“Are You a Boy or a Girl?”

What the Bible Says About the Transgender Myth

In an interview with Diane Sawyer on Friday night, April 24, 2015 Bruce Jenner came out as transgender. “I’m me. I’m a person. This is who I am. I’m not stuck in anybody’s body. My brain is much more female than male,” Jenner said. “For all intents and purposes, I am a woman.” As a result friends and family members sent messages of support to Bruce.

• Kylie Jenner ..this isn’t about me. I’m so proud of you, Dad You are so brave. My beautiful Hero.
• Kris Jenner Not only was I able to call him my husband for 25 years and father of my children, I am now able to call him my hero.
• Rob Lowe I was proud of Bruce Jenner in Montreal and I’m proud of him tonight. Some have to fight more than the rest of us for their happiness.
• Oprah Winfrey: “All of us deserve the right to be loved for who we are “. Bravo #BruceJenner

Jenner claimed, “What I am doing is going to do some good and we are going to change the world.” The transgender issue has become a major movement in this post-modern World. Even back in 2013 the Supreme Court in Maine had to determine whether denial of a transgender’s choice of bathrooms was in violation of the state’s Human Rights Act. In defense of the federal rules on school bathrooms being open to transgender students, President Obama told the Buzzfeed web site: “Anybody who has been in school, in high school, who has been a parent should realize that kids who are sometimes in the minority — kids who have a different sexual orientation or are transgender — are subject to a lot of bullying, potentially…They are vulnerable, and I think it’s part of our obligation as a society to make sure everybody is treated fairly, and our kids are all loved and protected, and that their dignity is affirmed,” he said.

The definition of “transgender” is simply a person gender identity or expression not matching the medical or societal norms which have resulted in them being assigned a gender with which the person does not agree. Traditionally and Biblically society has only recognized two genders: male and female. Now there is a list of some 63 different genders. This results from the fact that transgenders do not necessarily define their gender in relation to their sexual orientation. It is argued the development of the brain is what determines one’s sexual orientation. Therefore, transgender people may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, etc. Furthermore, they may have a body which says they are one gender and a brain which tells them the opposite. Such individuals claim they are “trapped” in the wrong body.

Definition

The transgender movement has created so much confusion for this postmodern world, some do not know whether they are a boy or a girl. For example, a gay couple may argue that they are really not homosexual because even though they are biologically identified has being female, one of them identifies herself with their male gender. As a result, the term “homosexual” technically cannot be used to describe an intimate relationship between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. It is argued therefore that what has been called a homosexual couple may be redefined as “heterosexual.” As a result one cannot really know who is truly a boy or a girl.

Gender Transitioning Solutions

What is the solution for those who are “trapped” in the wrong body? Bruce Jenner has underwent a transitioning process into Caitlyn Jenner. Many transgenders have tried a variety of transgender transitioning solutions, such as, hormone treatment and sex reassignment surgery.

However, “Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a ‘mental disorder’ that merits treatment, that sex change is ‘biologically impossible’” (CNSNews.com). Part of the problem with these attempts to transition from one gender into another is the high failure rate. The National Institute of Health reports that nearly half of all those who go through this process experience depression to the point of suicide. A Swedish study found that between 1973 to 2003 those who had sex-reassignment had a much higher rate of suicide, death, and long-term psychiatric issues.

Why can’t medial science help correct the problem of individuals who are trapped in the wrong body? DNA determines biological sex. The chromosomes one receives from their parents at the point of conceptions cannot be changed by any amount of treatment or surgery. When conception takes place, the father gives the child twenty-three chromosomes and so does the mother. These forty-six chromosomes will pair up into twenty-three sets. The twenty-third pair of chromosomes will determine the baby’s gender. The mother always contributes an X chromosome. It is the father’s contribution which with determine the sex of the child. If he passes along an X chromosome the baby will be female (XX). If he contributes a Y chromosome the baby will develop into a boy (XY). Bruce Jenner was hoping to “re-emerge as myself.” However, his the twenty-third pair of chromosomes is XY causing every cell in his body and brain to be hard wired as male. He can never really experience what it is like to be in a woman’s body, in which every cell has the XX chromosome. Until science can find a way to replace Bruce Jenner’s Y chromosome with an X in every cell in his body and brain, he will never become Caitlyn.

The real issue regarding changing genders has to do with the Creator of genders and His laws of science: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’ …God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26-27).

How Christians Should Deal With Transgenders

• Encourage them to Seek Proper Treatment

Just as the Good Samaritan helped the man get treatment (Luke 10), so all those who may be suffering with physical, mental, and spiritual ailments need help. The world with its rejection of the Creator and men and women, no absolutes in truth and morality, sexual immorality, etc. has robbed them of their identity. The are not “trapped” in the wrong body, but their minds have been conformed to this world.

• Encourage them to Change their Heart

One thing the transgender movement has right: the conflict over gender identity begins in the mind or brain. If the mind or heart feeds of philosophies of men, it will result in such things as confusion over gender. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). Christ calls on us to change the heart, thus transforming the mind. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1,2). The world wants to press us into their world of gender confusion and sexual immorality. The solution is not genetics, hormone therapy, surgery, etc. Thinking the way the Creator designed you is the key. Believing you are a boy when God created you a girl does not change the fact you are and always will be the gender nature has assigned you at conception. Believing or not believing something doesn’t make it true or false. The truth can set one free from being “trapped” in gender identity confusion (John 8:32).

• Encourage Them to Seek God’s Forgiveness

During the first century homosexuals and effeminates were a common part of the Roman world. The city of Corinth was known for its excessive immorality. Even in the heathen, pagan Roman empire (notorious for its debauchery) the proverbial phrase “to Corinthanize” meant “to live a promiscuous life” (Collin’s Free Online Dictionary). Even in Corinth the Gospel could be preached, souls were forgiven, and lives were changed. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “and such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).

– Daniel R. Vess