The American Journal of Psychiatry was forced to retract the primary conclusions of a 2019 study that stated that sex change surgeries help to reduce depression, anxiety and suicide rates in transgender persons. It appears the authors of the study ignored key evidence which directly contradicted their conclusions, almost as if they “cherry picked” evidence to get the desired outcome which was most politically correct.
When taking all of the evidence from the study into account, the study actually showed that even after undergoing sex change surgeries, transgender persons still had the same continued higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicide than the general population.
In an article from ThePublicDiscourse.com entitled “Correction: Transgender Surgery Provides No Mental Health Benefit”, Doctors André Van Mol, Michael K. Laidlaw, Miriam Grossman and Paul McHugh explain where the 2019 study was flawed and why the American Journal of Psychiatry was forced to make its corrections regarding the study:
“A major correction has been issued by the American Journal of Psychiatry. The authors and editors of an October 2019 study, titled “Reduction in mental health treatment utilization among transgender individuals after gender-affirming surgeries: a total population study,” have retracted its primary conclusion. Letters to the editor by twelve authors, including ourselves, led to a reanalysis of the data and a corrected conclusion stating that in fact the data showed no improvement after surgical treatment. The following is the background to our published letter and a summary of points of the critical analysis of the study…
Overlooked were key data of completed suicides; healthcare visits, prescriptions, and hospitalizations for the litany of other medical or psychological diagnoses potentially related to gender-affirming treatments. Such information was available through Sweden’s multiple registry databases, so why not use it?
…
When followed out beyond ten years, the sex-reassigned group had nineteen times the rate of completed suicides and nearly three times the rate of all-cause mortality and inpatient psychiatric care, compared to the general population
…
The Bränström study reanalysis demonstrated that neither “gender-affirming hormone treatment” nor “gender-affirming surgery” reduced the need of transgender-identifying people for mental health services.”
Unlike our humanist friends, we as Biblicist Christians do not base our moral view on studies, but rather on the Bible. But it is nice to see some honesty applied to some of these studies from time to time.
But let’s just say for argument’s sake, that people with the mental disorder of gender dysphoria did receive relief from the depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts after having sex change surgeries and receiving hormone treatments to appear more like the opposite sex they were born as. Would that make these kinds of surgeries and hormone treatments, right?
We find the answer as to the question of the morality of sex change surgeries and transgenderism in the following Scripture passages:
“But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female”
Mark 10:6 (KJV)
“The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.”
Deuteronomy 22:5 (KJV)
The Bible is clear that gender dysphoria or transgenderism is much more than a mental illness, it is also a corruption of the masculine and feminine human natures by sin.
The reason that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people have higher depression, anxiety and suicide rates than the general population is because they know that their behavior goes against nature and the God who created nature. The Scripture passage below explains why:
“For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another“
Romans 2:14-15 (KJV)
God has written his natural law and his design on the hearts of every man and woman. And this is why transgenders struggle so much. They may try to deny God’s law and even God’s very existence with their lips, but deep in their hearts they know he exists and they know their thoughts, desires and actions violate his law.
The Corruption of Transgenderism
In the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, God created two perfect human natures, the masculine human nature and the feminine human nature. But sin corrupted both of these natures as the Scriptures tell us in Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”.
All of us as human beings have our masculine or feminine human natures corrupted by sin in a variety of different ways.
For some men, their masculine human nature is not corrupted by homosexual desire or gender dysphoria, but instead they are corrupted with a desire to engage in whoremongering with women. Other men may have their sexual desires corrupted to the point that they may become serial killers or rapists.
For some women, the feminine human nature is not corrupted by homosexual desire or gender dysphoria, but instead they a corrupted with a desire to engage in whoring with men, or prostitution. Other women have their feminine human nature’s so corrupted that they are able to murder their unborn children with little to no remorse.
Now let’s bring this back to the discussion of transgenderism. Just as we must all fight the various corruptions of our God given masculine and feminine human natures, so too those with gender dysphoria must recognize this as more than a mental illness, but also a corruption of God’s design.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Romans 12:2 (KJV)
Like all of us who are tempted by various sins, those who struggle with sinful thoughts associated with gender dysphoria must pray for God’s transforming power through his Holy Spirit and his Word.
Conclusion
As we conclude I want to bring the political, psychological and spiritual impacts of transgenderism on our society together.
In his article, “Transgenderism: A Pathogenic Meme”, Dr. Paul McHugh, a Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School, states the following:
“But the meme—that your sex is a feeling, not a biological fact, and can change at any time—marches on through our society. In a way, it’s reminiscent of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. In that tale, the Emperor, believing that he wore an outfit of special beauty imperceptible to the rude or uncultured, paraded naked through his town to the huzzahs of courtiers and citizens anxious about their reputations. Many onlookers to the contemporary transgender parade, knowing that a disfavored opinion is worse than bad taste today, similarly fear to identify it as a misapprehension…
What is needed now is public clamor for coherent science—biological and therapeutic science—examining the real effects of these efforts to “support” transgendering. Although much is made of a rare “intersex” individual, no evidence supports the claim that people such as Bruce Jenner have a biological source for their transgender assumptions. Plenty of evidence demonstrates that with him and most others, transgendering is a psychological rather than a biological matter.
