Gender Identity

Welcome back, everyone.

Today is Wednesday, November the 2nd, 2022. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. And you're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abaddon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can find us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have a question for Dr. Shah or anything you'd like to write in and suggest that we talk about, send us a text at 252-582-5028. You can also email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. You can follow Dr. Shah online on his website, AbaddonShah.com, and you can support us financially at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

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We're so thankful for those partners who have stepped up and said, hey, we love what you're doing. We want to be a part of it, not just consume the media, but we want to help get this message out because that's what this is. I think that's a huge thing that you just mentioned is that we're not just consumers. We can be consumers in other ways. Like when we go home, look at TV, look at movies, play video games, whatever, we're consumer.

That's just for us. Christian media especially, and especially this platform that we're using, is not just for your consumption. It is to help benefit you and to help benefit all the people listening, but it's also for you to take this message and spread it. That's what Jesus called us to do.

He didn't want us just to get all this spiritual fulfillment and then just keep it to ourselves. What do you say? You're the light of... Now, what is the one where he said you don't put the lamp under the basket?

No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket. That's it. I tripped a little on my delivery there, but hey, it is what it is. That's right. Absolutely. We want to remind you before the show starts about the upcoming elections on November the 8th. You heard us talk about this, and we're going to keep reminding you because it is so important to get out there and vote. We want to keep this conversation going until election day just to remind you, encourage you, go vote your convictions, vote biblical values. If you have any questions about who is running for what, we would love to be able to offer some resources for you.

You can send us a text, 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at clearviewtodayshow.com. Today's the second, right? Yes. I think for the next... What is that?

Six days. All of our discussions are going to be tailored around that political realm just to keep the discussion alive and just keep you guys understanding that this is your civic duty. This is something that, as Christians, we are called to do. This is not something that we want to just... It's not just fun conversation. This is something that we expect you guys to go do something about it. That's why, from now until the 8th, all of our conversations or all of our discussions are kind of tailored for this particular topic.

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You can find Clearview Today show there. We want to be a resource for you to the upcoming elections. John, how are you doing today, my friend? Fine. Okay. That's it.

That's it. We always ask about me. How are you? I'm okay.

I feel like I'm still kind of in recovery mode. We had the fall retreat not long ago with our student ministry here, so... Pretend like I don't know what that is. What is the fall retreat? Okay. The fall retreat is like... Because I actually don't.

No, I'm just kidding. It's a many weekend getaway for our students in 6th through 12th grade here at the church. We have host homes set up. People step up and volunteer their homes to open it up to a small group of teenagers and an adult leader. They go and stay in host homes for the weekend. We've got a service project Saturday morning, and then actually this past Saturday, we went to Defy Gravity on Saturday night. Ooh, nice.

Big trampoline park. Went there, jumped around, had a good time, and the whole weekend was themed around learning what it means to be set free. Yeah. That's awesome. So it was a lot of fun.

We had almost 40 teenagers there, so it was a great weekend. 40? Yeah. Did you rent the whole place?

No. We probably should have. Wow. We were a big crowd. You saw their eyes and we walked in the door. They were kind of like... They were like, oh no.

It was like Armageddon walking through the door. Yeah. We're going to bring that shot in in just a few minutes for today's episode topic. Yesterday we talked about this issue of homosexuality. Today we're continuing that discussion on sexuality and gender issues, but today we're specifically talking about transgenderism. We want to be sensitive when we're talking about this stuff. We want to be compassionate when we're talking about this stuff, but we've got to bring an element of truth here. We've got to stand on what God's Word says as truth. Well, God's Word is beautiful in that way because it is compassionate and it is full of mercy and it's full of second chances and it's full of forgiveness and healing, but that's never apart from truth. That truth has to be confronted first, and then mercy and compassion always comes alongside. But to have one without the other, it never works, and I think that's the beautiful thing about God.

Yeah, absolutely. We're going to bring Dr. Shah into the studio in just a few minutes to dive into this discussion and like we said yesterday, I know that people's minds are firing. Maybe this issue is hitting a little closer to home for you. Maybe you know someone or have a loved one who's struggling with this.

Send us those questions or issues you'd like for us to talk about at 252-582-5028, or again, you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I did want to say this. I like that you said that, and here's why I like it because I think for us, I know personally for me, I don't have anyone in my life immediately that struggles with this issue. So it's easy to talk about it. For others who are struggling with this, it's not as easy. So I do like that you prefaced with that, and I thank you for doing that because it is important, I think, for us to understand like, okay, I'm not immediately struggling with this. So the things that we say, we do want to be careful and we want to say it correctly. We want to say it and make sure it's coming from a biblical foundation, not just our opinions. Absolutely. Yeah.

