Prophecy, Predictions, and Penile Inversions

This will be my last column on transgenderism. I’ll leave that up to my colleagues, and there will be no shortage of stories about the subject in the future. But at this point, I could only find one more topic to cover.

When it comes to biblical prophecy, everyone loves pointing to the Book of Daniel. Probably the only things more popular than the prophecies are the stories of Daniel in the lion’s den and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which have been staples of Sunday school classes since I was a toddler. But we tend to forget that throughout much of the Old Testament, prophecies were prescriptive rather than predictive.

The Old Testament prophets for the most part exhorted the population to clean up its act, lest dire consequences befall it. Primary complaints included ignoring the plight of the poor and the practices of idolatry or embracing foreign religions. Of course, the people did not heed those warnings, and disaster ensued. To get a good feel for prophecy, read the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah spent his life warning the people and their rulers about their behavior and was nothing short of miserable because of his efforts. Of particular note, Jeremiah tried to warn King Zedekiah of Judah that he needed to abandon his fantasies and deal with the reality of the Babylonians at the gate. He was tossed into a cistern and, after another meeting, found himself in jail.

Of course, things did not go well for Judah, its people, or Zedekiah. You can read the account of the prophet and the king here. Click here to read about the aftermath. Jeremiah was in a position to warn Zedekiah but not in a position to make policy decisions. The Old Testament prophets had in reality a very simple message: change your ways or suffer the consequences.

Jeremiah was on my mind as I read a story on The Blaze about Jordan Peterson. Apparently, there was a video circulating on that cursed thing known as social media of Dr. Oren Ganor. Ganor is with Boston Children’s Hospital and was explaining the ins and outs of penile inversion vaginoplasty. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Said Ganor:

In this procedure the surgical team is creating the outer and the inner vagina. The reason it’s called penile inversion vaginoplasty because we use the penile skin and the scrotal skin in order to reconstruct the vagina. But in doing so, we break it down to all of its components and we use some of the tissue to reconstruct things the way they were supposed to be for that patient.

Peterson tweeted, “Prison.” He followed up with another tweet, which was a bit saltier, in which he voiced his opinion over what said surgery would actually produce. Peterson’s comments drew the standard responses. He was called “pure hatred and bigotry,” and a “sad, pathetic” little man who denigrates women. Another person, who says they are a transgender communist stated, “He’s claiming to be talking about and in defense of the bodies of children. The post is not age restricted, [sic] and would be disgusting even if kids couldn’t see it. you won’t find a single anti-trans crusader who doesn’t sexually harass children like this.”

That the trans community and its supporters would react in such a way is, of course, no surprise to anyone. After all, if one shouts accusations of “-ist” and “-phobe,” not to mention harm and danger, and intersperses them with the chant “trans lives matter,” one can avoid any responsibility for one’s actions. There is no need to worry about the consequences. Consequences are for tomorrow. Today, trans is all that matters. And while no one is guaranteed another day on this earth, tomorrow with its consequences usually comes.

By all means, continue to fight for children. To abandon that fight would be as criminal as the acts of sexualizing and mutilating them for the sake of a societal fad. But just as Zedekiah ignored the warnings about the Babylonian incursion at the behest of his princes and courtiers, the trans movement enjoys the support of governments, the media, and a host of other entities. And with so many parents, legislators, so-called educators, physicians, and allies so enthusiastically devoted to these children’s demolition, you probably will not save everyone. You may be lucky just to save your own child. And for the adults that engage in the act of transitioning, all we can offer is a warning.

Our real work may be yet to come. It may be years from now. At some point, these people, some now grown, some now only children, will be ravaged by infection, internal organs that no longer function as they should, bones that cannot support their bodies, and minds and souls that are incredibly damaged. They will be scarred, exhausted, and tired from trying to live a life that was not theirs and from forcing their bodies to do things that they were never meant to do. Our task may be to compassionately help the walking wounded recover whatever remains of their lives. We will need to restore the exiles newly home from Babylon.