I am aware that gender confusion, gender transition, gender fluidity, gender euphoria, etc. is not an easy subject to deal with. I will attempt to examine this phenomenon from what the Bible says. It will not necessarily be popular. I will in all probability be attacked for some of my views. But that is OK. We all have the right to our opinions and have the right to differ. That is what free speech is all about.
I realize that people that have gender euphoria, or have the desire to transition, or have transitioned, is a/has been a traumatic experience. My aim is to make people consider the all the consequences of making these life changing decisions. I do not judge them. Whether I agree with their choices are irrelevant. Whether their “feelings” are based on fact or not, we have to understand that their “feelings” are their reality, and we should have empathy for them.
The subject is not specifically dealt with in the Bible. The foundation of this modern thinking is based on the “feeling” people have and not necessarily facts or reality. That is a very dangerous foundation as our feelings/emotions are used by the evil one to deceive us. It clouds the issue. Feelings/emotions are very seldom based on true facts.
Many articles suggest counselling before a person commits to the process of gender transition. That in itself suggests that it is a “mind”/psychological issue. It is un-reversible and even if reversed, you cannot return to where you started off. It normally includes surgical procedures that could be expensive and remove parts of your anatomy.
I do not say that people cannot be born with both sex organs and other deformities, and choices have to be made with resulting in surgery. Only about 3% of people born are born with abnormalities (all). Unfortunately, because of sin, we do live in a broken world. Only when the Lord returns will we be in perfect harmony with God and will we have a perfect body. It is estimated that only 0,6% of the population suffer from this condition in USA.
From the outset, we that claim we are children of God, must not condemn or judge people that has or wants to transition to a gender that they were not born with. We must have empathy for them and love them unconditionally.
a. Matthew 7:1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged
b. Matthew 22:36-40 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We must never forget that we, as children of God, are also sinful by nature. One sin is not bigger than another sin. It is only by the grace of God that we have been saved and our sins are forgiven. We are also not “better” than any other person or another child of God. We remain “sinners saved by grace”. In the eyes of God we have the same value.
I will not deal with the current controversy about the age of consent. People under the age of 18 (and sometimes older) do not have the necessary maturity to make such life changing changes. Many parents also make the mistake, where children are born with both sexual organs, to make the change to reflect their own desires in the gender transition and not that of the child. They should wait until the child is mature enough and can make their own decision.
Let us look at some of the facts in the Bible to give us some clarity:
1. Physical reality: We are born male or female.
Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
There is therefore no 3rd or more genders. I know it is hard for people to accept this, but that is the Truth. God made the male and female body uniquely to perform together in procreation and to help each other to achieve a life of joy together.
The danger of gender transition is that you harm/change your body in perpetuity. You take away the functions that God created in the male and female to replace it with “fake” “organs. Due to the hormone treatment as part of transitioning, women cannot conceive thereafter and men will become sterile. Even if reversed, you will never be able to restore these bodily functions.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
The question that we must ask is whether transitioning to another gender is honoring God. Your body is not your own. It belongs to God. In my humble opinion, transitioning does not glorify God. It is disrespecting God’s creation as you are effectively saying to God He has made a mistake. Due to His holiness, God cannot make mistakes.
2. Created in His image:
Genesis 1:27, 31 - 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them..31 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Considering that God is holy and perfect, being created in God’s image, indicates that you were born the way God intended.
Psalm 139:13-14 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
That may be a foreign concept for you, but God’s Word is Truth. You may not be happy with your body, for whatever reason, but in God’s eyes you are wonderfully made. To say that you want to transition to another gender is saying to the Almighty and Holy God that you are not satisfied with what He made you. You are in fact “slapping” God in His face. God made you the way he wanted you.
Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Wanting to change what God has made you, is in my humble opinion both arrogant and sinful. Arrogant as we believe we can create a better body than God intended. Sinful as we are scarring our bodies for life. We are mere humans, sinful by nature whilst He is the Creator of heaven and earth.
3. Is it in the mind?
From research done it is quite clear that gender euphoria is routed in the mind (Whether through culture or born with). It is what people think and believe, whether it is the truth or not. We have to recognize that their feelings and beliefs are their reality. You cannot merely ignore it and make judgement. All we can do is sharing God’s truth with them and pray for them. After that our role is completed and only God can change their thinking. Only they are responsible for their decisions after that.
Sometimes Children of God in their fervor try and hound people, try and “force” them or Bible-bash them to change. That is not love. Think how patient God was with you before you came to Christ. You should show the same patience and allow the Lord to do His work, His way and in His time. Telling the Truth to people, although it may be difficult, is real love.
