Is God Okay with People Being Transgendered? Vince and Ravi University of Florida

is God okay with people being transgendered does the Bible say anything against it well thank you for this question and I suspect it may be a very personal question for multiple people in the room and watching and so I want to be sensitive in the way that I answer it and admit to you upfront that I don't have a perfect response to this issue which is becoming more and more prevalent and we're thinking about more and more but let me offer a couple of thoughts one I want to affirm this feeling of a gap between who we feel ourselves to be and what ultimately were intended to be or the way that we are now and the way we feel that we ought to be that gap there the Bible affirms that gap it says that we're living in a broken world it says that the creation itself is groaning for restoration so if you feel that gap in yourself between where you are and what you feel like you ought to be the Bible affirms that that experience that feeling the question is is our gender something that is given to us or something that we need to create ourselves now if we're working within an atheistic framework then we have no choice but to try to create our identities ourselves in a variety of ways I think that's can be a great burden I referenced Camus earlier he spoke about this as picturing someone carrying like Atlas carrying the entire world on their back that burden of having to create your own identity if we're talking about this within a Christian framework then we don't need to create our own identity our identity in various respects is given to us by God and God created people according to the Bible male and female now there may still be this gap between where we feel that we are and where we want to be there may be a gap between what we are biologically and what we feel God's love for us is holistic okay He loves us as full beings not just our emotions and our psychology and our feelings not just our bodies he loves both of them and he's the one if he exists who knit us together in our mother's wombs and knows us better than anyone so he loves us in our physicality and our biology and he loves us in our emotions and our psychology and his promise is that there can be restoration and reconciliation for them and here I think is the amazing thing why should we trust God why should we trust Jesus with something as significant as that in our lives well I think it's because Jesus himself experienced something of a mismatch between who he was and the body that he was in Jesus himself the incorruptible God took on a corruptible body and there was a mismatch there in some sense and yet because he was God himself he was able to die and then rise again what a redeemed body that was fully restored and fully reconciled and so why if you are going through this yourself and you're dealing with it personally and you're saying this is really really tough and what the Christian faith asks of me is really tough because it's asking me to trust that there can be this reconciliation this restoration of two things that seem to be part of me and I don't see how that can happen well the question is is there a God big enough and loving enough who can do that did that God actually reveal himself in history and did he reveal him in history in a way that shows us that he understands exactly what you're going through because he took on a body that didn't feel right but he was able to go through that and rise with a redeemed body and because he knows exactly what it is you're going through that's why if that's true you can trust him with your gender with both your physicality and with your emotions and you can trust that he is leading all of this towards a time where they'll be no more mourning or death or crying or pain and we forget sometimes what a thin slice of time it is that we live in right now and how much different things could be one day but what if it is the case that one day it is like waking up from a dream and that is how much real much more real and rich and substantive and true our lives will be then and the wholeness we will experience then will be compared to what we experience now I think that's a beautiful hope and promise that Jesus offers and he offers it to anyone who's struggling with this issue keep my own sir brief I would recommend for you a book by mark yarhouse and it's called gender dysphoria and mark in his book gives us basically the three models with which you respond to such a very difficult question he calls it the integrity framework where one may come down upon a person and say you know you've got the choice between a and B and you retain that integrity he goes to the second option which is the disability framework and he says those sociologists or others who may look at it as a disability type thing and he says neither of these two are meeting the needs that people are really asking about so he gives the diversity framework and talks about the options that we live in our culture today you need to look at those three frameworks that mark yarhouse presents and see which of his arguments really are appropriate for you so let me just give you a simpler answer on this subject on the footnote of what Vince has said one of the things that we face as Christian apologists is a diversity of opinions on these things and people who really and genuinely hurt over decisions like this we know the deep anguish with which people come to talk to us we've got people on our team who are specifically qualified that addressed this issue and deal with it from experience in matters that they themselves have struggled with you know there's a fascinating passage in the Old Testament where namin is suffering from a certain disease and he comes to see Elijah and Elijah prays over him and heals him namin the Sirian is shocked that this prophet of Israel has laid his hands on him and made him well he asks an incredible question and receives an even more incredible answer naman looks at Elijah and he says I have a question for you I know who your God is and I know this of the god I now worship when I go back home and work for my master he takes me to the temple and in that temple he leans on my arm and asks me to bow down with him by the pressure he puts on my arm for me to kneel to Elijah what should I do I knew that question was very sensitive because it comes from my culture in the same way your us to celebrate a festival that is not in keeping with what your own faith is but many times you're asked by friends would you like to come to the temple and just celebrate this festival with me Elijah looks at naman and says go and God will be with you and will guide you Elijah doesn't play God for him Elijah says go and God will be with you and God will guide you so I just give you one little answer in this please ask a question about yourself not what you are but who you are that's the first question Who am I Lord not what am i Who am I and once you gain your identity in him all other identities can be defined for you as well he will tell you who you are and I will just tell you ask God the question as you read his word and he will guide you I will not play God in your life you lean on him he will guide you [Applause]

Channel: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

Views: 954,596

Rating: 4.5911307 out of 5

Keywords: RZIM, Ravi, Ravi Zacharias, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, apologetics, evangelism, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, Christianity, Christian, Christian Apologetics, philosophy, God, truth, Bible, gospel, Lord, salvation, transgender, university of florida, vince vitale

Id: xfP-x9b_biQ

Length: 9min 35sec (575 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 28 2019