Hot Topic of The Day: Jenner

Rarely do I like to write about what I call “hot topics” because in all reality what other people do with their lives isn’t any of my business. I find that many times entering into conversations of a political or religious nature leads to more harm than good. Feelings are hurt, and people get defensive. Bridges have been burned, and friendships lost.

I felt the need to write about this issue, however, because it brings together a number of issues I see in other places, and is more than politics or religion. And while it may be a heated and highly opinionated minefield, what the hell…

Bruce Jenner’s transformation from Bruce to Caitlyn has, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, lit up social media pages everywhere. It’s been described as everything from “sinful,” to “heroic.” I’ve watched the usuals in my newsfeed share their predictable opinions, but I’ve also been surprised as other, less outspoken individuals share their two cents.

Before I explain my opinions on the issue, here are three things I think we all need to remember in this controversial time.

First, we all need to stop jumping to conclusions, and judging other people.

I don’t think I could possibly count how many times the scriptures say “do not judge.” We as humans, have no idea what is going on with any other person, or what dwells in their heart. The only person, who knows my heart, is God. I couldn’t even tell you exactly what is in my heart at any given moment. I am human. I am prone to just as many pig-headed mistakes as every single one of you. We stumble and make mistakes. We have no right to judge anyone else.

Second, just because someone else’s opinion is different than yours, doesn’t make theirs wrong.

While I admit that some opinions are more informed than others, opinions are not facts. There is no right or wrong opinion. The same is true for your own opinion. Your opinion is not true or false. It just is. While I may not agree with what Bruce, or Caitlyn has decided to do with his/her life, my opinion does not reign supreme. It is my opinion and mine alone.

Third, loving a person does not mean you have to agree with every choice they make.

There is a quote that floats around that says “Love the sinner not the sin.” While this can be a hard balance to strike, it is vitally important to keeping relationships despite controversy. While you may know that what someone else is doing is wrong, that does not give you the right to love them any less. In fact, it gives you the right and responsibility to love them more. I heard a quote this past Sunday, and while it was in reference to my religion, it is true for a variety of circumstances. “It is not our job to pave the path for people to the church. It is paved by them and The Lord. It is up to us to love and support.” Now, I don’t know about you, but the feeling I get from this is that loving a person is our only job. We are not responsible for their salvation, or their choices. We are not going to be judged based on someone else’s actions. We will be judged on our decision to love, or not.

So on to what I think.

I do not agree with Jenner’s decision to undergo a sex change. I do not believe that changing your body makes you anything different than what you were designed to be. Surgeries are a cosmetic and superficial way to change who you are. Movements all around the world shout out mantras like “what you look like doesn’t define you,” and “beauty isn’t just skin deep.” If these sayings are true, then why would someone need a sex change to be who they really are? (This is a legitimate question that I have, and if you have struggled with a similar issue to Jenner, please feel free to explain this to me.)

I will continue to explain to friends and family that I believe sex and gender are one in the same, and they are eternal principles. We were male and female before we had bodies. While I may not be able to explain the intricate details of how that worked, it is a belief that I have. I believe in a perfect, Supreme Being who created us in His image. I believe that because He is perfect, we came into this world just as we ought to be. We were born into the families we had identified with before we came to this earth.

I’ve seen the argument out there saying the principle of eternal identity is void when we think about people who were born as hermaphrodites. Does that mean God made a mistake? Absolutely not. Do I have any right to tell someone which “parts” are the right ones? Absolutely not. I will openly admit that there are issues I cannot answer to. I have no idea what I would if that were a problem I faced. In all reality, those cases, are similar to any other birth defect, they are not a mistake but a challenge that individual will have to deal with. This is different, to me, than Jenner's case anyway. He was not born with both reproductive organs. He changed his body to fit his idea of identity. 

We live in an insanely tumultuous time. Opinions are paraded as fact. The definition of what is “right” has been flipped every which way, and dressed up as “wrong.” This is not going to change any time soon. Jenner’s transformation is not the first, nor the last controversial topic to grace our news feeds. While there will continue to be controversy, I hope that there will also continue to be love, and acceptance. We are human. We are flawed. We don’t know everything, and those who profess to know everything are lying.

I know there are unanswered questions, and issues to work through. I have been known to have just as many (if not more) unanswerable questions as the next guy. While we cannot possibly begin to know everything, we can begin to love. We can stop judging, and back biting, and fighting. We can support the causes we love, instead of bashing what we hate. We can challenge ourselves to be one step better today than we were yesterday. We can focus on loving others, and working on ourselves rather than working on others and loving ourselves.