Is Society Heading Toward Gender Neutrality and Trans-Humanism?

Recently Time magazine ran a cover story entitled “Transgender Tipping Point,” which essentially says the next civil rights movement is going to involve the growing transgender movement. This is no surprise to those of us who have been on the front lines of opposing same-sex marriage, since one underlying premise of same-sex marriage is a belief that there are no absolute, necessary distinctions between the sexes that make heterosexual unions and/or marriage beneficial to society.

Hence, once same-sex marriage gained cultural acceptance, it broke down every traditional mindset related to sexuality and gender distinction and flung open the doors to “gender neutrality.”

I mean, if the law of the land increasingly goes toward same-sex marriage, in essence our nation is saying a child does not need either a mother or a father, or the parental roles traditionally ascribed to a male or a female could be fulfilled by any gender.

The implications of this are vast. We will see more and more psychologists stating that the apparent male and female distinction is more a result of children being brought up in an environment immersed with (outdated and unnecessary) cultural norms and family upbringing than biology.

Thus, a person could have a male body but if he believes and feels he is a female, then, biology aside, he should be categorized as a female, and vice versa. If someone feels like being another gender and/or a combination of both genders then society will celebrate them using medical science to physically alter the body they received at birth.

Legally, this will lead to a movement attempting to abolish male/female distinctions by classifying birth certificates as discriminatory, and a growing number of public places will have gender neutral bathrooms!

Presently, biblical passages regarding marriage and sexuality are considered antiquated and hate speech by radical liberals. But, in the future, one of the most controversial passages will be Genesis 1:27, which states that God made both male and female in His own image. (That it takes both a male and a female to reflect God’s image is also a strong case for biblical ethics regarding human sexuality and the true framework for marriage, family and gender distinctions.)

If technology and science continue to increase without biblical or ethical boundaries then it is likely we will also be dealing with a movement toward being a “trans-human,” initially dealing with people being part machine/part human, human cloning and eventually leading to an attempt to integrate human and animal body parts and traits. (This future trend will make the current debates on sexuality and gender identity seem like small children playing patty-cake in the street.)

Unless and until thinking Christians with a biblical worldview begin to take the lead again in education, ethics, law, arts, science and politics, societal ethics will be led by scientists, ethicists and technology wizards with no god in their lives but the idolatrous need for “self-expression.” With self-expression considered the highest good for individuals, human beings will continue to find creative ways to distinguish themselves from one another and debase, alter and deform their bodies so they can (in their minds) stand out from the rest of the crowd (and garner the attention they so desperately crave).

At the end of the day, since males and females were created in the image of God, a person will never discover their true identity and purpose until they embrace the One who formed them in the womb, assigned to them a specific gender and called them to fulfill a specific purpose.

Joseph Mattera is overseeing bishop of Resurrection Church, Christ Covenant Coalition, in Brooklyn, N.Y.