Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Thought Life

Home
Evangelical
Desperately Seeking Womanhood: Bruce Jenner & Masculine Inferiority

Desperately Seeking Womanhood: Bruce Jenner & Masculine Inferiority

Last updated on: April 29, 2015 at 6:10 am by Owen Strachan

Desperately Seeking Womanhood: Bruce Jenner & Masculine Inferiority 2015-04-29T06:10:10-06:00 Owen Strachan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The word “transgender” has now mainstreamed in America. Two recent stories fitting this trend caught my eye and occasioned comment.

First, Bruce Jenner has announced that he is a woman. In an interview with Diane Sawyer, he said as much:

“Are you a woman?” Sawyer asked.

“Yes, for all intents and purposes, I am a woman,” Jenner replied. …“I built a nice little life. Again, Bruce lives a lie. She is not a lie. I can’t do it anymore.”

Second, I saw this CNN interview of a family in which a person named Jill Rhodes has “transitioned” to womanhood, changing the dynamics not only of his life, but his wife’s life and the lives of his children.

Four thoughts come to mind about this trend. (See this poleaxing Public Discourse testimony by a former transsexual, and this excellent new JBMW article on gender reassignment surgery, too.)

1. First, transgenderism is a logical–if remarkable–outcome of feminism. Men today not only are influenced by feminism and aware of it, but actually view becoming a woman as the best possible goal for their lives. Transgender ideology makes sense in a feminist culture, for the seeds of feminism are rejection of God’s design. To push against nature in a preliminary sense is to prepare the ground for a much greater overhaul, one that secular feminism can only cheer in the end.

Both men and women embrace transgenderism. But the stories presently grabbing the headlines are of men trying to become women. This should catch the attention of alert cultural observers (shades of Dave Barry in this last phrase). There is a narrative at play here that is bigger than a mere desire to change the body. Manhood has been demeaned as an institution for decades now. Men are seen as inferior to women, less mature than women, ignoble, stupid, less relationally skilled, and less evolved. In such a context, it begins to make sense for men to want to be women. The church cannot affirm this behavior based on unbiblical thinking–not by a country mile.

(Some limited research suggests that there are more than three times as many male-to-female transgender people as the reverse. That is most assuredly an important–but undiscussed–statistic. Something is happening with modern men, and few seem to be noticing it.)

2. Transgenderism is a false gospel. It promises happiness and ease and peace. Watch the two interviews above; the Rhodes family speaks of their “transition” as the gateway to satisfaction. Whenever we hear this kind of language, our ears should perk up. We’re not simply listening to one family’s attempt to handle a physiological crisis; we’re hearing them give voice together to a gospel-like hope. They believe that the solution to their difficulties is a man undergoing surgery, wearing makeup, and embracing the identity of a woman.

We feel great compassion for those who are suffering this trial. These are the effects of the fall before our very eyes. Satan himself targeted Eve and encouraged her to own a role that was not hers (Gen. 3:1-7). The outcome of the curse is further hostility and confusion between the sexes (Gen. 3:16). The very root of the death of the human race, then, was a Satanic disruption of God’s plan for men and women. Satan promised Eve that she would be like God. In other words, he offered her a false gospel, one that creates untold pain and harm.

Transgenderism will never make good on its promises. We must frame this issue not simply in medical and physiological terms, but theological and spiritual categories.

3. Transgenderism exposes double-mindedness about the body. When a child “cuts” themselves, carving marks into their skin, people of varying worldviews recognize profound trauma at hand. Something is going terribly wrong within the child, and the outward scarring is the manifestation of this inward turmoil.

Yet with transgenderism, we do the opposite. With “cutting,” we see attempted bodily change as a sign of psychological instability. With transgenderism, we see attempted bodily change as a sign of psychological health, of becoming your “true self.” This, to put it straightforwardly, is madness. For a man to wear women’s clothing and adopt feminine mannerisms and castrate himself is turmoil of the most awful kind.

The body is not incidental to our lives. The body is the gift of God. We do not have the authority to cross-dress, let alone to become a different sex (Deut. 22:5; 1 Cor. 11). We receive God’s creation of our bodies as a blessing. God himself has fashioned us in the womb (Psalm 139). We are fearfully and wonderfully made. As believers, our stewardship of the body is a gospel issue.

4. The church must respond to transgenderism with gospel conviction and Christlike compassion. Strange as this moment is, we must recognize that we have been placed here by God to be salt and light. We’re not here by accident. We’re here on purpose. We have the only means of true conversion found in the world: the gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything else is false. Every other gospel is a lie.

What does the church need to stand for today, in such confused and evil days?

-The church must freshly call fathers to love their children, and to invest in their sons.

-The church must never teach that men are inferior to women, or vice versa.

-The church must not problematize manhood, but celebrate it in appropriate ways.

-The church must make clear that the body is not a script upon which to express our identity, but the gift of God, and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19). (This is why many Christians have had trouble with tattoos–not because they’re directly addressed by Scripture, but because the pagan understanding of the body as a vehicle of self-gratification, and the modern understanding of the body as an outlet of self-selected identity, grate against the biblical portrait of the natural body as a divine blessing.)

-The church must welcome every person of every manifestation of sin to hear the gospel and experience the love of Christ.

