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Should a Confused Trans Bishop Be Serving a Community?
Whenever the topic of transgenderism comes up, I have multiple reactions: emotional pain, compassion, anger, and rejection. With the research I have done, I have decided that transgenderism comes out of unresolved gender dysphoria, and the results usually manifest as depression, confusion, and the inability to fit into society. Rather than treat this condition as a mental illness, it has been recognized as legitimate. Don’t even get me started about the damage the propaganda and transitions will do to children.
Glenn T. Stanton in the Federalist has written about the case of Megan Rohrer, who was recently ordained as a bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, calling herself transgender and queer. She should not have been put in a position of counseling, leading, and guiding a community, because she has openly admitted that at the age of 41, she still doesn’t know who (or what?) she is.
Certainly, serious people see life as a journey where our paths may shift and we go in different directions. We may alter our commitments to others, try new vocations, and even change our belief systems. We can hope that these changes only minimally affect those around us, and that we are clear on the reasons for our new choices and can explain our thinking behind those opportunities.
In the case of Megan Rohrer, her choices seem to be in flux, and her identity not only as a transgender but her understanding of who she is as a human being, is tenuous:
Rev. Megan Rohrer, the new bishop, is a very interesting person. Although God joyfully created her female and she still retains her lovely female first name, she employs the plural pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them’ for herself, as well as ‘he,’ and asks the rest of us to do the same. She does not, however, seem to fully identify as a man, and at 41, her ‘transition’ seems to still be in process.
To me, the gender and sexuality that we were born with are key to our identity. They are not necessarily the most important elements, but they certainly influence our values, belief systems, relationships, commitments, and a myriad of other factors as we interact with the world. Since our gender and sexuality are interwoven with our thoughts and actions, they provide a grounding for our place in the world. No woman is the same as any other woman; no man is identical to any other man. So, the gender and sexuality we are born with offer countless ways of being, within a moral and ethical framework. That framework, rather than boxing us in, provides us with a way to see ourselves and our roles in the world, and guidance for developing relationships with others. It is also central to Judaism and Christianity, as we are created in G-d’s image.
So, my issue with Megan Rohrer, and even more so with the ELCA, is that they are becoming their own gods. ECLA has decided to re-create G-d’s decisions, to change his creation to their own preferences, and has tried to intimidate others to follow them. Their decision is unconscionable. For Megan Rohrer, my heart is pained by her lack of clarity, and I am disturbed that this woman will be leading and misleading others to follow a path of self-destruction:
Megan’s is a tragically sad story and she shares it poignantly in a video on her personal website. In the video, produced by Cosmopolitan magazine, Megan confesses her confusion about who she is, ‘I haven’t really figured out how I want to have my body in the rest of my life.’ Her dysphoria is evident and arresting.
The most heartbreaking part comes when she talks about the body God gave her through nature as Megan. She explains, ‘Churches regularly pray for you when you have surgery, which is weird when you are having what would normally be a private part of your body removed,’ referring to her breasts. With tender and uneasy tears, she relays, ‘You wheel into an operating room trying to get relief and you come out wondering how people are going to engage with your body, and it’s new to you, and you don’t even know how you feel about it…’
In all fairness, transgenderism and its advocates are everywhere, even in Judaism (primarily in Reform Judaism or other liberal communities). I protest their choices as well, for the same reasons. Conservative Rabbis have dealt with the issue since 2016, but I wasn’t able to locate decisions regarding transgenders becoming Rabbis.
Let me end with Glenn T. Stanton’s closing paragraph:
But by dictate of an intentional policy, one of the largest religious entities in America has just radically changed God’s first words to us about His own image and likeness in the world, as well as what it means to be human, officially affirming the false idea that God tells us lies about who we are through the bodies He gave us.
We can be sure of this: God isn’t the confused one. The ELCA has also told all members of their denomination that in order to be good and loving members, they are expected to embrace and celebrate the leaders who believe those lies.
