Blake Long

Will & Harper is a new documentary on Netflix that shows the friendship between actor Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, who used to be a writer for Saturday Night Live when Ferrell was on there.

The kicker with this documentary, if you’re not aware, is that Harper Steele “used to be” Andrew Steele. Andrew is transgender.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the documentary from Ferrell:

What if we went on a road trip together, giving her a chance to go into a cowboy bar or whatever places she misses, and I can be by her side and lend support as a friend? At the same time, it would give us a chance to reconnect and figure out what this transition means to our relationship.

My interest was piqued when watching the trailer and had me thinking. Not because I’m having second thoughts about the trans movement—I’m firm in my stance that it’s against God’s good design. It got me thinking because of one word: compassion.

The word compassion has been hijacked by the Left in our time, along with tolerance and love. Compassion, to the Left, has morphed into something akin to always affirming someone else’s desires and actions. For many on the progressive side, we show compassion to transgender people by affirming their decision to “transition.” And if we don’t affirm it, well, shame on us.

The problem, though, is unconditionally affirming someone’s desires and actions is not merely not compassionate, but is unloving. In other words, the worst thing you can do to someone is always affirm his or her desires, even when said desire is clearly wrong.

To understand biblical compassion, we must go to the person who exemplified it perfectly, namely, Jesus. There were multiple instances where Jesus showed perfect compassion.

Jesus had compassion for his friends and wept alongside them at the grave of Lazarus (Jn. 11:33-35). Jesus healed large crowds because he felt compassion toward them due to their suffering (Matt. 14:14). Even more, he saw the crowd was like sheep without a shepherd, and that caused his compassion to grow for them.

In all of these examples Jesus displayed genuine compassion. The word compassion translated into Greek and Hebrew means “to have mercy, to feel sympathy and to have pity” (source).

In no instances was Jesus’ compassion for people shown as unconditional affirmation of their actions. No, compassion leads to action, and that action is to help others in the specific context. Affirming one’s desires unconditionally is no help at all.

One of the things we must remember in light of a documentary like Will & Harper is transgender people are still people. They are still made in the image of God. They are still deserving of respect, value, and dignity because God created them. But none of this removes the complete disregard for the holiness of God. Treating trans people like people isn’t a call to ignore their sin and rebellion. In fact, the most compassionate and loving thing you can do to a transgender person is call them to repentance and faith (Mark 1:15).

This is where the hatred seeps in bursts through. It is the call of repentance and faith. It is the rejection of the transgender movement and the denial that people were created trans. God doesn’t make mistakes. If you were born with male anatomy, you’re male; if you were born with female anatomy, you’re female. (Yes, the rare moments of intersex exists, but not only is that not transgenderism, but one chromosome is still more dominant than the other.)

We must stand against the hatred. We must be firm in our convictions regarding the truth of God’s Word over the opinions of society. And we must be compassionate while doing so.

Albert Mohler said:

A biblical response to the transgender revolution will require the church to develop new skills of compassion and understanding as we encounter persons, both inside and outside our congregations, who are struggling.

You will encounter transgender people who are antagonistic, hostile, and against the Christian worldview. They despise us and everything we stand for; they despise God Himself. That’s much of what we’re seeing today. But many in the trans movement are struggling if they’ve made the correct decision, even if they don’t admit it; they’re struggling because they are genuinely unsure who they are as humans created in God’s image. We must remember compassion.

But compassion is not void of truth. It is not lacking in honesty. We must remember the sinfulness of transgenderism.

Rosaria Butterfield wrote:

The modern invention of transgenderism reframes sinful deeds and desires of the flesh in worldly or therapeutic terms. This betrays the power of God’s election, Christ’s redemption, and the Spirit’s comfort. It rewrites the gospel, entangles the church in foolish debates, and confuses our young people. This is the situation in which we find the evangelical church today. We must learn to be content in God and unsatisfied in the world as we define our identity in light of Scripture alone.

Even in light of understanding the rebellion of transgenderism, we must look upon them with compassion—for that is what Jesus did to sinners in His time. Again, showing compassion to sinners doesn’t mean we approve or affirm; no, it means we are moved to action because we understand we were once rebels to God’s grace, too. In the end, biblical compassion leads to biblical proclamation of the gospel.

A gospel that frees.

A gospel that rescues.

A gospel that transforms.

A gospel that brings God glory.