The human heart is deceitfully wicked above all things. Our hearts only want to think the things that will benefit our skewed view of ourselves at any given moment. The trouble is that our hearts think that they are ‘trans-alive’ when they are really dead! Paul, in Romans 1:18ff, gives us the correct perspective on this when he writes about us suppressing the truth by our unrighteousness. This is what we all do. This is the reason we are all ‘trans-something’. We all want to judge ourselves better than we actually are.
Every time I see a man who thinks he is a woman beat a bunch of women who are actually women I ask: “how in the world could a man actually believe that he is a woman”? The Hollywood hype, with their characters on primetime; the social media juggernauts, with their memes about ‘trans’itions; and the news channels, with their community services, are always cramming this down our throats. It is simply outside of my realm of understanding. Seriously, how in the world could a man actually think that he is a woman? I have been struggling with this for so long now that it has come to feel like there is no connection at all between the ‘trans’ movement and my life, except…
A funny thing happened to me this week as I was talking with my wife about something around the house. It got me thinking that maybe it isn’t so hard to understand this phenomenon after all. Amy and I were talking about something and I was convinced that I was right and she was wrong. I would not let it go! I was willing to give up the peace and tranquility of our home in order to defend my opinion. I’m sure you all have been there. I got angry. I defended myself with more words than I want to admit. It was very real, to me and to her! It was pretty impressive until the moment when I realized that I was absolutely wrong! I was definitely NOT what I had, honestly and passionately, thought I was. I was talking to and treating her as if she was wrong and I was right – but it was actually the other way around. I was actually ‘trans-right’. I was stunned. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I am ‘trans-right’ ALOT more than I actually am when it comes to arguing with my wife.
Now, I am not correlating every single aspect of the transgender movement with this one, but I am going to try to work through this basic idea for a moment. We are ALL ‘trans-something’. We are all susceptible to thinking that we are something when we definitely are not. We think we are nice, generous and happy when we are really kind of mean, selfish, and depressed. This is true for everyone in the world. We all think we are better than we really are. It’s our sinful nature that leads, rather misleads, us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. At some level, we are all walking evidence of ‘trans-authenticity’!
We see examples of this throughout the Bible:
King David thought he was better than that rich man even though he, himself, was actually that wicked rich man! David was ‘trans-righteous’! When he came to the realization that he was evil, his opinion of himself crashed hard and we have him to thank for the beautifully ‘trans-correcting’ psalm 51.
King Nebuchadnezzar was ‘trans-sovereign’. He thought that everything in his kingdom was his and his alone. When the True Sovereign brought him to terms with his own futility, he realized he wasn’t actually sovereign. Eating grass instead of a king’s food for 7 years will do that to a man!
The apostle Peter was great at thinking things about himself that he shouldn’t. He was ‘trans-lot of things’ – When he was walking on the water he thought it was because of something about himself. When he came to terms with gravity, he realized he wasn’t! He was ‘trans-wise’. He thought that he was God’s counselor and took it upon himself to correct Jesus.
