So what is the Cause?

[Valerie]

It is increasing. The gender confusion issue.
I serve the public in my present occupation. More & more coworkers are LGBTQ.
It is becoming more common for me to be in the presence of someone and not knowing if they are a male or female.
I'm having a hard time of it. It hurts, is upsetting. They must hurt, must be upset too? How can they be at peace?
My coworker about my age is in disbelief. She thinks it's a fad that will go away. From a Scriptural & prophetic world view, I doubt that it will.

My pondering & considerations as to the toot of this combine some passages that somewhat spells it out in my .ind.

Of course "the world" has its reasons.

What say you?

Another question. Do we assume a confused spirit, a
rebellious spirit? A complete lack of faith in God will leave one's soul open to enemy occupation-

This is the "strangest" time in my life.

[Praxis+Theodicy]

It is increasing. The gender confusion issue.
I serve the public in my present occupation. More & more coworkers are LGBTQ.
It is becoming more common for me to be in the presence of someone and not knowing if they are a male or female.

I'm assuming you're asking "what is the cause" of the "increasing" of people who prefer and practice alternative sexual and gender expressions?

The answer is first that it is the wrong question. It's not, first of all, increasing. Instead, the acceptance is what is increasing. There has always been a segment of the population in every society that has preferred romantic and sexual expressions outside of the traditional heterosexual dynamic. There has always been a population who have been personally unsatisfied with the binary gender expressions tied to biological sex.
First of all, this population of people has not increased. But previously, in western society, this population was imprisoned, fined, exiled, tortured, or physically and chemically castrated in an attempt to discourage these variations from the societal norm. In the past few hundred years, liberalism has seen great fruition. To oversimplify a complicated ideology, liberalism essentially seeks individual freedom and autonomy in any area that does not directly affect the freedom and autonomy of other individuals in the shared society. Things like race, gender, culture, sexual orientation are (1) protected as traits that each individual expresses, and (2) kept in check so that none of them become a trait that seeks to inhibit the freedom or autonomy of others.
For example, my race is my individuality, no one should discriminate against me because I am white. But if my expression of my race is to kick out any non-white people from my neighborhood, this expression breaks the very rule that allowed me freedom. Same with religion: I can practice my religion freely up until the point where my religion calls me to persecute those who disagree with me. Same with sexuality: I can express it however I want as long as I don't violate the consent of anyone else involved with me.

So you're not seeing it "increase". You're seeing what happens when legal and cultural intolerance slowly goes away. There's a reason they call it "coming out of the closet". They've always been there; they aren't increasing, they are just feeling able to breathe and express themselves without the fear of repercussions from doing so.

A quick note should be added here that early on in the acceptance period, there will be an actual "increase". People who are confused and dissatisfied may experiment with alternate gender expressions just because that is the thing that is being talked about in the cultural conversation. But you should realize that what you perceive as "an increase" isn't really much of an "increase", but mostly an "exposure".

I'm having a hard time of it. It hurts, is upsetting. They must hurt, must be upset too? How can they be at peace?

I suggest taking on the outlook that everyone from Adam on down (with one notable exception) is "hurt, upset" because of our fallen nature. If you're looking at LGBT people and thinking "they must be hurt, must be upset... how can they be at peace?" then why don't you think that about anyone you encounter? We tend to just normalize everyone around us, whether they have Jesus or not, until they step outside certain boundaries. Do you think Bill Gates is "hurt, upset, not at peace" because of his lust for mammon? Do you think Taylor Swift is "hurt, upset, not at peace" because of her obvious attachment to pride of self?

Everyone is hurt, upset, and lacking in shalom, as long as they remain attached to the current world and unattached to the Kingdom of God. You're looking and seeing a "symptom" and it's a very big, bold symptom... but even with others who don't show those symptoms, they all still share the same disease: sin and rebellion against God.

My coworker about my age is in disbelief. She thinks it's a fad that will go away. From a Scriptural & prophetic world view, I doubt that it will.

My pondering & considerations as to the toot of this combine some passages that somewhat spells it out in my .ind.

Of course "the world" has its reasons.

What say you?

Another question. Do we assume a confused spirit, a
rebellious spirit?

Assume a spirit of humility and discipline. Demonstrate a different life... where one's gender expression is conformed to God's revealed will. Where your entire life is submitted to Jesus. Don't be confused or rebellious or reactionary. Just model a better way of life, where you don't live your life for "what you want to do", but "what you ought to do." Just remember that you're viewing symptoms, not the disease. Try seeing deeper, to the disease. Because you have the cure for the disease (the gospel).