So I'm going to go grab Dr. Shaw and we'll be back in just a few minutes. If you haven't already, be sure to check out Dr. Shaw's book, Changing the Goalpost of New Testament Textual Criticism. Before the 1960s, the goal of New Testament textual criticism was singular, to retrieve the original text of the New Testament. Since then, the goalpost has incrementally shifted away from the original text to retrieving any text or many texts of the New Testament. Some scholars have even concluded that the original text is hopelessly lost and cannot be retrieved with any confidence or accuracy. If that's the case, how can we claim that the Bible is an errand? To answer these questions, make sure you order a copy of Dr. Shaw's book.

That title, again, is Changing the Goalpost of New Testament Textual Criticism. You can pick up your copy on Amazon right now and let us know how it's helped you by emailing us at info at clearviewbc.org. You can also support our ministry here at Clearview by visiting us at clearviewbc.org forward slash skiv. Thanks for listening. Now back to the show. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abaddon Shaw, the show that engages the mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com or send us a text at 252-582-5028. And before we start the discussion for today, we got a lot of responses from yesterday's episode about bringing in Dr. Shaw's message on homosexuality. And in that same vein, in that same series, he also preached another message on transgenderism because while those issues are linked, they are separate issues.

They are unique in how we approach them and how we think about them. So we're going to do the same thing we did yesterday. We're going to play for you a portion of a message Dr. Shaw preached related on this issue of transgenderism. And again, like we said yesterday, if you would like to hear the entire message, you can always find all of our past messages, all of Dr. Shaw's past messages on our website clearviewbc.org. All of his past sermons are there. Feel free to go check them out, listen to them, watch them, share them with your loved ones.

You can also find all of his sermon notes, his manuscripts on his blog at abaddonshaw.com. Let's listen into that message. Our society and our culture are increasingly trying to neutralize gender identities, increasingly trying to, just the way Ryan mentioned, by the way, he designed this so cleverly, that there's no distinction, devoid of all color. There is no male, there's no female, and now we're headed to this neutrality, but both scripturally and scientifically transgenderism is unnatural, inappropriate, and sinful, just like homosexuality. We are to be compassionate towards those who are struggling with gender dysphoria, but at the same time, we are also to stand firm in our conviction of biblical gender distinctions. And I want you to hear very carefully, compassion without the gospel of Jesus Christ is collaboration. Now the blood is on your hands as well. Compassion is great, but the compassion that does not bring Jesus Christ, that leaves Jesus out, and it's only about, I love you and I'm there for you, and I know the church and people there are judgmental and hypocrites, but that's not me.

You are from the pit of hell, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is not in you. So compassion, great, we need it, but you better bring the gospel very quickly. You know, if I could take a line from that clip. Compassion without the gospel of Jesus Christ is collaboration.

Absolutely. I'm not a bumper sticker guy, but I would put that on every car. I would put that on every shirt.

Clearview Today bumper stickers, on sale now at Clearview Today show. Without the gospel of Jesus Christ is collaboration. I love that point because sometimes I feel like we err on the side of an overabundance of what we determine as mercy. We just throw compassion, just dump compassion on people, love, love, love, love, love, and we forget that there is a truth to be maintained. There's a truth to be upheld.

It's God's truth. Well, I appreciate that language from you and from you because I think both of those sermons, the one we listened to yesterday, and by the way, if you guys didn't go listen to the full sermon or this full sermon, make sure that you do. We'll leave the links in the show notes of this podcast and we'll put it... Where else do we leave our links?

We leave them. Is that really just the show notes? That's really just the show notes and we can... I'll go and let you know if you're listening on the radio, it is recreated part one and two and those sermons are available on our church website, clearviewbc.org. You can find every past sermon of Dr. Shah's there as well as Dr. Shah's blog, abaddonshah.com. All of the notes from his sermon are there, the entire manuscript is there. Go back and read that because it is so vital to not only what we're talking about today, but to our culture today.

If you're joining us for the first time, by the way, Dr. Abaddon Shah, he's a PhD, New Testament textual criticism professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. What I was saying was I loved that sermon and the sermon that we listened to yesterday because there is such truth. It's not truth to hurt people, it's truth and mercy put together. It's really the only place that godly truth comes from. Absolutely, and I will emphasize that in this episode as well, that when we talk about homosexuality being a sin or this whole gender identity debate being contrary to the word of God, it is not coming from a Bible-thumping place or like in your face. In fact, I don't even make jokes about it in my message because they are insulting to people.

