I have withheld comment on the Jenner-transgender story for several days. I have read what many others have said. I deeply appreciate the contribution to the conversation made by Christians who have dealt with and deal with sexuality and gender issues. I particularly appreciate the story and testimony of Jackie Hill-Perry.
I also found Russell Moore’s response helpful.
What I haven’t heard anyone address is the reality that “transformation” is being co-opted into the advocacy for transgenderification.
The word transitioning which has been used by trans-people for some years, is being replaced by the word transformation. They have also sought to co-opt the language of the soul into a discussion that is clearly body focused. One glance at the airbrushed Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair silences all arguments to the contrary. If this is not about sexualization, pornographic temptation and the glorification of the physical body then why appear nearly naked as your first exposure to the world?
If you read the interview you hear Jenner say things about his soul. But those statements are disconnected from the reality of a personal Creator God who knit Jenner together in his mother’s womb just as God saw fit to do. So, if God is really God (holy, perfect and infallible) then how could God have mistakenly knit Caitlyn together to be born as Bruce. Something is seriously wrong with God if that happened the way Jenner says. A person who believes that they were born in the wrong body cannot also believe in God who makes no mistakes.
What God offers in all sufficient measure to those whose souls are sick, minds confused and lives wracked by sin is redemption. A whole new life – lived in Christ Jesus who died to set us free from the bondage of sin and death. Somewhere along the way I wish Jenner had met a Jesus freak who would have introduced Jenner to the strange and wonderful Savior.
He could have experienced the transformation for which he instinctively longed. He could have lived in freedom and hope and joy. He could have been transformed by the renewing of his mind by the Word of God instead of conformed to the image of a sex object fit for Hollywood’s reality-TV reel.
The transformation that Jenner really needed was the one by which a sinner’s life is transformed moment by moment, from one degree of glory to another, not into the image of Caitlyn, but into the image of Christ.
From a Biblical perspective, transformation is what happens when the reality of who Jesus is shines through into the darkness and doubt and despair of human brokenness. That is the transformation that Jenner needed and still needs.
Transformation is not a word we should allow to be co-opted in the conversation about transgenderism; it is the hope-filled promise we should making to those who are caught in the confusion of our culture.
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A perfect, succinct observation.
In Genesis 1, God made humankind after His likeness and in His image. Not only do we human beings have the idolatrous inclination to return the favor, but we also have the strong but sinful inclination to make ourselves over into our own image of what we would like to be like, rather than submit ourselves to God’s much more thorough transformation that involves a level of knowledge and skill that infinitely surpasses that of the best-educated and most experienced psychotherapist or plastic surgeon.
the Jenner saga is more about publicity and such. There are issues of gender identity that this column does not even begin to address or understand. To get into the issues of transformation versus transgender is sophistry. And the statement that God never makes mistakes is just cruel. To the parent of the deformed child or the Down’s syndrome child this is insensitive and beyond belief.
I’m just waiting for the new Wheaties box to come out
LaBerge’s topic was specifically about Bruce Jenner. Regarding your topic, may I suggest the classic book ‘Why/When Bad things happen to good people,’ by Rabbi Harold Kushner.
Timothy—I have read Rabbi Kushner’s book years ago. I do not care for that kind of theology and it is certainly not Calvinist.
I find a lot of assumption in these comments – assumption about the faith life or lack there of of Mr/Ms Jenner. Do we know that he/she is not a Christian or are you assuming that no true Christian would have these issues?
A LOT of assumptions in what you wrote. I don’t know if Caitlyn Jenner (it’s very poor manners not to use the name a person gives you to use) is a Christian or not. Aside from her athletic medals as an Olympian when she identified as Bruce, and her attachment to the…Kardashians (not a high point) I did not much care about her personal life and had no idea if she is a Christian. But, she may be, and she may be a wonderful Christian at that. The Reverend Erin Swenson is a wonderful pastor, devoted Christian, and transgender woman who is, and has long been, a PCUSA pastor. I have had the honor of seeing her work with the homeless, and the less blessed than most of us. She is a wonderful person, a follower of Christ, an excellent pastor, I am told an excellent counselor, and proof that being transgendered is not some automatic negation of being any of those things. It is inappropriate in the extreme to automatically assume that it would be. She is a follower of Christ, and did what after prayer, study, and discussion with her physicians, she felt called to do.
Is Caitlyn Jenner a Christian? I don’t know. But I know from having met a wonderful transgendered Christian Pastor that is certainly possible to be one.
One other transgendered person I have met told me this, and it is worth remembering.
“God didn’t make a mistake with me.(I had asked if she thought He had) God gave me a journey to be on. A hard one, but, its mine. we all have one, and on this journey I’ve found out who my friends are, and that always, always, ALWAYS I could count on God being there for me. Always.”
Really Anne?
Then you tell us how to explain to a kid who’s watching the news how a Husband and Father decides to become a drag queen.
this way, I am told, works best.
“dad, I dont understand. Did that woman used to be a man?”
if the child is small, just say “yes. its very rare, but, sometimes, people make that change” “why?” “they think they dont have the body that makes them happy. you may be a bit young to understand..even I dont entirely understand it. but remember how I told you we respect adults who do things we don’t always understand if they have not hurt anyone, and how the world is full of different kinds of different people who believe different things?” “yeah” “well…this is one of those times.” “ok dad. can we play outside now?”
“sure”…..
If older, go into more detail. adolescents understand what hormones are and do, and how taking them can change a body. If the child is old enough, and asks, explain how surgury is used by some to effect this change.
It all depends on the age, maturity and understanding of the child you are talking to.
several people I know have had this exact conversation and variations on it, with not a problem. kids are honest, and ask honest questions. And they know a truthful, loving and helpful answer when they hear it, then move on. In the case of the kids in reference here, they move on ready to be friends with the children of transgendered people, transgendered classmates (oh yes, happens more than you might think) and the work place, where more and more of the fortune 500 are adopting very blunt policies on inclusion, and where already their coworkers are loath to work with anyone who gives off a whiff of appearing intolerant, and their corporate HR dept agrees, and the joint chiefs are discussing how to integrate trans people into the services, since the inclusion of GLB people was met with basically, a “whatever” by those serving and society, thats happening very soon.
of course, its actually ALL kids who will live in this world…its just a matter of whether they will all be ready.
Thank you Carmen, for centering us on God’s best even in the midst of cultural confusion.
I am reading through the devotional: 40 Days To A Joy- Filled Life.
Today it was about Self Identity vs God Identity
“Your self- concept is the picture that you hold of yourself at the unconscious level. It forms gradually throughout your life and generally includes the beliefs you have about the past, present, and future.
……here is the key: Your true self- worth is based only on what God says about you, not on how you feel about yourself.”
Jenner has made choices on how he feels about himself alone.
He changes with the self Concept within that changes with his circumstances. The outward appearances reflect the divided concept he has about himself. Whatever state of mind he is in, my hope is that he can replace his self identity with a true picture of God’s love for him and know that the real struggle is connecting with
God for a true sense of self worth despite the confusion within.
Let’s pray for the transgender person to find real transformation as God
Intends for a true identity that is solid and brings peace.