The Christian’s Response to Transgender Claims

I. Introduction
● The media and social media is permeated with stories about transgendered people
● We are bombarded with transgender claims
● We are told that if we do not believe the claims of those who champion the transgender cause, we are “transphobic”
● How as a Christian should you respond to those who challenge you regarding the transgender movement?

II. Facts about transgender
● The dictionary defines the term “transgender” as:
○ Noting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond to that person’s biological sex assigned at birth.
○ Noting or relating to a person who does not conform to societal gender norms or roles.

● The medical term for transgender is gender dysphoria
○ The definition of that term is
■ Marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, of at least 6 months’ duration.”

○ The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fifth edition, of the American Psychiatric Association estimates that:
■ 0.005% to 0.014% of people born male and 0.002% to 0.003% of people born female are diagnosable with gender dysphoria.
● That means 5-14 out of every 1,000 males, and
● 2-3 out of every 1,000 females
■ Do the math: Male: 14, 616; Female: 5,025

● According to study data released by the CDC in June 2022, 1.6 million people in the US identify as transgender
○ 20% of those claiming to be transgendered are between 13 and 17 years old

● 41% of people who claim to be transgendered attempt suicide.
○ In 2020, 4/10 of one percent (.004) of the population of the US attempted suicide
■ 1,200,000 attempted suicide out of a population of 329,500,000

● Quotes from people claiming to be transgendered:
○ There’s a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99% of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they’re mismatched. That’s all it is. It’s not complicated, it’s not neurosis. It’s a mix-up. It’s a birth defect, like a cleft palate. - Chaz Bono (formerly Chastity Bono)

○ We’re human beings, and this is a human life. This is reality for us, and all we ask for is acceptance and validation for what we say we are. It’s a basic human right. - Andreja Pejic, transgender model

● In addition to male and female, transgender advocates claim there are now at least 72 other “gender identities” that a person can have.
○ Here are some examples of alleged gender identities:
○ Adamas gender: A gender that is indefinable or indomitable. People identifying with this gender refuse to be categorized in any particular gender identity.
○ Alexigender: The person has a fluid gender identity between more than one type of gender although they cannot name the genders they feel fluid in.
○ Amaregender: Having a gender identity that changes depending on the person one is emotionally attached to.
○ Caelgender: This gender identity shares the qualities or aesthetics of outer space.
○ Cisgender: Being closely related to the gender assigned at birth during the entire life.
○ Condigender: The person feels their gender only under specific circumstances.
○ Genderfluid: The person does not consistently adhere to one fixed gender and may have many genders.

● When children who reported transgender feelings were tracked without medical or surgical treatment at both Vanderbilt University and London’s Portman Clinic, 70-80% of them spontaneously lost those feeling during their adolescence.

● Children that report feeling transgendered are being given drugs that block puberty followed by a life long course of cross-sex hormones.

● The American College of Pediatricians has issued a statement about this practice which says:
○ “We live at a time in which social agendas often bias the results of research and lead to the development of false medical standards. Those who honorably speak out against this are chastised. Young children are being permanently sterilized and surgically maimed under the guise of treating a condition that would otherwise resolve in over 80% of them. This is criminal.”

● There is not one study that I could find that concludes that gender dysphoria, or transgender, has a biological or genetic cause.

III. We are called to discern good from evil
● Why not just ignore these claims and move on with our lives?
● The Bible tells us that as Christians, we are commanded to discern good from evil:
● The Apostle John tells us:
○ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. - 1 John 4:1
● Paul says in Ephesians 5:6-10 that
○ Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. - Ephesians 5:6-10

● Again in Romans Paul tells us
○ Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:2

● but test everything; hold fast what is good. - 1 Thessalonians 5:21

● See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. - Colossians 2:8

● And finally:
○ Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. - Philippians 3:2

III. Why even respond to transgender claims
● As Christians, we must always be prepared to make a defense of our faith.
● As Peter tells us
○ but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect - 1 Peter 3:15
● Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. - Jude 3

● Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. - Ephesians 5:11

● In fact, we should constantly practice our discernment skills, as it says in the book of Hebrews:
○ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:14

IV. The nature of our response to transgender claims
● When I hear all of the transgender nonsense being rammed down our throat, it sometimes makes me want to respond in anger, to lash out.

● But, we are not called to respond in anger
○ Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger - Ephesians 4:26

● We are commanded to respond with a spirit of gentleness
○ Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. - Galatians 6:1

● We are to speak the truth in love:
○ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, - Ephesians 4:15

● We are to be kind to everyone, avoiding quarreling if possible:
○ And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, - 2 Timothy 2:24

● We have to remember that we are not just talking about issues here.
○ We are talking about people - individuals who are precious to God and made in His image

V. What the Bible says about transgender
● Many transgendered people and their supporters say that they are transgendered because God created them that way.

● Even a cursory reading of the Bible reveals that is not true.

● Consider these verses:
○ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27
○ He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, - Matthew 19:4
○ A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. - Deuteronomy 22:5
○ For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, - 1 Corinthians 14:33

● The Bible unequivocally states that God created us biologically male and female

● And Once God was done creating men and women, he was pleased
○ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. - Genesis 1:31

● After God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden, God realized that it was not good for Adam to be alone.
○ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” - Genesis 2:18
● So God created livestock, birds, and beasts of the field, but none of these were a fit helper for Adam.

● So God created woman and brought her to Adam
○ And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. - Genesis 2:22

● Note that Adam’s pronoun was “he” and Eve’s pronoun was “she”

● And Adam was pretty psyched
○ Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” - Genesis 2:23

● Then the Bible announces what God’s plan is for men and women
○ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. - Genesis 2:24

● The Bible also tells us that God gave instruction to husband and wife:
○ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:28

● God gave the command to be fruitful and multiply multiple times in the Bible:
○ And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. - Genesis 9:1
○ And God said to him (Jacob), “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. - Genesis 35:11
● By taking hormones and surgically altering your body, it makes it almost impossible to be fruitful and multiply.

● God created the marriage relationship between a man and a woman to give us an earthly image of the relationship between Christ and his Church.
○ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. - Ephesians 5:31-32

● By men pretending to be women and women pretending to be men, or even worse taking hormones and getting surgery to try to convert themselves, they are perverting what God set up to be an illustration to us of Christ’s relationship with His Church.

VI. Conclusion

● God commands us to discern right from wrong, false doctrine from the truth of His Word
● As Christians, we are to look at the world through the lens of God’s Word
● God’s Word is very clear that he created two genders, two sexes - male and female
● The Bible clearly illustrates that men are men and women are women
● Anything else is a perversion of the truth
● Although the transgender movement is spreading lies, our response must be full of God’s truth and wisdom.
● We cannot respond in anger. We must respond with love.
● Our goal must be to bring those that claim to be transgendered and their allies back to God and the truth.
● Remember, God does not want one to perish.
○ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9