Is ‘De-Gendering’ a Sin?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Welcome back.

00:00:05.600 | Today's topic is a sensitive one.

00:00:08.680 | So just a heads up on that.

00:00:09.800 | We get a lot of questions from a lot of listeners

00:00:12.880 | on a very wide range of life situations, obviously.

00:00:17.080 | And many of these questions come to us

00:00:18.560 | from pretty broken places.

00:00:20.160 | And I think that's true today.

00:00:21.680 | We addressed an email from a woman,

00:00:24.520 | a female by birth, born with two X chromosomes.

00:00:28.560 | She's written in anonymously to ask this.

00:00:32.440 | Pastor John, hi.

00:00:33.960 | I find myself at a stage in my life

00:00:36.760 | when I'm seriously considering

00:00:38.280 | removing my female body parts,

00:00:40.040 | namely my breasts and my uterus,

00:00:42.000 | because I no longer want to be a woman.

00:00:45.260 | Women are perceived as weak vessels

00:00:47.160 | whose only purpose is to have children.

00:00:49.260 | Even the scripture supports that ideology, she writes.

00:00:53.380 | As a modern woman, quote unquote,

00:00:56.180 | I have no desire to have children or get married,

00:00:58.880 | but to have a successful career

00:01:00.720 | to help support less fortunate people

00:01:03.320 | and animals live better lives.

00:01:05.500 | My question is this,

00:01:06.580 | would doing this to my body be sinful?

00:01:11.240 | Yes, it will be sinful.

00:01:14.020 | And it will probably be dreadfully destructive

00:01:20.220 | to you as a person.

00:01:24.100 | And I want to give you six reasons

00:01:26.300 | in response to what you've said.

00:01:30.220 | So I hope you'll be willing to listen to me

00:01:33.220 | 'cause this is not gonna be easy for you to hear.

00:01:35.800 | I hope you have the courage to listen it out.

00:01:38.780 | Number one, no, neither the Bible nor the church

00:01:43.780 | has ever said or hinted

00:01:49.160 | that woman's only purpose is to have children.

00:01:53.900 | Nor is this the view of the vast majority

00:01:57.980 | of human beings in the world.

00:01:59.760 | The very fact that you would say this

00:02:04.900 | shows how conflicted you are

00:02:07.260 | because you know that's not true.

00:02:10.000 | You know it's not true.

00:02:12.500 | You know that in the gospels,

00:02:14.980 | women followed Jesus and served him in many ways,

00:02:18.180 | Luke 8, one to three.

00:02:20.220 | You know that Paul refers to numerous women

00:02:22.980 | who labored side by side with him in the gospel.

00:02:25.820 | You know that love between a man and a woman in marriage

00:02:29.820 | is vastly deeper and richer than only baby making.

00:02:34.820 | You know that in history,

00:02:37.440 | the prayers and the service of women

00:02:39.580 | have turned the tide for good in communities again and again.

00:02:44.420 | You know that today women work in hundreds of vocations

00:02:48.020 | and most of them do it gladly as women,

00:02:51.460 | not in spite of being women.

00:02:53.420 | You know these things.

00:02:56.000 | And yet you still say

00:02:58.900 | women are perceived as having

00:03:01.460 | only the purpose of childbearing.

00:03:03.440 | I wonder why that is.

00:03:04.480 | Why do you say that?

00:03:05.480 | What it sounds like is that you're not thinking clearly.

00:03:10.000 | You're not speaking and thinking clearly.

00:03:14.340 | You're speaking and thinking carelessly.

00:03:17.100 | And that is not a good place

00:03:19.820 | from which to make a massive decision

00:03:22.960 | like the one you are contemplating.

00:03:25.660 | It would be folly.

00:03:26.960 | Second, yes, woman is the weaker vessel,

00:03:32.980 | as Peter says, and as everybody knows.

00:03:38.180 | That's why there's a woman's NBA,

00:03:41.580 | women's college volleyball, women's gymnastics,

00:03:45.540 | women's track and field, women's soccer,

00:03:48.720 | women's Tour de France.

00:03:50.480 | God made men stronger.

00:03:55.080 | And there are reasons for this.

00:03:57.920 | And he really is wise.

00:03:59.700 | He really is very good in making such decisions.

00:04:04.020 | If you don't trust him with the way he made the world,

00:04:09.700 | then that's one of the main reasons

00:04:12.760 | that what you are about to do is sin.

00:04:15.340 | You're not acting in faith,

00:04:18.220 | but anger and resentment at the way God made you.

00:04:22.700 | You are evidently not trusting God's wisdom, but denying it.

00:04:28.300 | That's not a safe place

00:04:30.840 | from which to make this massive decision.

00:04:33.840 | But there's a sad thing as well besides this point.

00:04:37.860 | When you're done mutilating yourself,

00:04:42.840 | you're still going to be part of the weaker sex.

00:04:45.640 | You can make your chest flat.

00:04:48.860 | That won't make you strong.

00:04:52.020 | You can pump testosterone into your body

00:04:55.380 | and grow more hair and make your voice lower,

00:04:58.400 | but you'll still be a woman.

00:05:00.740 | You'll be weaker than 90% of the men your age.

00:05:06.620 | In fact, you will be weaker than you were before.

00:05:10.940 | Not stronger, because pretense is weakness.

00:05:14.860 | Living a life, trying to be what you are not,

00:05:20.220 | is a life of weakness.

00:05:21.800 | Third, you say, "As a modern woman,

00:05:28.140 | I have no desire to have children or get married."

00:05:32.100 | I have two questions for you.

00:05:35.460 | Is your desire your God?

00:05:40.500 | It sounds like it.

00:05:43.500 | Are you humbly asking the true and living God,

00:05:47.640 | "God, what are your desires?