So I will never do that. But at the same time to then say, I endorse you or I celebrate your lifestyle, no, I don't have to do that. Right. And that's something I appreciate so much about these two messages, especially, is that you brought such an element of, and these messages are back from 2021, I believe, but you brought such an element of both truth and mercy and holding those in balance with one another.

Yes. And it's so vital because sometimes we, I mean, oftentimes we err on one side or the other. We lean too far one direction or the other. We don't do anybody any good if we kind of swing with that pendulum on one extreme or the other. Right.

One extreme is to just be loud and obnoxious and make fun of people and those kind of things. And yes, there are people who do that, but I think sometimes we hear, oh, a lot of people like that. That's not true.

Right. It's very hard to find people who will be like that. Of course, there are people who are hateful and mean and those kinds of things. I'll never downplay that or ever say that's okay because it's not.

It's wrong. It's evil to be hateful and mean to people no matter what their lifestyle or what their choice. But at the same time, the other extreme, which is, oh, we're just going to go along with you.

We just, we just love you. And, you know, Jesus just called us to love and that's all we're going to do. That is a huge disservice on the same level as making fun of people or belittling them or talking hatefully towards them. It's on the same level. Right. In my book, it's on the same level because now going along with it, you are dishonoring your savior, Jesus Christ. That's exactly right. And you are disobeying the word of God. You are, you're not helping anybody with that.

Right. It seems to me that like I said, I said this in the last episode, but it seems that the conversation has switched. It doesn't even seem it's, it's, it's pretty obvious to anyone listening to the conversation over the past few years, maybe even over the past decade, that the conversation has switched from tolerance to acceptance to now even celebration that you have to accept it. You have to celebrate that this is who I am and not only on the homosexuality front, but really even these, this gender dysphoria, this transgender movement that's coming out. It's that you're, you're this brave individual who's standing up against the establishment. You're fighting the patriarchy or the religious elite or whatever. And now it almost seems that Christians and people in church are saying, you know what, this is the way the culture is going.

I have to jump on board with it. Otherwise I'm going to be what thought less of judged. I'm not sure what the irrelevant. Yeah, I guess I think at the heart of it is fear. Yeah.

Those who are trying to be relevant versus those who are just not saying anything in both cases at the heart of it is fear, but there's a fear of acceptance or a lack of it or fear of some kind of repercussions. It's always fear. Yeah. And, and if that's the case, then at least those in ministry, I would say, find something else to do. Yeah. That's true.

You're no longer standing for the truth of God. A hundred percent agree. And of course, once again, for those who may have just jumped in is truth with compassion. Exactly. So there has to be compassion and, and, but at the same time, like you said in the beginning, compassion is means nothing if there's no truth, because we're both selling ourselves out together.

That's right. You know, I'm, I'm lowering myself down to your level. You know, I think one of the things that I really appreciate you, Dr. Shai, is that there is this, this, uh, this realness and it's not a realness like that. Like you said, like that brash obnoxious, you know, transgender, you know, Adam was, wasn't made for Eve and Steve and all that stuff. There's never any of that because these are real people. And I know that in your mind and even the way that it comes out in the sermons, these are people who are struggling.

I don't think anybody, oh no, maybe not anybody, but this is a struggle and this is a real thing that's going on. And so our goal is to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to those people. Right. Right. And the greatest act of, um, uh, love is showing dignity to the people. Amen. And who would go one step further?

If you really want to show dignity to people, then see if you can take them to heaven with you. Ooh. Wow. Right. Man. We need to put that on. That needs to be your bumper sticker right there. So we have the same mentality when we are reaching people in the community, whether they are homeless or people living in rough situations or rough lifestyles or, or, or lifestyles contrary to the word of God.

If you truly want to show them dignity, then think about them not being in heaven. Yeah. And I know that sounds simplistic, uh, but it is the truth. Yeah. I see people that way or I try to see people that way. I want this person to be in heaven. Forget about what they're wearing right now.

Forget about how they're acting, forget about their lifestyle or whatever they're on or, or smoking. Yeah. I want to see that person in heaven. Yeah. I want to see them in the community, which means now I'm going to do whatever I can to share the gospel. And just, just for those who are wondering, when it comes to sharing the gospel, I don't begin with, are you a homosexual? Right.

Right. Are you struggling with gender dysphoria? No, of course not. We begin with, Hey, have you ever given your heart to Jesus Christ? Amen. Do you know what he can do for you?

Do you, have you ever prayed, uh, do you have a church? These are places where we begin and to share the gospel. So I hope everybody knows our gospel presentation doesn't begin with hateful words. Right. Absolutely. I mean, it doesn't begin with any specific sin. Right.

