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In June 2018, a manager pulled me aside at the government-run medical assessment center where I worked and questioned me about my beliefs. I was asked if I would refer to a man as “she.”
I cited Genesis 1:27, and I felt the question was similar to being asked whether or not I would deny the Lord Jesus, so I replied, “As a Christian, in good conscience, I cannot.”
I lost my job, and I wondered if I would ever work as a doctor again.
About a year later, I was in court as an industrial tribunal considered my case. It was difficult, but I had excellent support from the Christian Legal Centre based in London. The three judges found that my failure to believe transgender ideology was “incompatible with human dignity.”
This goes beyond forced speech to forced belief. Indeed, the court even declared my belief that Jesus alone saves us to be “incompatible with human dignity.” I did not know that a tribunal had the authority to make a ruling like that, which effectively writes off the whole of Christianity!
I was thrilled when I was eventually able to get my old job in emergency medicine back, but my behavior is being watched. The Christian Legal Centre has informed me that I have been given leave to appeal the outcome of the tribunal, so this is still an ongoing situation.
Ryan T. Anderson, author of “When Harry Became Sally,” states that “the sex of an organism is defined by its organization for sexual reproduction.” He goes on to say, “Secondary differences between the two sexes—attributes that may be visibly altered by hormone treatment—are not what make us male or female. It’s impossible even to make sense of the concept of sex apart from the ways our bodies are organized for reproduction.” This accurately summarizes the scientific argument against transgenderism.
Science can tell us that males and females are members of the same species. It can tell us how we function and what the massive similarities are between the two sexes. It can also tell us about the significant differences between the two. I spent seven years at university studying medicine, and we studied these differences right down to the molecular level.
But, somehow, we are supposed to believe that a new medical condition has been found, one that has been missed for centuries, one that is so prevalent even little children must be sought out for the devastating “cure.”
If you ask proponents of transgenderism to state the scientific evidence that proves a person can change his or her sex, you are branded a “bigot.” But the simple fact is that transgender ideology is truly anti-science.
Science tells us it is impossible to change gender; that taking cross-sex hormones, having surgery, living as a member of the opposite sex (and, in the future, transplanting the organs of dead people) all put together cannot render such a change. Science tells us that if brain scans show that some men’s brains work in a similar way to some women’s brains, it proves absolutely nothing. It does not show us that a woman’s brain can be trapped in a man’s body. Science tells us that by sheer definition, that is impossible.
Medical science must be founded on truth. Hence, we have the duty to ensure that all of our practices are evidence-based. But ask for evidence that a person can change their sex, and you get the sack.
Some argue that we increase the risk of suicide among transgender people if we don’t go along with this delusion. But good medical practice has to begin with truth. I know of many doctors and nurses who would agree with this assessment, but they have been threatened with never working again if they do not practice this lie. We don’t desire the harm of any person, and we love transgender people with Christian love. But we do them no good, medically or otherwise, by perpetuating a lie. We must look for a better way of addressing their needs.
Believing that kindness calls us to pretend a person can change their gender is dehumanizing. Certain celebrities have fallen for this argument, using transgender pronouns even though they are opposed to transgender ideology. But if we use “she” to address a man or “he” to address a woman, we actually quench the Holy Spirit, and we’ll end up denying the faith and coming around to their position in the end. When we go along with such a lie, we are pulling the rug out from under the whole of humanity.
Think of other terms and phrases being thrust upon us. Some midwives in England have been ordered to say “chestfeeding” instead of “breastfeeding.” This is denigrating to women. And the call for “father” and “mother” to be replaced with “non-gestational parent” and “birth parent” has nothing to do with any science whatsoever and everything to do with radical political ideology. Destroy male and female distinctives and you make slaves of us all. That, I believe, is the real endgame of the anti-Christian elites behind this agenda.
Why do so many people believe that the mind’s concept of gender is more powerful and real than biological fact? The answer goes before and beyond science. It is a matter of worldview.
The only correct behavior for Christians is to consistently refuse to use pronouns in the new way. I pray that God will give all of us the grace at the right time to do the right thing in the right way.
The only answer to transgender ideology is Biblical theology. Scientific argument alone is not enough. There are those who want to stop the gender nonsense but see no way out. Only the affirmation that we are created male and female, in God’s image, provides a viable alternative. Biblical truth and the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone gives us the real answer. ©2021 Dr. David C. Mackereth
David C. Mackereth is a medical doctor in the United Kingdom who for many years also has had a Gospel preaching ministry.
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