnitude and power.

And so that's the case. You look puzzled. Go ahead. Okay. So the plural of Elohim indicates that. But I wouldn't see these us and our being fully explained by this, you know, plurals because it is communication between the members of the Trinity and not just majesty. You don't have majesty saying us and our. So there is a point to having plurals and using plurals. Both the Old and New Testaments have plurals to indicate not plurality per se, but majesty and greatness and magnitude. But in this us and our, it's actually communication between members of the godhead. Make sure you've got a handout here. All right.

Image and likeness. What we see there in Genesis 1 is the image and likeness. There are some folks that have had a tendency to go, well, I'm going to look up image and I'm going to look up likeness and see if I can find some difference between them. And if you look the words up in various contexts, you will find places where there are kind of nuances, slight differences between what those words mean. But what we've done on the chart here, even in Genesis 127, it just drops off likeness and refers to image.

And you'll find an alternating pattern where basically one word or the other is used in basically a synonym type use, where they're used identically. one for the other. So I think while you could look at slight differences, the idea is that they have a virtually identical meaning. Yes. The words are in fact different words, but it is the use of them in this context that seems to indicate that there's not a lot of difference intended in the meaning. Just like we have words that are synonyms. Yeah, in English. Other thoughts, questions, bafflements? All right.

Let's go on to page five there, which is the second page in today's handout. What is the image and likeness of God in mankind? People have written, I could only venture to say, I could easily guess thousands of pages trying to describe what's the image and likeness of God in man. And all sorts of things, but I think the simplest thing, what we have here in just one line and in bold italics, One line in bold italics there, it's, what is similar in character to God and mankind is the image and likeness of God.

So then that's so far so good. Now we have to say what that is. What is similar in character? As well as, and we'll get there, what is not similar in character? And we can determine those things from scripture. What we have down there below that is we've got a bunch of bullets with a lot of room. Now, I didn't just press the enter button too many times. The intent is for you to take notes. Let's look at that.

The first one, it's a personal image and likeness. Why do we specify it's a personal image and likeness? Why does that matter? Why does it matter that God is a personal being? A being who has personal versus non-personal characteristics. Why does it make a difference?

Interacting with people. There is an intent at the outset, on God's part, for relationship. Yes, talks about his character. If we make a statement like, God loves you, That has meaning, as opposed to some vague, you know, I'll use examples out of, say, Hinduism.

In Hinduism, in the ultimate, right and wrong are all basically the same. It's all from God. So it makes a little difference, because God has no personal preference, because he's not a person. It gets kind of wild, doesn't it? God is a personal being. When God says, God so loved the world, He's not kidding. He's not kidding. And He has that capacity and He's created us with that capacity. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God having personal characteristics including that capacity. to love. So this personal image and likeness, a personal being, not impersonal. God is not like the Star Wars series, God's not the force. God's not the force.

Thank you for bringing that. Did you hear that? We love because he first loved us. It's his love that we're responsive to. And because we're creating the image of God, and there are some modifications to that, we'll take a look at. But we have the capacity to look at what God loves. And because I'm a being created initially in God's image, there is that capacity to look at that and relate to it.

Even, yeah, Jeremy? Certainly, and matter of fact, we'll get down to that in interpersonal image, but yeah, that's the thing. Personal connects up to the next thing, which is interpersonal, and we'll get there. It has implications for relationship, and that is big.

God didn't just say, let's just create this being down there, just kind of see what happens, see what it does. but with the specific intent from the outset that this being would have a relationship with God, this created being, relationship with Him, a spiritual image and likeness.

Why is that important? Why is it important that human beings, that God created, have a spiritual image and likeness? Why does that matter? It goes back to the relationship, if God is a spiritual being, to have a relationship with him, we too must be spiritual.

Not just personal, but spiritual. What's that? Yeah, I hope you're having a really close intimate relationship with these pews. It just doesn't get there, does it? So there is, as an extension of this personal character, there is also a spiritual character. And it goes right along with God created a being to have fellowship and relationship with him. It fits, doesn't it? Alright, what's the next one? It's a moral image and likeness.

And this is something, by the way, the pagan gods of ancient times, I'm talking about the Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, a broad generalization here is true. They were amoral beings. Zeus would go and hide himself in a cloud so that he could commit adultery and then his wife wouldn't see it. And then he'd lie to his wife. Amoral beings.

