Posted on 03/23/2021 8:25:01 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Some would argue that the Bible says nothing about the explosion of the transgender phenomenon in the Western world. After all, there is no verse that says, “Thou shalt not transition from a man to a woman.” But neither are there any verses that talk explicitly about gun violence, anorexia, waterboarding, fossil fuels, vaccines, GMOs, HMOs, or Pokemon Go. We should not expect the Bible to speak in 21st century terms to every 21st-century eventuality.
But that hardly means the Bible provides no guidance for Christians trying to make sense of our transgender moment. In fact, when it comes to transgenderism, the Bible actually has a lot to say—not by a prooftext here or there but by a rich and pervasive understanding of gender and sexual identity.
Obviously, transgenderism, as a cultural trend, is massively complex, touching on fields as disparate as genetics, fashion, medicine, law, education, entertainment, athletics, and religious liberty. We need Christians thinking through, and talking to, all of these issues. We also need Christians patiently loving, counseling, and befriending those who feel that their psychological identity as male or female contradicts their “assigned” biological sex. In asking the question, “What does the Bible say about transgenderism?” we are asking a question that can take us in a dozen different directions.
I want to focus on just one of those directions. If we are people of the Book—people who believe, like Jesus, that the Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35)—then the transgender question, if it is to yield fruitful responses in any of these areas, must start with a biblical understanding of male and female.
And what is that understanding?
In short, the Bible teaches that God made us male or female, and no matter our own feelings or confusion, we should act in accordance with the biological reality of God’s good design. Transgenderism falls short of the glory of God and is not the way to walk in obedience to Christ.
There are three big Scriptural building blocks that lead one inexorably to this conclusion.
1. Gender Binary
The Bible knows no other gender categories besides male and female. While men and women in Scripture may express their masculinity and femininity in a wonderful diversity of ways, Scripture still operates with the binary categories of men and women. You are one or the other. The anomaly of intersex individuals does not undermine the creational design, but rather gives another example of creational “groaning” and the “not the way they are supposed to be” realities of a fallen world. Likewise, the eunuchs in Matthew 19 do not refer to sexless persons, but to men who were born without the ability to procreate or who were castrated, likely for a royal court (for more on the challenge of intersex, and the question of eunuchs, see Denny Burk, What Is the Meaning of Sex?, 169-183).
The biblical understanding of male and female is more than just an assumption writ large on the pages of Scripture. We know from Genesis 1 and 2 that the categories of male and female are a part of God’s design for humanity. Indeed, when God created the first human pair in his image, he created them male and female (Gen. 1:27). He made the woman to be a complement and help to the man (Gen. 2:18-22). Far from being a mere cultural construct, God depicts the existence of a man and a woman as essential to his creational plan. The two are neither identical nor interchangeable. But when the woman, who was taken out of man, joins again with the man in sexual union, the two become one flesh (Gen. 1:23-24). Dividing the human race into two genders, male and female—one or the other, not both, and not one then the other—is not the invention of Victorian prudes or patriarchal oafs. It was God’s idea.
2. Gender Identity
Someone with respect for Scripture may say at this point, “I agree that God makes as either male or female. But you are confusing biological sex with gender. I know transgender Christians who desire to embrace God’s design for men and women, but they also believe that who God created them to be does not correspond with the sex assigned to them at birth.” I don’t doubt that there are persons like this out there (and in our churches). While some people embracing a transgender identity may do so on a lark, many strongly feel that only by living as the opposite sex can they full embrace their true self.
The question is not whether such persons and feelings exist. The question is whether the is of our emotional or mental state equals the ought of God’s design. Most Christians reject this thinking in a host of other areas, from eating disorders to unbiblical divorces. We understand that following Christ means dying to ourselves (Matt. 16:24), being renewed in our minds (Rom. 12:2), and no longer walking as we once did (Eph. 4:17-18). Being “true to ourselves” is always a false choice when it means going against God’s Word.
As much as contemporary academia says otherwise, the Bible believes in the organic unity of biological sex and gender identity. This is why male and female are (uniquely) the type of pair that can reproduce (Gen. 1:28; 2:20). It’s why homosexuality—a man lying with a man as with a woman (Lev. 18:22)—is wrong. It’s why the apostle Paul can speak of homosexual partnerships as deviating from the natural relations or natural function of male-female sexual intercourse (Rom. 1:26-27). In each instance, the argument only works if there is an assumed equivalence between the biology of sexual difference and the corresponding identities of male and female.
3. Gender Confusion
The third building block follows naturally from the other two. If the binary of male and female is God’s idea, and if we are meant to embrace, by divine design, our biological and creational difference as men and women, then it stands to reason that the confusion of these realities would be displeasing to God. And so we see clearly in the Bible that men should not act sexually as women (Lev. 18:22; Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Cor. 6:9-10), that men should not dress like women (Deut. 22:5), and that when men and women embrace obviously other-gendered expressions of identity it is a disgrace (1 Cor. 11:14-15). We do not have an inalienable right to do whatever we want with our physical selves. We belong to God and should glorify him with our bodies (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
I have not begun to answer all the important questions about pastoral care, counsel, and compassion for the hurting and confused. But with the cultural winds gusting as they are, we cannot assume that Christians—even those in good churches—know what to think about gender or why to think it. Hopefully this brief post, and these three building blocks, can help us ensure the right foundation is in place. After all, the goal is not to build a wall to keep people out, but that God might build up his church in truth and grace that we can welcome people in, calling his image bearers to embrace the life that is truly life (1 Tim. 6:19).
