Christians have to confront the issue of transgenderism which, especially in its more extreme form, is the latest front in the culture wars surrounding us. We should be clear that this movement, which is very influential and has the power to shape society, is utterly unbiblical and is harmful to both adults and children.

Transgenderism has even overtaken and dominates the other parts of the LGBTQ movement, with otherwise staunch feminists and lesbians being dismissed and attacked as TERFS – trans-exclusionary radical feminists. The recent Pride month is replete with examples of transgender activists excluding homosexuals and lesbians from their marches because they believe the science and understand that you cannot change your sex.

We should realise that whenever we publicly reject the ideology of this movement we will find ourselves under attack. There is no need to draw back from confrontation, for despite being powerful, it is vulnerable to reason and to the Bible.

Distorting Scripture

Unfortunately, there are parts of what purport to be the Church which support and encourage the transgender movement. Thankfully, woke Christians can always be counted on to go too far and in doing so demonstrate their inability to interpret Scripture, or even understand how ordinary people communicate.

Exegesis is when the reader tries to discern the meaning of the biblical passage; eisegesis is when the reader is intent on reading his own opinions into the passage.

So determined are they to prove their point that they engage in what can only be described as the wilful distortion of Scripture. Every student of Scripture and every trainee minister is told at the beginning of their studies that there is the world of difference between biblical exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis is when the reader tries to discern the meaning of the biblical passage; eisegesis is when the reader is intent on reading his own opinions into the passage.

One of the clearest recent examples of how to distort Scripture by eisegesis comes from Dr Caleb J Lines, senior minister at University Christian Church in San Diego, California. Lines is the homosexual pastor who eagerly assures us that ‘Drag is holy’.

In support of this he quotes Matthew 23 in which Jesus describes his anguish over Jerusalem’s intransigence by saying, ‘How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!’ (v37).

False Arguments

Dr Lines argues: “If Jesus can be a mother hen then you can dress in drag. I’ve even heard it said that Jesus was, and humanity is, God in drag.” Dr Lines’s argument can be dismissed as a non-sequitur in that the conclusion he reaches is not warranted by the argument he makes. But as well as being a logical fallacy, it takes special pleading of an extraordinary extent to argue from this passage that Jesus sees himself as a female hen. Instead of reading the passage metaphorically or poetically, Dr Lines, the ultra-progressive Christian, chooses to take it more literally than the most rabid fundamentalist!

it takes special pleading of an extraordinary extent to argue from this passage that Jesus sees himself as a female hen.

Any Christian in the pew who reads Matthew 23:37 would assume that Jesus was using a prophetic simile concerning the coming destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. A simile is a common figure of speech in which two unlike things are compared often using the word ‘like’ or ‘as’. It does not mean that the things actually are the same. In this passage Jesus is saying that he longs to shelter Jerusalem in its danger in the same way a mother hen gathers her brood for protection. Not by the furthest stretch of the imagination is he using the simile to teach us that gender is a social construct and that we should therefore flout gender roles.

Another basic principle of Scriptural interpretation is that we should compare Scripture with Scripture; thus protecting us from going off on a wild goose chase of our own devising. When we look at the rest of the Bible, we find passages which directly prohibit making yourself look like the opposite sex. Crossing sexual boundaries is explicitly forbidden.
Deuteronomy 22:5 tells us that men shall not put on women’s clothing and that women should not wear men’s. The person who does this is an abomination to the Lord. We should be clear that this does not mean that women should not wear trousers or men kilts, or that pantomime dames are an abomination. What is forbidden is the attempt to appear as an actual member of the opposite sex.

This is made clear in I Corinthians 11 where Paul says that a man who makes himself look like a woman because of his hairstyle is a disgrace. Further, in I Corinthians 6:9-11, amongst a list of those who will not inherit the kingdom of God, we find homosexuals. The term used is one which literally means ‘soft men’ or ‘effeminate men’. It refers to passive homosexual men who make themselves look like women through their mannerisms, makeup, dress and even by undergoing castration.

What is forbidden is the attempt to appear as an actual member of the opposite sex.

It is more than unlikely that Jesus would have approved of men in drag. Instead of saying that ‘drag is holy’ he would surely have said the opposite – that ‘drag is an abomination’.

Don’t Draw Back

As well as being an example of the progressive Christian who is fully woke, Dr Lines is also an example of how easy it is for orthodox Christians to puncture and deflate their manifestly unbiblical teaching.

We should not draw back from calmly confronting such woke teaching and puncturing their arguments with both the Bible and reason.

The progressive Church is the gift which keeps on giving.

The Rev. Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack is a retired Church of Scotland minister; now a member of the Free Church of Scotland. Check out his many incisive articles on his blog, A Grain of Sand.