Misgendering Is Not Violence – Podcast

The Good Creation Podcast – Misgendering Is Not Violence

Podcast Script

All of us must be horrified at the outbreak of real violence over the weekend against a Gay and Lesbian Club in Colorado Springs. Apparently a 22 year old man who had previous run-ins with the Law and by some accounts had previously demonstrated mental illness, yet nonetheless, that young man acquired a gun and killed 5 night club members.

18 others were wounded as well. Send your prayers out to them. And pray for Justice.


But what we should not do, because of kookoo birds like that loon, is attempt to silence honest discussion about the current debate raging in the Western world.

If you believe you are born in the wrong body or that your biological sex is not part of who you really are, then you have a dissociative disorder. You have a mental illness that must be squarely faced and lovingly treated. The discomfort is real. I know. And you need help.

There are those who disagree.

On Nov. 12, Jennifer Lima a Rhode Island school district committee member shared a post from an activist group which said the following:  “Purposefully misgendering students is an act of violence. Respond accordingly.”

Adding to this statement, Lima included the definition from the World Health Organization. She said, “any act of violence in our schools which creates an unsafe environment (physically or emotionally by or for any member of the school community) needs to be dealt with accordingly.”

Source:  Fox News (I'd really like to include other U.S. legacy news sources on this issue, but they by and large do not run stories critical of Gender Ideology.  Though, I've noticed recently that is starting to change.  More about that at another time.)
Jennifer Lima

For those who don’t know. Misgendering can occur if you use the wrong preferred pronoun. Or if you refuse to admit in any way that a man can become a woman or vice versa. If you do that, according to this Gender Activist and many others like her, you have committed “an act of violence.”


As a Christian, I’m all in favor of using inoffensive language. But the use of language that denies reality is more than slightly problematic. Therefore, I won’t use someone’s preferred pronoun if that pronoun doesn’t correspond with physical reality.

I don’t have a problem using someone’s preferred name since names are merely conventional. But pronouns like she/he & her/him reflect the reality of God’s bi-natured creation and cannot reasonably be changed anymore than you can change your sex. Soul and Body were meant by God to be integrated parts of a single whole person.

I can’t lie about that.

I use sex-based pronouns for people.  I do so out of deeply held beliefs.  Rational Beliefs derived from Science, Natural Law and Religious Authority.  So I’m going to insist that you please respect my beliefs as well.

Of course, it is true, sometimes we can’t tell someone’s biological sex. But when we do know…..we must speak truthfully. For those who wish to point out the existence of “Intersex” people, that is to say, those with a Disorder of Sexual Development (DSD), as a reason for adopting a more flexible stance on sex, gender and pronouns, I’m going to address DSD’s in a future podcast.  So stay tuned.

Language matters, my friends.

If I’m in the presence of someone who wishes to deny biological reality, I will respectfully avoid the use of pronouns. It won’t be easy. But that’s where I draw the language line.

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Below is a table of both gendered and gender-neutral pronouns, along with their pronunciations. It is important to note, though, that some people do not subscribe to any pronoun and may like to be referred to by name only. [My Policy]. I’m simply not going to use a preferred pronoun if it denies biological reality, the reality of God’s good creation.  I won’t do it.  

The table below is not an exhaustive list. 

SubjectObjectPossessivePronunciation
SheHerHersshee, hur, hurs
HeHimHishee, him, hiz
They*Them*Theirs*thei, them, thehrz
XeXemXyrszee, zem, zeres
ZeHirHirszee, here, heres
ZeZirZirszee, zere, zeres
EEmEirsay, em, airs

* Though they / them / theirs are traditionally plural, these pronouns can be used as singular in a particular context. Example: Janice scored well on their final paper; they received an A

Another real world example may be found in a previous post “For Women Scotland.” If you follow the Twitter link there you will be able to read the news story about the convicted sex criminal, Laura Miller, who identifies as gender-neutral . Laura is a biological male. Here’s how the news story about Miller’s crime begins:

A pervert who filmed themselves sexually assaulting a sleeping woman has been jailed for almost two years.   

