For some time now, there has been an obvious battle between those who believe in traditional morality and those who have conjured up a “new morality” based on human emotion, those who support a binary (i.e., male and female) and advocates for a non-binary perspective. Should what you feel be allowed to create an impetus for a complete change in sexual identity? Can men become women and visa versa? Are we all on some kind of gender continuum, subject to our personal experiences? Should biological men experiencing gender dysphoria be permitted to compete against actual women?
In response, Christians, many traditionalists, conservatives, and others have defended the view that there are two genders, male and female, and that long-established moral standards are normative and ought to be upheld. While admitting the rare exception of intersex, the view normally espoused is the traditional one, which is why the notion of men competing in women's sports is viewed as abhorrent.
RIGHT . . . BUT WEAK
Since we rightly value our children and their safety, it is understandable that protecting them takes priority. When drag queen shows take place in elementary schools, inappropriate literature is fostered among youth, men compete against women in athletic contests, and women’s private spaces (locker rooms) are violated, many instinctively come to the defense of their kids. It is at this juncture, however, that traditionalists tend to take a weakened position.
The line of response is basically as follows: “You can do what you want in your private lives. You can embrace transgenderism, dress and behave as you please, embody whatever brand of sexuality you favor, but take your hands off of our kids!”
In one sense, of course, this is sensible, and children are definitely our first concern. Also, no one denies the freedoms of Americans to engage in countless things, including personal choices that don’t jive with our own views. I don’t know a single person who wants to break into the homes of citizens, say those who behave rather bizarrely, and force them to comply with some moral agenda. We have no need for a moral police state in any literal sense. Furthermore, traditionalists are not of the opinion that it is right to continually harangue others even if their behavior is objectionable.
But none of these common sense notions is inconsistent with the belief that we can and should and must stand for something. Indeed, our stance is required both for a functioning society broadly and, more specifically, for our children.
A STRONGER VIEW
It is not enough to say to adults “you do you,” as long as our children are protected. It is not okay for adults to behave in harmful ways as long as kids remain protected. On this viewpoint, we can ignore the trans ideology of older individuals as long as youth are not indoctrinated. But this misses the point.
Allowing perverted, immoral, and heinous activity to thrive among adults is precisely how we damage our children. It is not enough, in other words, to keep boys out of girls sports or to pull radical literature out of schools. Important as these things are, we must also oppose deviance among adults. Men and women are the ones who help to create the environment where deviant activity impacts younger facets of society. If immoral “adult” practices spread unfettered, if plainly bizarre and aberrant behavior goes unchallenged, civilization will inevitably spiral downward to destruction.
To reiterate, this is in no way a call to violence or even meanness toward strange individuals. Indeed, the opposite is true. This is a call to compassion for those caught up in perverse thought and corruption. We are not in favor of unnecessarily infringing on the lives of others even if they behave badly. But, and this is crucial, we do need to call out the bad behavior, the inappropriate, the perverted, the depraved. You are legally allowed to “do you,” whatever that looks like, but a sane country is also allowed, indeed morally required, to identify degeneracy where it appears.
CURRENT DEBATE: BILES VS. GAINS
This leads to the most recent iteration of this debate, the Biles-Gaines feud.
Simone Biles, the Olympic champion gymnast, decided to attack former NCAA swimming champion Riley Gaines, who has become a spokesperson for women athletes. Gaines, you may recall, came to prominence when she was robbed by Will (Lia?) Thomas, the biological male who at 6 ' 4" had a clear physical advantage.
Gaines, who is surely, as she herself asserts, “on the right side of history” defends womanhood and wants to protect women and women’s sports. Biles, for whatever reason, takes the now predictable and flawed view of progressives, thinking that we should defend trans athletes, who are at best confused and misinformed.
Numerous commentators, those also on the right side of sanity, properly criticize Biles for her ridiculous and damaging views, and for her arrogance in asserting what is blatantly unreasonable. But not a few have taken the common but weak response, as mentioned above, of protecting the kids while ignoring the adults. This, I believe, is a mistake.
Though we must treasure and safeguard children, it is time that we also shield the rest of the country from the debasing conduct, the debauchery, that flows from trans ideology everywhere. This necessitates a stance in which we not only protect our most vulnerable, though this we must do, but that we call out the trans movement more broadly as the unnatural, confused, shameful, and depraved outlook that it is. There are countless people—young and old alike—who have bought into a type of warped and bewildering behavior (i.e., trans ideology), and all of it, without forfeiting our humble compassion, needs to receive our strongest disapproval.
CRUCIAL THOUGHTS ON GENDER
There are two genders—not three or ten or forty six or whatever.
Trans individuals suffer from a type of dysphoria that usually dissipates over time.
The confounding belief that a girl or boy can change genders is wrong. Indeed, the fact that all human beings, particularly young ones, are susceptible to ideas and experiences that are disorienting does not mean the path forward is to accept that disorientating mentality.
A person’s confusion over gender may be very real and, to that degree, ought to be treated seriously and with sensitivity, but this does not mean that the fantasy in which many engage is automatically valid. Sincerity does not always equate with reality.
Much of the gender identity craze involves the near supremacy of emotion. Though emotion is important, even the most deeply felt inclinations must submit to objective biology.
Intersex, which is an uncommon biological anomaly, is not to be confused with trans, which is more arbitrary, subjective, and feelings driven.
The fact that some scientists and other authorities support the trans movement is more indicative of a social contagion (the blinding influence of a widely accepted immoral impulse), the need to virtue signal (and so not lose respect and/or funding), a misguided view of compassion (where the desire to show concern and to assist the genuinely confused is twisted into as strategy in which the misguided thoughts of the confused are reinforced) than to the legitimacy of LGBTQUI. As imperfect and flawed creatures, we all require the care, wisdom, and truth that enables us to reorient ourselves to our created purpose. This is only attainable if there is indeed a source of truth to guide our efforts.+ Many within our country, and elsewhere, have located this in the Christian Scriptures.