The ELCA deserves rebuke and correction. Megan, as a person, deserves absolute compassion and care for her deep psychological and emotional pain. The larger church and world at large must understand the difference between these two responses, the reasons for them, and that we can and must engage in both at the same time. May God give us the strength and wisdom to do exactly that.
This is where diversity and inclusion have taken us. My heart aches for my spiritual brothers and sisters.
Published in Religion & Philosophy
Short answer: No.
Long answer: Don’t get me started . . .
Irreversible Damage — book and podcast. A horror show.
Thanks for the reminder, @rodin. She took a lot of flack for her revelations. I’ve heard her interviewed, and have been meaning to buy it for a while, but I know I will find it deeply disturbing and haven’t. Now I have.
Christians (Bible believing ) should leave that church.
The left is not letting any segment of civilization go untouched by its unholy dogma. Critical race theory is forcing its way into the church too. White guilt is standing by with its hands in its pockets.
I think transgender sufferers are not so much confused about what sex they are, but what qualities their sexes embody.
It is easier for them to say, “I don’t know whether I am male or female,” than it is to ask, “What is male and female?” Their approach allows them to remain confused and expend no mental energy.
True. And unfortunately, they have difficulty getting professional help to sort through their struggles. Psychologists and psychiatrists are being discouraged from helping people with gender dysphoria.
Well, I’m not going to say that the mental health profession has a vested interest in keeping people confused. But, as you can see, I typed it right there. Ahem.
ELCA makes it frustrating being a Lutheran from another synod. You tell someone that you are Lutheran and some will respond, oh so you believe <insert one of the many goofy ELCA beliefs>? No, that is another church. I wish there was a way to force them to remove Lutheran from their name.
I’m trying to walk a respectable line here and still display my ignorance. Back in the day, I’m reasonably certain that the Reverend would have been considered a “masculine” lesbian (there’s another term, which I won’t use). Has there been a merger of this type of person with the transgender movement now that the latter is in vogue?
Your guess is as good as mine, @hoyacon. Why does she call herself transgender and queer? It all makes my head spin . . .
As of now, they are leading one less.
Adios, boys. I’ll pause just long enough to shake the dust from my feet on my way out.
I don’t keep up with the Evangelical Lutheran Church, but it appears that they have followed the Episcopal Church down the rabbit hole.
Bottom line: More Americans who will choose to be unchurched; who needs this?
I don’t blame the persons who are confused; I blame those who take that confusion and turn it into a doctrine.
I agree. The tragedy is that many of us need community more than ever. But if we are going to be propagandized with ideas that violate our beliefs, what’s the point, @cacrabtree.
Both of them boasted about the unchurched LGBT people who were certainly going to flock to their churches now that the new welcoming regime was established. Here is how that worked out for the ELCA. (2008-2009 is when the ELCA officially declared they would ordain gay and lesbian clergy)
No need to go unchurched. Seek out a Church where the Holy Spirit hasn’t been evicted.
You may need to leave a denomination. However, no need to leave all church options.
This pretty much sums it up. I pity these folk like I do others with mental issues but why we are trying to take their broken mental view of the world and make it everybodies with force of law is beyond me.
This is a weekday, so I identify as Louise, a lesbian of color. My pronouns are “what-the” and “kazoom.”
As an American, I have every right to get my freak on but also as an American, I don’t demand that everybody else applaud when I do. It’s the mandated approval part that is the real rights issue, not the form the wonderful new me might undertake. Snap!
I just don’t get why people would want to be a part of a church if they don’t actually believe. When I was a heathen, church was the last place I wanted to go. If you want to live like the rest of the world, then why bother with church (although on the spiritual side there is a deceiver who might like to attack the church from the inside).
When churches start to go off, it is always a little tricky whether to leave or stay and fight. In this case, it does appear they have passed the point of no return so . . . leave.
