Note: This blog post was originally published on June 8, 2015. Occasionally I will repost blog posts from a previous blog if I deem it edifying. The post has remained virtually unchanged, with the exception of a revision to the definition of the word “sex”. Do note that this post is over two years old, and things have certainly changed since then.

For those who have been observing the culture shift during this past decade, our current position does not take us by surprise. Some, however, appear to be rather befuddled by the transgender revolution.  What was once merely a minor "T" in the LGBT designation has now grown, thanks in part to Caitlyn Jenner (as he prefers to call himself), into a major arena of discussion.  But don't worry.  Once the initial shock dies down, discussion will cease for fear of being "on the wrong side of history".  While we have this brief moment of tolerance, I think it would be wise to take a closer look at what it means to be transgender, and the implications of it beyond mere sexual morality.

First, let's take a look at the two key terms: sex and gender.  For a long time, these two concepts were thought to be interchangeable, mere synonyms.  But no longer.  What is meant by sex in today's culture is the external biological status of a human being.  With rare exception, the two options are male and female.  This status is fixed at birth, and if it can be changed (something itself hotly debated) can be changed only by surgery and hormone therapy.  In short, we can sum up the modern concept of sex in this way: sex is one's external reality in terms of biological makeup.
     Gender, on the other hand, is another matter altogether. Gender is considered the inward sexual identity of the person, how one feels they are.  Opinions on this, even in the LGBT community, range from being fixed at birth, all the way to being completely fluid, their gender identity being changeable entirely at one's whim. At any rate, the following definition is appropriate: gender is one's internal reality in terms of sexual identity.
     In most cases, it is evident that one's sex and one's gender are the same.  For most of those who are externally male, they are male internally as well.  In some cases, it is said, these two do not connect. For those who are externally male, yet internally female, or vice versa,  obtaining a solid sexual identity is extremely difficult.  So what is one to do?  
     Today's culture has come to a verdict: a person's true identity is the inward identity, even if it conflicts with the external identity. To defy one's external reality for the sake of the internal is not seen as sin, but rather as courage.  Whether one attempts to change their external body or not, we are told that we must celebrate "trans-people" as the sex they want to be.  We now live in a world where the USA Olympic Committee is willing to show in its records that a woman won the men's decathlon in 1976.  
     The dangers here are readily apparent.  When speaking of sports, an immediate issue is that of combat sports like MMA (mixed martial arts).  Can a biological male compete as a woman if he feels like a woman?  The answer is yes, and the results can be devastating (For more info, look up transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox's latest win, especially his opponent's opinion of the match).
     But does this not go beyond sexuality entirely?  If the precedent set states that one's identity comes from how they feel internally rather than what they are externally, then this simply cannot remain an issue about sexual identity.  Take the following scenario:
     Johnny is eight years old.  He feels older than eight.  A lot older.  In Johnny's mind, he is 23 years old.  Should Johnny have the right to vote? To drink?  Should he be able to purchase and drive a Ford Focus?  Can we deny Johnny's inward identity becauseof his external identity, when we celebrate others inward identity in spite of their external identity? Can we really not imagine a scenario in which a biologically white person who identifies as black will fight for black-only scholarships, when the seven most liberal female-only universities already allow for biologically male students to enroll?  What seems like the right to use a physical facility on the basis of one's inward mentality may well be a Pandora's box that has already been opened.  
Honestly, I don't know if we can close this box. Praise God, I realize that this box, and all the demons it unleashes, will ultimately be destroyed when King Jesus comes to reign on Earth as He does in Heaven. But as we wait for Messiah to return, we now strive to bring His kingdom ever closer.  Two ideas immediately spring to mind as a way forward.

     1) Question the concept of gender.
          
          They tell us that humans have gender as well as sex.  But this is relatively new to human understanding.  Without knowing its history, I'd venture to guess that the idea of gender divorced from the idea of sex came as a result of people who appear to act or think according to the opposite sex.  Perhaps this is not a normal psychological feature that just happens to be at variance with the physical body.  Perhaps this is a disorder that doesn't require the invention of an arbitrary psychological device.  Perhaps the study of gender belongs not in psychology textbooks, but grammar.

     2) Apply rights and benefits on the basis of external realities, not internal identification.

          We must remember that we cannot probe the mind like we can the body.  The simple fact is that, just like homosexuality, the only person who can verify whether one is transgender or not is the person in question.  Even thinking purely pragmatically, society is more stable if the basis upon which its rights are conferred are stable.  If you can become a man, then a woman, then a man again in the space of a week, we certainly run the risk of overstretching our society's ability to apply laws and customs affecting sexuality coherently and consistently, much less a stable understanding of what it means to be a man or to be a woman.

Fellow Christians, let us not embrace this as though it is normal or acceptable.  But neither let us attack those suffering great inner trauma.  We must be hard where the world is soft, and we must be soft where the world is hard.  While we must make the truth that transgenderism is sinful known, we must do so lovingly, with great respect, and knowing that we are no better.  At the most basic level, the only difference between them and us is that God has changed our lives with the message of His Gospel.  O that we would be messengers of this life-saving word to the hurting world.  O that God's name would be magnified across the entire planet.  O that we would submit to His Lordship in absolutely every respect, sexuality and all.