VICTIMS?
The impulse to defend the trans individual and his or her lifestyle is often borne out of a genuine concern for the hurting and neglected. When we see people being bullied, there is a tendency for compassion to come to the fore. Compassion is an authentic, indeed biblical, value. But this does not mean that we endorse the habits of those who have gone astray or give our stamp of approval to those engaged in unfounded delusions. The person hooked on heroin gets our compassion but not our acceptance of his addiction. The individual whose delusions of grandeur cause him to squander his finances gets our sympathy but not our okay to continue in his irresponsible ways. The man with a bad temper who punches every person with whom he disagrees might get our empathy but not our acceptance of his over-aggressiveness. The woman who thinks she is a zebra might receive our pity but we don’t buy her striped suits just to pacify her delusions. In each of these cases, and countless more, we can and should care about those who cross our paths, but this is always governed by our best perception of what is real.
All this said, there is indeed a type of victim here, and there are perpetrators of injustice. Most of those who support trans ideology do so out of ignorance or the broad idea of pity highlighted above. Unfortunately, the combination of reasonable and unreasonable motivations conspire to turn confused dysphoric people into casualties in an insane moral-spiritual onslaught.
Furthermore, according to Scripture, there are enemies to be faced, which have been traditionally labeled the world, the flesh, and the devil. All three of these, often intertwining, provide a framework for analyzing the challenges we face each day. The one that stands out here—though never completely divorced from the others—is the world. John says, for instance,
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17, ESV).
Without getting distracted by the details, it is at least clear that there is in this life an anti-God mechanism that pervades and influences and tempts human beings. The widespread embrace of unbiblical values, the tendency to overly indulge our egos, the regularly giving ourselves over to the baser things of life—these are but a sampling of the trends that permeate every society, and we are definitely all susceptible. Though not limited to this category, trans ideology appears to be one such illustration of a worldly creed. It appears counterintuitive, illogical, unscientific, and dismissive of human history, but these factors don’t stop many from celebrating trans.
All of these things contribute to a mindset in which worldly ideas have poisoned the minds of many, the vulnerable (youth) have especially succumbed, and the perpetrators are those leading us down this path of destruction. The kids, among others, are victims, but the adults in particular are guilty of creating these victims, pushing crazed dogma, reinforcing confusion, fostering false beliefs, pushing hormones and trans surgery. There are victims here, but they are mostly those who have bowed to the pressure of those who are truly guilty of child abuse. The adults, in other words, are the ones who foster, support, legitimize and in some cases personally embody the demented outlook of the LGBTQUI community. Protect the children? Absolutely and uncompromisingly! We must not, however, give a free pass to those who undergird and perpetuate the faulty doctrines of transgenderism.
Trans people are indeed made in God’s image. We should not hurt them or do anything that makes them feel legitimately unsafe or unaccepted. It is not right to dismiss or endanger them in any way. The fact that they are free to pursue their inclinations, however, does not mean our own freedoms should be squashed or that the betterment of the country, our kids, and the trans individuals themselves is to be neglected. “Speaking the truth in love” is the biblical maxim (Ephesians 4:15). This love entails many things of course, and takes many forms, but it does not include the rejection of the very thing it seeks to share, that is, the truth. Transgendersim is wrong for children and for adults. This is the truth.
COEXISTING PRINCIPLES
Though certain things are mutually exclusive, other matters can and do coexist even if our ability to reconcile them and fit them together is less than perfect. One common stereotype, for instance, is that of jocks vs. nerds. If you are a jock, a rough and aggressive individual, this supposedly disqualifies you from academic pursuits. If you are a so-called nerd, this probably indicates that your intellectual prowess renders you unlikely to be much of an athlete. We know, of course, that people can be both jocks and nerds or, to be more accurate, many individuals excel both in the classroom and in athletic endeavors. Though some favor one or the other, they are not mutually exclusive. So it is when it comes to our response to objectionable behavior.
How do we relate to others in a way that doesn't infringe upon their rights while also holding them accountable for their dreadful choices? For what’s it’s worth, here are some of my current thoughts on these matters:
There are two genders, period.
On rare occasions, there are intersex people. Intersex is not trans.
The trans movement is something of a social contagion. As a result, it should be rejected by all reasonable people.
Many who accept trans ideology have been brainwashed and are misguided and deceived.
Some who push particularly hard in this direction are essentially child-abusers.
Those who fall prey to the trans mindset are still divine image bears, deserving our genuine concern.
The individuals who bow to this ideology are the real victims, the victimizers being those who relentlessly advocate for these matters.
Like all aberrant behavior, there is a natural tendency to defend that in which we are personally engaged. It is no surprise that an adulterer trivializes adultery or that a stripper justifies her livelihood or that any sexual deviant wants to normalize his or her transgressions. All of us are susceptible to this sort of self-justifying attitude.
For the sake of our children, our country, and our Maker’s honor, we must humbly, lovingly, appropriately, yet boldly oppose the trans movement. This is not the only issue, however, and it is probably wrong to relentlessly address these matters when interacting with trans individuals. But if and when the subject arises, when the context is right, and the opportunity presents itself, we must learn to speak the truth in love.
The trans movement has seeped into the psyche of our nation, poisoning the minds of many. It is most noticeable when it affects our children, which is why we oppose the many perverted attempts to influence our kids. But if we hope to have a lasting impression on all people, it will be imperative that we distinguish between good and evil, allowing what is true and noble to be our guide.
Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).
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