I think I speak for most millennial Christians when I say the topic of transgender and all things LGBT is a bit uncomfortable and confusing. We’ve grown up in a society where homosexuality is more widely accepted than ever, and many of our peers identify as such. We know God is loving and good, but we also know the Bible addresses homosexuality as a sin. So, what’s the answer?
How can we truthfully and graciously address the LGBT topic? How can we be sure of truth when we live in a society so keen on blurring the lines between human truth and God-inspired truth?
If I’ve learned anything from my University humanities classes, both in the U.S. and in Europe, it’s that there are one million intellectual ways to talk about the effects and purposes of gender identification and sexual orientation.
For two semesters, my teachers asked us students to write in-depth analyses about the transgender transformations of individuals like Caitlyn Jenner. Professors opened the floor for discussion and my fellow 20-somethings poured out their most philosophical, educational opinions.
Admittedly, my peers delivered impactful political and societal ideas capable of bringing about equality and acceptance for people who identify as LGBT. But, I’m hard-pressed to believe even the most effective legal adjustments will truly resolve the heart of the transgender issue.
The heart of the transgender issue, and the heart of all issues is exactly that — the human heart. We are broken. We are flawed. We are but dust. Me, you and Caitlyn.
In the University classroom, intellectual achievement is the god and God Himself is a fanciful idea. We twirl concepts and strategies around until we are blue in the face, but still there is no lasting solution.
This is not a call to forego educational conversations about LGBT. We must educate ourselves about that which we engage in, but let us not be fooled into thinking that our intellectual conversations are going to bring true resolve. Jesus said He came so that we would have a full life, and that fullness cannot be found in human effort. As it stands, the more we look to human intellect for answers, the more fooled we become.
“Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor the idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards no slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
It’s not intellectual; it’s not a ten-step program. It’s not a heated debate on CNN. It’s the simple gospel truth: all of us have sinned, and all of us are incapable of living lives God wants us to live until we accept Christ. But He is a kind God and in His kindness He promised us power from God’s Holy Spirit — power to do all He calls us to in this life.
Ultimately, all sin is offensive to God — the homosexual’s vice and the heterosexual’s vice, and our inability to recognize our specific sin does not cause God to see our wrongdoing as less offensive than another’s.
The transgender topic is hard. All things LGBT are difficult for many of us to understand, but that’s okay. What we do understand is that God desires relationship with every single one of us. So, let’s live from that perspective.
Love is the call on our lives, and since Christ’s love does not waiver as the winds of societal, sexual or mental change blow, so our love for others should remain steadfast. We must look past what we do not understand and choose to see things from God’s heavenly vision. Every heart — the heart of the homosexual, the heterosexual and the transgender — is growing increasingly desperate for a Saviour, for someone to lift us out of our wretched and powerless states and into true and perfect freedom that transcends any political, social or philosophical agenda.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Photo by (flickr CC): torbakhopper
