by John Holbrook Jr.
A Biblical View, Blog #123 posted May 2, 2021, edited 2022-11-23.
1. Preamble
Another pathogen has entered American culture with the rise of the Transgender or Gender Choice movement (I prefer and will use the latter name because it better reveals the critical flaw at the movement’s core). The proponents of Gender Choice claim that a person’s gender is a matter of choice. They argue that gender is not a biological fact, but rather a mental construct, and they demand that a person be free to change his or her gender at will. They also argue that society’s traditional recognition of only two genders, male and female, is solely the result of cultural conditioning, and that a person should be free to choose other alternatives. Although I cannot imagine what these alternative might look like, I am certain that they will be grotesque.
This pathogen has already ruined many lives and is destined to ruin countless more. It needs to be exposed, repudiated, and eradicated as quickly as possible.
2. Gender Reality
The binary reality of human gender has been evident to Mankind since God presented Eve to Adam in the Garden of Eden roughly 6,000 years ago, As late as the end of the 20th century, any two-year-old knew the difference between boys and girls. Now, a mere twenty years later, even many educated adults do not [1] – alas, not a healthy sign for the future of the human race. They completely ignore the testimony of our Creator, our Science, our Senses, and our Common Sense.
● Our Creator declares in his Word, the Bible, “…God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). Here, our Creator clearly tells us that there are only two genders, male and female.
● Our Science – in this case, microbiology – reveals that each organism’s genome or DNA provides the information for its development from a single zygote (fertilized ovum) to a living and breathing creature. The human genome consist of 23 pairs of chromosomes, of which one pair determines a person’s sex and sexual development. Two “x” chromosomes produce a female. One “x” chromosome and one “y” chromosome produce a male. Each creature’s genome is unique. It is carried in every cell of its body and remains immutable throughout his or her life. It cannot be changed.[2] Here, our Science clearly tells us that there are only two genders: male and female.
● Our Senses detect that each baby is born with either male or female genitalia, which can be see with our eyes and touched with our hands. Here, our Senses clearly tell us that there are only two genders: male and female.
● Our Common Sense tells us that nearly all living species are divided into two genders, male and female. As we move through life, we encounter representatives of other species that differ in many characteristic – form, size, weight, strength, color, abilities, etc., but they all share one fundamental characteristic: all species are divided into two genders: male and female. Moreover, we quickly perceive the reason for two genders: they are necessary for reproduction. When a male ejects his sperm into a female and the sperm merges with an egg in her uterus, a new member of the species is conceived. After a period of gestation, it leaves the mother’s womb and emerges into the world as a male or female infant. None of the foregoing is rocket-science. It is a common occurrence. It is obvious to everybody. It is known by everybody. Here, our simple Common Sense tell us that there are only two genders: male and female.
● Regarding the foregoing, I must note an exception. In very rare cases, genetically abnormal children are born with both male and female sexual characteristic. They are called hermaphrodites or mixed-sex babies, of which there are two types: (1) Sometimes, two eggs are present, with one egg being fertilized by a female or X chromosome and the other being fertilized by a male or Y chromosome. Usually this leads to fraternal twins of different sexes, but occasionally the two eggs fuse and produce a mixed-sex baby. (2) Sometimes during cell-division, a sperm’s sex-determining region moves from the Y chromosome to the X chromosome, where it remains and produces a mixed-sex baby. In both cases, I believe that medical attention and therapy are appropriate; they have actually become quite sophisticated and successful. Again, however, I regard the use of medical therapies on genetically normal children to be, not just inappropriate, but pernicious. That is not the type of treatment which they need.
3. Gender Fantasy
To deny gender reality is to engage in and promote gender fantasy, which will have many pernicious consequences. Reader, please think carefully about some of the certain consequences of this fantasy. Four of the most obvious are the following:
● The acceptance of Gender Choice will further erode our society’s already tenuous grasp on reality. When people are continually indoctrinated in false doctrines,[3] they lose their ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy, which is a good definition of insanity. Again alas, America shows many signs of going insane. Tens of millions of Americans are adopting false doctrines that have not worked in the past, are not working in the present, and will not work in the future, and then they are demanding that others affirm these doctrines under threat of fine and imprisonment. This phenomenon can only be categorized as a symptoms of madness and indicates, whether or not we acknowledge the fact, that we are collectively headed for a mental breakdown. No person or community can ignore reality for very long and survive.