For the uninitiated “themselves” does not refer to more than one pervert but to a single person who identifies as gender-neutral and whose preferred pronouns are “they/them/theirs“. The journalist Jenni Gee would be guilty of “misgendering” if she had used different pronouns in reference to Miller. In fact, in some jurisdictions in the Western world, you may be brought up on charges for misgendering someone. 

(See the video I posted below for evidence of the criminalization of wrong pronoun usage!)

The “TQ+” of the ever expanding Gender acronym is rightly regarded as a fiction by the majority of us in the Western world. And virtually all non-westerners. The majority of Western parents don’t want their children taught that it is possible to change your sex or your gender. They don’t want their children taught that their “authentic self” has nothing to do with their bodies. And if they are Christians they know, or at least they ought to know, that our bodies are gifts from God as mediated through our parents and not something chosen by us. But something lovingly given to us.

This majority will rightly oppose any real physical violence against those who self-identify as Queer or Trans or whatever the + means. They will oppose any verbal or physical abuse directed toward all people.

But they can not affirm what they believe is a Big Lie.

They can’t affirm the mutilation of children’s bodies.

They won’t do that. And they will not be silenced.


Watch the video below about the criminalization of pronoun usage & misgendering. I’ve provided minute:second markers to help.

Notable sections in the video

(6:20). “One of the basic rules of safeguarding (our children) and something we saw with the Catholic Church….” Please pay close attention to the “sacred class, a class that cannot be questioned” statement.

(11:46). “People need to start getting angry, because these are fundamental human rights we are letting slip away. Our police appear to be out of control.”

(12:29). “I was piqued, I became an activist after what the NSPCC (U.K. children’s charity) did back in 2019, when an employee of theirs dressed in some sort of rubber fetish gear masturbated at work, filmed it and provided a link to the video on his LinkedIn profile. And various people raised concern that this was happening in the offices of a children’s charity. In defense of their employee the NSPCC tweeted ‘anyone who comes at us with this homophobic nonsense we will report you.'”

(14:35). Comments about misgendering. Which can get you arrested these days in the U.K. and other Western countries.

TERMS

  • Stonewall = LGBTQ+ rights organization in U.K.
  • Self-ID = Simply say you are a preferred gender and you will be treated as such. “A slight of hand that swaps sex for gender.” (see 1:23 of video for details)
  • Misgendering = referring to someone with the wrong preferred pronoun
  • Girlguides = U.K. girl’s organization similar to Girl Scouts in U.S.

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Is this the world we want to live in? We better come up with some answers quick. Things are moving swiftly. 

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Love Refuses To Affirm Confusion

The Big Picture – Podcast

The Good Creation Podcast – The Big Picture

Podcast Script

This podcast is primarily for my Christian Brothers and Sisters. Obviously all are welcomed to listen.

From my Classic Christian point of view let me briefly lay out the big picture. This will give theological context to my writings about today’s Gender Identity Moment. You can find more detail about this big picture in my previous posts. Especially, “But, I Love That Body.” And “He Told The Women to Go Away.”

God created a bi-natured world of these constitutive parts, Heaven & Earth, Spirit and Matter, Soul (mind) and Body, Male and Female.

[Now, of course, I’m not forgetting all the other beautiful creatures great and small, nor the sun and the moon, or the land and the sea, but these are the major categories.]

It may seem counter-intuitive, but, yes, Heaven was created too. Classic Christianity maintains that the Triune God existed before the creation of Heaven and Earth. Before anything was created, there was a loving community of equal persons.

But before going further, let me clear up what may be puzzling to some. By juxtaposing Heaven and Earth, Spirit and Matter, Male and Female, Soul and Body, as I have done am I not saying that maleness corresponds with Heaven, Spirit and Soul and that femaleness corresponds with Earth, Matter and Body and isn’t that dichotomy more than slightly demeaning? Some might say, objectifying? 