A complete lack of faith in God will leave one's soul open to enemy occupation-

This is the "strangest" time in my life.

[temporal1]

^^i agree with P+T.

Valerie:
.. This is the "strangest" time in my life.

(The change i see) is that every odd politically organized secular bloc AND cult has found the path to hijacking human law AND accessing the public treasury for self-promotion.

Imagine Jim Jones on this path. Evil lurks. He was small potatoes in comparison.

i never imagined obama could singlehandedly turn the words, “community organization” into evil words.

[steve-in-kville]

It is increasing. The gender confusion issue.
I serve the public in my present occupation. More & more coworkers are LGBTQ.
It is becoming more common for me to be in the presence of someone and not knowing if they are a male or female.

I can relate. Haven't had a trans coworker that am aware of, but a handful of the other stuff. Keep it professional and we don't have problems. I did have a lesbian coworker (some years back) that pushed the boundaries but I think she was trying to stir up trouble. Thankfully she moved on before things got out of hand.

To that end, my AR-15 self identifies as a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. So I tolerate that quite well

[Sudsy]

When it appears to me that some kind of sinning is becoming more obvious than previous in my lifetime, I think of the verse in Romans 5:20b - NKJV

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more

Or as some put it - grace superabounded or grace hyper-abounded.

There is no type of sin that God will not give the grace to deal with it. The dealing with it may not be a miracle to remove the temptation to sin but the grace will be there to not allow that sin to reign or have it's control in us.

As to whether this sin comes from 'a confused spirit, a rebellious spirit ' or even coming through heredity, when it exists, God's grace is adequate to deal with it. The root cause(s), imo, are not as important to know for a solution. Like Paul and his 'thorn in the flesh', Paul was told God's grace is sufficient and this was all Paul needed to know. Paul then looked forward to this on-going experience of God's grace working on the issue whatever it was actually.

We really don't have any valid excuses to live in sin when we have the means of God's grace to not let it have rule in our lives.

[Ken]

I've never had a trans co-worker or for that matter any who were gender ambiguous.

I have had plenty of gay co-workers over the years. Who they choose to sleep with is none of my business or interest and doesn't affect how I interact with them in any way. And if they have gay partners I treat them like the partners of any other straight friends or co-workers.

If I had some gender-ambiguous co-worker I would just address them however they wanted to be addressed and not lose any sleep over it. And expect that the burden is on them to correct me if necessary. I don't obsess about the quirks of others, or aspects of their lives that I might approve or disapprove of if it doesn't affect their work performance.

[steve-in-kville]

If I had some gender-ambiguous co-worker I would just address them however they wanted to be addressed and not lose any sleep over it. And expect that the burden is on them to correct me if necessary. I don't obsess about the quirks of others, or aspects of their lives that I might approve or disapprove of if it doesn't affect their work performance.

In your line of work, that's the way it has to be.

So far at my employer, it hasn't been an issue, at least to my immediate knowledge.

[Josh]

To that end, my AR-15 self identifies as a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. So I tolerate that quite well

Be careful with that thing. You'll shoot your eye out.

[Ken]

If I had some gender-ambiguous co-worker I would just address them however they wanted to be addressed and not lose any sleep over it. And expect that the burden is on them to correct me if necessary. I don't obsess about the quirks of others, or aspects of their lives that I might approve or disapprove of if it doesn't affect their work performance.

In your line of work, that's the way it has to be.

So far at my employer, it hasn't been an issue, at least to my immediate knowledge.

Obviously if you are working for a church or church-related charity or school of some sort then your employer has flexibility under the 1st Amendment to demand adherence to various moral and religious standards. Catholic schools can fire LGBT teachers, for example. Public employers and large non-religious employers can't do that.

The conflicts usually come when the employer is not a religious organization for which the 1st Amendment applies, but the owner has specific religious expectations of his/her employees. So, for example, Chick Fil-A's owners are evangelical Christians. They can decide not to open on Sunday and that is fine. No one is discriminated if they choose to stay closed on Sunday. But they can't discriminate against or fire LGBT employees like an actual religious organization could. Because Chick Fil-A isn't a religious organization but just a for-profit fast food chain.

[barnhart]

So what is the cause...What do you say?

I think this is an area where the evil one has been given space to work. There are many contributing factors but I would summarize that our society is prosperous and has time to contemplate things like identity and social roles but at the same time culture has not provided meaningful goals and visions for life that captivate or motivate people. Or to put it another way, the problem is systemic.

The American church is culpable in this failure, on average we have not been salt and light but instead we are caught in the same lifestyle and purposeless as the world. I think Jesus is saying to us "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses it's saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled by men."