What Does the Bible Say about Transgenderism?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Genesis 1:27

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--what-does-the-bible-say-about-transgenderism
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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first of all we always go to scripture and in the beginning the bible is very specific genesis 1 27 god created male and female so the idea of human sexuality or sex or gender is god's idea he created everyone as either male or female not other genders and not both genders and so that's god's plan we also see this as biological reality that the human race is propagated because there are these physical differences at the genetic level every human child is born genetically as male or female now there are some rare cases of genetic anomaly but we would say with that that did not come from god's creative intention but after sin the human race fell and that's caused sickness disease and any kind of genetic uh anomaly or uh any kind of mistaken um genetic material is not from god's original plan and while we can have compassion respect in those extremely rare cases uh we should not use that to overturn basic policy or god's basic plan rather we should consult medical professionals and what's the best way to handle a truly rare genetic or physical anomaly or illness or disease or um some type of brokenness from the fallen creation but in general what we have uh and this has become very prominent in recent years of course is some people thinking well i'm actually a man or a woman's body or vice versa now traditionally that's been regarded as a mental uh malfunction or mental disorder and so as with any other disorder you try to treat it so you would try to help the person understand this is who you are this is the way you're born this is the way you were created this is your physical biological identity this is what science tells you and so we want to help you conform your mistaken thinking to the reality around you that's how we treat everybody that has some kind of struggle not to create a fantasy or to cater to a fantasy but to help them understand their reality and with children uh science has shown often or sometimes little children might in play or an imagination uh think of themselves as the opposite and usually historically we haven't treated this as a big deal but we simply correct them or we say no you're really a boy or no you should be wearing a girl's clothing because you are a girl and most of them quickly relate to that or accept that uh in rare cases where there seems to be some ongoing struggle usually with nothing more than talking or counseling the vast majority of children just grow out of that uh it's it's actually very rare for that to persist and so what's happened in our current culture because of ideology it's not bible of course and it's not science but this ideology has grabbed hold of people and it's only possible because of advances in medical science i mean throughout history you couldn't change your sex now you can sort of um you can't actually change the reproductive system if you're a man you can't have surgery so you can have a baby at most you can physically transform the person so they look like the opposite sex but they can't function like the opposite sex you can give them hormones to suppress the biological scientific expression of that person and so you can alter it with hormones and and surgery but you can't actually make that person function as the opposite sex at best for example you can make them sterile now isn't this strange because there is no other situation in medical science where the cure doesn't actually give you what you're wanting but actually destroys what you are without replacing it with what you want to be so we would never allow any other kind of surgery for example there are some people who actually feel like they should be disabled or differently abled that they should be paralyzed or they shouldn't have an arm and we don't have surgery to cut off their arm to conform the reality to their imagination but rather we give them cognitive therapy to say no you have an arm you should have an arm you should function as a whole person so there is no other kind of medical treatment so to speak that actually destroys a function so that should be a clue that something really wrong is going on now we can have compassion for people who are caught in this situation but what we really would look at is experiences in their past or uh things that they've learned online or in some cases it's become almost a social phenomenon where people feel like they want to identify with a minority because there's such an emphasis on uh how people are being treated and there's actually kind of reward if you become part of this oppressed minority or this misunderstood minority in fact there's an interesting book it's not from a christian perspective it's from a jewish perspective a secular perspective so we don't agree with everything in it but it's a very interesting book by abigail schreier called irreversible damage and what it says there's a phenomenon particularly with pre-teen and teen girls so girls at that age are very vulnerable to their especially in our culture to their body image feeling inadequate feeling like they're not fully a woman they're too fat they're too skinny they're not pretty enough there's something wrong with them and so there's a lot of anxiety insecurity depression even sometimes suicidal thoughts well to some extent this transition during puberty and adolescence is is normal but it's been exacerbated by the pressures of modern society so what has happened in recent years is young people particularly girls they're going through this struggle normally they would go to their parents to be reassured if they had a real issue they would go to counseling and be reassured and they would safely transition from this confused state to being a mature woman that accepts their body accepts who they are it is valued love needed and wanted and and is told they're beautiful and unique but now they can bypass all that they can go online and they can get videos of people that say i went through this and guess what the solution was i found out it was really a boy so i had hormones