What the evil one has as a strategy is for you to be deceived by his lies. His lies are normally sugarcoated and hide the “negative” aspects of his lies. Deception says that he is so good at it that, and unless you have a discerning spirit, you will not notice it as a lie.
Although the evil one cannot read our minds, nothing stops him from placing suggestive thoughts in your mind. From a thought comes a conviction and we act on the suggestion. The real lie about the gender dysphoria is that you think you are a man in a woman’s body and vice versa. This is confirmed by many people that have followed this route to find out that the transition has not made them happy; in fact in most cases it made them more dissatisfied. Many have re-transitioned and regret that they even considered a transition.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
The most important action is to submerse yourself in the Word of God and search the face of God to renew your mind. By allowing God to renew your mind, you will receive insight into what God’s perfect will for you is. This assumption is that you must first come to Christ. God loves you and only wants the best for His children. God loves you the way you are. He invites you to come to Him.
a. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
b. Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
It is only in God that one will be satisfied with whom you are and the way God created you. The fundamental issue is that people have a poor self-image and tries all sorts of “remedies” to improve their self-image instead of going to God first. We have the tendency to go to God as a last resort. Normally a fatal mistake. In my humble opinion, gender euphoria has poor self-image as one of the route cause. God can solve that and make you satisfied with who you are. Transitioning is not the answer to your unhappiness. God is. Here is what He says about you if you are His child:
a. Matthew 5:13-14 Salt and Light 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
b. John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
c. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
d. 1 Corinthians 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
e. 2 Corinthians 6:1 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.
f. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
g. Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
h. John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
i. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies
j. And many, many more
Based on God’s Word, there is no need to have a poor self-image irrespective of what people my say or think about you or in what circumstances you were raised. They are not God the Almighty. He values you highly!! Our self-image should be based on what God says and thinks about you.
My story: An illustration how the evil one works with your thouhts
I had a very poor self-image when I was young. We grew up very poor. My father thought I was a wimp and said so. I was “softer” in my approach to life. He was 6 ft 3 inches, 230 pounds of muscle. Macho. He never said he loved me and would hound my weaknesses to make fun of me. This made me a “nerd” and I became an introvert and most girls at school do not engender “nerds” or introverts. On top of it my voice did not “break” and I had to contend with a higher pitched voice than other boys. On top of it I was quiet in class and adept baker and cook. They like the “jocks” and extroverts. My brother on the other hand was very mucho and had all the girls. As a result I thought that I must be gay because I had better relationships with boys than girls. I was living in my brother’s shadow.
As a child of God that was a devastating thought as I knew that God does not approve of the gay lifestyle. Fortunately for me I did not explore that avenue (absolute grace from God). Searching His face through reading the Bible and praying, I found out what God thought of me. It was amazing to discover what He did think of me. Beyond what I thought was possible. With my self-image busy being restored; I started praying for a wife of God’s choosing. God gave me a wonderful wife and I found out that I had no homosexual tendencies at all.
47 years later and I am still madly in love with her and we have 4 beautiful daughters. Today I am an extrovert for God. I was in full time ministry for nearly 15 years after I retired. I even preached and was also working in jail to try and rehabilitate prisoners before they were released. My voice became my strength in ministry as I could hold services without microphones!!
I share my story so that you may understand that:
a. What I thought initially was a lie from the evil one putting thoughts in my mind
b. That my self-image was the route cause
c. God was my answer
d. God used my “gifts” to His glory.
e. We can be restored by God to become what we were born for.
4. Conclusion:
I want to state clearly that I am not minimizing the trauma that you may be going through. I know the trauma I had when I thought that I may be a homosexual. It must be very tough. The “judgement” of some people must be hurting and adding to your confusion. On the other hand other people are prodding you to transition.
The harsh reality is that I cannot see in the Bible that God condones gender transition as much as he does not condone a non-holy lifestyle. To be a child of God is tough. Your salvation is easy as eternal life is a gift from God. He paid the price on the cross at Calvary. Following God’s will for your life is a life long struggle/journey. God tells us that as His children He will give us the power to overcome adversity. He commands us to be holy as He is holy (totally dedicated to Him).
Leviticus 19:2 … ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
He would not give us such a command if we are not able to adhere to His command.
a. 2 Corinthians 10:4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
b. Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
c. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
All is not lost. If you have transitioned and realize that you have made an error in judgement, God still loves you. Forgiveness is available through Jesus Christ and true repentance. I have seen some testimonies of people that have transitioned and/or re-transitioned, met Jesus Christ and now have a life that glorifies God. Do not make the mistake that people will understand your trauma or what you have become. People may judge you, but Jesus does not.
I hope this article will help you to make a decision that will glorify God. That is our sole purpose of living. Our lives should be all about Him and not satisfying our own desires.
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