I am not a Biblical Scholar. Not even close. But, I have read the Bible The Entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation numerous times. And, God is not ambiguous on this subject. On the contrary, God Almighty is very specific on this subject. He states unambiguously that men who sleep with men as they would with women and women who sleep with women as they would sleep with men are an ABOMINATION in His eyes.
It doesn’t get much clearer than that.
And, for those New Testament ONLY “believers” Jesus states in the New Testament that He does not come to refute the Old Testament He comes in FULFILMENT of it.
Not sure but there is Leviticus 18 that describes lots of stuff.
RE: Not sure but there is Leviticus 18 that describes lots of stuff.
That was in the article if you read it to the end.
*Sigh* ... I know what L18 says, the not sure was in response to part of that article. If pertinent information is not put in the header I’m not going to delve into paragraph after paragraph ...
RE: God Almighty is very specific on this subject. He states unambiguously that men who sleep with men as they would with women and women who sleep with women as they would sleep with men are an ABOMINATION in His eyes.
That’s Homosexuality. But transgenders are not necessarily homosexuals. They are biological men who identify as women. Some like Bruce Jenner even say that they’re still attracted to the opposite sex.
Is there REALLY any doubt but that, in ancient Israel, transgenders would have been stoned - assuming anyone even CONCEIVED the idea?
Not saying our secular society or government ought to, but we ought to recoil in horror from such an obvious rejection of God and His Creation.
Mental illness should not be encouraged or enabled.
“But transgenders are not necessarily homosexuals.”
Tranny’s are overwhelmingly same-sex attracted. Being Bi-Sexual still involves having sex with the same sex. This is explicitly HOMOSEXUAL behavior. Your attempt at excusing it notwithstanding.
Deuteronomy22: 5 “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, ufor whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.
There’s no such thing as fossil fuels.
Deuteronomy 22:5
“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.
God Almighty is very specific on this subject. He states unambiguously that men who sleep with men as they would with women and women who sleep with women as they would sleep with men are an ABOMINATION in His eyes.
I have no idea what the Bible says about transgenderism and I doubt it ever came up in biblical times.
But...I bet Jesus would have promoted treatment and counselling for any mental illness, without permanently damaging an individual mentally, physically and biologically.
What the “woke” culture is doing to young people today is pure evil.
I would suggest this series of articles.
Exploiting Transgenders Part 3: The Funders & Profiteers
https://www.coreysdigs.com/health-science/exploiting-transgenders-part-3-the-funders-profiteers/
Yep
This another helpful reading
Lasciviousness
Unbridled sensuality; excess.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, LASCIVIOUSNESS. ( Galatians 5:17-19 )
Source: A King James Dictionary. (Used with permission. Copyright © Philip P. Kapusta)
Bibliography Information
“Entry for ‘Lasciviousness’”. A King James Dictionary.
Encyclopedias - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Lasciviousness
LASCIVIOUSNESS
la-siv’-i-us-nes (aselgeia, “licentiousness,” “wantonness,” “unbridled lust,” “shamelessness,” “outrageousness”):
1. Sources:
Etymologists assign three probable sources of aselgeia, namely:
(1) from a compound of the alpha privitive (negation) and Selge, a Pisidian city whose inhabitants according to Thayer (New Testament Lexicon) “excelled in strictness of morals,” but, according to Trench, a place whose people “were infamous for their vices”;
(2) from a compound of “a” intense, and salagein, “to raise a disturbance or noise”;
(3) from a compound of the alpha privitive a- and selgo, or thelgo, “exciting disgust or displeasure.” It evidently means conduct and character that is unbecoming, indecent, unrestrainedly shameless.
2. As Used in the New Testament:
Mark uses it in 7:22 with uncertainty as to the vice meant. Paul (2 Corinthians 12:21) classes it with uncleanness and fornication as sins to be repented of; also (Galatians 5:19; compare The Wisdom of Solomon 14:26, “wantonness”) puts it in the same catalogue with other works of the flesh; and (Ephesians 4:19) he refers to some aged ones so covetous, that they made trade of themselves by giving “themselves up to lasciviousness.” The same word is translated “wantonness” in Romans 13:13, meaning wanton manner, filthy words, unchaste movements of the body. Peter (1 Peter 4:3) mentions those who “walked in lasciviousness, lusts, winebibbings, revellings, carousings, and abominable idolatries.” He speaks (2 Peter 2:2) of “lascivious doings” (the King James Version “pernicious ways”); (2 Peter 2:7) “lascivious life” (the King James Version “filthy conversation”); and (2 Peter 2:18) of “lasciviousness” (the King James Version “wantonness”), as a means “to entice in the lusts of the flesh.” Jude 1:4 probably does not refer to any form of sensuality in using the word descriptive of “ungodly men” who perverted the faith of some and denied our only Master.
William Edward Raffety
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/lasciviousness/
That’s Homosexuality. But transgenders are not necessarily homosexuals. They are biological men who identify as women. Some like Bruce Jenner even say that they’re still attracted to the opposite sex.
Is why he was married so many times and had so many kids because he didn’t know what he was??
XX
XY
The end.
Regardless how or what you think about Mormons this makes sense.
At the beginning what is said is enough to know that transgenderism is wrong.
I quote;
“We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”
“All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”
The following statement found in the proclamation seems archaic now but 26 years ago somehow they knew it needed to be said:
“The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”
To make it even more clear:
“The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
And then a final ominous warning:
“We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”
You can read the whole thing here: "https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world/the-family-a-proclamation-to-the-world?lang=eng"
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