In the coalition that is LGBTQ + (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer), it is the T that has become ground zero in the culture wars. LG and to a lesser extent, B, have long enjoyed widespread acceptance in the culture. But it wasn’t till about 10 years ago when Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner transitioned to Caitlyn Jenner that the T really started to gain traction. I will say that there has been a pushback to Transgenderism that has surprised many (especially in recent years with the controversy surrounding men playing women’s sports). But the statement “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body,” rather than being labelled absurd, is now largely accepted as the experience of many. 

How did we get here? This is the question taken up in Carl Trueman’s landmark book, “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self” published in 2020. Trueman writes, “At the heart of this book lies a basic conviction: the so-called sexual revolution of the last 60 years, culminating in the latest triumph – the normalization of transgenderism – cannot be properly understood until it is set within the context of a much broader transformation in how society understands the nature of human selfhood.” (p. 20) In what follows, Trueman takes the reader on a three-century journey that explores the thinking of men such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Fredrick Nietzche, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud and many others. His analysis shows how people went from seeing sex as an activity to seeing it as something fundamental to one’s identity. Rather than believing “I am made in the image of God, and that is fundamental to who I am,” now people connect their worth and identity to being Lesbian, Trans, Queer, Agender, among many others (some 70 genders recognized today). 

Trueman notes you don’t have to watch the movie “The 40 year-old Virgin” to know that it’s a comedy. “The very idea of someone reaching the age of forty with no experience of sexual intercourse is inherently comic because of the value society now places on sex. To be sexually inactive is to be less than a whole person, to be obviously unfulfilled or weird.” 

How do we define Transgender? “The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation says, “Transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate.” Notice the language used. Taken at face value, the doctor who marked the birth certificate is almost the bad guy. That is why LGBTQ often use the language of “assigned sex.” Sex is no longer scientific biological fact. It is arbitrary. And it is fluid. One who identifies as gay today, might be trans in a matter of months. But if you look at the actual science, every cell has a sex. God has literally stamped our gender into our DNA.       

In her book Love Thy Body, Nancy Pearcey writes, “Today the accepted treatment is not to help persons change their inner feelings of gender identity to match their body but to change their body (through hormones and surgery) to match their feelings. In other words, when a person senses a dissonance between body and mind, the mind wins. The body is dismissed as irrelevant.” (196)

This is dualism at its finest. A modern iteration of an ancient heresy called Gnosticism, which is all about mind over matter. The goal among transgender activists is to completely obliterate the gender binary (that there is only male and female). They would have us see gender binary as nothing more than a social construct from by-gone ages. 

Here is another definition from the “Human Rights Campaign”, a gay activist group: “Gender is one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves” (214 Pearcey). Gender is nothing more than how we view and label ourselves. Biology is completely irrelevant. Our identity is something we declare and speak into existence. 

This, indeed, is the triumph of the modern self. The modern self says, I am not made in the image of God. I am neither male nor female. I am whatever I declare myself to be. Psychology, rather than biology, is triumphant. This is the epitome of what has been called expressive individualism. As Trueman rightly argues, we didn’t get here overnight. It took generations. But being a woman is now something that can be produced by technique and performance. It can literally be prescribed by a doctor. 

In sum, we have a complete denial of the image of God in man. Transgenderism is a symptom. It is certainly not the only symptom but it is a major one. Where do we go from here? 

Implications for Transgenderism

If we really want to know what in the world is going on, then we must turn to Scripture. Romans 1 is especially useful in this regard.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Rom. 1:18). Paul goes on to argue that the knowledge of God is plain to see; it is not hidden. There is a Creator. All you have to do is look at the created world – nature. Furthermore, these unrighteous men, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (1:23). 

As they were further given over in their sin, their worship reflected that. Instead of worshipping the Creator God, they made images and worshipped them. Instead of acknowledging the Creator God, they became fools and elevated man and his ideas. Ironically, they actually lowered man because they denied the image of God. 

They were given to sexual deviancy, then that led to homosexual transgressions. Paul writes, “the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another” (1:27). His conclusion at the end of the chapter is, “Since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (1:28). 

Romans 1 diagnoses and serves as a cultural commentary of our age and of previous ages too. We are not the first generation of Christians that are forced to deal with these tricky matters. Sadly, we have swaths of leaders and cultural influencers who are actively promoting and legislating immorality.  This is what the debased mind produces. Common sense has been thrown out the window, and every man does what is right in his own eyes. 

While the Bible can diagnose our current state of affairs, it also offers great hope. Again I turn to the apostle Paul. “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God.” All sin keeps us from God and from His Kingdom, and that includes sexual sin. We need to be clear on that. God will just with an exacting, righteous judgment. Having said that, listen to what comes next. “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:9-11). This is the power of the gospel. 

For those dealing with homosexual tendencies, gender dysphoria, or someone who considers themselves transgender, there is hope! Many of these Corinthian believers were deep in sin and were engaged in abominable acts, but God delivered them. While the media doesn’t report on this, countless men and women have been delivered. Nancy Pearcey tells of the story of one such man, Walt Heyer. “….a former transsexual who started as a cross-dresser, then underwent sex reassignment surgery to live as a woman. After eight years, he became a Christian and eventually transitioned back to living as a man. He discovered that changing his clothing, hairstyle, Social Security card, driver’s license, and even his genitals did not change who he was.” (p. 225)

For those in your circles who are caught up in LGBTQ + lifestyles, it is important not to view them as the enemy. They are the mission field! We want to reach out to them as much as we possibly can, without condoning their lifestyle. Rosaria Butterfield (herself a former lesbian who was converted to Christianity) gives some wise counsel in this regard. 

In her book Five Lies of our Anti-Christian Age, she makes an important distinction between empathy and sympathy. While empathy seeks to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and try to feel what they feel. Sympathy, on the other hand, “recognizes a problem that someone else has, and it grieves and longs for a solution.” She writes, “This means that when your daughter comes home from college and tells you that she is a man named Rex, you ought to feel sympathy, because something is terribly, dreadfully wrong with your daughter. But LGBTQ propaganda wants you to feel empathy instead. LGBTQ propaganda wants to reframe your point of view, not help fix your daughter’s problem. While empathy is not always unwarranted, we are never called to empathize with sin.” (from the January 2025 edition of Table Talk magazine). 

Butterfield has also advised that we need to stop using transgender pronouns. While some feel that is the kind and loving thing to do, it is actually the opposite. It fails to see that person as they are, male and female, made in the image of God. 

Brothers and sisters, we can be content with who God made us, whether male or female. Those who hack off body parts and call it liberating in their attempt to be true to their “authentic self” but they have only bought into a terrible lie that will enslave them. As Christians, we must destroy arguments and every opinion raised against the knowledge of God. 

Many churches and Christian leaders are compromising in this area. On some church websites under the “bio” section – preferred pronouns are listed – he/him, she/her, etc.  What are they trying to communicate? We are an inclusive church!

Let me be clear, that is a compromised church. 

We don’t pick and choose our gender. That has already been done by our Creator. God is simply calling us to love the body that he has given us. God didn’t make a mistake in how he formed you. You are fearfully and wonderfully made! The Bible says, “do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit…..So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Every person has great dignity, value, and worth.   

This is the message we bring forth as Christians. “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.”  (Gen 1:17).

For a lecture version of this article, click here.