It never does. I've never, I've never heard any, you know, I've never heard any, uh, gospel presentation that goes, are you a liar? Are you a cheat? Are you struggling with greed?

Here's the answer to that. Yeah. Yeah.

It's just, I mean, maybe some of those cheesy $20 fake $20 bills from, oh gosh, the car, the tracks. Yeah. That'll work.

That'll work. And this is a rabbit trail, but I got, I used to wait tables before starting here at clear view. I know. I got a couple of those as a waiter.

Huge. Was it like a hundred dollar bill that said, are you disappointed? Yeah.

Don't be the gospel of Jesus Christ. The worst part about that was they still didn't leave a tip. Oh, that was the tip. That was their tip.

That was the worst. And then they just, that's a sidebar. Hey, listen, eternal salvation is worth way more than my money.

So I'll keep that in my pocket. That's, that's a sidebar for me. Well, I did like, I did like in yesterday's episode that you read that passage from Genesis where it said God created man and woman in his own image because those roles are very specific. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

Yeah. And so also when you go into the new Testament, first Corinthians 11, three, Paul says, but I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man. Not every woman is man, right?

Or every woman is every man, but the head of woman is man, her husband, and the head of Christ is God. Again, we don't want to get into all those issues because we get into the complimentary and egalitarian and all those issues. We're not talking about that. That may be a topic for another episode.

I believe God has called a man to lead, right? Right. Right. So having said that in this situation, when we say gender doesn't matter, we are either negating or neutralizing the differences and in the process we are negating or neutralizing the Trinity. Right. I mean, that's what it says right here.

Let me read that again. The head of every man is Christ. The head of woman is man. The head of Christ is God. So the two persons of the Trinity are mentioned.

Holy Spirit is not because in this particular verse that was not brought up, not necessary. But if you take that and apply it to the whole gender dysphoria or gender identity issues, we are trying to neutralize or even trying to negate the Trinity. Yeah. There's nothing in yesterday's episode that really hit me because I had never considered it in those terms before. But it's not even... And yesterday we talked about homosexuality. Today we're talking about transgenderism, but... Two different subjects, of course, yeah.

Two different subjects, but related in the sense that they are sexual sin and it is related to our view of God. And you said yesterday, it's not just saying, God, you made a mistake, but God, you are a mistake. Yes. That was powerful. Yes.

Very powerful. And that changes the stakes that are on the line here, because this isn't just what I believe about how we were created or what gender identity is. This is affecting my very view of God. Now take it to the Ten Commandments, when it talks about, do not make any image. We immediately go to the idols, and that's true.

We need to go to the idols. But it was not always just about the idols, it was also about the distortions of the truth of who God is, the identity of God. So our identity is tied to His identity. When we begin to distort our identity, in a sense, we're saying the original is a mistake, because we're made in the image of God.

He is the original, we are the image, right? So we're saying, hey, you up there, we don't believe you're accurate. God takes that very seriously, seriously enough to put it in the Ten Commandments, right up on top. And that's, I think, one of those logical fallacies that people, you know, like to throw out is that, well, I'm not hurting you. I'm not hurting anybody by claiming that I'm a woman, I'm not asking you to date me or to whatever. This is who I am inside, and so you have no right to infringe on that.

But it doesn't, it's not just between you and I, it is a reflection of God and who God is and what you think of God. And in a sense, I'm okay with that, because that's the freedom of living in this great nation, that you can do that, right? So, and I know some people may say, well, wait, wait, that's not, no, that's part of the freedom, as long as you're not hurting somebody. But what has happened in America in the past few decades, it has gone from being a freedom to now being, for you to even think this is not right is hate speech, or for you to say anything. Or if you do not celebrate this, then you must be a bigot. That's true. You must be a hateful person.

And that, no, that's not, that's not true at all. Yeah. No. What, this is, you know, near and dear to my heart. A lot of times people focus on teenagers who are struggling with this, right? In that, you know, 12 to 19 year old age range. How do we address transgenderism in our teens specifically related to like this high suicide rate? Right. How do we, how do we approach that?

What kind of feeling and hope can we bring, especially in that teenage age range? Right. Well, to start with, let's talk about in the past few years, ever since the coming of the smartphones, right?

Where you have a master computer in your palms. Right. Kids are getting hammered or inundated with sexually charged images, sexually explicit language. And I would go further along and talk about the pornography that is coming through that. And it is impacting children very, very young at a very young age. And so parents, you have to be careful what your kids are looking at, what they're watching. You have to be tough with them about it.

