An old friend shared that they believe Bruce Jenner should be able to choose freely to be a woman. This is my response…

First of all, hello. I hope all is well with you and yours. Thank you for taking the time to respond, even if I am surprised and the reason and the response. Just goes to show that we cannot presume to know the mind of those whom we know or have known. I am responding, not to prove myself right or you wrong, but because I do not want a lack of response to be understood as a lack of concern for you or tacit approval for your opinion, which is shared by an increasing number, but, honestly, is wrong-headed, and even if the intent is good (which I believe it is coming from you), it is ultimately harmful not helpful to those who struggle with sexual and gender issues. Realize, I am arguing my case, not disputing with you on a personal level.

There is a pernicious lie that has been propagated by academics and promoted by the LGTBQA (they keep adding letters!) agenda that gender is a social construct. In their understanding human beings are actually neuter and have gender imprinted upon them according to how they are raised. More recently, hard science and not a few clear human examples have strongly contradicted this hypothesis. However, political agendas seem quite immune to facts! 

Let’s begin with the Word of God. I don’t pretend to know if you’ve held your faith, but I’ll address you as I’d address anyone who has faith in God and Jesus Christ as His unique Son. The creation account affirms that the Creator created us male and female (Genesis 1:27). The man is to leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife (Genesis 2:24). Jesus affirmed God’s creation of male and female and establishment of marriage as between one man and one woman for life. 

“He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’” 

In that one statement the Lord refutes the LGBT agenda, including same sex marriage. So, even though the tide of public opinion threaten, those who hold to the truth will not be swept away, for our opinions are not sand castles but firmly grounded as the Rock who will not be moved. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Jesus in Matthew 24:35).

We are living in a fallen world, however. Sin reigns and brings death. Sin perverts God’s design. Individuals like Bruce Jenner are examples of a particular type of perversion of God’s design. However, he is not a victim. He is, like me and you, a sinner. The difference between Bruce Jenner and me is, I have confessed my sin as sin and sought forgiveness. He has confessed his sin as something to be accepted and even celebrated. This is wrong on a number of levels, not the least of which is the level of influence on others. He is being used to sway the opinion of the nation. However, Bruce Jenner is a psychologically and emotionally disturbed person, not a paragon of virtue or a person worthy of being an influence on others. I am being charitable. I strongly suspect that this may all be a publicity stunt designed by Jenner to remain in the spotlight. Living with or around the Kardashians would certainly seem to support this theory. 

However, for the sake of argument, let’s say that Jenner really feels like a woman. What does that even mean? That he doesn’t FEEL like a man? There could be many reasons for that, chief among them that many of the characteristics we normally associate with masculinity and femininity should not be isolated to that gender. Some men like to stay indoors, are more quiet or shy, don’t like to fight. Does that make them feminine? No. Take the example of Esau and Jacob. Esau was an outdoorsman, a hunter and his father’s favorite (and a hairy man!). Jacob liked to be indoors, did not hunt, and was somewhat of a “momma’s boy”. Who did God choose to be the father of the nation of Israel? Yep, the one who was once known as Jacob and whose name was changed to Israel.

The (friend) that I remember was interested in science and moved by facts, so here are a few.
John’s Hopkins University was the institution that pioneered gender reassignment surgery. As of 2004 they no longer perform it. According to their former chief psychiatrist Paul McHugh http://www.firstthings.com/article/2004/11/surgical-sex

Regardless of what one does to their body, DNA speaks. A female retains two X chromosomes, a male will always have XY. The Y chomosome exerts a powerful influence beginning in the womb, exposing the baby to testosterone and masculinizing him.

Gender is not plastic as many would have us think. Look into the experiment on identical twin David Reimer, the boy who was raised as a girl as an illustration of this fact http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/us/david-reimer-38-subject-of-the-john-joan-case.html

The transgender phenomenon is overwhelmingly about sex, not gender. It may be a disturbance known as autogynephilia, and certainly a mental disturbance broadly referred to as sexual dysphoria (see the article by Dr. McHugh above). 

Recently, XXX Church publicized an interview they did with Diamond Dee, a transexual woman who chose to go back to living as a man after recommitting his life to Christ. In addition to the amazing story of redemption and grace, his testimony supports my assertion that some who live a transgender life do it for attention, and it supports the contention that this is about sex, not gender. Here’s the link to his interview http://xxxchurch.com/thehaps/the-diamond-dee-interview.html

Once again, I hope you are well, and realize that I wouldn’t have spent this much time crafting a reply to just anyone. However, since I did, I may post it to my blog for others.