Short Take #1: Is the Word Transgenderism Accurate?

Here is another short take from The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton.

M.D. Perkins joins us to discuss the new documentary film he produced, In His Image, delighting in God's plan for gender and sexuality. And we hope you tune in and gain from this important-to-understand topic.

M.D., it's great to have you back on the Christian Worldview radio program to talk about your new film that you produced, In His Image. And let's start out with the term transgenderism. Is that a biblically accurate term, transgenderism? Is that what Christians should be calling it?

I don't see that word in the Bible. I mean, after all, clothes and you know, hormones can be injected and names can be changed and preferred pronouns can be used, body parts can even be surgically altered, but no one can change their actual sex. So is the word transgenderism accurate from a biblical standpoint?

Well, I would say no, it's not accurate. I mean, the Bible only speaks of male and female, and it says that God created us that way in the beginning. In fact, that's part of Christ's when Christ is defending marriage and talking about all of those things, he he hearkens back to Genesis one and two, and God made them male and female in the beginning. So when Christians start thinking in terms of transgenderism, they're thinking of someone who has, well, it could be any number of things at this point, but from a supposedly medical point of view, we're talking about something called gender dysphoria, which is the idea that psychologically a person doesn't feel at home in the body that they were born with. But of course, your feelings are so subjective and so malleable, really.

Your feelings are always changing. So to take a term and to attach it to what you're really calling is gender fluidity, this feeling that you can't even be certain of who you truly are, is bogus. It doesn't make any sense. And there isn't really any biblical backing, I could say, for why Christians should feel the need to endorse that kind of terminology and to embrace that kind of language. It really sets us off on a bad course by taking us all the way back to just human psychological feelings and all of these things that are all in our head that can fluctuate and change over time.

So no, I would say we shouldn't be committed to any sort of idea of transgenderism as an idea. So what is the term? You use the term obviously in the film, because that's the recognizable term, but what do you think it should be called? Or where is it referred to in the Bible? Is it the effeminate in 1 Corinthians 6?

Well, yeah. I believe that passage certainly does speak to that. I mean, the term effeminate within 1 Corinthians 6 is actually the Greek term malakoi, which means soft man. And there is some debate on exactly what that word is specifically referring to, but it is clear throughout early ancient writing that that term would refer to men who dress themselves up to feminize their bodies to appeal to male suitors, typically within a temple prostitution kind of context where they actively are pursuing homosexual relationships. So they feminize themselves in order to make themselves more feminine.

This could include the removal of body parts. This could mean the addition of makeup and women's clothes and all of those kinds of things. But this concept of the psychological state that you're born with and you're not really sure who you are, I mean, that's foreign to so many ancient cultures. And that's really a very 20th and 21st century idea that builds on this whole psychological kind of mindset that I think this way, therefore I am this way. And so, you know, that kind of language, you know, the Bible speaks very much in terms of behavior and actions. And it also speaks in terms of thought, but it speaks in terms of our thoughts being able to be changed and altered as we are confronted with the truth and we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ. Our thinking does change. So, you know, this whole concept just seems quite foreign from how the Bible talks about it. This has been a short take from The Christian Worldview with David Wheaton. To find out more about The Christian Worldview, order resources, make a donation, become a monthly partner or contact us, visit thechristianworldview.org. You can also call us at toll-free 1-888-646-2233 or write to us at Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.