Of all the confusions and controversies over sex in the world today, the most irrational and damaging is transgenderism.
There is only one place to start: "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply'." The biological purpose of sex and gender is reproduction.
You don't even have to believe in God to see that. It's the same throughout Nature. You have ducks and drakes in order to produce ducklings; you have dogs and bitches on order to produce puppies; you have men and women in order to produce babies. The purpose of the man's testicles and penis are to inject semen into the woman's uterus, where a sperm fertilises an egg, and where the foetus develops into a child, which, after birth, is suckled at its mother's breast. And from the moment of conception forever, this child's DNA will have either two XX chromosomes, or one XX and one XY chromosome, which determine whether the child is a girl or a boy. Nothing can change that.
Whether you are born a man or a woman is not a matter of choice or preference or opinion. It is a matter of fact. You can pretend to be someone of the opposite sex, by the way you dress for example. You can have surgery, to mutilate your sexual organs, which will prevent you from ever performing the reproductive functions of either a man or a woman. You can take various medications to alter you outward appearance in other ways. But a man can never turn into a woman, nor a woman turn into a man.
Much is made today of a mental condition called 'gender dysphoria'. It is said to start in early childhood. I am not sure that it is anything new. We all knew girls who were called 'tom-boys' and boys who were called 'sissies'. They used to grow out of it in puberty, as the facts of life dawned on them. Now they seem to be encouraged to dwell on it, and even act upon it. Whatever the possible causes of gender dysphoria, psychological or hormonal, it is foolish and damaging to indulge or encourage it.
Pretending to be someone of the opposite sex is a sin. That was known long before modern science invented transgender surgery. Cross-dressing is simply lying about who and what you are. "A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this." (Deuteronomy 22.5) It is God who has made us either male or female, and to try to disguise or alter our gender is defiance and rebellion against God.
I am glad to say that medical as well as popular opinion seems to be turning against the campaign of organisations such as Stonewall to encourage people to question their sexuality. The Tavistock Clinic in London is to be closed by the NHS, and the treatment of people with gender dysphoria, especially children and teenagers, is to be transferred to regional hospitals, which, it is hoped, will take a more 'holistic approach' to treating it. More and more people in public life and ordinary parents are speaking out about the damage that the magnification and affirmation of 'gender dysphoria' is doing, particularly in schools.
If your body tells you one thing about your sexuality, and your mind tells you another, it is better to change your mind.
No-one will ever find peace until they accept that it is God who created them male or female, and he knew what he was doing.
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I recommend a book called A Transgender's Faith by Walt Heyer. Walt is a man who transgendered to become Laura, a woman, then changed his mind again and went back to being Walt. It tells of the Christian friends and a remarkable church that embraced him and helped him to return to the man that God had made him to be. (On Amazon of course, type in both title and author.)
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Next week I plan to question our addiction to travel and what it does to communities.
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Please pass on the link to this blog to anyone who might be interested or helped by it.
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