transgender

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We Are Body and Soul

In her book, Love Thy Body, Nancy Pearcy writes, “The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) says, ‘Transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex the doctor marked on their birth certificate.’ A person pictures the doctor wondering, Hmmm, which sex shall we mark down for this baby? instead of observing it as a scientific fact.” A “devastatingly reductive view of the body” is being nurtured in our society. “Young people are absorbing the idea that the physical body is not part of the authentic self—that the authentic self is only the autonomous choosing self. This is ancient Gnosticism in new garb. Policies imposing transgender ideology on children as early as kindergarten are teaching them to denigrate their bodies—to see their biological sex as having no relevance to who they are as whole persons.”

Pearcy quotes cardiologist Paula Johnson, who says, “Every cell has a sex—and what that means is that men and women are different down to the cellular and molecular level. It means that we’re different across all of our organs, from our brains to our hearts, our lungs, our joints.” So, writes Pearcy, “no matter what your gender philosophy, when you are ill and the doctors put you on the operating table, they still need to know your original biological sex in order to give you the best possible health care.” (Love Thy Body, 195-196).

What can we do? Trust in God the Creator of all life. See how the science of biology reveals God’s master design for the body. Know that Jesus spoke to our full person and human identity when He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). We can also pray for parents to instill proper self-love in children that comes from God’s love through His creation and design … in Jesus’ name.

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Return of the Pied Piper

“The earliest written record from the town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony is from 1384,” writes Lisa Marchiano. “It states simply, ‘It is 100 years since our children left.’ Historical accounts indicate that sometime in the 13th century, a large number of the town’s children disappeared or perished, though details of the event remain a mystery.”

Marchiano is a licensed clinical social worker and has a special interest in children’s fairy tales. As far as she can determine, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” is “the only Grimm’s fairy tale that is based substantially on a historical event. Both the actual event and the Grimm’s tale suggest an archetypal situation in which adults have allowed children to be seduced away into peril. This tale is a disconcertingly apt metaphor for various social contagions that have overtaken collective life throughout the centuries.”

Right now, writes Marchiano, “we appear to be experiencing a significant psychic epidemic that is manifesting as children and young people coming to believe that they are the opposite sex, and in some cases taking drastic measures to change their bodies.” (“Outbreak: the explosion of transgender teens,” Mercatornet, 3/15/18)
Perhaps two other “social contagions” had to be unleashed first. 1) “Children are sexual from birth;” therefore, we need to help them be “comfortable with their sexuality;” and 2) “It’s my body, my choice.”

Can we agree that children are being seduced away into peril? Is there anything we can do about it? I think so. There is an antidote that will counteract the poison. It is telling our children who and Whose they are.

(Image credit: mentalfloss.com)

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Helping to Carry the Cross of Same-Sex Attraction

man alone

Do you think that sex education in the church has unintentionally placed people who carry the cross of same-sex attraction outside the church family?

With its desire to help children “be comfortable with their sexuality” and a strong emphasis on the “gift of sexuality” and the “wondrous joy of sex in marriage,” do you think that sex education in the church has ignored the fact that singleness–whether chosen or not–can be a noble and effective vocation?

It is not absolutely necessary that we experience the joy of “one flesh” in biblical marriage, but it is absolutely necessary that we should be holy. (p. 87)

“Gender identity”–or any kind of sexually-based identity–is deception.

If we were fundamentally “sexual,” then this would hold true not just before the resurrection but also after the resurrection. (Otherwise after the resurrection we would be less than human.) But what does Jesus say? “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage …” (Matt. 22:30; Mark 12:25). Therefore being sexual, that is, capable of sexual activity, is not part of what it means to be human after the resurrection. And if it is not part of our divinely-created human identity in the resurrection where everything will be made perfect, then it is not the central part of our divinely-created identity now. (p.86)

We can help our brothers and sisters who struggle with the cross of same-sex attraction not by focusing so much on the “gift of sexuality,” but on our baptized identity. In Christ, we are sons and daughters of God! His heirs of righteousness!

In heaven there will be no act of marriage or expression of sexuality, no “one flesh” union. So do we lose our identity in heaven? No! Our true identity will remain intact. We will be as He created us–fully human, but perfect in every way, sons and daughters at the Father’s table. We will still be His treasures in Christ but, at last, able to truly reflect His magnificence. For now, we live on earth in human flesh. However, we do not have to obey the passions of our mortal bodies (Ro. 6:12) because holiness is all about God claiming us as His dear children in Christ through water and Word. Through Baptism, we are siblings–brothers and sisters in Christ who can anticipate His return. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can encourage and care for one another in ways that will not bring shame on the Day of the Lord (1 Jn. 2:28). (p. 86)

Quotes are taken from
The Failure of Sex Education in the Church:
Mistaken Identity, Compromised Purity
by Linda Bartlett (Amazon)

Image: flickr.com