We can hope as much as we want for their deliverance, we can complain to one another about the incoherence of their worldview, and we can debate political policies as much as we wish, but if the church is not active and intentional in engaging on a personal level with trans-identifying people, they will remain in their sin. “How are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14).
Why the Church Needs a Concentrated Push to Reach Trans-Identifying People With the Gospel
The church is called to make disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:19-20). We have been tasked with bringing the gospel “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We are “ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:20) and are called to be those who spread “the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere (2 Corinthians 2:14). The gospel with which we have been entrusted is to be proclaimed “in all creation under heaven” (Colossians 1:23), and that means it is to go forth to all people, indiscriminately. It is not for one particular group, nationality, or class of people, but is the message of truth and the only hope of salvation for all mankind.
However, this reality must be balanced with the fact that no person or group is able to reach all with the gospel. No person is called or equipped to bring the gospel to every person from every background caught up in every false religion. While we must be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15), when deciding who we will pursue with the gospel, we must necessarily discriminate. Missionaries choose to go to one country instead of another. Churches are planted in one town instead of another. Families invite some people into their homes instead of others.
This must not be sinfully prejudiced discrimination, but rather it must depend upon providential circumstances and the calling of the Holy Spirit. Even Paul had to make these discriminations, intending to continue his missionary work in Asia when the Holy Spirit instead called him to Macedonia (Acts 16:6-10). It is my belief that the Holy Spirit has set before the church in the West a particular group of people whom He is calling us to actively, forcefully, and intentionally pursue with the gospel: transgender-identifying people.
The Public Conversation Is Unsettled
There are several reasons why this is a prudent and Spirit-led course of action, which I will detail below. However, let it be said that I do not mean that every church or parachurch ministry must redirect all of its outreach to trans people. There are clearly many fronts on which the church must be fighting, and nobody can give full attention to them all at once. That said, I believe churches should be specifically equipping and sending out evangelists to those in the transgender movement with a missionary mindset. The potential blessings of this kind of labor are manifold, and it may be ministry work that begins to turn the tide in a culture sold out to paganism.
There is a somewhat practical—though not at all trivial—reason for this sort of focused work. Transgenderism is the dominant issue in American politics and culture right now, the frontline of the cultural revolution. It is also an issue on which the American conscience has not yet become fully seared. A great many people have a gut reaction to transgenderism that reminds us that they are still in the image of God. They see the movement as strange, unnatural, and at times frankly outrageous, and yet they cannot consistently oppose it from a secular worldview. Put simply, there are many average Americans who are ready to follow consistent and courageous opposition to transgenderism. Of course, we ought never to consider the approval of man when determining how to address any issue biblically. However, this public hunger for clarity regarding transgenderism becomes crucial when we understand that the terms of the public conversation have not yet been settled. It is essential that Christians are vocal and consistent from the beginning if we hope to have long-term success in this battle for truth.
There Is No Room For Compromise
Consider the example of abortion. Pragmatism and compromise in the early days have led to decades of wrong-headed thinking about the issue. Instead of the consistent positions of “all babies can be killed” vs. “no babies can be killed” battling against one another, the mainstream disagreement has been between “all babies can be killed” vs. “fewer babies can be killed.” If we are to avoid decades of debate over what age children can begin transitioning or what hormone levels are acceptable for a man to compete in women’s sports, the church must be unapologetically consistent right now. Either men and women are immutably distinct because God has made them so, or they are not. There can be no “third-way” compromise between transgenderism and truth.
While the church must be vocal in its public proclamation of the truth, we are far from the only group “raising awareness” about transgenderism. Plenty of politicians and public commentators are more or less consistently voicing their opposition to this mass movement. Yet the church cannot simply be about platforms and policy positions; we are people of action. Therefore, the church must see transgenderism as not merely an ideological movement but as one made up of desperately lost and deceived image-bearers of God. And this must provoke us to real action.
The Ground Is Fertile
Trans-identifying people are the most obviously lost and searching group of people among us. While the activist class most certainly includes groomers, predators, perverts, and ideologues whose aim is to speed along the revolutionary overthrow of traditional America, the vast majority of the one in five Zoomers who identify as LGBTQ+ are confused and depressed young people who have been indoctrinated into a cult which promises them salvation. And sadly, an alarming number of people have given their lives and bodies to this transgender religion, hoping that something they do will provide them with a stable and fulfilling identity. This kind of overt lostness ought to be fertile soil for the gospel message.
