“God Made Us Male and Female” had attendees turned away at the door to remain within fire code, a packed audience sitting before religious scholar Voddie Baucham.
Thursday’s lecture in the Pitman Center was the first event of Christ Church’s 2023 Missions Conference. Collegiate Reformed Fellowship President Kenny Klein acknowledged the sizeable audience in town for the “In a World Gone Mad” conference.
A former pastor, Baucham found “clashes of worldview” to be among the foremost problems in society. This included the debates surrounding masculinity and femininity, heterosexual relationships and pronoun usage.
Citing the recent Tennessee shooting, Baucham remarked on an MSNBC caption that read “transgender Americans under siege.”
“Just marinate on that for me,” Baucham said to chuckles from the audience, adding that such verbiage was militaristic and signs of the underlying problem of differing worldviews.
Baucham focused on three “lenses” for viewing the world: Christianity, secular humanism and “neo-Marxism.” Among other things, Baucham said that subscribers to these different worldviews fundamentally differed on the notion of what was wrong with the world.
For the Christian worldview, wrongs stem from the wickedness of men, Baucham said. For the neo-Marxist it is the relationship of the oppressed versus the oppressor. For the secular humanist, it is the limited educational and governmental institutions that are responsible. Offering a rebuke, to the non-Christian views, Baucham again referenced the recent school shooting in Tennessee.
“You don’t walk into a school and slaughter nine-year-olds because you’re insufficiently governed,” Baucham said. “Yeah, ‘just one more law, one more law would’ve fixed that.’”
Citing the book of Genesis, Baucham said an individual’s purpose for existing is from being made in the image of God, an image from which all people are inspired to maximize God’s glory. Bauchman said that those who identify differently from what they were born as counter the image of God.
“Why are men made the way men are and women made the way women are?” Baucham asked. “Because it maximizes the glory that we bring to our Creator. That’s why.”
Under a Christian worldview, Baucham said that transgressions against humanity would be intuitively impermissible as the Bible says that each person was made in the image of God, and, by extension, made with “inherent dignity, inherent worth and inherent value.”
When asked whether Christians have a duty to approach “transgenderism” with compassion, Baucham said that Christians must first define what compassion is, and not let the culture do it for them. Baucham said compassion as defined by the culture manifested in turning people towards gender-affirming care. Baucham said such action was misguided and counterproductive.
“We have a social contagion on our hands,” Baucham said. “The number of people we’re identifying as transgender is skyrocketing, especially among young people.”
Instead of supporting gender-affirming care, Baucham said that Christians should focus on turning individuals away from it and listen to people that have detransitioned.
“We know that in the overwhelming majority of cases, that this resolves itself without any kind of intervention, medical or otherwise,” Baucham said. “The compassionate thing to do is to hold people off so that they don’t do things that can’t be undone.”
According to the Associated Press in a multi-study review, after transitioning an average of 1% of individuals in Europe, the U.S. and Canada “expressed regret” and a smaller number “went on to have detransitioning reversal surgeries.”
Once more returning to the shooting in Tennessee and the circulation of a graphic calling for a “Trans Day of Vengeance,” Baucham said that Christians should “recognize that people become violent when they don’t have an argument.”
“Now’s not the time for us to recoil,” Baucham said.
Royce McCandless can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @roycem_news
DB
You people not ignore favor of this are something else. Read the replies. They are all about “me.” Of your life is all about you, enjoy “your”self here on earth because hell is gonna be just that
David
It's saddening so many people turned out to listen to this man and his poisoned words. As a Christian, I know that God loves me and all of His other trans children. Hate has no place on this campus or anywhere. Nor does anyone who would continue to mistreat these people because of who they are.
Megan G
Imagine that UI makes all of its employees watch inclusiveness training and then they allow this person to speak…just think about that.
Lisa
Following Gods' unchanging will, will always go against the ever-changing world view.
Greg
That asshole can do what he wants. Ignoring the science, using the bible to hurt others, that’s his choice. This asshole, on the other hand, is going to listen to actual data and let people do what they need to do in order to be mentally well. And I suggest everyone else do the same.
Johnathan Huntington
Morally correct. Transgender affirming treatment is harmful and wrong
Kaili
Transphobes make me sick. "Transgenderism" is not a word, and it's also not a "social contagion." I'm so sad that Christian extremists can't find it in their heart to practice the acceptance that their holy book preaches. What a shameful display. I will now and forever stand up for trans people's right to exist. Baucham is outdated, and soon his kind will be replaced with love and truly diverse people, not just diverse Christians. Fortunately, for every person like him, there are still some Christians that practice what they preach and accept people for who they are rather than who they should be.