Editor's
Note: This is Part 2 in a Christian Post series on how Christians
should respond to transgenderism. Part 2 will look at the theology.
Click here for Part 1.
When
it comes to making a biblical case for transgender identity, some have
cited scriptures about "natural-born eunuchs" and Apostle Paul's words
that there is "neither male nor female" in Christ Jesus. This argument
and arguments against it were already laid out in a previous Christian Post article.
Offering
more insights on what the Bible has to say about the issue of gender
identity, Dr. Richard Land, who is president of Southern Evangelical
Seminary in North Carolina, and Pentecostal pastor Bishop Harry Jackson
spoke with CP and began with how God created humans.
"The Bible
tells us in Psalm 139 that God knits and embroiders us together in our
mother's womb. And all of our parts were in God's book before any of
them came to be. Clearly, God is involved in every conception that takes
place," said Land, noting that it is a biological fact that one's sex
is determined at that precise moment.
Jackson, who leads Hope
Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, explained that one's
biological sex is not only a divine imprint but part of God's
"assignment" to the human being.
"I
believe that God gives us the original assignment of gender, even
nationality — what we would call race — where we were born, and the
family into which we were born. All of that is pre-selected by God. He
wants us to steward that uniqueness as a beginning point, as a gift from
God," Jackson said.
"In the context of that, the Lord has a
fairly strict set of boundaries that He wants us to carry out,
principles by which we live."
At a recent SES event on "God, Sex, & Gender," Land posed the question, "What is a human being?"
He
pointed to the first chapter in the first book of the Bible — Genesis —
where it states that God made man in His image and likeness, and "male
and female He created them."
There is a difference between human
beings and the rest of creation as humans are the only creature that
have the divine image, Land stressed.
"A human being is a special creation of God, thus human life is sacred," he said.
Additionally,
the Apostle Paul, Land noted to CP, calls the human body "the temple of
the Holy Spirit" in 1 Corinthians 6 and the word he uses for temple in
the Greek refers to the Holy of Holies, the innermost part of the
temple. This was the very place where the Holy Spirit — the shekinah
glory — dwelled.
With all that said, when someone maintains that
he or she was born in the wrong body, this is not just a matter of
confusion; it represents the "ultimate rebellion" against God's design
for them, Land contended.
Jackson also called transgenderism a rebellion against the original assignment God gave each person.
In essence, Land believes that transgenderism is "self-idolatry."
"It
is the ultimate attempt to become one's own god. I want to be different
than the way God made me so I'm going to employ modern medical science
to change my gender, chemically and surgically," he maintained.
"The
religion of America today is narcissism. … We want to define our own
version of truth of who we are regardless of anything else."
He
went on to explain that at the root of the transgender movement is a
resurgent Gnostic belief that the body and mind are not united and the
hedonistic creed of the sexual revolution: "If it feels good, do it."
"The
sacred trinity of modern man is I, myself, and me. And it is only with
modern science that people have the ability to claim they can change
their gender and seek to do so," Land, a father of three, said.
Renowned
Anglican theologian N.T. Wright also recently called the confusion
about gender identity a "form of the ancient philosophy of Gnosticism."
"The Gnostic, one who 'knows,' has discovered the secret of 'who I really am,' behind the deceptive outward appearance," Wright said.
"This
involves denying the goodness, or even the ultimate reality, of the
natural world. Nature, however, tends to strike back, with the likely
victims in this case being vulnerable and impressionable youngsters who,
as confused adults, will pay the price for their elders' fashionable
fantasies."
Christians should have particular reverence for their
God-given biology and the human body because the Lord took on a human
frame, noted Land, who is also executive editor of The Christian Post
and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics &
Religious Liberty Commission.
"We are not what God intended us to
be," he said, speaking of how much our bodies matter. "He intended us to
be the vice-regents of creation and we have become slaves to our own
sin and desires through the Fall. But Jesus came … in order that He
might make us everything that He is."
And when people receive
Christ and what was accomplished on the cross by faith, they are in the
process of being all that God created them to be.
Pastorally speaking, both Land and Jackson emphasized the need to love transgender persons.
"Christians have an obligation and a responsibility to love people
who identify as transgender and to seek to act redemptively toward
them," Land emphasized, adding that those who struggle with gender
dysphoria should never be made fun of or mocked.
At the same time, pastors should not affirm transgenderism as normative.
"You
do them no service by acquiescing to their malady and calling it
normal," Land said. "Calling it normal does not make it normal,
affirming it as healthy does not make it healthy.
"God has set the
norms and when you live in a society where there are no norms,
everything is normal, and that is a recipe for madness."
For Jackson, he outlined three things he would tell someone who has gender confusion:
"1)
God loves them, 2) they are not an accident, and 3) they should be
willing and expect the grace of God to help them comply with God's
commandments for their behavior on any level," he explained.
"We
have to understand that the people who come to us for help in the
context of Christian ministry, they have to be willing to accept the
Bible as the highest authority for human behavior, and whatever
counseling and encouragement and help will be based prescriptively on
what the Bible teaches."
Jackson said that if he pastors someone
who thinks that ministers are prejudiced against them, he said he cannot
help it, because he's not going to change the doctrine of his church to
accommodate an exceedingly small minority of people.
People must
come to understand that when they accept Jesus, it is a call to a
lifestyle and journey with God, Jackson added, emphasizing that it's
imperative for churches to find a way to teach about these things in a
loving but directive manner in order to set people on a course to have a
normal family life as they pursue God and the Scriptures.
Visionary Leader, CEO, Chairman - Governing Board, Founder and Chancellor of Biblical University
Transgender Identity: Let's Look at the Bible
Ministry Request for Prof. Emmanuel Kolawole.
If you are a pastor or bible college proprietor and wish to request Prof. Emmanuel Kolawole for an event or meeting in your locality, please send official request to mail@biblicaluniversity.org.ng, or visit www.profemmanuelkolawole.com.ng. We look forward to working with you
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