Many have struggled throughout previous generations to share the gospel with unbelieving neighbors. While Christians must be persistent, and while the Holy Spirit must always open anybody’s eyes if they are to receive the gospel, it is particularly difficult to convince the average, nominally religious nice guy living the American dream that he is a miserable sinner in need of a new heart. Yet when a people are so obviously hungry for meaning and identity, coupled with being so dangerously depressed in their inability to find it, the church ought to be lining up to proclaim the words of eternal life.
It is also true that trans-identifying people are deeply religious, if not in the traditional sense. This, too, is a break from the enemies of the gospel in recent generations who were thorough materialists. In reality, both the staunch atheist and the transgender spiritist are adherents of the same heretical religion, whose foundational doctrine is, “In the beginning, God did not create the heavens and the earth.” Transgender identity is simply this worldview worked out with greater consistency. And as the most devoted adherents to the heresy of our day, Christians ought to meet transgenderists zealously with the truth.
False doctrine can only be defeated by the truth, and the followers of false doctrine can only be set free by the truth. Therefore, people living in obvious lies ought to be primary targets for missionary outreach, particularly when they live in our own neighborhoods.
Dispelling Demonic Darkness
The sad reality confronting the church right now is that a huge percentage of this generation has sold itself to demonic deception. It is noteworthy to consider how literally the word “demonic” describes the trans movement as a whole. It consistently uses demonic and satanic imagery, its adherents are virulent, militant, and at times brutally violent, and one of its key features is intentional self-harm, a hallmark of the New Testament’s description of those under demonic influence. Scripture also warns of wicked deception and strong delusion, which comes “with all power and false signs and wonders” but is, in reality, “the activity of Satan” (2 Thessalonians 1:9-11). Surely the claimed power to transform men into women counts as a false sign and wonder.
Transgenderism certainly appears to be the clearest outworking of demonic power in our day, and this is a primary front of the spiritual warfare Christians are all engaged in. Yet this ought not deter us from pursuing those under this influence with the gospel but ought rather encourage us; for in Christ’s name, “even the demons are subject to us” (Luke 10:17). Demonic power is only conquered by the Spirit of Christ, and this victory comes through the fervent prayer and authoritative proclamation of the gospel by His people. The light of Christ is bright enough to dispel demonic darkness. And what’s more, the New Testament shows us what happens to people who are delivered from demons by the power of Christ.
Consider The Potential Fruit
Every demoniac whom Jesus rescued was insistent on following Him. Those delivered from the darkest places and the most controlling clutches of the enemy will often be the most devoted followers of their Savior, for they have a vivid understanding of what they have been saved from. Take Mary Magdalene as an example. Christ cast out seven demons from her (Luke 8:2); imagine the dark, oppressive, destructive torment she suffered under their sway! Yet once saved, she loved Jesus intensely, following Him and ministering to Him, even through His death and burial. Consider then the potential fruit of large numbers of trans-identifying individuals, many of whom are in the grip of demons, being delivered out of that miserable darkness into the bright light of Christ. Consider the fervor such converts would have for such a mighty Savior who delivered them from such a destructive worldview.
In the New Testament era, God poured out His Spirit mightily on a pagan world full of fertility cults, sexual debauchery, violence, abuse, idolatry, and all other manner of human depravity. And the result of those deeply lost and broken individuals coming to Christ through the bold proclamation of the unvarnished gospel was the world being turned upside down. It led to the eventual transformation of the Roman Empire and the formation of what we now know as Western culture. The book of Acts—and the whole story of the New Testament—is the story of a world under deep darkness being thrust full of light, of individuals caught firmly in the grip of Satan undergoing a glorious exodus, such that they were willing to suffer any hardship for the sake of their Savior. And it was this radical, sacrificial, actionable love for Christ that brought about this greatest worldview revolution in history.
We Must Work For It
Christians today know we have fallen far from the worldview transmitted throughout generations in the West. We desperately need God’s Spirit to bring revival in our increasingly dead and decomposing culture. As Christians, we are not people who merely hope for such a gracious outpouring, but we are those who work for it. Jesus told his apostles, “we must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4).
