GOOD MORNING BELOVED!
Welcome to another edition of the SJMBC Podcast:
“HOW IMPORTANT IS THE WORD OF GOD TO YOU WHEN IT COMES TO . . . ?”
I am your host Brother Henry Cotton, Jr. and I am also the Pastor of the SJMBC. Welcome to Podcast number 21. The topic for our Podcast today is:
“HOW IMPORTANT IS THE WORD OF GOD TO YOU WHEN IT COMES TO . . . HOW TO TREAT TRANSGENDERS?”
Before we get deep into this topic, I think we need to at least start out on the same page by understanding what the term “TRANSGENDER” means. When I searched Google, these are some of the definitions I found in the Oxford English Dictionary, Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., and Gayety Magazine:
By Gayety Staff
Posted on November 20, 2020 – Transgender-identified author Virginia Prince is most often credited with coining the term. In 1969, Prince used the term “transgenderal” to distinguish herself from transsexuals, or those who physically alter their bodies through hormones and surgery. Her use of the term “transgenderal” clearly distinguished between trans-ing sex (male or female) versus trans-ing gender (masculine or feminine). The word transgender gained widespread popularity in the 1990s as an umbrella term to describe people who cross over — or trans – traditional gender roles.
TRANSGENDER ADJECTIVE & NOUN
Designating a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond to that person’s sex at birth, or which does not otherwise conform to conventional notions of sex and gender.
Transgender (Brittanica), term self-applied by persons whose gender identity varies from that traditionally associated with their apparent biological sex at birth. In its original and narrower sense, transgender referred to males and females who respectively gender-identify as females and males. In a later and broader sense, it has come to designate persons whose gender identities incorporate behaviors and traits traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transgender persons may thus include transsexuals, transgenderists (in one usage of the term, persons who gender-identify with the opposite sex but who choose not to undergo sex-reassignment surgery or hormone treatments).
Transgender (Wikipedia)
The term transgender (often shortened to trans) refers to people whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Often, transgender people desire medical assistance to medically transition from one sex to another; those who do may identify as transsexual. Transgender does not have a universally accepted definition, including among researchers; it can function as an umbrella term. The definition given above includes binary trans men and trans women and may also include people who are non-binary or genderqueer. Other related groups include third-gender* people, cross-dressers, and drag queens and drag kings; some definitions include these groups as well.
*Third gender or third sex is an identity recognizing individuals categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither a man nor a woman.
Take note of these key/common points about the term “Transgender”:
- Just became a popular term in the 1990’s.
- It is a more-or-less self-imposed term.
- It is not universally defined.
- It is a “umbrella” term that covers everyone from Androgynous people to “Third-Gender” people.
- It is commonly used by people who choose to identify with the sex that is different from the one they were biologically assigned at birth.
These designations are becoming widely “accepted” in societies all over the world. Do the scriptures have anything to contribute to these Mores? Let us look at a few passages of scriptures:
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.“ Genesis 1:27 (NIV)
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6 (NIV)
“But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.” Mark 10:6 (NIV)
So what we see in the word of GOD is that GOD created Man and Woman; Male and Female. There was, nor is there, a “Third Gender.” The evidence I see when it comes to Transgender people is that they are self-designated, cosigned by those who practice a similar lifestyle, and gaining great prominence by a large portion of the world’s population whose mores are contrary to that of GOD’s word.
If GOD does not recognize and/or condone Transgender behaviors and lifestyles in His word, how can I as a follower of GOD’s word do anything different?
Remember, our ZOOM Podcast airs live on Tuesdays at 7:00am:
Pastor Cotton is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82997714213
Meeting ID: 829 9771 4213
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Website: https://stjamesmbcphilly.com
Email: pastor@stjamesmbcphilly.com