Morality didn't matter. Being a religious person in the Greek and Roman Empire in the pagan sense had no substantial moral implications. People would pray to be able to lie and steal better to the pagan gods. God is a moral being. There is right and wrong. There is morality that contrasts with his character and is therefore wrong. There is such a thing. God is a moral being. He created human beings as moral beings. Now, why does that matter? Why does that matter? Yeah, relationship. Relationship. If I am to have a relationship with God and relationship with other people, if God is a moral being, then my relationship with Him is impacted by morals.

This is one thing I think is just a neat insight. God is not so greatly concerned about Our sin, now don't get me wrong, God is not so greatly concerned about our sin because he somehow is just all wrapped up in it. The reason he does not want to see sin carried out in the believer's life is because of relationship and fellowship. It gets back to that again, doesn't it?

Morality because of relationship and fellowship. Because God is a moral being. That's why morality counts. And it also counts between human beings. When you find some violation interpersonally, that damages fellowship, doesn't it? So it comes back to relationship. Let's look at the next one. This is one that Jeremy brought up. Interpersonal.

Let us create man in our image. Let us create man in our image. There was already interpersonal relationship among the three persons of the Trinity back in eternity past. And so as man is created in God's image, interpersonal relationship, that's a part of being created in the image of God. We are beings who are made to have interpersonal relationships, with the ultimate model being the fellowship between the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit.

Yes, yeah. Jesus Prayer in John 17, we won't have time to do it this morning, but highly recommended for seeing. Here is the Son in fellowship with the Father, talking to the Father. Words sometimes get stretched to the limits. I in you, and you in me, and you in them. All these things to try to talk about the relationship and the position that we have as believers.

The next one, an authority image and likeness. Why is that important? The authority image and likeness. How did God express his authority in the creation? Pardon? Pardon? By the act of creation. How did he create light? He spoke it, yeah. He spoke it and he just said, that didn't come out like I expected, right? Or, why doesn't that light cooperate? You know, everything he said in Genesis chapter 1, in fact what he said in Genesis chapter 2, but especially chapter 1. Everything he said, it happened, right? It happened just like he had spelled out. And there it was.

Nothing fought with him. Nothing came out and God said, oh my, I was expecting a different outcome. You know, why did he do that? See, none of that puzzled him. Yeah, no oopsies. So God had authority over everything that he brought into existence. And what did he do?

Here's this one guy, Adam. And he says, okay, you're in charge of this, you're in charge of that. You got this whole globe and everything on it. Do it. Mind-boggling responsibility. Make sure you get a handout. Mind-boggling responsibility. But he gives them authority. The authority is over the earth. Subdue the earth and have dominion or rule over. the animals. So, an authority. Now, we'll talk about what's different, but the next one is a creative image and likeness. We saw right there, creation.

God created everything, as Genesis 1 puts it, out of nothing. Out of nothing. Mankind, do we create things out of nothing? No. So, it doesn't have the same magnitude doesn't have the same magnitude, but it does, it does indicate that we have a creative ability with the things that God has made. And what are some of the ways that human beings create? Where our creative maybe is a way to bring it out.

Pardon? Art, art, music. Yeah. Architecture. Okay. Yeah. Anything else? Science even has a creative aspect to it. Applied science is one way to put that together. Can you think of anything else? We tend to look at a lot of things in the home. Just creativity all over the place. How is this arranged? This wall needs this. This food, oh that food looks good. Creativity, not just in what it looks and tastes like, even just what it smells like. Oh boy, that's great. Yes, Art.

Isn't there a little difficulty with our using the word create for architecture? Yeah, man does not, and this is where we, this is kind of the next section. What's the difference between man and God? Because that's, remember we had our definition, what is similar in character to God and mankind is the image and likeness. but what is not the same, because not everything is the same. God didn't just go, all right, I'm going to make more gods and have a whole bunch of beings just like God. No. What we find is, and Art put his finger on it, there are some big distinctions between man and God. Let's take a look, because that's the next item there. In what ways do humans differ from God?

And one thing we have there, God is not physical, not fundamentally physical. Now there's one qualification to that, and what is that? Christ was born of Mary and Christ became being with a body. He was always God the Son in eternity past. Became a being with a body and will always have a body in eternity, on into eternity. So this is a mind-boggling thing. Did Christ cease to be anything when he took on the body? No. He still remained deity and does now. Still remained deity. So that aspect is one qualification to our statement.

But even Christ himself, John 4.24, says God is spirit. God is fundamentally a spiritual being. God is eternally righteous in his character. From eternity past to eternity future, God is unchangeably and infinitely righteous. God doesn't vary in that. No shadow of changing, as James puts it, doesn't vary in that. He is, from eternity past to eternity future, always unchangeably infinitely righteous.

