Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth, for the Colson Center. I'm John Stone Street. Christopher Nolan's film adaptation of The Odyssey features a stellar cast, A-listers like Ann Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, and Ellen Paige.
Now, Paige was best known, at least initially in her career, for a breakout role as a pregnant teenager in 2007's Juno. More recently, however, Paige is better known for rejecting her identity as a female, portraying instead as a male and adopting the name Elliot. And in the movie The Odyssey, Paige's personal gender conflict is also on full display. She plays a manipulative Greek soldier named Sinon, who according to Greek mythology tricked the Trojans and was instrumental in the downfall of Troy. Notably, Sinon does not appear in Homer's original poem The Odyssey, but is one of the many creative adaptations by Christopher Nolan.
Paige herself was an odd selection to play a Greek soldier. After all, she stands just over five feet tall, which is short even when compared to the other women in the cast who are playing women. Paige has undergone multiple surgeries and treatments to portray herself as a man. She talks about it constantly. But it's not convincing, nor are her repeated assurances to the world that she's now able to, quote unquote, be who I truly am, or be who I was made to be.
Recently, the Babylon Bee posted a fake quote along with Page's picture that said, and I quote, I'm happier than I've ever been, says gender non-conforming celebrity who looks as if her soul has been sucked out of her eyeballs, end quote. What made this post so harsh was just how true it was about Ellen Page.
So many photos and interviews of Page are simply heartbreaking. Instead of the joy and the peace that's part of achieving and embracing one's identity, her eyes reveal a desperate emptiness of someone trying to convince all of us, and especially herself. Of something that is so obviously not true. When Chloe Cole, whose story of detransition and salvation was featured in the Truth Rising documentary and at the recent Colson Center National Conference, saw photos of Paige from the Odyssey premiere, she said this. One of the many million things that led to my detransition was realizing that once I entered the real world, I would be nothing but a tiny infertile simulacrum of a male.
This is the reality of transitioning even for the women who remotely quote unquote pass. In fact, the contrast between Ellen Page's despair and Chloe Cole's hope could not be more dramatic. And you can see it clearly in their eyes. At the recent Colson Center National Conference, Chloe Cole described that she once believed she'd have the peace when the puberty blockers, male hormones, and surgery made her look like a boy. Her mastectomy was, she said, like a baptism into the faith of transgenderism.
Quote, at first I thought I was happy because everything that they were telling me would happen happened. I started to look like a young man. I started to have all these effects on my body and my appearance that made it so that the people around me recognized me as a young man. I was finally being paid attention to. But she said, the peace I was promised never came.
The suicidality and the anguish I was told would be prevented by this treatment came because of it. End quote.
Well, today Chloe is a fighter who is committed to end the lie of transgender ideology. But she has this smile. This smile that absolutely steals the show. She has these eyes that light up the room. A smile and eyes that beam joy and peace.
Now, it's often said that our eyes are a window to our soul. The book of Proverbs includes similar observations about our countenance and what it can reveal about us. A glad heart makes a cheerful face, it says. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart and good news refreshes the bones. A joyful heart is good medicine, it goes on.
Jesus himself said, your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body is full of light. I don't think there's a clearer portrayal of these truths than the stark contrast between the eyes of Ellen Page and the eyes of Chloe Cole. In their countenance, the truth of Holy Scripture is fully confirmed. To embrace our Creator, to embrace how he made us, to find purpose and meaning in how he made us, that is peace and joy.
But to reject the truth about ourselves is ultimately to reject the Creator and that path. Ends only in despair. Please learn more about Chloe Coles' story and see her undeniable smile in the Truth Rising film. It's a free film on YouTube and X from Focus on the Family and the Colson Center. And you can learn how to receive a complimentary version of her incredible talk at the Colson Center National Conference at Colson Center.org/slash July.
That's colsoncenter.org slash July. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Dr. Timothy Paget. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download the podcast.
And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to ColsonCenter.org/slash radio. The application deadline for the Colson Fellows program is almost here. If you felt the pull to understand the Christian worldview more deeply and live out your faith more boldly, don't let this moment pass. Starting August 1st, you'll join a community of believers committed to thinking clearly and acting courageously right where God has placed them. Think about what your faith could look like in a year by investing now.
Submit your application at colsonfellows.org/slash apply. That's colsonfellows.org slash apply.