When I say tough means don't compromise and say, oh, that's okay. That's all right. Okay. I'm going to keep the phone till this evening and you can have it tomorrow.

No, you lost that phone. Yeah. And we'll decide when you're going to get that back. Right. But then how am I going to know how to communicate? Well, we'll find a way, the old fashioned way. Yeah.

You know, some smoke signals or something. That's right. Yeah. So the whole point is this kids are getting assaulted by all these ideologies and they are not innocent. They're not harmless.

They are making a difference for bad in their minds. I've had parents of kids six, seven, eight years old. And now asking that question, I'm not sure if I'm a boy or a girl and parents ask me, what do I do? I say, well, you need to, for one, stop all your other excursions where you're running off here or there having a good time. It's time to make your children your priority. Exactly. Which means not that you get angry with them or mad at them or call them names.

No, of course not. How about you start with showing them love, compassion, spending time with them, get them in a Bible believing church, you know, help them see the beauty of being a boy. If they're a boy, the beauty of being a girl, if they're a girl, help them make that a priority, learn about it, go talk to your pastor who understands these things, go talk to people who are mature in the faith, go get educated so you can help your children get back on track. Yeah.

That's what you have to do. And I love that you said that because especially in response to that, that point, because that's typically what you hear is that it's somehow on us. It's somehow on Christians or people who are denying that a boy is a girl or a girl is a boy. That's the reason that kids are so messed up.

Could it be that they're getting so swamped by all this information, this misinformation that they don't know how to think anymore, especially because you've put it in their minds at such a young age that you might be a boy, you might be a girl. We don't really know. Mommy doesn't know. Daddy doesn't know.

The pastor doesn't know. I mean, that's what I'm saying. Could it be that that's why they're struggling so much and not because someone is telling them, hey, you're not what you think you are? Right. Yeah.

I mean, they need an adult in their life they can trust to speak, not boisterously or hatefully or pejoratively, but kindly, compassionately, and yet firmly, confidently say it. This is who you are. This is how God has made us, which means turn off that silly game that you're watching. It's not going to make a difference in eternity and spend some time with your kids. Maybe not go on that all day golf trip. I'm being drastic here, but hey, listen, there's a priority in your life. Exactly. Let's take that priority.

Absolutely. And it starts young. Don't wait till there's an issue in the teenage years. Don't wait till everything seems like it's falling apart. I mean, wherever you are as a parent, begin now. Now is the time.

Because if you don't, the world will do it for you. 100%. 100%.

Absolutely. If you enjoyed today's topic or you have suggestions for future episodes, let us know by sending us a text at 252-582-5028. And you can also email us at contact at clearviewtodayshow.com. Be sure to visit that website, clearviewtodayshow.com, because there's an opportunity for you to support financially.

And support isn't even the right word. Partner is the better word. Partner with us. Become a team member with us in reaching people for the gospel. Getting this content out there, especially like today's episode, it affects your daily life that affects the way that you vote, that affects the way that you believe. You can help us get that message out there and we want you to partner with us in that. And we're very grateful for all of you who want to and who have already been doing so. Like I said yesterday, we're only eight episodes in, but the amount of support and the amount of charity and charity is not even the right word, just the amount of buy-in that we've seen from our listeners is very, very encouraging. So thank you for giving. Thank you for supporting. I know we want to end on something practical. I think you have a last minute advice today, my friend. I do.

Yes. So mine is, it's going to be brief today, but I'm a musical guy. So a lot of people would recommend listening to music when you are studying or when you're trying to focus, but I will always default to like humming along or singing along or that song will get stuck in my head and I'm distracted from what I'm doing. So what I've, what I've found is helpful for me is listening to instrumental music. I was going to say the same thing.

Yeah. There are no words there. It's not even like the instrumental of a song and that, you know, for me, it's acoustic guitar. I love acoustic guitar. I love the sound of it.

It just helps me kind of focus, getting that head space, but I can't, I can't sing along cause there are no words. Lofi. Lofi. Lofi. Lofi. Yeah.

Okay. I don't know what it is, but I've fallen so in love with Lofi music. I do like Lofi. Yeah. If you don't know what Lofi is, it's, uh, it's hard to explain, but just kind of Google. It's those like kind of beats that's just real mellow, real synthy. But if you go look at our, all of our Clearview videos over the past maybe six months, it's all Lofi music. All of Dr. Shah's lectures, all of our announcements, all of our like sermon stream intros, it's all Lofi and it's so nice.

That's my advice. All right. Well, we love you guys. We got Applause with you, everyone. Thank you.