Whereas Adam and Eve, we don't use quite the same word, we say that they were innocent. What's the difference between being eternally and infinitely righteous and being innocent? Yeah. Innocence just says you haven't fallen yet. And so that's different from being unchangeably and by character eternally righteous. Pardon? Yes, there is built in within that innocence the ability to fall. And so we don't say that man is unchangeably righteous. We don't say man is infinitely righteous by character. So a big distinction there between man and God, matter of fact, it ends up, we'll see in Genesis chapter 3, being a huge distinction between man and God.

Mankind was created in the context of a time-based universe. This is where what I think Art touched on. A person can be creative but never does a human being bring something out of nothing. We do not have that capacity. God brings things into existence and you know we live and I think a fair terminology here is we live in a time tunnel. Right? We look back at the past, we look forward to the future, we live in the now. That's our time perspective on things. We live in this time tunnel. And that's how we are. God is not stuck in the time tunnel. Now one, again we have this additional exception. Did God ever enter time? Yeah. Yes, and the most significant way is Jesus Christ. God is not stuck in time, but God can enter time.

One of the pictures that I've used before, just at the risk of putting somebody to sleep, Just to use the analogy of a pen, where here is the beginning of this present world, and here is the end of this present world. Let's say we're here, okay? And here's the cross. God can look at all these things, and he doesn't have to even use our sense of time. Here's Jesus in John chapter 8.

Before Abraham was, I am. That just kind of blows our sense of grammar, doesn't it? Before Abraham was, I am. The I am idea says God dwells in the eternal present. All times and all things outside of time are right now. So our time perspective is unique because we are in this time tunnel. God isn't stuck with that.

Think about this, we'll get into this when we talk about the identification truths. You as a believer were identified with Christ there at the crucifixion. Let's just keep it simple and start with that. You were identified with Christ there at the crucifixion. That is true of those who are believers. But you didn't believe until well after Christ was crucified.

But that identification took place back there in roughly 30 AD. You start getting the time problem there? Our sense of it is, wow, how does this happen? God knows in advance that I'm going to believe and so he made that happen 2,000 years ago and I hadn't believed yet. Wow, this is mind-boggling stuff. Why?

God looks at it, and it's no problem for Him. He says, I see, here's Brad, and he believed here. Well, I have no problem because I'm not stuck in time with identifying with Christ, because as far as He's concerned, that's right now. He's not stuck in the time tunnel. God is infinite in His character. Mankind is finite.

When we talked, and this is what Art touched on again with God's creativity, when God said, let there be light, and by the way, you look at Genesis 1, and he also made the stars. Oh, just kind of, you know, no problem, you know. The earth that we're on, of course, for us, we're still going around discovering things. He just, bang. To get everything so that it all works out, he didn't say, oh man, the earth is way too close to the sun.

Those people are going to cook. Then you have to adjust it. He got it right. If you look at, well, those people are going to need water. I better make some water. He had everything all thought out and he was not at any point challenged. He didn't do a trial and error deal. Oh man, those people are going to drown. I've got to get some water out of there. It wasn't an experiment. Hey, you know what? Yes, he did.

And scripture says there's two times when there will be global warming. One is during the tribulation. And then one is when this whole place melts. Two times there's global warming. And we haven't seen the worst of it yet. And I don't think we'll be given any Nobel Prizes for that either. So here God has this infinite character. We have to take time to think things through and probably should. But for human beings, our capacity can get taxed. We'd say, well, I ran out of time.

God's not bothered by that at all. He doesn't have to experiment and run through a bunch of calculations and iterative solutions or anything else. That's it. He does it. And he's not tired. He didn't rest on the seventh day because he was pooped out and exhausted. He rested. All that meant that he ceased. We get tired. All right. Now, next page, page six.

We have this diagram, one that we saw about a month ago in studying through Genesis, but just to get the distinction between God and man and the animals. God is spirit, a spiritual being. Human beings in order to have a characteristic that makes them in the image of God and be able to relate to things here on planet Earth. We have something in common with the animals and that is we've got these bodies connected to things here on the earth. As a matter of fact, Adam was made from what? The dust of the earth, right? So we have this connection here to planet earth. We'll talk more about that as we get through this.

We have here this connection to planet earth and we also are spiritual creatures. So as we'll see later, we have body, soul, and spirit. The animals have body and a soul. The soul is not, as we'll see later, identical to the animal's soul. The human soul is not identical to the animal's soul. What are some differences just right off the bat between the human soul and the animal soul?

