Over on CrossPolitic, an anonymous author has published a piece detailing what happens when the State latches onto a confused child who claims to be a different gender. The piece is a troubling look at the horrible ramifications that come out of a situation like that and offers some wise counsel for Christians.
The article begins with the harrowing words, “This past year my 15-year-old niece decided that she was a boy.” From there, the author describes how “the religious secular state came for my niece” after she attempted suicide.
The daughter of a single mother with a rotating door of boyfriends, the writer’s niece suffered bullying at school and watched her mom deal with abusive men in her life. Sadly, the writer confesses, “My niece’s self-hate is evident. The dysfunction around her is obvious. She has never met a Christian other than my family, and we live a few states away. She is alone.”
The author writes that after her niece’s suicide attempt and the claim that she is a boy:
State counselors began intensive counseling and gave her a mentor, an 18-year-old who had transitioned from a girl to a boy. Then came meetings with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law: If they don’t call her a boy and use her new name, she will commit suicide and they will lose her. When people have no deeply held convictions and are told they are responsible for the suicide of their daughter, you can imagine how quickly they acquiesce. And then came the announcement: She can’t do surgery without their approval, but they should allow her to have surgery immediately.
Walking into the mess of confusion, self-hatred, and the State’s wicked counsel and direction, the writer and his family joined his niece and other family members on a vacation. Among other tricky things, the writer and his wife struggled with what to tell their five children — not to mention that the niece had been warned that the writer’s family was judgmental. Complicating things, “We were told to call her a he and by her new name. Our 3-year-old daughter needed to do the same.”
Grappling with transgenderism, the writer and his wife began praying and studying. By God’s grace, the vacation went well. They were able to have good conversations with their children and their niece. To her surprise, the niece discovered that the “religious” side of the family is actually loving and fun.
I encourage you to read the article in its entirety (there’s a link to it in my opening paragraph). On one hand, the story is a frightening example of what an activist State does to our children. On the other hand, it’s an excellent example for us to follow as we seek to love God and our neighbors whenever we’re called to interact with transgenderism. The writer closes his article with these thoughtful words:
What has been reinforced to us more than anything else is that the gospel brings healing. When one comes from a family of generational brokenness without personal interaction with followers of Christ, and the only familiar conservative Christians are political talking heads, the barriers are high. And yet, the gospel is powerful, as testified in our own salvation and the millions of people transformed and conformed into Christ’s image. It is in that gospel we have hope, knowing that the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to blow into our family’s life and upend generational hardness.
May God give all of us that same level of grace, love, and wisdom when interacting with our hurting family members.
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