Not the author of confusion

God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

(I Corinthians 14:33)

The invention of a new "civil right" is being forced upon us. I believe that if the great martyr of genuine Civil Rights could see what is being done in the name of "Civil Rights," he would be disgusted - that is, if the things he actually believed in his lifetime are taken into account. In recent days the world has been subjected to the sight of Bruce Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair, calling himself "Caitlyn" and appearing like a woman. In Germany, Reinhold Cardinal Marx has spoken of "her" in glowing terms, saying the Church should support "her right" to be whatever "she" wants. As of the time of this writing it remains to be seen what Pope Francis in Rome has to say about that.

Meanwhile, in Baltimore, Maryland, Johns Hopkins Hospital is bucking the trend. as reported by CNS News, 

Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgenderism is a “mental disorder” that merits treatment, that sex change is "biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.

He also reported on a new study showing that the suicide rate among transgendered people who had reassignment surgery is 20 times higher than the suicide rate among non-transgender people.

Johns Hopkins, possibly the finest hospital in the world, certainly one with a reputation that is unsurpassed, does not perform such operations anymore. The report continues:

Dr. McHugh also reported that there are “misguided doctors” who, working with very young children who seem to imitate the opposite sex, will administer “puberty-delaying hormones to render later sex-change surgeries less onerous – even though the drugs stunt the children’s growth and risk causing sterility.”

Such action comes “close to child abuse,” said Dr. McHugh, given that close to 80% of those kids will “abandon their confusion and grow naturally into adult life if untreated ….”

To actually change one's sex, one would have to change every cell in the body, as well as brainwave patterns. The frontal lobe of the brain would also have to be transformed. 

“’Sex change’ is biologically impossible,” said McHugh. “People who undergo sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men or masculinized women. Claiming that this is a civil-rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder.”

It is time for the Church to look this matter square in the eye, and determine how to respond to it, in light of doctrine, including sacramental theology. 

Charity and truth

Obviously, we want to respond to all human need with compassion, and to share the hope offered only by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What does this mean for a person who experiences a feeling of "transgenderism"? What does it mean for a person who has undergone the surgery? This problem did not exist in the days of the Apostles in exactly the way it exists today. We must draw, therefore, principles from Scripture to guide us rightly. In doing so, I seek to demonstrate that both receiving and performing this surgery is a sin against the Creator. For those who are considering it, the bishops and priests of God's Church must urge them not to do so. For those who have been so altered, we must offer forgiveness on the same terms as any other sin, confession and repentance. That is the only way to walk in charity and in truth.

The first chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Church in Rome, shows two things that are revealed from Heaven: The righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel, the message of salvation to everyone who believes; and also the wrath of God "against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." (See vs. 16-32) In the latter category belong all those "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." These latter are those who act "against nature." Essentially, their entire treatment of created things, including human sexuality and their own bodies, is a form of idolatry that pulls them into every kind of evil. 

At this point I am sure that this is not speaking of confused people who suffer a crisis of identity, certainly not minors. But, we live in a culture so corrupt that it looks more and more like that passage in Romans chapter one as each year goes by. The "misguided doctors" that Dr. McHugh mentioned are part of this modern culture. Minors are easily influenced, and the adults who encourage their confusion, and problem, are acting dangerously. In a very real way, they set a stumbling block before children (Matthew 18:6,7). Doctors who administer “puberty-delaying hormones" have no valid medical justification for doing so, and ought to have their licenses revoked. Doctors who perform "sex-change" surgery are performing no genuine medical service at all, and ought also to have their licenses revoked. Beyond that, a whole set of politicians, celebrities, publishers and others, perhaps even counsellors in various schools, are part of a trend to "change the truth of God into a lie." 

People trapped in their confusion, and in need of psychiatric help (and, no doubt spiritual help as well) live in a culture that is, more and more, offering them the opposite of what they need, and that is, more and more, encouraging them to make a disastrous choice. But, it is the culture that is changing the truth of God into a lie, and that is worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. The Church must, for those who are vulnerable, be a safe place of refuge from the pull of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Sacramental doctrine

The truth of God, concerning the sexual nature of His creation, the human race, is best summed up early on in the Bible:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply... (Genesis 1:27,28).

We have looked at the current confusion in the world concerning marriage, specifically the problem with same sex "marriage." We need to understand, as well, the added problem that "transgenderism" brings to the table. As we have seen (above) "sex change" operations are a lie, a lie carved in flesh and supported by ongoing injections, but a lie nonetheless. No such thing as a "sex change" is possible for human beings, or for that matter, any species of mammal. All that can be done is mutilation and plastic surgery that creates sterility.

The matter of sterility is no minor detail. In truth, persons who have had this surgery are not changed from one sex to the other; rather they are rendered eunuchs. Their ability to "be fruitful and multiply" has been removed. In a sense, it is all a matter of "the culture of death" as it necessarily embraces sterility. 

So, what ought a member of the clergy to do if a couple wants to be married, say a real man and a "transgendered" woman, or a real woman and a "transgendered" man? Sadly, among some modern Evangelicals we have seen a readiness to treat the world's lie as if it were the truth. In Germany, we see that Cardinal Marx wants to corrupt Roman Catholicism in the same way. But, such a marriage, in either case, is the fiction of a same sex "marriage." It cannot be reconciled to sacramental theology, nor to basic morality. 

Identity

Radical feminists have coined a new phrase: "cisgendered." It refers to a person who identifies with his or her own sex. According to the radical feminists who use the phrase, there is something somehow very wrong with accepting one's sex as part of one's identity. Getting back to Dr. McHugh at Johns Hopkins Hospital:

“This intensely felt sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects. The first is that the idea of sex misalignment is simply mistaken – it does not correspond with physical reality. The second is that it can lead to grim psychological outcomes.”

I am very happily "cisgendered." I like being a man, and I feel like a man. My wife likes being a woman, and feels like a woman. My dog likes being a dog, I believe, and the neighbor's cat likes being a cat. To be unhappy with the nature God gave you is to be unthankful, and is also quite sad. Such people are miserable; inasmuch as "sex change" surgery increases one's likelihood of committing suicide to twenty times higher, it is not compassionate to support such a decision. I feel sorry for anyone who is unfortunate enough not to be "cisgendered." Such individuals need help psychiatrically and spiritually. Encouraging their psychosis is simply to take part in the Romans One culture with which we must have no fellowship.