The Transgender Delusion

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17

A transgender person is a “person who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person’s sex at birth.” (Merriam-Webster). The medical term is known as “gender dysphoria,” or “gender identity disorder” – “the condition of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex.” In other words, a transgender person is one who identifies with a gender that does not correspond with his biological, anatomical or genetic reality. Transgender prevalence (according to DSM-5) is about 1:20,000 for males and 1:50,000 for females. This issue has been brought to the forefront recently when the federal government issued a directive ordering all public schools to provide restroom and locker room access to youth who ‘identify’ with a gender other than that which corresponds to their birth certificate (i.e. transgender youth) or face a loss of federal funding.

For many people, both Christian and secular, the controversy regarding whether to allow biological males to use the bathroom, toilet, locker room of their sexual “identity” (i.e. a female facility) seems inconceivable. Is there really a debate about whether males should be allowed to enter a female locker room if they “identify” with the female gender? It sounds ludicrous. On the other hand, some say – who cares where a person uses the restroom? It would be insensitive (or even intolerant and hateful) not to allow a man who identifies as a woman into the woman’s restroom. (This line of reasoning ignores the fact that the vast majority of people who would be inconvenienced are the women and girls who would have to face a man in his nakedness, who thinks he’s a woman in their restroom!) The reason this is so alarming is that the premise of the transgender phenomena is that humankind can create his own reality irrespective of the truth.

The biological, anatomical, physiological, genetic man is a man. That is irrefutable. Even if the man thinks he is a woman, (which is not to deny feelings) he does not cease to be a man, anymore than men who think they are birds, dragons or goats (all current examples) cease to be men. If a man believes he is a woman (or a woman trapped in a man’s body) he should be pitied and given treatment, but not access to a women’s changing room – because in so doing society is encouraging the vain deception that can never be reality. It’s like giving a person who thinks he is superman a cape on the fourth floor and telling him to jump. A person’s feelings or volition (will) do not define reality; reality can only be defined by God. This was the temptation that the deceiver delivered to Adam and Eve in the Garden, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5) God ultimately allowed Adam and Eve to choose evil and the way of death. (Genesis 2:17, Proverbs 14:12) To those who refuse to acknowledge God, he “gives them up” to choose evil and a “debased mind”- devoid of God’s definition of reality concerning good and evil. (Romans 1:26-28) With a mind that refuses to acknowledge God, imagination is substituted for reality. A life built upon imagination is false and therefore inherently destructive. (Genesis 2:16-17)

The Transgender phenomena’s logical trajectory is moral chaos. Are humans then free to create their ‘reality’ without regard to fact? If I can be treated as a woman if I am in fact a man (or vice versa) – Can I be treated like an animal? Can I be treated as a child if I am an adult? Can I receive a senior citizen’s discount if I’m 18 but identify as a senior? Can I compete on the woman’s track team if I “feel” like I belong on that team, though I am a man? Can I identify as an African American or American Indian if I’m Caucasian? Can I cut off my ears and nose and have a prosthetic beak and become a bird? No! “That’s insane!” “You are not a bird, you’re a man!” Such a man needs care and help, not hotels to provide perches instead of beds or restaurants to put seed and insects on the menu. The mere fact that we are debating this topic is proof that America is reaping the consequences of attempting to create her own definition of reality, good and evil, destitute of the Author of reality. An individual that believes he is a woman needs healing and compassion through the power of Jesus. He needs help and spiritual surgery; not a denial of his sickness and encouragement to live in delusion. In a more subtle way, all sin is an attempt by humans to define ‘good’ and ‘evil’ apart from God. All sin is based on a false premise that ultimately destroys the creatures of God.

Feelings, perceptions and thoughts do not define reality – Christ is reality (John 14:6). When humans lose their foundation and compass for Truth and “exchange the truth for a lie,” (Romans 1:25) and imaginations are substituted for reality, the result is a false world created upon feelings which is doomed to failure without ever having succeeded.

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Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition: DSM-5

It should also be noted that “rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBTQ – affirming countries.” (Dhejne, C, et.al. “Long-Term Follow-Up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: Cohort Study in Sweden.” PLoS ONE, 2011; 6(2).)

Article by Sky Cline.