Well, first of all, the main point is the union of each pairing, or the complementarity of each pair and not the correspondence between the different pairings.  For example, both males and females are a mysterious unity of spirit and matter, or if you prefer, soul and body. 

Second, let me question a further assumption that many make here, an assumption made especially by disciples of the Greek philosopher Plato (By the way, it’s possible to be a disciple of Plato and not know it!) That assumption is something I’ve called, unequal dualism. Unequal dualism regards the second place position in each pairing as inferior to the first. For example, Plato linked the irrational and physical with the female sex, and the rational and spiritual with the male sex. Making males superior to females in his mind. And only in his mind! Unfortunately his was a very influential mind.120th Century Mathematician & Philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead, once said the safest way to characterize Western Philosophy “is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”

But with respect to the great Plato, I reject unequal dualism on biblical grounds. And also from the personal experience of knowing my wife and all the other great women in my life. (Not to mentioned throughout history).

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I maintain that both parts of God’s bi-natured world were created EQUAL. But equal does not mean same. In the beginning Earth was created equal to Heaven and likewise Matter was created equal to created Spirit. Just like God’s earthly family, humans, were created equal to God’s heavenly family, angels.

Let me give you a scriptural reference for that.

Revelation 22:8–9 (NRSV): I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”  

Angels & Humans are fellow servants of God. As created, Humans are not inferior to Angels. We’re just different.

Maybe you’ve not thought of God’s two families before, but according to Scripture, God created two Image-Bearing families. Equal yet different. One family of spiritual beings, (angels) and another one of embodied souls (humans).

Also, let me say, angels are not, strictly speaking, immortal, because they were created. Only God is immortal.

I view Equal Dualism as a crucial interpretive key in Christian Theology.

For example, you can think of heaven as being another dimension of God’s created order. Don’t be thrown off by spacial metaphors, though the scriptures sometimes suggest those metaphors. Heaven is simply another dimension where God “resides” for the time being. Which means heaven, like our God, is not far off, but very near.

Because of “The Fall” the bi-natured world has been separated, first from God, but also from intended creational integration. However, here comes the Good News, God’s Big Picture plan is to bring the two parts of the created cosmos back together again in a holy marriage. At the center of the original cosmological marriage was a Garden, Eden, in the book of Genesis. At the center of the future cosmological marriage, is a Garden City, New Jerusalem, found in the book of Revelation. These are the Two Garden bookends of Holy Scripture.

Have you ever thought of it that way? The story begins in a garden and ends in a garden.

I know what I’m about to say sounds Freudian. But I don’t care. This is the biblical witness. And it preceded Siggy Freud by thousands of years. God’s interlocking and overlapping bi-natured world has, at its united center, a Garden of Life. A place where life happens. And the Living God dwells.

Gardens in the Ancient Near East, the biblical past, were often regarded as Temples. That’s the case here. The temple garden is the place where heaven and earth overlap, interlock and come together. Hopefully forever. The living God meets with the people of God in that sacred area of overlap. It might help to think of a simple Venn diagram to picture what I mean. As one would expect, the Garden-Temple is a place where life happens. From this Garden Center the dominion mandate of scripture to “be fruitful and multiply” and “take dominion” i.e. spread the rule and reign of God’s kingdom to the rest of the planet is inaugurated.

The first commandment in scripture was to have sex and make babies. The objective was to spread God’s kingdom rule by multiplying God’s Earthly Image-Bearers, God’s representatives, across the entire planet. This Big Picture, bi-natured fruit-producing forward-looking existence makes abundant sense to me. Anthropologically. Cosmologically. Soteriologically. Eschatologically. It all fits together as part of The Big Picture design and plan of God.

How about you? Does that make sense to you? Given what you know of the biblical story? Of God’s creation?

Unfortunately down through the ages, Christians have gotten themselves into trouble by disregarding the importance of either side of God’s bi-natured creation. God created both the invisible world and the visible world and called both of them “good.”