00:05:51.500 | What is your will for me?"

00:05:54.220 | Or does that matter to you?

00:05:55.860 | Is your desire final?

00:05:58.820 | If it is, that's another evidence of sin

00:06:04.480 | behind your thinking.

00:06:06.680 | Second question, what if your desire changes

00:06:11.560 | in five or 10 years?

00:06:13.120 | "Oh, how I wish I knew your name."

00:06:18.200 | So I could say with all earnestness,

00:06:22.880 | "Seriously, Chelsea, seriously, think about this.

00:06:27.880 | Surely you have lived long enough to know

00:06:33.760 | that what you desire today

00:06:37.000 | may not be what you desire tomorrow.

00:06:39.800 | You know this.

00:06:43.200 | In one moment, you can destroy a whole life

00:06:47.080 | of possibilities that you may desperately desire someday.

00:06:51.960 | If you blow me off here and think you can predict

00:06:56.820 | your desires 10 years from now, you are delusional.

00:07:01.360 | You know it.

00:07:03.120 | Wake up, be realistic.

00:07:05.680 | You do not know what your desires will be in 10 years.

00:07:09.560 | Don't cut off those possibilities."

00:07:12.420 | Number four, if you want to serve the less fortunate,

00:07:18.140 | do you want to do it for Christ's sake?

00:07:22.620 | Do you want to do it for His glory?

00:07:26.800 | If not, it's idolatry.

00:07:32.040 | If you do, then why wouldn't you consult with Him

00:07:36.000 | for how you can glorify Him through your body,

00:07:40.760 | the way He made you?

00:07:42.000 | I mean, if His glory matters to you in serving the poor,

00:07:47.920 | wouldn't it matter in how to be a woman?

00:07:50.820 | Number five, if you really love people

00:07:56.960 | and care about the disadvantaged,

00:07:59.800 | God cares about that as much as you do.

00:08:03.040 | He loves that, which is why millions of competent,

00:08:07.800 | caring, persevering, Christ-exalting women,

00:08:12.660 | women are leading the vanguard

00:08:16.720 | in many such ministries of compassion and justice.

00:08:21.560 | Why in the world would you think

00:08:26.400 | that you will be a better lover of needy people

00:08:31.160 | as a fake man than a real woman?

00:08:35.080 | You know that's inconsistent.

00:08:38.600 | If you really want to give your life

00:08:41.160 | for the sake of others who are less advantaged, praise God.

00:08:46.160 | That's what He wants for you.

00:08:50.320 | He wants it more than you do,

00:08:52.380 | and He made you perfectly suited

00:08:55.620 | for His calling on you to do it.

00:08:58.700 | Breasts and uterus and hormones and monthly cycle

00:09:03.460 | and brain structures, all of it gloriously suited

00:09:07.700 | for what He's calling you to do.

00:09:10.300 | He's not stupid.

00:09:11.940 | He doesn't make mistakes.

00:09:14.400 | Your recreation of you

00:09:18.660 | will not be a better lover of the poor

00:09:22.180 | than God's creation of you.

00:09:24.100 | Number six, God made us male and female,

00:09:30.900 | and we are male and female all the way down.

00:09:36.660 | The glory of womanhood is not something as superficial

00:09:41.300 | as breasts and uterus.

00:09:43.500 | It is marked in every cell of your body,

00:09:49.140 | every dimension of your soul, every part of your brain.

00:09:53.820 | You can't even begin to undo

00:09:58.860 | the pervasive mystery of your womanhood.

00:10:02.000 | Your womanhood is like yeast in the dough,

00:10:07.100 | like the color in the paint of your life,

00:10:12.820 | like the aroma in the flower that you are,

00:10:17.820 | like the melody in the song.

00:10:21.040 | Dear friend whose name I wish I knew,

00:10:25.700 | you are a female wonder of God's handiwork,

00:10:29.940 | and no amount of chipping away at it

00:10:32.920 | will make it cease to be a God-designed masterpiece.

00:10:36.860 | So I conclude, yes, it will be a sin,

00:10:44.480 | a tragedy, and almost certainly tragically regretted

00:10:49.480 | if you have yourself mutilated to try to be what you are not

00:10:56.740 | and what God did not make you to be.

00:10:59.920 | And I plead with you, don't do that.

00:11:03.380 | Surrender to Him and His will and His wisdom

00:11:09.200 | and His love and His Son, Jesus,

00:11:12.920 | and you will find an amazing life of purpose

00:11:17.120 | as He created you to be.

00:11:20.440 | - Yeah, thank you, Pastor John, for that bold word,

00:11:23.060 | a necessary word, much appreciated.

00:11:25.920 | And thank you for joining us today.

00:11:27.000 | Ask a question of your own,

00:11:28.840 | even very sensitive questions that you want to,

00:11:30.920 | send us anonymously, we respect that.

00:11:32.840 | Send us your questions at askpastorjohn.com.

00:11:35.800 | We're gonna take a break from controversies next time,

00:11:39.480 | and we do so to talk about book reading.

00:11:41.680 | Back in 1981, Pastor John,

00:11:43.800 | you wrote an amazing sentence about sentences.

00:11:47.360 | You said, quote, "What I have learned

00:11:48.840 | "from about 20 years of serious reading is this,

00:11:52.380 | "sentences change my life, not books."

00:11:56.760 | Sentences change my life, not books, I love it.

00:12:00.060 | We're gonna look at that point next time.

00:12:01.640 | I'm your host Tony Rehnke,

00:12:02.560 | and we'll see you back here on Wednesday.

00:12:04.360 | See you then.

00:12:05.200 | (upbeat music)

00:12:07.780 | (upbeat music)

00:12:10.360 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Is ‘De-Gendering’ a Sin?

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