Yeah. Yeah, there are moral capacities built into man. There's a sense of, ooh, that wasn't good. Yeah, I shouldn't have done that. Yeah. Whereas the animal has to be trained, this is right or wrong, or it operates by instinct. But human beings can have a natural sense that this wasn't good, or I did this and this bothers me. Yeah.

Okay, male and female he created them. Why did God not just say, because he'd apparently done this with the other animals, why did God not just say, I'm going to create Adam and Eve all at the same time, bang, now we're done. Why didn't he do things that way? Sometimes we think we should have. Yeah, yeah, I mean, You could ask this question, could God have done it that way? Yeah, yeah, He could have. But why did He choose not to do it that way? Why did He not just simply create Adam and Eve all at the same time?

Done deal. Here you are. So Adam could be aware of his needs. Yeah, yeah. As you look at it, the Lord said, it is not good that man should be alone. And he didn't just say, OK, now I'm going to create Eve. Like, oh boy, did I blow it. I've got to fix this. But instead, it was very intentional.

OK, you go and look at these animals. And Adam's going, male, female, giraffe. Male, female, hippopotamus. male, female, lizard, you know. And so he's looking at these things and saying, what am I doing just, you know, I'm like one wing flapping. Something's missing here. Something's missing. So he has to see his need. And that's key. He has to see his need. The fact that there is nothing corresponding to me. He wasn't just an independent being.

Okay, so there's a sequence that they're made in and it's very clear and it's very deliberate. Also the authority. Yes, the authority is built into the sequence and that Paul makes reference to in 1 Timothy chapter 2. The sequence does matter. And the reason is because of authority as well.

Thank you, good point. Alright, why else? Population growth. Population growth, well, yeah. All right, but why the sequence? Why did you make Adam first and then? Headship. Pardon? Headship. Okay, I thought you said achoo. Headship. Yeah, headship. Yeah, headship. And that goes in with the sequence.

Genesis chapter 2 verse 23. What did Adam say the Lord brought Eve to Adam? What did he say? Yeah, he didn't say ah she can fix dinner, you know He said this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh and and there's a set of words there that have the idea of both this is a completion of a process and recognizing that, but also even kind of a eureka, a discovery is built into that word. Isn't that something, or that set of words? This, eureka! Voila! Wow! Okay? I discovered it. There is this sense of discovery.

So not only did he recognize his need, he also discovered the answer to his need. And this is now not just somebody like me and corresponding, but bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh from me. There is a closeness there that is very unique and very special because she was made from him. And he reckoned that's the first thing he talks about.

This at last. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. And seeing that yes, here is the complement of me, here is the helper suitable, but taken from me. She is a part of me. She's a part of me. So not only recognizing his need, but recognizing the source. Recognizing the source. God took from Adam's very flesh to make this woman. And that's what Adam looked at and said, wow, this is some kind of amazing process and what a discovery.

I mean, it wasn't like he'd gone hunting around, but in a way he had, hadn't he? He looked at all these animals and nothing corresponding to me in any of these creatures. I'm not going to have a very good time with a hippo, you know. There's an awful lot of animals. You have to wonder how long does it take him to name them? How long does it take him to get it? As a matter of fact, the repetition of the number of animals may have really driven the point home. Maybe at some point he was looking too. I'm looking for somebody like me. Boy, girl, hippo. Not like me. This giraffe, you know, hello up there. It just, there's nothing quite corresponding. Now we got to the gorilla as he said, oh, she's coming. Yeah. Yeah. Woo! Okay.

There's also, you know, if you look at it, what we have are some evidences there in Genesis chapter one of this is the way it ended up. But going to Genesis chapter 2, you see the process. Be fruitful and multiply. Now how's Adam going to think about this if it's just him? Oh boy, am I in trouble, right? So he's not going to be able to carry that out.

And the other thing is, we mentioned Sunday morning service, that word for helper, If you look at the other places in scripture where that's used, this is not wimpy help. This is not, you know, I guess that's help, you know. But this is major, huge help. Many of the places where that word shows up, nothing would happen if it were not for that help. Okay? So we're talking, this isn't, you know, a woman just sort of a nice, you know, optional add-on, but a major help, a help of such a kind that it wouldn't get done if it were not for that help. That kind, an essential help. So this is a key thing in the creation of male and female. Now, I've got something else.

Between medical people, psychologists, anthropologists, people who have done various studies, there has been a great deal of study of male and female human beings. Why not just rely on that and not bother with what the Bible has to say? Why not just look to all the medical and anthropological and psychological studies about male and female and just let that do for us? For one, it's all based in time. It's all temporal and it changes every 50 to 100 years. Okay. It's based in time and it changes. Yeah. Big turnover in terms of what the conclusions are. Good. What else?