Darkness is spreading rapidly in our day, and we may indeed be heading into a period in which the Western church is very limited in the work it can accomplish. Yet there remains light in our culture; God has not fully removed His hand of common grace, and this is a time in which the church must labor intensively—both in prayer and proclamation—if we desire to see deliverance from God. The workings of the Spirit are a mystery to us (John 3:6), yet it seems entirely plausible that if God desires to show His glory in bringing the West out of its darkness and rebellion, then orchestrating the mass conversion of trans-identifying people would be a marvelous means to that end.
Like the first-century Gentiles, those caught in the trans cult are just the sort of people who, were they to be dramatically rescued by God, would demonstrate courageous, sacrificial, and rabid devotion to Christ. Their craving for meaning and identity, their self-sacrificing affection for the false religion, and their energy in spreading their false gospel all indicate that this group would be a true force if turned for good. Therefore, it seems wise for Christians to focus particular attention on evangelizing those committed to transgenderism. We can hope as much as we want for their deliverance, we can complain to one another about the incoherence of their worldview, and we can debate political policies as much as we wish, but if the church is not active and intentional in engaging on a personal level with trans-identifying people, they will remain in their sin. “How are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14).
The Instructions Have Been Revealed
Lastly, we must remember that whatever transgender identity may be, it is not durable. One cannot live indefinitely in such obvious lies—and certainly, one cannot long live contentedly with such a false identity. This current craze will not last, and something will replace it. If Christians hope for that replacement to be something better, we must be hard at work now. Furthermore, the church must avoid standing by and watching trans-identifying people self-destruct before our eyes, only to seek afterward to swoop in to pick up the pieces. We need to be laboring right now so that when this worldview inevitably collapses, we will be able to speak the gracious words of repentance and faith with a history of demonstrable love toward the deceived behind us.
We do not know the mind of God, nor do we dictate to Him how He ought to execute His glorious plan. It may indeed be the purpose of God to graciously rescue trans-identifying people as a testimony to His boundless grace and unlimited power. It may just as well be His will to allow them to die in their sin as a sober reminder of His perfect justice. Instructions have been revealed to us, and we have been told to bring the gospel to the rebels and make them disciples. And the clearest objects of need for this glorious message are those given over to transgenderism. Thus, they ought to garner the church’s attention, not merely as an ideology to be defeated or an agenda to be halted, but as people made in God’s image who are so sorrowfully far off from their Creator.
These are individuals on the fast track to Hell on earth and Hell hereafter. We have the powerful message of life, and we do not want to stand before Christ trying to explain to Him why we withheld it.
Certainly we should be reaching out to the Transgendered with the Gospel. And that includes sharing what the Scriptures teach about the biological sexes and genders.
But here we must exercise some caution because we need to make some distinctions. For example we need to distinguish the policies that the Church should have for its members from what the Church should allow in society regarding transgenderism. We also need to learn from the past and distinguish how we should approach the transgendered now vs how the transgendered were treated in the past and in other societies. And included in how the transgendered have been treated in the past, we need to learn about the past marginalization of the transgendered and the specific ways in which the transgendered from the past suffered.
We also need input from science on the subject. For though we need to distinguish biological sex from gender identity because while the former is a physical attribute, the latter is a psychological one, we need to further investigate the extent to which one’s own biology contributes to one’s gender identity.
We also need to recognize that while Genesis 1:27 spoke of God having made man both male and female, that statement was made before the Fall when Adam sinned. What we see today are babies born as male or female or intersex.
I wrote an article for my blog called ‘The Troubles With Genders.’ The article introduces some considerations and can perhaps contribute a little to how we should understand the transgendered. If you are interested, email me and I will send a link to the article.
Curt,
How do you define the Gospel? Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed–a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith'” (Romans 1:16-17). God sees us in our sin and knows that we cannot free ourselves, cannot reform ourselves, cannot change our hearts of rebellion against Him. So He gives us His own righteousness as a free gift, as well as the faith to review it, the receiving of which necessarily dispels our spirit of rebellion and produces a life of increasing actual righteousness.