-The church must call every person caught in every form of depravity to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

-The church must make clear that repentance entails owning God’s bodily design, and making no distinction between one’s true identity and one’s body.

-The church must preach on Jesus Christ becoming a man and see his incarnation as an endorsement of humanity and his cross as the genesis of godly manhood and womanhood. Jesus does not make generic gender blobs of a religious kind. He renders us godly men and godly women.

-The church must not shrink back from ministry in our time, but must preach the truth and reach out to sinners in complete confidence in the unconquerable name of Jesus Christ.

****************

(Image: Flickr by jla0379; license through Creative Commons)

Previous Post

April 20, 2015

What Does John Calvin Say About Same-Sex Attraction?

Next Post

June 22, 2015 On Joining the Faculty of Midwestern Seminary

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "heaven is a world of love" 9Marks abortion academics Adam Sandler adoption adultery adulthood aesthetics aging ajith fernando al mohler alice walker America american education american shaolin apologetics architecture atheism atonement august rush barack obama baseball basketball batman beauty berry mauve or muted wine Bible biblemesh biblical studies biblical theology biblical womanhood billy wolfe blogging bob kauflin body book culture book reviews boston celtics boston college bowdoin college bowling alone boyce college boyhood Brooke Fraser Bruce Ware bullies bullying business business ethics C.S. Lewis calling calvinism canada Capitol Hill Baptist Church carl henry carl trueman carolyn mahaney cbmw celebrity Chicago child's play children Christ Christ and culture Christian education christian hedonism christian ministry Christian vocation christian womanhood christianity and culture church government church history church internships church life church matters blog church membership church planting cities CJ Mahaney colin adams college college admissions college life college ministry collin hansen complementarianism conferences congregational worship conservative thought consumerism conversion council on biblical manhood & womanhood council on biblical manhood and womanhood covenant life church creativity credo magazine credobaptism cross movement crossway books crucifixion culinary culture cultural engagement cultural theology culture culture shift d. a. carson dads daily mail dan barry dancing with the stars daniel dennett darrell bock dating David Barash davy rothbart death death of God debt desiring God developmental league devotional thoughts dick morris dining disability discipleship doug sweeney douglas groothius economics economy education egalitarianism eliot spitzer ella rose strachan enlightenment entrepreneurs entrepreneurship environmentalism Eric Metaxas ethics evangelical theological society evangelicalism evangelism extended adolescence extreme home makeover family fatherhood feminism fiction film flame food foodstuffs football four gospels frank miller friendship gay gay Christianity gender roles genderblog george marsden girltalk gk chesterton God gospel gospel of John gospel risk gq greek mythology guillermo del toro happiness harold ockenga Harvard health heaven height hell henry center herb london higher education hillsdale hip hop historical theology history holidays holiness Holy Spirit home-school homemaking homes homosexuality hope human dignity human flourishing human life image of God imagination intellectual Christianity intellectual life iron man Islam J.I. Packer james mcavoy James Q. Wilson jeremy lin Jesus Christ jim hamilton joe namath John Calvin John McCain john owen john piper john rockefeller jonathan edwards journalism justice justin taylor kairos journal keira knightlet la times leadership lesbian life of the mind Lifeway links literature Lord's prayer louie giglio love male sex drive mall manhood manners Mark Dever Mark Driscoll marriage mars hill martial virtue martin luther masculinity materialism matthew hall maureen dowd memoirs of an ordinary pastor mentoring military millennials ministry missional missions monergism moral argument morality motherhood music national review nba new atheism new england New Testament new york new york times new yorker newsweek nietzsche northeast notre dame npr obedience oprah oprah's big give orphan care overheated prose award owen wilson pain parenting Park Community Church pastor-theologian pastoral ministry pastors persecution philosophes philosophy political philosophy politics poverty prayer preaching presidency presidential race pro-life professors proverbs psychology public school public square public theology publications quebec quilting race racism radical womanhood rap music rc sproul rebecca walker Reformation 21 relevant magazine religious liberty resources revelation revival richard dawkins richistan risky gospel robbie george robert putnam ron chernow Russ Moore salvation salvo magazine sam harris same-sex attraction sanctification scholarship science scripture secularism seminaries seminary life sex sex drive sexual ethics sexuality sexualized culture shooting sacred evangelical cows shootings simple church singleness social justice social media social networking Southern Baptists southern seminary sovereign grace Spanglish spirituality sports sports illustrated sports injuries stanford steve mccoy suburbia suffering superhero t. suzanne ellder Tea Leoni technology television the darjeeling unlimited the gospel coalition the southern baptist theological seminary the wackness theological journalism theology theology of work thinking Thom Rainer tim challies tim keller time magazine titan Together for the Gospel tom carson tom wolfe tragedy transgender travel trinity trinity evangelical divinity school truth twitter ty pennington unashamed workman Uncategorized violence virtue vocation voddie baucham war wayne gretzky wayne grudem weddings wikipedia will smith williams winnie hu womanhood work world magazine worship writing youth sports

Select a Month August 2021 July 2021 May 2021 March 2021 December 2020 October 2020 June 2020 February 2020 January 2020 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 November 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the last king of Israel before the Assyrian conquest?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Shallum Jehoahaz Hoshea Amon