How should we think about someone who has adopted the lifestyle of transgenderism? How should we interact with someone who believes they are not whom God has made them? What is the most loving thing we can do for someone confused about their identity as a male or a female?

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, host Dr. Josh Philpot asks Dr. Richard Caldwell to help us think biblically about people who are transgendered. How can we as believers navigate conversations with family, friends, and co-workers caught up in the confusion of gender identity? What should we do, how should we act, and what should we say? How can we relate to them?

Dr. Caldwell begins by saying that what we do is deal with every person with the knowledge of who they are: a fellow human being made in the image of God. Just because someone is confused, deceived, and enslaved at the moment by sin doesn’t mean that they are any different than we are from the standpoint of humanity. We care about them as a person, recognizing that their soul has equal worth as ours. That is how we think about them, talk to them, and relate to them.

We need to remember that they are a fellow human being, someone made in the image of God, someone who is going to spend eternity in heaven or hell. We want to love these individuals and care about them, but never by compromising our loyalty to God. Therefore, we want to bring that to bear in our relationship with them. The most loving thing we will do them, for any human being, no matter what sin we are talking about, is to tell them God’s truth in an attitude that reflects the God whose truth it is. We want them to know that God cares for them and He is willing to save and change their lives. We want this to come through in every conversation we have with them.

Dr. Caldwell tells us it isn’t loving towards anyone to affirm them in things that will destroy them. It isn’t loving to stand idly by watching as someone runs towards a cliff where they will plummet to their death. We cannot say we love others and not do everything we can to hold them back. We need to do what we can to rescue them from the pit of the fiery flames of hell. That means we cannot participate in the dysphoria and the deception. We cannot refer to them by pronouns or names that do not represent reality. As believers, we have to think about how to handle this most graciously, not looking to be necessarily offensive or just out to make a point. We want to be compassionate, caring, and wise as we go about this. But we cannot and must not act as if something is real when it isn’t. The need is for the gospel, salvation, and transformation.

Dr. Caldwell shares that when we converse with those that are experiencing this dysphoria, we can assure them that whatever they are feeling, no matter how strongly they feel about whatever it is they feel, we believe them because sin is a strong force. Sin impacts our minds, our emotions, and everything else. When it comes to the spiritual aspect, we can feel right-side-up when we are actually upside down. We can tell them we are sure they feel this way, in no way denying they have these feelings. But we must also share that our feelings can’t be trusted. We want them to know that we have a very real enemy, the devil, who seeks to consume and devour us. Their confusion represents spiritual lies and the work of our spiritual enemy. We want them to know that the true and living God has an answer for the way they are feeling. That answer is to be reoriented according to His Word. We can share what the Bible tells us about creation, what it tells us about maleness and femaleness, what it says about sin, and how it affects us. We must share with them how to be saved from sin and how it is overcome through sanctification.

These are the things that can be talked about in conversations with those caught up in the deception of God’s design as we try to help them with the truth of God’s Word. These are the same conversations we must have with all those we love, wanting them to understand that we cannot pretend that their confusion represents reality. We must be loving, compassionate, but straightforward and truthful.