Freaks, media, and Christian compassion

You've doubtless heard of the "world's first pregnant man."

I'm not going to put up a picture, and I'm not going to link to any of the breathless, adoring, giddy MSM articles on it. Unless you're locked in an attic (without any media access), you know the story. And, I would hope, you know that this is no such thing. Pregnant, yes; man, no.

And if you're either Christian or some-kind-of-morally-sane, you're repulsed at the media-fed, Oprah-fed adoration of this person, and how the story is being leveraged to feed the aggressive barrage of the homosexual agenda.

That being the case, you might initially find this essay by Ben Shapiro refreshingly different, for which I have Al Sends (—is that his real name?) to thank. Shapiro's opening graph is more sober and factual than most entire articles in the LSM:

The media seems bizarrely obsessed with the story of "Thomas Beatie," aka Tracy Lagondino. Beatie, a woman who legally changed her sex to "male," retained all of her internal female organs at the same time she took testosterone, grew a beard and had breast removal surgery. She then "married" her lesbian partner, Nancy. Nancy proceeded to artificially inseminate her "husband." And so the press has announced that Thomas/Tracy (Thracy, let's call her) is the world's first "pregnant man."

If Thracy is a man, then so is Rosie O'Donnell. Thracy has two X chromosomes, a fully functioning set of female genitalia, and a uterus -- and a voice higher than Alvin the Chipmunk's. She's a plain old lesbian who was weirdly fascinated with the idea of using a Schick Quattro on her face. Though Thracy's decision to artificially inseminate herself is the height of narcissism, it is hardly a medical anomaly.

Shapiro is clearly disgusted both by the media rapture, the not-so-hidden agenda, and the individual who has put herself and her self-disfigured body in the spotlight. His intent clearly is to rip off the gauzy filter and expose the many lies and deceptions.

Here's a taste of how he does it:

Thracy is no more than a glorified bearded lady, an Elephant Man for a new age... a self-promoting sleazebag willing to sell her soul and the soul of her baby for publicity... self-made monstrosity ...self-butchered breasts ...

The tone is angry, outraged, disgusted. You have to grant he's got good reason; it's a repulsive story, and the media's raptures are disgusting.

But I think that, as Christians, we have to resist fleeing from one error to another. This woman is a human being, created in God's image — and she's ruined by sin. She has ruined herself, disfigured herself, in her flight from God and pursuit of her twisted passions.

My first question, then, is: "...and that makes her different from you and me, exactly how?"

By nature and by choice, we're all in exactly the same boat. Check this:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Dead, enslaved, and getting deader. Doing it to ourselves over and over and over. Then rinse, and repeat. That's you, and that's me.

I can only conceive of two differences.

One: if you're outside of Christ, then perhaps this poor woman has taken her perversion, her brokenness, her rebellion against her Creator, and put it out there in a display of public bravado. But yours is more quiet. It is indulged in your thoughts, your beliefs, your attitudes. To see it, other humans would have to monitor your bedroom, your computer account, your checkbook, your heart. God sees it, though; and He sees you the same way He sees this poor woman: lost, condemned, hopeless in yourself. Same book, different cover.

Two: if you're in Christ — well, God help you and me if our response is anything along the lines of "I'm not that bad!" If that's true, then the rest of the truth is that we're probably worse. Because, as Christians, we don't have this woman's "excuse" of being dead and blind. We should know better.

For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7-8 CSB)

A Christian should know and acknowledge that the only reason we're not in the same boat as this woman, or a worse boat, is the mysterious, unfathomable, sovereign grace of God. If we cherish even the slightest notion otherwise — God help us, and God help us specifically in what He might allow us to discover in ourselves, to awaken us to the horrifying truth.

The appropriate Christian response to this woman is, of course, not to celebrate her perversion, her self-mutilation, her agenda, or her abuse of this innocent child. Nor is it to treat her as if she were some foul sort of being beneath and other than ourselves. She's a lost soul, acting like a lost soul. The difference is simply that she's put her depravity on more open display than others.

Our response, I think, should be a tricky mixture of repulsion, sadness, compassion, prayer, and renewed resolution to reach out to everyone in our sphere with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who alone can save and redeem poor souls like this — and like ourselves.