I believe that some Americans will do this but there will be many others who have had a life-long affiliation (along with their parents) with their church and will become so disaffected that they’ll say, “why bother?”. The loss of community, especially with a church, is a powerful thing; especially when that loss has been perpetrated by the church’s “leaders”. I suspect that many church-goers see it as an act of betrayal.
No, because they are too obsessed with themselves.
Maybe they were speaking with forked tongue.
But the church’s leaders will proudly continue onward (and downward) smugly proclaiming their “inclusiveness” and rectitude.
That’s exactly what happened to the Presbyterian church. I know that from my own experience, and it appears to apply to all of the “major” denominations. The activists work their way into the churches’ leadership positions and take over. Their goal isn’t leadership, it’s power.
This is probably worth a post in and of itself. For some people, church isn’t something you’re a part of, it’s something you do. I’ve family that have done church for decades. Interestingly, I believe none of their kids even bother with church now. Hence why we see the decline in that graph above. Their parents might have some basic understanding that church is important, only they don’t really know why. Meanwhile, the next generation sees the church as offering milquetoast parroting of the popular social stances of the day with little discussion of the Gospel — of sin that is real and of Christ who came to reconcile a sinful world with G-d through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his resurrection from death. For churches like that, it just becomes a couple time-killing hours on Sunday. Why bother at that point?
Precisely. Now, I’m not a conspiracy nut but a reasonable person has to wonder if this was a Leftist ploy to bring about the destruction of organized religion.
Granted, much of the destruction has been carried out from within (some of the TV evangelists; pedophile priests, etc.) but, as you say, the “activist playbook” seems to have been used over and over again in the name of “inclusiveness”. Just sayin’.
This is my issue. There was a time I was a Democrat and the party changed to the point that it left me. Fine, it’s their party and they can do what they want with it. So I go on my way. Now I have the same issue with my Church. We have gay priests and it seem Rome is worried about climate change more than saving souls. Then I read about how it handled its sex scandal around the world. So I am at the same point. it’s their church and they can do what they want with it. Time to go on my way. It hurts a bit more than the party thing did but there is no reason to try to stay where you do not fit and are not wanted.
Episode #33 of the Femsplainers podcast, here, was about the so-called “trans” movement. Danielle Crittenden interviewed two people. One is a gentleman who writes critically of the surge in “sudden gender dysphoria” among the young. He writes under the name “Angus” to avoid endangering his career in academia. The other guest is a 40-something man who underwent gender reassignment surgery when he was in his teens and has been living as a “trans-woman” since then (though he does not consider himself to actually be a woman). It’s a frank, honest, and poignant discussion of his choices, and of what he feels they’ve cost him.
Angus has posted a lengthy series entitled When Sons Become Daughters: Parents of Transitioning Boys Speak Out on Their Own Suffering. I haven’t read it, but I was impressed enough by the interview to bookmark the piece, and I’ll eventually go back and read it. One thing he discusses is the difference between a true problem of self-perceived gender identity versus a faddish embrace of an escapist alternative lifestyle by a generation growing up in a confused sexual landscape. I have long believed that most of the “trans” movement is this latter, faddish thing. I think he also shares my belief that “LGBT” is a problematic construct, and that the “T” should not be associated with the rest of it.
Yeah, that’s pretty much where I’m at. However, one of the things I like about the Catholic Church is the sense of privacy; that is, I go to Mass, say the rosary, and blot out all the B.S. that is going on around me. I can go to just about any Catholic Church and the Mass is the same. If the priest wants to talk about some member’s lack of interest in giving to the Bishop’s fund, I just shrug and wait for him to finish.
I don’t think you are a conspiracy nut at all! Why would the secularists and Marxists work so hard if they weren’t trying to destroy their enemies? They not only show disdain for religion, but frequently create roadblocks to faith and community. They see religious people as kooks, but they also see them as threats to their agendas. I have no doubt that their efforts at some level are intentional and strategic.