If all this is so, how will “caution” in preaching the Gospel benefit transgender people, or any who do not yet believe in Christ? Rather, we Christians should repent of our selfish apathy with regards to preaching it, as the above blog post argues. The Gospel, though it brings the uncomfortable and even devastating conviction of personal sinfulness, also brings the way of escape from God’s wrath, through faith in Christ who made atonement for sin by dying on a wooden cross outside Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. “He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
In Christ,
Sam
Sam,
By caution, I don’t mean being hesitant or reluctant to share the Gospel. By being cautious, I am talking about how we are referring to certain situations in which we find our audience. We need to be cautious about what we say is the cause of transgenderism, for example, because there are multiple conditions in addition to sin. For example, at least some with gender dysphoria have the brain structure of the gender they identify with rather than the biological sex they were assigned. Yes, there is a male brain structure and a female brain structure.
So it is very well possible that people who struggle with gender dysphoria do so because of their own biology. And thus to attribute their transgenderism solely to sin would be rash, insensitive, and not the whole truth. And thus attributing a person’s transgenderism could unnecessarily hurt the reputation of the Gospel in a person whose transgenderism is, in.a significant part, due to biological causes. It’s not that sin is no longer a factor; it is that there can be other significant contributors to an individual’s transgenderism..
Yes, we shouldn’t be apathetic when preaching the Gospel. But acting like a bull in the proverbial china shop is not a legitimate option either and should never be confused with bearing the fruit of the Spirit while sharing the Gospel. Remember that our significance is found in our own failures, actually sins, and in Christ receiving the justice that our sins deserve and rising again from the dead. Our significance is found in our failures and in what Christ has done to redeem us.
I hope I answered your question. Let me know if I didn’t.
Curt
Thank you for your gracious clarification, Curt. I am glad that we are in agreement that the goal of the Gospel is thoroughly positive: the reception of Christ’s freely given righteousness. Surely it expunges our guilt for all our sins and frees us from their dominion even in this life, including sexual sins like embracing transgender ideology. Jesus comes to us and, after freeing us from guilt, commands us, “Go and sin no more” in His Spirit’s power. Do you agree? (I will clarify below why I ask this question.)
Furthermore, I agree with you that our particular sins, which had dominion over us before our conversion and may to varying degrees present struggle for us after our conversion, are influenced heavily by our cultural and family backgrounds and even our biology (for example, genetic inheritances predisposing certain folks to certain sins like alcoholism, excessive anger, or excessive timidity). We must recognize our personal culpability for and need to repent of those sins, even if they do have demonstrable roots in our biology and/or environment. However, your claims about brain structure are new to me, and I would like to ask you for citations of those scientific studies for my personal analysis, if you would kindly spare the time to provide them.
Shortly after your use of the word “caution” which you have helpfully contextualized, you use the word “marginalized” to describe transgender people in past cultures. On the surface, that word appears to convey a desire to increase public acceptance of transgenderism in our current culture. Is that what you mean? Our desire as Christians should be to decrease the public acceptance of all sins while simultaneously recognizing that the image of God exists in all people (although it exists in spite of their sin and is marred by their sin). This is an expression of love for our neighbors, that the sins which entrap them be shown publicly to be deceptions of Satan, promising pleasure but ultimately turning their captives over to destruction, first of the body (seen so clearly in this case) and then of the soul.
Sam,
Below is a review article which should introduce you to the issue of brain structures and gender identification and dysphoria. The advantage of a review article is that it is more likely to provide multiple references. Let me know what you think after reading it. For myself, I am a slow reader and need to reread medically technical information multiple times.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7415463/
Let me make an analogy between freedom of religion and the social acceptance of transgenderism. We certainly don’t want people to follow religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and any other religion other than Orthodox Christianity. But should our desire cause us to influence society to marginalize such people? I am using religion as an example here because to trust in anyone or anything else than Christ is sin.
We don’t want people to go against the Scriptures in terms of sexual orientation or gender identity. But should that desire require us to influence society to treat those from the LGBT community as not deserves an equal status in society and equal rights. Thomas Jefferson stated in his 1801 Inaugural Address that to deny the minority equal status and rights is oppression. And so how will oppressing the LGBT community cause both those in that community and onlookers to view the Gospel? Let alone, how consistent can denying those in the LGBT community their equal status and rights in society be with supporting democracy if we understand that democracy is more than just majority rule.
