The message of transgenderism is clear: there is no unique value in being a woman, nothing specifically glorious about true femininity, and no need for women to be the recipients of particular care and protection.
The transgender movement is the dominant force in American culture right now. It is the subject of rallies and protests, lectures, political platforms, and public school policy. It has been elevated and highlighted by cultural elites with such force that it is virtually impossible not to have an opinion on it. Yet among the arguments swirling around biology, philosophy, sexuality, and mental health, one element of this movement that has been largely ignored is its emphasis on violence, especially violence toward women.
Be Prepared To Withstand
This is not to suggest that all people caught up in transgenderism are violent or have a propensity for violence. However, a brief look on www.terfisaslur.com (which is disturbingly explicit but important to see) exposes the underlying disdain for women, which is inherent in transgenderism. This, coupled with the White House’s public solidarity with a “transgender community under siege” following the martyrdom of six Christian school students and staff members in Nashville by a trans-identifying shooter, ought to set off some alarms. The rhetoric is heating up, the hellish nature of transgenderism is increasingly bubbling its way to the surface, and our public institutions are firmly on the side of non-reality. As Christians, we must not only be prepared to withstand whatever rhetorical or physical attacks come our way, but we must also be proactive in prophetically proclaiming the wicked and dangerous heresy that transgenderism truly is.
The Message Is Clear
The ideology of transgenderism essentially denies the societal necessity of women. While the cult is indiscriminate in seeking to recruit males and females alike into its clutches, the public fallout is more disastrously apparent upon women. This is true from hotly debated topics such as the male domination of female sports or the intrusion of men into women’s private spaces to the overt threats of violence against women and the sexual coercion of lesbian-identifying women to have sexual relations with so-called “trans women” (otherwise known as men). Even during March’s celebration of Women’s History Month, the prominence of men receiving praise and accolades for their womanly heroics highlighted almost to the point of parody the necessary marginalization of women in public life when transgenderism is embraced.
The message of transgenderism is clear: there is no unique value in being a woman, nothing specifically glorious about true femininity, and no need for women to be the recipients of particular care and protection.
Sinful men will abuse and destroy women. It is a result of the fall that those weaker are preyed upon by the stronger, and when God removes His withholding hand of grace, as He has done in America, this will become amplified and normalized. Where there is a covering for sin, sin will abound. And so if violence on the part of men toward women is excused if the man is wearing a dress, then you can be sure that this kind of abuse will only increase because people love the sin.
God’s Safeguards
God guards against this tendency toward the abuse of the weak in His law. God’s law is full of specific protections for women, from the laws regarding pregnant women who suffer harm (Exodus 21:22-25) to laws regulating frivolous and unjustified divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), to the protections of women who are raped (Deuteronomy 23:25-29). Perhaps of most significant note is the consistent call for particular care of widows and orphans, those women and children who have been left without the protection men are expected to provide. As offensive as it may be to modern sentiments, women are created by God as “the weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7), and God’s just law reflects this created reality in the special protections it affords them.
It follows, then, that when God is denied, when His law is cast aside, and men follow their own passions, those righteous safeguards will not remain. God and His word stand as the only possible foundation for a decent and lawful society. And so when God’s word that men and women are distinct (Genesis 1:27, Matthew 19:4) began to be denied by the feminist insistence that men and women are essentially the same, the cultural expectation that special attention and care be paid to women—what we would call chivalry—largely disappeared. Now that this sex-denying heresy has fully flourished in transgenderism, it is no surprise that overt violence on the part of men toward women is becoming acceptable and normalized.
A God-Hating Ideology
Transgenderism is a God-hating ideology and is, therefore, a God’s-image-hating ideology, and since women are the weaker category of image-bearer, they bear the brunt of the hatred. It is interesting to consider that for quite some time, Leftists have used Handmaid’s Tale imagery of women being reduced to forced birthers as a fear-mongering tactic against anyone who is pro-life. Their claim is that any legislation that protects the life of any preborn children will inevitably lead to the bondage of all women as sex slaves. Yet the ideology which truly will end up putting women in chains and forcing them to reproduce is transgenderism.
As an ideology that denies any social necessity of women, which claims that men, in fact, make perfectly fine women, then the only thing the genuine article will be needed for is procreation. A consistently applied transgenderism sees the biological female as a birthing person and does not need her to be anything else. This is the true dystopia on the horizon if this wicked heresy is allowed to continue.
We Have The Answer
The Christian worldview is the answer. It is only this worldview that can acknowledge the relative weakness of women as compared to men and yet affirm a perfectly equal value, dignity, and worth because they are both made in God’s image. It is this reality which calls for the treasuring and cherishing of women rather than their domination. It is this worldview which can see the beauty of gentleness and weakness because our Lord Himself became weak and lowly, and when we are weak, it drives us to His strength.
Women are infinitely more than their reproductive capabilities. Yet, their designed ability to conceive, nurture, and bear new life impacts everything about them, whether or not they ever become wives or mothers. The human race was incomplete until God created woman. She is necessary for the work of taking dominion, and any worldview that denies this necessity is one that is in direct opposition to God and His creation.
Luke Griffo is an elder and member of leadership at Redeemer Church of South Hills in West Mifflin, PA. Click here for more RCSH Blog posts.
Become a fan of Redeemer Church of South Hills on Facebook, and follow Redeemer Church of South Hills on our YouTube Channel for more exclusive RCSH content.
