The souls who call themselves "transgendered" are ho-hum on campuses today. Here's an excerpt from an IDS (Indiana Daily Student) article about a young women at Indiana University who grew up in a Christian home in a nearby town and is trying to delete her womanhood:
Though Whaley identifies as a man, his parents, legal ID and the U.S. Army still use female pronouns in reference to him. Luckily for him, his girlfriend Haylee Mclain and his best friend Chelsey Eads see him as the person he is striving to become.
“I grew up in a Christian family, so it’s a little bit difficult for me,” Whaley said. “First coming out as a lesbian then coming out as transgender, it’s a little hard, and it’s getting harder now that I’m getting older.”
...When Ash decided to come out to his parents, they were less than accepting.
"She still uses female pronouns, and when I'm dating someone she's like, 'so who's your friend?' Come on mom, friend? She's my girlfriend," he said.
...Last summer Whaley, his family and a couple friends went on a boat and while on the lake Whaley told his stepfather that his friend Sean was a trans man.
"When I came out as transgender my mom said 'you better not be transitioning like Sean is,'" Whaley said. "My sexuality is never spoken of, really. It's just kind of ignored."
Several Reformed pastors and elders have asked for advice concerning how to love and serve members of their congregations who identify as "transgendered." Some of the souls they are wondering how to care for have had surgery and take hormones and some neither.
If we are to love today's sinners, we should be prepared to love these particular sinners and to explain to them and the others in our congregations why we use this or that pronoun, why we direct them to use this or that bathroom, why we exhort and instruct them in this and that direction, etc. We also need to teach everyone in our congregations the difference between sex and gender; and that sex trumps gender and is fixed by God—not man. Such teaching is the first step of repentance and faith in our peverse generation, and thus the first step of loving the souls of our perverse generation. And such teaching will be needed as much or more by those souls coming into our congregations from Reformed churches as those coming in from rank paganism.
Sad but true.
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
Want to get in touch? Send Tim an email!
