Transgender From Someone Right of Center

Transgender is a very new term in the history of the human race. There are various views on transgender ideology. In some sense, you can even create a 5-point scale on different opinions of transgender ideology. From my point of view, the scale would look something like this:

1) (strongly agree) People who actively push for transgender ideology. These are the people who want to erase the idea of sex altogether. This includes a lot of armchair philosophers of gender.

2) (agree) People who still want to maintain distinct gender roles even though they may agree to a male identifying as a woman and a female identifying as a man. These are often people who agree with special rights for trans.

3) (neither agree nor disagree) People who don't care one way or another "as long as it doesn't affect me." But when push comes to shove, this is the group the two extremes are after to change their mind.

4) (disagree) People who think there are only two sexes and don't believe in gender as a concept. They take the traditional view that a man is a man and a woman is a woman without getting too technical much of the time.

5) (strongly disagree) People who hate the transgender ideology actively work against trans people. This is the category that group 1 is most afraid of because group 1 feels like this group attacks them (which they often do).

If I had to put myself in one of these categories, it would be a 4. I don't hate trans people, and I realize there are a lot of misunderstandings between these different groups. All the groups, especially the middle three, misrepresent each other. Also, group 2 will usually pass over the sin of group 1, and group 4 will usually pass over the sins of group 5. It's just the world we live in. All too often, people come at these issues, not knowing where anyone else stands until they can flesh out their views more to each other. But often, people think anyone who differs from them is the enemy, so there is no charity between people. This might come about by hearing a passing remark or one Tweet they see them make on Twitter (or other social media).

Here are some observations I have made in talking with people about this issue:

The two extremes are not worth discussing these issues. They will not listen. Often, these people are in an echo chamber and cannot listen to reason. When dealing with group 3, these people usually get a bad wrap from all sides because they are noncommital except to say they are typically willing to cave, depending on who is talking to them. These people have no dog in the fight and don't want to have the conversation in the first place. That means the only two people that can really talk to each other about this are the 2s and 4s. The 3s are in the middle and don't have any stake in the fight; the 2s and 4s are usually the ones duking it out. Why don't I say that the 1s talk to 4s or the 5s talk to 2s? Because the 1s think the 4s are 5s, and the 5s think the 2s are 1s. And the 1s and 5s hate each other, so no discussion can be had there.

In my view, I want to treat every person with dignity and respect. I rarely block people on Twitter unless I think they are highly toxic, and I only have 11 people blocked. I spend a lot of time on Twitter, so I have not blocked many people at all. I try to argue the truth of my position with other people. I have had some good conversations and bad conversations with people about transgender ideology. I've talked to perfect strangers who are trans, and I've communicated with my friends and family about it (as much as you can call someone a friend on Twitter, they are a friend). I generally am more vehement when I am talking about trans ideology than when I am talking to a person who is trans. Many trans people are hurting, and though I think they are deceived, they deserve to be treated with respect because they are made in the image of God.

One of the main talking points for proponents of trans ideology is that they say 1/100 people have some abnormalities in their sex DNA. However, I have noticed that this is only a talking point for them since the main issue for people who support trans ideology is how people perceives themselves. In clinical psychology, much of what is called gender-affirming care is given to people with gender dysphoria, who are people who feel uncomfortable with the sex assigned to them at birth. "[T]he goal of gender-affirmation care, sometimes called gender-affirming care, is to help your outward traits match your gender identity." (That was taken from WebMD on "What to Know About Gender-Affirming Care.") Gender identity is "an individual's self-conception as a man or woman or as a boy or girl or as some combination of man/boy and woman/girl or as someone fluctuating between man/boy and woman/girl or as someone outside those categories altogether." (Taken from Britannica on "gender identity.")

So, as you can see, gender identity is only a perception of the person and may not match reality. I say this because scientists know that the DNA that forms in the fertilization of an egg when a woman gets pregnant is the same for the person's lifespan. It is through the DNA code that determines if someone is male or female. And the Bible matches up with this when it says,

Mark 10:6 NAS20

""But from the beginning of creation, God CREATED THEM MALE AND FEMALE.""

So, it is clear, at least to me, that both the science and the Bible are on the side of the 4s because people who believe the Bible believe in loving other people, which the 5s often don't do. Now, I have heard some people say that some chemical changes can happen at birth that can change the person's brain to be a male or female brain. I have not dived deep into that argument. However, I know that in Jewish tradition, even in cases of intersex, there is a given sex for the person, and then people will treat that person as that gender. So even in the most extreme cases, there are ways of dealing with the transgender ideology based on a common-sense point of view.

Also to consider is that if it really were that there was evidence of transgender individuals (which is suspect), it still would not change the fact that the 1s and 2s largely think it is, at root, about self-perception and not about the evidence of their view. You see, they seem to believe that it depends if the subject views themselves in any way. It does not matter at all what the reality for that person is because the armchair gender studies people think the person (or patient of gender-affirming care) is always right.

Finally, not everything is about how you feel inside. I recognize the same argument could be used against Christianity here in saying the Holy Spirit is just a feeling or sentiment, but that is clearly not the case because there are many cases where people experienced the grace of God under the most horrendous circumstances. One quote I will draw from here is stated as such,

"I have experienced His presence in the deepest hell that man can create. I have really tested the promises of the Bible, and believe me, you can count on them."

Corrie Ten Boom said that. If you don't know who that is, she was in a concentration camp in because of helping the Jews during that dark time in history in Nazi Germany. If anyone has seen suffering, it is her. Her love and forgiveness are a testament to how we ought to treat each other with gentleness and respect.

So, I have considered the matter of trans ideology, and I feel firm in my conviction that it is not something that comes from above but from below. The Bible agrees with me, and the science agrees with me.

That's going to do it for this article,

God bless you! Until next time!