● The person who acts on Gender Choice will not only be confused about the most fundamental and important distinction in his or her life, but will actually be harmed by it. A person’s gender is not skin deep. It permeates his or her body, mind, and spirit. Males and females have different physical, mental, and emotional characteristics, and I suspect different spiritual characteristics as well. They have been designed by God to complement one another, to delight in one another, and, within the confines of a life-long, heterosexual marriage, to produce and raise children together. As boys and girls are developing from infancy to maturity, they should be guided by their parents, grandparents, older siblings, aunts and uncles, teachers, doctors, and pastors to adopt the attitudes, desires, and behavior that are appropriate to their sex, thereby instilling in them the desire to become the man or woman whom God intended them to be. If they show signs of gender confusion, however, they should not be encouraged to adopt the attitudes, desires, and behavior of the opposite sex. Rather, they should be discouraged from doing so and given special attention and guidance in this regard.
● If society accepts the claims of biological males that they are females trapped in male bodies, the latter will be given ready access to female bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers, which will certainly result in soaring cases of sexual abuse. Men, is this what you want for your wives? Women, is this what you want for yourselves? Parents, is this what you want for your daughters? If it is, you need to recognize that you are willingly putting women and girls in harm’s way, which is not a loving thing to do, but rather a vicious thing to do.
● Also, if society accepts the claims of biological males that they are females trapped in male bodies, the latter will be allowed to compete in and dominate every level of female sports that require strength and endurance – not just sports in schools and colleges, but professional sports and international competitions like the Olympic Games, the European Games, the Pan-American Games, etc. Consider the lure of prize money in such events as the four major tennis tournaments – the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open – where the average purse for a female winner was over $3 million in 2019. To men who cannot beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, the lure of Gender Change will be irresistible.
4. Christians
Brothers and sisters, you may dismiss Gender Choice as a foolish fad, but you must not stand aside passively, just shaking your head, while this devastating psychological and physical assault on young people is underway and growing. I beg you to do the following:
● First, recognize the sheer evil of Gender Choice, because the lives of many young people are at stake. Already many of them have been ruined by (a) misguided acceptance of opposite-sex behavior by a parent, (b) sex-change propaganda in school and elsewhere that renders them uncomfortable with their biological sex, (c) inoculation with hormones of the opposite sex, thereby frustrating their bodies’ ability to develop normally, particularly during puberty, and (d) mutilation of their genitalia by surgeons, thereby leaving them scarred for life.
● Second, resolve to do something about Gender Choice, because others are in harm’s way and need your help. Proverbs 24 warns, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work” (ESV)? Edmund Burke reduced the biblical warning to the following admonition: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” [4] Let us gird up our loins and enter the fray.
● Third, you must actually do something to stop Gender Choice. Speak up. Confront the parents, teachers, and doctors who are encouraging and enabling young people in this dangerous delusion. You may find that some of them are merely misguided and have not considered the downside of what they are doing. They may be open to persuasion. You will also encounter others of them who know exactly what they are doing and are determined to keep doing it, no matter what we say. Confront them. Expose them. Make it difficult, if not impossible for them to keep doing what they are doing. In addition, write your representatives in federal, state, and municipal governments and insist that they enact and enforce laws that put a stop to Gender Choice.
● Most important, if you encounter young people who are confused about their gender, show them what Christian love, compassion, and friendship look like. If they are boys, talk to them about what it is like to be a man, husband, and father in this world. If they are girls, talk to them about what it is like to be a woman, wife, and mother in this world. Be truthful. Describe the full experience that awaits them, including its joys and sorrows its satisfactions and difficulties, and its victories and defeats. Assure them, however, that God has designed them for these roles in life and will give them all the assistance they need to flourish in them. Men, do not be afraid to talk to the girls. Women, do not be afraid to talk to the boys. After over sixty years of marriage, I love, respect, and admire my wife and can talk as much about her experience as I can about my own. Also, do not be afraid to talk about mistakes. None of us is perfect. We are all sinners. We all make mistakes, but we learn from our mistakes and can help others avoid them. Above all keep in mind that the goals here are to connect with these youngsters and to give them an accurate picture of reality – not fantasy.
● Lastly, pray to God that he will give you the all the wisdom, courage, sensitivity, and strength – the knights of old might say might and main[5] – that you require to do all of the above. I will pray to God that he hears your prayers.
© 2021 John Holbrook Jr.
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[1] That one of them currently occupies the White House is stunning.
[2] Since Jennifer Douglas’s invention of a method for dicing and splicing DNA strands, microbiologists have started tinkering with the human genome in the hope of “improving” it. Because they do not believe that God exists, they are unaware that they are trespassing on God’s territory. I anticipate that the results of their efforts will be negative, if not catastrophic.
[3] Some false doctrines that immediately come to mind are atheism, biological evolutionism, geological uniformitarianism, socialism, communism, systemic racism, and climate change attributed to human behavior.
[4] In a letter addressed to Thomas Mercer.
[5] A wonderful, Old English phrase that I learned from reading books about the chivalric days of yore, when men like King Arthur, Lancelot, Galahad, Gawain, El Cid, and Walter Scott’s fictional Ivanhoe rode to the aid of the weak and vulnerable.