In fact, gender dysphoria—the official psychiatric term for feeling oneself to be of the opposite sex—belongs in the family of similarly disordered assumptions about the body, such as anorexia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. Its treatment should not be directed at the body as with surgery and hormones any more than one treats obesity-fearing anorexic patients with liposuction. The treatment should strive to correct the false, problematic nature of the assumption and to resolve the psychosocial conflicts provoking it. With youngsters, this is best done in family therapy.
The larger issue is the meme itself. The idea that one’s sex is fluid and a matter open to choice runs unquestioned through our culture and is reflected everywhere in the media, the theater, the classroom, and in many medical clinics. It has taken on cult-like features: its own special lingo, internet chat rooms providing slick answers to new recruits, and clubs for easy access to dresses and styles supporting the sex change. It is doing much damage to families, adolescents, and children and should be confronted as an opinion without biological foundation wherever it emerges.
But gird your loins if you would confront this matter. Hell hath no fury like a vested interest masquerading as a moral principle.”
Dr. McHugh is right that the transgender movement has taken on a cult like status and his analogy to the Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes is spot on. When we see a man walking around in woman’s clothes, we know there is something wrong with that man, whether he be a drag queen or a transgender. But our society tells us “No this is good! He is being who he is really is! Let’s celebrate with him”. When the truth is “No! He is not being who he is really is, he is rejecting the biological reality of who he really is and he wants us to play along with his delusions”.
The transgender movement is bad for society and it is bad for individuals on a biological, psychological and spiritual level.
The transgender movement is bad in that it has been used to increase the power of Leftist cancel culture. Want to publicly express negative views of Christianity? No problem. Want to publicly express negatives of “cisgendered men” or whites? No problem. But if you dare express negative views of transgenders the leftist cancel mob will be out to threaten your business, your job and possibly your life.
J.K. Rowlings learned this the hard way when she had the audacity to say that women are people who menstruate and the transgender community went nuts. She even tried to clarify her statement with the one below:
“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth”
And lets be clear – J.K. Rowlings is no Bible believing Christian. She is very much a secular humanist. But her statements are still considered heretical in the global humanist community, so much so that she had to give back a humanitarian award she won in 2019.
My point is that even from a purely political perspective, transgenderism and the larger LGBTQ movement of which it is a part, has become a direct threat to both freedom of speech and freedom of religion in Western society.
And the psychological and spiritual impacts of the transgender movement on individuals cannot be denied either. Sex change surgeries don’t help transgenders, but rather they remove parts from their bodies that God placed there, that can never be replaced leaving them with the continued depression, anxiety and further suicidal tendencies because they know they are fighting against the reality of who God designed them to be.
Finally, on the temptation front. It is not sinful to be tempted by sin. It is however sinful for us to entertain sinful thoughts or to engage in sinful activities. The Scriptures give us the following exhortation:
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”.
2 Corinthians 10:5 (KJV)
If a person has the thought or desire to wear the clothes of, or change their appearance through surgery or other means to that of the opposite sex of which they were born they need to cast down those kinds of thoughts and bring their thoughts into obedience to God’s design.
Those who struggle with the sinful thoughts associated with gender dysphoria must pray for the renewal of their minds so that their thoughts and desires are in conformity with God’s Word and his design for this world. It is only in doing this, in accepting that their thoughts do not match with God’s will and his design, that they can hope to find relief from the depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts associated with gender dysphoria.
>he is rejecting the biological reality of who he really is and he wants us to play along with his delusions
Great post. Gets to the heart of the matter. He’s rejecting his own biology, his own body, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. This creates fear which gives him a thrill, or ‘charge’ — for want of a better word. I believe the standard defence now is that he is motivated by love, but the motives are different. He wants the thrill.
He’s dishonouring his parents and abandoning the prospect of having a family of his own.
Honouring parents can be hard for some. But there’s no excuse. For example, actor and comedian Kenneth Williams by his own account had an insensitive and boorish working class father. I suspect this part of why he became gay and ultimately committed suicide. If only he’d found a way, some way, to honour his Dad, his life might have been very different.
If we do play along with the delusions, it will never be enough. The whole world must be turned into a Pride event. If we don’t play along then he’ll claim this rejection by society is the cause of his mental issues, depression, and so on.
But conscience is a complicated thing. Conscience often registers as the perceived disapproval of others. Unless he considers that possibility, he’s fooled himself there too!
Although we must disapprove, we should also pity him. He’s not experiencing life in its fullness.
Which is more fulfilling, to simulate a female body, to have one night stands? (Generalising to the full sexual revolution here). Or to have a wife of one’s own complete with genuine female body? To have and to fully own a loving and obedient wife — not just steal a few rare scraps of pleasure.
Sorry this is a bit long. Bit harsh too. But I’m convinced that half the sexual revolution could be reversed overnight (including even paedophilia) if enough young people knew that they’d been lied to about sex and marriage and that a traditional marriage and family remain possible and highly desirable.