Transgenderism: A Question Of Identity

by Francis Etheredge Profiles in Catholicism

Reviewed by Bill Taylor

Mr. Francis Etheredge’s seminal “Transgenderism: A Question Of Identity” is a marvelous explanation of the importance of the church’s 2,000 year battle for obedience to God’s commands for human sexuality, marriage, procreation, and raising children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  God’s plans underlie the value and relevance of Mr. Etheredge’s scholarship.

Mr. Etheredge introduces the war between Christians and Satan by quoting Sister Lucia, “The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about marriage and family.”[1]

Why, we might ask, is the ‘final battle … about marriage and family’? Is it because we are made in the image and likeness of God, that God Himself is, as it were, both intimately involved in each one of us coming to exist. As St. Paul says in the Acts of the Apostles, it is God ‘who gives everything – including life and breath – to everyone’ (Acts 17: 25). Therefore, the very identity of man and woman is a communication of the mystery of God; and, if that mystery is totally rejected, then that rejection shows itself in the vulnerability of marriage and family to destruction. Thus the conception of a human being expresses both the vulnerability of the human person to being extinguished and the action of God to being denied, overlooked or rejected.

Consider that in America, for example, the promotion of abortion is higher than ever and the birth rate is lower than ever[2]: what message does this entail for marriage and family life?[3]  [emphasis added]

That’s an excellent summary of the existential issue facing the Christian world: we are not raising enough children to replace ourselves.  Jesus asked, “when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).”  The church is dying out.  Jesus most certainly won’t find faith unless we get back to practicing Holy Matrimony and raising God-honoring children as God commanded.

Sodomy and lesbianism are age-old behaviors which block fertility, but such sinners can repent, marry, and bear children.  Transgenderism is uniquely sinful in that the drugs used to block puberty and the surgeries to change a male body to appear to be more feminine or a female body to seem more masculine make the victims of “gender-affirming care” infertile, rendering repentance futile in terms of having children.

The surge of “gender-affirming care” violates many societal norms in addition to being against the Word of God.  Doctors swear an oath that their practice will “do no harm.”  The Nuremberg convention is binding on the United States government.  It forbids carrying out medical procedures without fully explaining the risks and benefits.  Transgender surgery is so risky and the benefits so uncertain that most of Europe bans these procedures for anyone under 18 while allowing some tightly-controlled exceptions.[4]

Medical outcomes were discussed in The Journal of Sexual Medicine.  Activists had predicted that surgical patients “would magically be less depressed, less inclined to substance abuse, and less likely to commit suicide.

In fact, the opposite was true, and not just a little true, but very true. Those who had surgery were markedly less happy than their so-called “transgender” peers who stopped short of slicing and dicing their bodies:”[5]

The January 10 New York Times/Ipsos survey found that just 18 percent of U.S. adults say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports; 79 percent said they should be barred, including 67 percent of self-identified Democrats.[6]  If people are so opposed, the certainly of infertility so undesirable, and the benefits so ill-defined, why is “gender-affirming care” so common in the United States?

Mr. Etheredge quoted Dr. Shayne Sebold Taylor who suggests that we “follow the money.”

“These surgeries make a lot of money,” she said, noting that “chest reconstruction” can mean $40,000 per patient, and vaginoplasties well over $20,000. “These surgeries are labor intensive, there are a lot of follow-ups, they require a lot of our time, and they make money.”[7]

“Now, more generally, even more millions if not billions are poured into what is now called the transgender industry[8]; and, what is more, this ‘market is forecast to be worth $6.2 billion dollars by 2030”[9]

Given the passionate screaming whenever we try to cut any form of government spending, it is no surprise that these damaging surgeries continue over significant voter disapproval.

Mr. Etheredge’s book will give you sound Biblical and historical grounds to urge your elected representatives to support efforts to stop this lucrative practice of permanently mutilating children.

The reason behind the transgender battle goes back to God’s plan for humanity.  In the very beginning, God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply:

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

Genesis 1:28

God values children and gave primary responsibility for raising children to their parents:

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 

Psalm 127:3

And thou shalt teach them [God’s commands] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 

Deuteronomy 6:7

Adam had to eat by the sweat of his face when God cursed the ground (Gen. 3:19).  God made no provision for Eve to eat.  For generations, women needed men to feed them and men needed women to turn the grain they grew or the animals they killed into something edible.  Knowing that the industrial revolution would make it possible for men to buy prepared meals and for women to get jobs and not depend on men unless they had children, God commanded:

I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, 

I Timothy 5:14a

The church’s unchangeable doctrines on sexual purity, marriage until death, contraception, abortion, sodomy, lesbianism, and transgenderism are consistent with God’s commands that we be fruitful and multiply.

Satan opposes everything God stands for so it is no surprise that Satan opposes Christian marriage and our raising children so that they choose to belong to God.  The church will die out if we don’t.

The book can be ordered from the publisher: En Route Books and Media: contactus@enroutebooksandmedia.com or call 314-706-1009

Endorsement

We live in difficult times as there are enormous advantages to the internet and, at the same time, profound problems with its use. Is it a distorting mirror or is a true reflection of who we are? On the one hand world class scholarship, news, philosophy and documents of the Catholic Church are available as we type and touch a button. And, indeed, we are encouraged to be ‘media literate’, critical, thoughtful, capable, not just of debate but of seeking the truth. On the other hand, however, if a person is vulnerable owing to his or her time of life, sufferings, just beginning to read and to think, but not really grounded in philosophy, formed in a faith-community, or generally aware of what kind of ideas are abroad, their sources and their purpose, then the wrong keys can be jammed into the questions about “who and what I am”.

This book, then, begins with a survey of some of the difficulties of our time, ranging from how we can lose a connection with each other, can isolate and “stay in”, die alone, or commit suicide. There are many cross-currents in our society, most of which are like tidal waves, involving so many types of suffering: the tragic statistics of marital breakdown, runaway children, the chemicalization of our bodies through drugs, contraception, and the taking of human life through abortion, whether by pill or by operation. Thus for there to be one more suggestion that the answer to our disorientation about our sexuality is just another set of drugs or operations is all too easy to believe. And, as the book progresses, we see that there is amidst this maelstrom of difficulties a black hole which is dangerous, directing us into dark places. Thus, given the power of the long-term anti-population strategies, it is possible to be on the receiving end of those who, while claiming to help, are advancing enclosed groups, estranging us from others, using unusual words, making us look at a distorting mirror and believe that we are misshapen. In order, however, to help young people to see the good of man and woman, we have to look afresh at all that could cloud or clear our vision. Given the providence of God, there are many signs of the presence of the truth in our lives, our families, our culture so that, as Pope Francis says, there is a hope that will not disappoint – but we have to be willing to see that we need help and the help we need is the truth about ourselves, what exists, and the God who loved us into existence and has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save us and to bring us into His Ch

Endorsed by L. K. Miller Enroute Books and Media