What else is wrong with just saying, OK, we're going to take the discoveries of science about male and female humans and let that carry us through? Yes? Because the perspective that they're often coming from does not include God. And if you do not see man as creating the image of God, it's going to have profound effect on the way you interpret the differences in everything that you see. Yeah.

You see, there is lots of information from all these different technical studies, scientific studies. There's lots of information out there. But the one thing that we can never get from that is God's perspective. So we got the handbook, okay, from the one who created human beings. There's one other thing.

Does Science has any way to go back before the fall to say how things were originally intended. It has not the ability, matter of fact it doesn't have the ability to recognize the fall. Can't even look at it. Yes, judging it based on the fallen world's perspective. Yeah, good point. And using a fallen mind. Something else. When this world's done and we're done with it, and we're gone from here, what does science have to tell us about that? Nothing. Science can't touch it.

So the thing is, we're getting from scripture perspectives that is interesting and is fascinating and in many ways useful as various realms of science are. And I don't want to deny those. The reality is that scripture is telling us things that we would never know. Important things that we would never know if God had not deliberately revealed them. If God had not determined that this is a determined to reveal things to us. So we've got some very special, you can call it information if you want, but there's nothing quite like it.

And it's not just what does science say about male and female and all the things that it can. But what's in here is the stuff that science can't even touch, can't even approach. Let's look at distinctions for marriage relationship and family role purposes are spelled out.

What would you say to a person who said, well, marriage, that's just a piece of paper. Is it just a piece of paper? to non-believers. What's that? To non-believers. Yeah, to non-believers. And why is it just a piece of paper to non-believers? It helps them with their taxes.

Yeah, yeah. Fill out one tax form instead of two. You know. Yeah. See, the unbeliever just has no way to begin to see marriage for what it is. It's something that God intended at the outset. Think about this. You know, in six days God created the heavens and the earth. On that sixth day he created marriage. And then he said it was very good. And then he said it was very good.

Distinctions later set out in the Law of Moses in a great number and within the church. After the fall, we've got the Law of Moses coming along, and you have the beginning of the church there in Acts chapter 2, distinctions made in both of those, between male and female. The Law of Moses has a great number of distinctions between male and female. During the time of the New Testament, the Jewish men would regularly, daily, say a prayer in which they thanked the Lord that the Lord created them. as a man, and not a woman, or a gentile or a slave, because they would be thankful that they had more laws to follow, because they were a man. That was their privilege, I guess. So there was this sense, even in the law of Moses, first, distinction's male and female.

So those show up. Distinctions within a culture are set out later to keep maleness and femaleness clearly defined. We have in our current culture, sociologists went through and did an analysis, we have 11 genders. That's between, you know, yeah. That's between the different, not just the usual male and female that we see here, but what you would like to be. And what you feel like you are inside versus what you are on the outside. And people getting operations and things of that sort.

All the different combinations together, all the different possibilities now make for 11 genders. So a bunch of them. Why not just say, you know, we've got 11 genders, you know, maybe we'll come up with more. And just let that ride. And just say that's fine. Yeah.

You see, here again we come back to, as a matter of fact, Colorado is one of the places where the United States, I think their figure is something like 10,000 transgender operations a year. Colorado is one of the capitals, I would put it that way, of transgender operations. But the point comes, not just what can science do, and what can science tell, but what did God intend? What did God have in mind? That's something science can't discover. God has revealed it to us. and he's made the distinction.

As a matter of fact, in Romans chapter 1, one of the things Paul describes is a cascade of sins, one to the next to the next, God gave them over, God gave them over, God gave them over, that's the repeated phrase there. And one of the things you see in that cascade of sins is gender confusion, mixing up the whole gender thing. intent that he not just create them male and female and see what they do with it, but he created male and female because that's what he had in mind as long as people are on the earth. Now, we're also going to get next week to the falls. This is Genesis chapter 3, and of course, subsequent passages talking about that.

But it is, again, information we would not have because there is no way for science to look past the fall. As far as science can tell, that's the way things always were. can't tell any different. We have it recorded here. That's different. Okay. I think we're out of time for one thing. Okay. Let's plug.

We thank you for Just as we look at your work, we have uniquely revealed truth. Truth uniquely revealed because you love us. Truth uniquely revealed because you desire a relationship with us. And you desire our relationships with one another to reflect your character. And so we look to you, Lord, to bring these truths home to our hearts and minds. We pray in Jesus' name.