BTW, I very much appreciate this discussion. Thank you.
BTW, I left out my email address because I thought that it would be linked to automatically.
If interested in my article, my email is curtday111@yahoo.com
Curt,
Please graciously forgive the lateness of my response; I hope we may continue our conversation. I might be expected to follow through on things during summer, when I am not teaching middle school students every day, but happily, my children and their events have successfully commanded my attention until now!
Thank you for sharing the review article. I read it in full, but I have not yet read any of the studies it cites, although I hope to have time to, in order to understand better: just how prevalent is gender dysphoria that is traceable to objective genetic realities? This is the paradigm that is threatening to shift in my mind. I had assumed that a majority of transgender individuals were influenced solely by social pressures, especially as applied through social media, in an environment of generally declining mental health. Here is an example of a sociogenic illness that has nothing to do with sexuality: https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/145/2/476/6356504
Yet even if that is not the case and the self-perceived gender identity of the typical transgender individual is much more objective, because it is genetic, than I previously thought, I also see throughout the review article an implicit confirmation of the Christian doctrine of the binary nature of humankind – “male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:27). For it affirms that there is an intended program of gene expression for XY individuals that differs categorically from the program intended for XX individuals, so that the former would become men and the latter, women. While these two programs may be disrupted at many points, they still exist as norms distinct from each other, and they defy the beliefs that gender identity is “fluid” (due to being rooted solely in subjective experience) and that transgenderism should be viewed as normative and not a disorder. As I recognize this, identifying transgenderism as a disorder, do I harm or hate the transgender individual? I do not believe so, not any more than I harm or hate the person with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome by identifying EDS as a disorder. Genetic disorders can be recognized as such without disparaging a person, and a genetic disorder does not nullify the image of God in a person. However, people today attempt to repudiate the image of God when they deny His design of binary sexuality. For God designed heterosexual, monogamous, lifelong marriage to instruct us about the greater marriage, that of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32). It is possible to respond to inherited genetic disorders in a way that is sinful. The question of what would categorically be a sinful response to having an intersex condition (or being faced with one as a new parent) just got murkier for me, thanks to your review article, especially the section on AIS. But it is also clearer than ever to me now that honest scientific inquiry cannot help but glorify God the Creator by confirming in ever-deeper detail the existence of the sexual binary design which is integral to the image of God in humanity.
I must ask for further clarification of your view of the best way to practically engage the transgender community, since that is the question the original blog post answers (with a call to preach the Gospel) and you responded to (with a call to “caution”). When I asked for clarification of your understanding of what it means to wrongly “marginalize” transgender people, you responded by asserting that LGBT person “deserves an equal status in society and equal rights,” a statement with which I agree on face value. But in any society harboring more than one religion, there has been deep disagreement concerning the nature of basic human rights. Here may lie our disagreement – is normalization or “visibility” (as opposed to marginalization, if I have understood correctly) a basic human right? I would not say so, especially if the right to “visibility” implies that the trans (or other historically “marginalized”) person is conferred accessory rights that diminish the fundamental rights of other people. When I speak of “fundamental rights” I have in mind the wisely-written Bill of Rights and the infallibly-written Ten Commandments without which we would not have such a Bill of Rights. “Visibility”/normalization is not mentioned in these documents. What they do mention are the rights to live (Amendment 5, Commandment 6), to personal property (Amendment 5, Comandment 8), to not speak falsehoods (Amendment 1, Commandment 9), etc. The right to free speech is particularly relevant today. I affirm the right of a website designer to speak in celebration only of marriages she believes are God-honoring, even though that means a slight shortening of the list of options available for a gay couple seeking to purchase a wedding website. I affirm the right of a Christian to preach the Gospel in public places, at Pride events and otherwise, even though non-Christians will be “marginalized” if he succeeds in converting large numbers of people. As Christians, we don’t trust “majority rule” per se, but America was founded in hopes that the generally God-fearing populace would make wise decisions democratically. John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” (from To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, 11 October, 1798). So, it is my patriotic duty to promote the love of God in others.
But more importantly, it is my spiritual duty, done out of love for my neighbor himself. If I do not preach the Gospel to my neighbor so as to preserve his sense of visibility and avoid marginalizing him, what does he gain in the end? “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).