I feel obligated to speak on an issue that is permeating our society today. It’s in our media, all over the Internet, in public and private discussions, in the news, on the radio, and in some pulpits. It’s an issue that divides people into pro and con, for and against. People engage in protests and riots over this; they get violent over this issue. Some people tell us to just let people do whatever they want to do, while others tell us that we need to stand strongly against such behaviors. Some people say that we make too much of it, while others say we need to speak more boldly and publicly about it. Some want to eradicate this lifestyle entirely from our society, while others support it and promote it as a way to solve personal problems.

The issue that I have in mind, and that I’d really rather not talk about at all, is trans-genderism. Some of us have probably heard more about this than we want to. If you are like me, you’d rather not hear anything about it at all. But this is a moral issue, and Christians have to take a stand on it. The church has to take a position on it. There should be no confusion about the right response to this modern problem. We must make sure we are on the biblical side of this contemporary dividing line issue.

Those who actually claim to be transgender are a very small minority of the population, although their numbers are growing larger all the time. Young people especially seem to be easily convinced that, if they have a certain kind of confusion or frustration with their lives, the solution to their problems is to transition to the opposite sex. And this has led to all sorts of moral questions.

This is a large topic, and it’s important that we begin at the right place. We have to start our evaluation with what God has said. Often, the discussion begins with an account of someone’s sad, tragic, distressing life experience. People want to tell us about all the horrible things that they have suffered because of their gender problems. They want us to hear their stories. They want us to have compassion and sympathy for suffering people; they want us to respond emotionally, not rationally. They want us to buy into the story, the narrative. They want us to sympathize with those who suffer in this way so that we support and affirm them. They are appealing to our emotions, not to our minds. They want us to be most concerned about people and their tragic experiences. That’s why they promote their stories; stories like this are emotionally moving and compelling. Natural sympathy for those who suffer with this leads to supporting them in their transitions and ignore the facts of the case.

Those alarming accounts of suffering people may be true, but they are the wrong place to begin. We begin our evaluation of this subject by appealing to our Creator. What has God told us regarding these issues? Has he revealed anything to us by which to judge this issue? We don’t start with humanity; we always start with God—every time, on every issue. We must begin with God’s revelation—the Bible, Scripture, God’s sacred word—that is and must be our highest authority. Our first concern is not how people feel or what they’ve experienced; our first concern “What saith the Scriptures?” If we reverse the order on this issue, we’ll end up in the wrong place.

This is an exceedingly significant issue with alarming consequences. For example, Washington state recently imposed a law allowing children to legally be taken away from their parents if they do not consent to gender transition procedures on their child.[1] Other states will probably follow this same pattern. The federal government could also impose similar rules or laws. Leaders of our society are forcing us to accept transgenderism through legal means. They are threatening significant consequences to those who oppose gender transition efforts. So this is a major issue that could affect us in serious ways, and we need to look at it from a biblical point of view. We must think and act like Christians on this—and every— moral issue.

And so, what does the Bible have to say about transgenderism?

[1] Sarah Arnold, “Washington To Allow Children to Be Legally Taken From Parents If They Don’t Consent to Gender Transition.” 15 April 2023. https://townhall.com/