Trapped in a Lie
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
Text: James 3:8-14
I. I ran across an article titled, “The Philosophical Contradictions of the Transgender Worldview” by Ryan T. Anderson
A. The transgender movement claims “that people are what they claim to be, regardless of contrary evidence.”
B. The lengths the promoters of transgenderism go to deny the obvious is mind boggling
1. Children are not born male or female. No, the claim is that sex is assigned to them at birth.
a. Biological sex “isn’t something we’re actually born with, it’s something that doctors or our parents assign us at birth.”
b. In fact, “Biological sex is an ambiguous word that has no scale and no meaning besides that it is related to some sex characteristics.”
2. One supposed expert, Dr. Deanna Adkins, claims, “It is counter to medical science to use chromosomes, internal reproductive organs, external genitalia, or secondary sex characteristics to override gender identity for purposes of classifying someone as male or female.”
3. In other words, it doesn’t matter what physical evidence exists, what a person believes
C. I couldn’t help but reflect that there is a mental illness, called schizophrenia, where a person has difficulty distinguishing between reality and the imaginary.
1. It seems to be infecting more people than we realize
II. Truth is fixed and unchanging
A. Truth is the opposite of lies - Proverbs 14:5
1. Here we are dealing with liars who demand that we deny facts.
B. Truth endures - Proverbs 12:19
C. Truth is consistent
1. “Why should sex be determined differently in humans than in other mammals?”
2. God made mankind as male and female - Genesis 1:27
3. The American Psychological Association is stating that gender identity is “a person’s internal sense of being male, female, or something else.”
4. Exactly what does being male or female feel like?
5. Should this be applies to other areas?
a. I feel like I’m short, so I can walk through small openings.
b. I feel like I’m 14, so I don’t need the responsibility of a job
c. I feel like I’m a native American, so that means I can join a tribe
6. Feelings don’t change reality
D. At some level transgender activists understand this; thus, they “insist that gender identity is innate, or established at a very young age, and therefore immutable.”
1. But then they claim “that gender is a purely social construct”
2. You can’t have it both ways. Social constructs constantly change.
3. One imaginary gender is “gender fluid.” How can a gender be fluid if it is also immutable.
4. Like all lies, it is inconsistent
III. But this isn’t limited to just transgenderism
A. There are people who claim to be Christians; yet, the reality of their lives prove them to be anything but Christians
1. A claim doesn’t create a reality - Matthew 7:21-23
2. There must be a consistency in our lives - James 3:8-14
B. There must be a consistency between our behavior and what we teach - Galatians 5:16-25
C. There is to be a consistency between what we say and what we stand for - Ephesians 5:3-7
IV. It is a battle against truth itself
A. God is the God of Truth - Deuteronomy 32:4
1. God is not like men. God does not lie - Numbers 23:19
2. God is always true - Romans 3:4
B. What we are seeing is a deliberate undermining of truth
1. Feelings don’t determine the truth - Jeremiah 17:7-11
a. Decisions can’t be based on our feelings - Proverbs 28:26
b. It is God’s word which is truth - John 17:17
2. Belief doesn’t determine truth
a. A Christian believes that Jesus is the Son of God. A Muslim believes that Muhammad is the Final Prophet. A Mormon believes that the Book of Mormon is God’s word.
(1) But Jesus is or is not the Son of God. Muhammad is or is not the Final Prophet. The Book of Mormon is or is not God’s word.
(2) The determination is the facts of the truth, not the individual’s beliefs.
(3) By the way, this is one of the fundamental flaws of Mormonism. It demands its adherents believe its teaching without regard to evidence.
b. Rather, God offers evidence of the truth and we must decide whether we trust the evidence or not - Isaiah 41:21-24
C. But what transgenderism represents is a deliberate discarding of evidence to be replaced with feelings
1. Contrary evidence is ignored. Objections are shouted down.
2. Somehow truth is whatever a person says it is - Romans 1:25
3. Why can some people impose their idea of reality on others? Where does this right come from?
D. Too many people are so averse to conflict that they will readily accept lies than to stand with the truth
1. No lie is of the truth - I John 2:21
V. The transgender activist claim that a person can be trapped in the wrong gender
A. But the actual trap is the lie - Proverbs 12:13
B. Do not lie against the truth - James 3:14-16
C. May we always be people who live with the truth and tell the truth