and i became boy and now i live happily ever after and so they can get all these convincing anecdotal stories and then the way culture and even laws are set up they can go to school for counseling but the schools are forbidden to tell the parents even those these are minors and the schools can enable them actually give them hormones give them counseling instead of trying to encourage them to accept who they really are and work through the normal problems of life or the pressures of society actually takes a child really that's struggling to identify their problems and may have many other problems hormonal or psychological or social problems and say well your solution is to take some hormones but these hormones end up destroying puberty and can permanently damage them so they can never develop as a normal woman and typically become sterile and could never have children and then maybe in a few years that child grows out of it that young adult now realizes that was a mistake but now there's irreversible damage so i really honestly think in the old testament god pronounced judgment on people that sacrificed their children to molech i'm afraid that especially when you talk about children teenagers minors when we try to make these decisions for them that permanently alter their lives permanently damage their bodies and their psychology and eliminate choices we are sacrificing that child to an ideology that doesn't come from god's word but is actually contrary this book that i mentioned irreversible damage highlights that and says this is a social phenomenon where the way things are being taught in schools about the oppression of minorities and so on that in some cases almost everyone in the class if they're not uh already a person of a minority such as african-american hispanic they feel a certain pressure to identify well i'm lesbian or i'm bisexual or i'm transgender or i'm this or i'm that so they now can become uh treated favorably and they are rewarded and they are affirmed and they are celebrated so imagine a child is going through a struggle and going through psychological feelings of low self-esteem and what's wrong with me my body is changing am i going to be accepted and i'm getting loved am i beautiful and then suddenly well if you choose this identity everybody's going to celebrate you we won't even tell your parents and so there's a phenomena where this is sweeping through schools and friends one friend identifies as transgender and then suddenly three or four also well biologically this is an extremely rare phenomenon and psychologically an extremely rare phenomenon and historically it was mostly boys who were struggling not girls so that the fact that this is changing so dramatically tells you this is not about biology it's not about um science it's about social pressure and psychological pressure due to cultural shifts and that should be very scary uh those of us that believe in the bible say wait a minute we should always structure our family our personal identity our society according to god's word but even if you didn't understand or go by god's word just science should tell you and history should tell you wait a minute there's a drastic shift that can't be explained by biological reality it is a social and cultural phenomenon that's detrimental to people so let me just read something that i wrote it's in my book the apostolic church in a postmodern world and this probably summarizes uh what i think as christians we should treat everyone with love respect and compassion we should also bear witness that god has created humans as male and female genesis 1 27 while some erroneously suggest that gender is merely a social or psychological construct it originates in god's creative purpose and is rooted in genetic and biological reality in rare cases of atypical anatomy qualified medical personnel can be consulted aside from such rare cases families and society should strongly affirm each individual's biological anatomical gender for those who experience gender dysphoria that is psychological distress with their sex or gender as determined by their physical anatomy we recommend spiritual and professional counseling by qualified persons who are committed to biblical values when children and youth experience confusion related to their social gender identity we should provide them with biblically based encouragement training and modeling we should not block or subvert puberty through artificial means as that would sacrifice children to social and political agendas in contradiction to both biology and theology so that's my basic position i would further add because this comes up our view is that public restrooms changing rooms and showers should be segregated by sex as determined by anatomy rather than as constructed by personal feelings and preferences private rooms can be designated uh for those who express difficulty with the standard arrangement individual or family restrooms are already available in many public facilities the privacy modesty moral values peace of mind security and safety of the overwhelming majority of people who affirm traditional biological gender should not be compromised for the sake of political expediency safety is an issue not because of people who identify as transgender but because of predators who could take advantage of the opportunity to harass or molest people of the opposite sex and i'll just give you an example this is happening more and more but one example was evergreen college in washington state another one was a spa in california where a fully grown adult male was fully nude in a facility for women uh and because he identified as i'm a woman so he didn't have a sex change operation he was am in every way biologically according to his anatomy a full male yet he goes into facility that's reserved for women and even girls even preaching girls and displays himself fully nude in in that public arena on the theory that i'm really a woman well obviously that's wrong and basic principles of christian teaching of modesty and human sexuality and avoiding fornication lust um and affirming god's plan for marriage all that should say whatever ideology that allows something like that to happen is seriously flawed and and while we should have compassion and respect for people are struggling