Since the SBC annual meeting the issue of transgenderism has been on my mind a lot. Not because I hadn’t thought about it before, but because of the fact that a major denomination needed to adopt a unified statement clarifying biblical teaching on the issue. Something seems terribly wrong with this fact.

Why is it necessary for the SBC to adopt a formal resolution codifying biblical teaching on the issue of transgenderism? Dr. Russell Moore, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission answers the question:

“The cultural mindset is that gender is something that is constructed by the individual. So it’s disconnected from how the person is created. And that’s one of the reasons why I think this resolution … was so wise, because it spoke to what the Bible teaches about what gender means in the first place, about how God’s design is good.”

Dr. Moore is right. The fact that society has turned gender into something that can be bent and altered at will is part of the problem. The established gender binary’s that once created the foundation of our society have been attacked and weakened, prompting a surge of defense for the male-female complimentarian view that was once so…normal.

But what Dr. Moore isn’t saying, what he knows to be true, is that churches have failed in their duty to equip Christians with a proper view of biblical sexuality. Somehow the critical theology of sexuality that governs every person has been omitted from teaching schedules for decades. Whether we just took for granted that everyone understood biblical sexuality or we decided it was too “graphic” a topic for church, we’ve dropped the ball.

The need for expository preaching has long been underscored and, thankfully, there is a resurgence of pastors that are faithfully exegeting every chapter, every verse of the Bible. This means, hopefully, that the book of Song of Solomon will be taught. Pastors will be hard pressed to get around biblical sexuality while teaching through one of the steamiest books in the Bible.

Andrew Walker, also of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission highlights the worldview driving the effort to normalize sexual confusion in transgender people:

“We have concern about surgical remedies in aiding transgender experiences simply because it cements, medically, a worldview that Southern Baptists are not prepared, nor biblically warranted, to accept. Surgical alteration signals society’s full embrace of a condition that we believe isn’t remedied through surgical means, but through compassionately understanding what it means to be created in the Image of God.”

His concern is warranted as Christians are increasingly being asked to affirm and celebrate a worldview that includes homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, and other sins clearly outline in the Bible. Yes, some are caving and affirming these things in the name of Jesus and “Christian love.” But that does not make it biblical, justifiable, or signal a whole sale majority shift in opinion. For the most part, a vast majority of Christians and Catholics reject the idea that alternate sexual orientations such as transgenderism are compatible with the Gospel.

But also at stake here is the overall health and well-being of the transgender people involved. While some clamor for rights there is a silent part of this group that is suffering heartache, mental and emotional turmoil as a result of their choices. Rather than finding much needed help for their mental confusion they are being pushed to accept their confusion as reality; a move that is causing far more harm than good.

Joe Carter, writing at The Gospel Coalition, outlines the harm caused to sexually confused people when they are pushed to accept their confusion and seek sex reassignment surgery. In his latest “9 Things You Should Know” article, he discusses transgenderism, sharing these very helpful points:

“6. In the 1960s Johns Hopkins University became the first American medical center to offer “sex-reassignment surgery.” But they later stopped performing the procedure after a study on transgendered people in the 1970s. The study compared the outcomes of transgendered people who had the surgery with the outcomes of those who did not. Most of the surgically treated patients described themselves as ‘satisfied’ by the results, but their subsequent psycho-social adjustments were no better than those who didn’t have the surgery. As Dr. McHugh, former psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, explains, ‘at Hopkins we stopped doing sex-reassignment surgery, since producing a “satisfied” but still troubled patient seemed an inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal organs.’

“7. When children who reported transgender feelings were tracked without medical or surgical treatment at both Vanderbilt University and London’s Portman Clinic, 70-80 percent of them spontaneously lost those feelings. Some 25 percent did have persisting feelings, notes Dr. McHugh, but what differentiates those individuals remains to be discerned.

“8. A 2011 study at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden followed 324 people who had sex-reassignment surgery (191 male-to-females, 133 female-to-males) from 1973 to 2003. The overall rate of death was higher than expected, with suicide being the leading cause. Those who had the sex-change surgery were almost 20 times more likely to take their own lives than the non-transgender population. They were also more likely to seek in-house treatment for psychiatric conditions.

“9. At the heart of the problem is confusion over the nature of the transgendered, says McHugh. ‘’Sex change’ is biologically impossible,’ he adds. ‘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 civil-rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder.’”

So why is our society rushing headlong to encourage such confusion that leads to disastrous results? Why are states banning therapy to help sexually confused people?

The only answer I have been able to devise is that at the heart of these efforts is a rejection of the God-ordained male-female design. Our society is becoming so angry with God, so anti-God that they are willing to injure and harm hurting, confused people just to spite God. By rejecting God’s design man has signaled that the boundaries of sex and sexuality that God established are of no consequence and will be every pushed and flaunted. Essentially, we’re talking about good old-fashioned rebellion.

So yes, it was necessary, unfortunately, for the SBC to clarify our position regarding transgenderism and sexuality. As society continues to muddy the waters and distort the biblical image it has become necessary for Christians to note just take a biblical stand, but to make that position crystal clear. From denominations to local churches we must clearly articulate the truth of Scripture in order to share the Gospel and help those trapped by a culture of sexual confusion.