Disorderly Conduct

Those who don't hate Jesus Christ often mistake Him for their buddy or a guru of peace and love. Often, He is portrayed that way in stories and movies about Him. While He will certainly be a friend, only those who see Him rightly see Him as friend and Lord. And our Lord once said, "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:5-6). So much for the dreamy-eyed, peacenik image of Jesus.

This past week, NBC Nightly News ran two separate features on transgender children, that is two children who were born as one gender and have since "changed" to the other. As I watched the features I felt sick inside. They are just kids, one age five and the other, eight. The five year old was a little girl who at the age of two said she wanted to be a boy. According to the parents, this went on for a couple of years so the parents finally cut her hair, dressed her like a boy and told family and friends that her new name was Jacob. The story is pretty much the same for the boy who wanted to be a girl. He liked pink and liked to dress up as a girl so the parents asked him what he wanted to be. He said he would like to be a girl and on his eighth birthday, the family made the switch and began calling him Malisa, which is pronounced the same as "Melissa".

It remains to be seen if these kids actually suffer from Gender Dysphoria, formerly called Gender Identity Disorder. For all anyone knows, this could just be a childhood phase they are going through and in a few years they may ask themselves, "What was I thinking?". In fact, many clinicians have stated that a high number of kids like those featured on NBC grow out of their feelings when they reach puberty and become content with their gender. What is truly egregious about these stories is how they are being presented. They aren't information pieces per se. Clearly, these are sensationalized stories that are being celebrated by the families of these kids as well as by the media. It's "yellow journalism" at its worst ever. Incidentally, also this week, ABC's Diane Sawyer interviewed Olympian Bruce Jenner who is now attempting to change his gender. His 24-year marriage to Kris Jenner formally ended last month.

The movie A Beautiful Mind is the true story (with some Hollywood liberties thrown in) of John Nash, Jr., a brilliant mathematician who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After years of treatment he chose to go off the medication. Near the end of the movie, he was still seeing the visions and hearing the voices but he had learned over time to ignore the delusions in whatever form they presented themselves. In his words, "It is a diet of the mind. I choose not to indulge". Now, I don't want to oversimplify the identity struggles that trans people have but I will say this. Gender Dysphoria, or Gender Identity Disorder, is just that, a disorder. You don't deal with a disorder by altering your body to fit the delusions in your mind. You leave your body alone and seek help to deal with the delusions. The delusions are the problem, not the assigned gender.

It is not for us to play God. He made them male and female and He makes no mistakes. It is not right to alter our assigned, created physical make-ups to suit discontentment with oneself. Those who applaud such things are more messed up than those who struggle with the condition. Nothing good will come from accepting and applauding transgenderism. In fact, "For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind" (Hosea 8:7).