Visit my post “But I Love That Body” to get more detail on how and why Christians have gone off track. Hint: Plato and other Plato-like worldviews, unequal dualisms that elevate the spiritual and denigrate the material realm.

In the story handed down to us, when human’s came along, especially after the ladies arrived, God declared that what he had just done was “very good.” Up to this point in the story, after creating different parts of the bi-natured world, the biblical text said: “And God saw that it was good.” But then after the crowning achievement of earthly creation, the creation of male and female humans, the text for the first time says: “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”2Genesis 1:31

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The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from ParadiseBenjamin West – 1791
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

But as you know disobedience crept in and a breach occurred between God and God’s Image-Bearers. This resulted in the bi-natured parts being separated, parts that were originally designed by God to harmoniously overlap and interlock. Everyone is somewhat familiar with what Theologians call “The Fall.” There was also a fall in heaven as well as one on earth. A fall before the human fall. This explains the crafty evil serpent in the story, who was more than just a serpent. We know much more about the human fall, but according to Scripture both Image-Bearing families fell. Creational brokenness, pain and misery have been the sad result. But because of the Risen Christ, the Jewish Messiah, Our Lord and Savior, who was broken on our behalf, wholeness will finally return to God’s good creation.

That’s GOOD NEWS!

Our job now is to align ourselves with God’s plan for creational wholeness.

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The trouble is that some on the Theological “Right” and the Theological “Left” have been tricked into abandoning God’s bi-natured creational intent. They do this by denying one part, the material part, of God’s good creation. It is an “overspiritualized” anti-creational theology.

On the Right you often encounter the “I’ll Fly Away” mentality. This ol world is not my home, they say and sing. One day Jesus will come and rapture us from this earthly coil and we will live with God eternally in heaven. This view sometimes reduces Christian witness to the “saving of souls.” Less care for the rest of God’s earthly order, ecological life, cultural life, etc., naturally results from this reduced theology. Why polish brass on a sinking ship, some say. Rescuing souls, that’s our business.

On the Theological Left you often find a disregard of one particular bit of matter, the most important human body ever created, and then recreated, the Risen Body of our Lord and Savior. Many on the Theological Left deny the central event of our Faith, the risen body of Jesus. For various modern reasons they “spiritualize” the event. Jesus and what he stands for has been “raised” in our consciousness, they say. But the apostle Paul is clear on this point, if Jesus’ body remained in the tomb then we are pitiable fools to believe the Gospel message that “Jesus is Lord” for he has not conquered Sin and Death if his body did not rise. Since only the body dies, if the body remains dead, then death has not been defeated, only accepted. And Jesus is NOT LORD.

To “overspiritualize” in this way is to preach a false Gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:16–19 (NRSV): If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

We might as well become hedonists. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die, Paul says, if Jesus’s body stayed in the tomb.

The denial of bodily resurrection means
bodily life ultimately has no Transcendent meaning.

But that’s not what the Scriptures teach or at it’s best, the Church Historic.

My friends on the Theological Left who are willing to discard the bodily resurrection of Jesus and view the Christian Faith in more “spiritual” terms have grossly misconstrued Biblical Spirituality. True Biblical Spirituality, holistic spirituality includes the rescue and reconciliation of God’s bi-natured creation.

Heaven and Earth. Soul and Body. All of it. Rejoined in an unbroken state of holy matrimony.

Jesus’s bodily resurrection was “the first fruit” of a new creation begun on Easter morning.31 Cor 15:20 (NRSV) But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. A new creation, a new Eden, to be fully consummated at the reconciliation of all things when Heaven and Earth are finally remarried. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”4Revelation 21:1

This is the Big Picture celebration that is in our future. And marriage between God’s bi-natured creation is the interpretive key to understanding our past, present & future.

We are about to enter Advent. I want to encourage you, as brothers and sisters, this Advent, as we celebrate the beginning of the remarriage of Heaven & Earth, as we celebrate God coming to dwell with us, Immanuel, in the embodied form of God’s Son…

THINK BIG.

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