A few hours ago, I received a text from a friend who is concerned about their transgender child. It’s been easy to miss the exacting details of the barrage of executive orders flying across our new president’s desk these last few days, but it’s impossible to ignore them when they directly impact the lives of your family.
The clinic my friend’s child has been utilizing for gender-affirming care is closing because of the fear of repercussions from the federal government but also because much-needed financial assistance is about to dry up because our new administration is revoking federal funding.
Jonatjhan Greer
For many in our country, the unimaginable is becoming reality.
Gender-affirming care options are decreasing at a rapid pace out of fear of legal battles. And considering that our current president has a personal history of being litigious and considering his bold pronouncements of using the Department of Justice to seek vengeance against opponents, this is a real fear. And who is championing our president as he carries out his campaign against transgender Americans? Church leaders.
“I can’t help but think we are in the midst of spiritual warfare.”
I find myself leaning into rhetoric that nearly led me out of the church two decades ago. Words like “repentance,” “damnation” and “spiritual warfare.” As Christian leaders stand by and ally themselves with a political movement that wants to eliminate transgender care and cause true harm to those who seek it and provide it, I can’t help but think we are in the midst of spiritual warfare. Many Christian leaders are using the Bible as a weapon to harm transgender people.
One of those leading voices in the anti-transgender movement is Pastor Robert Jeffress at First Baptist Church of Dallas. His current billboards all over the DFW Metroplex declare his church is “Built on the Bible.” I watch his sermons regularly, and not just to test the limits of my blood pressure. I want to know what kind of false teachings he’s providing from the pulpit so I can know what kind of fear and hate he’s spewing to his congregation.
Jeffress claims First Baptist Dallas is built on the Bible, but it’s interesting how much of the sacred text he omits. His sermons always gender the divine as “he,” but both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament have instances where God is described in a feminine language. In the New Testament, Jesus uses imagery of a “mother hen” in Luke and Matthew, and the Holy Spirit often is referred to by churches as feminine.
Jeffress and other pastors of his ilk never preach on what it means to have a divine presence in our lives that seems to defy our binary limitations regarding gender.
Human limitations are so frustrating. In our attempts to understand the world and how we relate to God, it’s easy to lean into what we’ve always been taught, what we’ve always felt was right, to put boundaries on what the world could be. But if we believe in a divine presence that defies gender, why are we so obsessed with defining gender for others?
The world around us is full of fearfully and wonderfully made animals who seem to defy our human limitations of gender. Male sea horses can become pregnant and give birth. Black sea bass can change from female to male. God created so much wonder that can’t be fully appreciated if we construct boundaries that limit beauty and diversity.
“Does God actually care about gender?”
It’s far overdue for our churches to ask a crucial question: Does God actually care about gender? The divine handiwork is full of exciting, bizarre, astounding, fascinating and awe-inspiring creatures. And consider that there are species and living entities on earth that no human has yet to encounter, not to mention the great unknown in galaxies we may never reach. If we believe in a God who can develop such a diverse creation, why would we ever want to limit it?
It’s not my purpose to single out Jeffress. There are countless other pastors who are spewing hatred and division from their pulpits. Perhaps it’s time we start calling them out for this hatred and demand their repentance. Their spiritual warfare is now centered on transgender youth and adults in our country. Not only is the focus mean-spirited and hateful, I’m convinced it’s sinful and ungodly.
Jeffress and his counterparts are so busy telling folks how wrong they are that they don’t have time to consider the radical teachings of Christ. What fruit does Jeffress really bear? A fancy church in downtown Dallas with a fountain that syncs up to hymn tunes. A thriving TV ministry. Regular spots on Fox News and photo-ops with our current president. American culture might consider that to be an amazing harvest, but that’s the kind of fruit that’s rotten to the core.
Christ calls us to love God, love our neighbor, feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned, provide shelter to the unhoused, avoid entanglements with authorities who are only out for individual power, form authentic relationships with those who have been labeled outcasts by society.
Transgender individuals are an oppressed group who simply want to live out their fullest selves as God yearns them to do. Might that include using they/them pronouns? Absolutely. Might that include seeking therapy and counsel about gender transition? Sure. Might that include youth receiving reversible and nonsurgical options for a few years? Yes. Might that lead to surgical gender-affirming surgeries once an individual can make their own life decisions as an adult? Yes, this too.
Does God really obsess about gender? Does the gospel of Jesus Christ include a commandment to go out into all the world and ensure others are adhering to societal gender norms? Does the Sermon on the Mount include a portion about who deserves compassion and care based on how they conform to binaries?
As false prophets and charlatans continue to swallow up the energy, we must start being loud and proud of who we are and what we believe. Jesus is more relevant and important to us today than he ever has been. It’s time to reclaim him as the norm-defying radical he was, he is and will be. Because if you haven’t answered the question yet, I’ll help you out. God only cares about gender when it is used as a weapon to oppress others.
Jonathan Greer is a recent graduate of Brite Divinity School, where he received a master of divinity degree with a certificate in women and gender studies. He was born in raised in San Antonio and earned a bachelor’s degree in church music and a master’s degree in music history from Baylor University. He is a founding member and board member of Vox Peregrini, a pilgrimage choir. Jonathan lives in Dallas and recently was ordained as a minister by Royal Lane Baptist Church.
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