In my home state of Queensland (in Australia), the Queensland State Government has just announced a pause on any new patients under the age of 18 accessing pediatric gender therapies through the publicly funded health system. The decision came after serious concerns were raised about a 12-year-old who was recently prescribed puberty blockers without receiving the standard model of care for pediatric gender services. In Queensland, for those under 14 years of age, consultation is required from psychiatrists, psychologists, fertility specialists, pediatricians, social workers, and doctors. Though specific details of the case are difficult to come by it appears that the 12-year-old in question was not granted access to those multi-disciplinary services and therefore the puberty blockers were supplied without proper consultation.
Although many are tempted to believe that so-called gender affirming care originated in the modern era, ancient Egyptian belief allowed for gender transition. You see, even though the ancient Egyptians lived out their mortal lives within the gender of their birth, according to their belief, a woman’s transition into the afterlife necessitated transformation of gender. Egyptian tombs were not simply a place for the burial of human remains – they were considered the site of literal rebirth. However, because mythological belief of entry into the afterlife was highly masculinized, the ancient Egyptians believed that to make this rebirth possible for a woman, it was necessary that she briefly turn into a man in order to conceive the fetus of her reborn self. In fact, they also went so far as to place the remains in an androgynous coffin in order to mask the femininity of the deceased.
So, how did this ancient version of “gender transition” take place? According to Egyptian belief, the man created the fetus and simply transferred it to the woman through sexual activity. Thus, the belief was that rebirth was impossible for a woman who was now alone in her tomb. To overcome this perceived problem, a priest magically transformed a woman’s mummy into a man long enough to create a fetus. The ritual for this transformation also required a covering of red skin on her coffin – the color normally assigned to a man. Furthermore, the priest recited spells that addressed the woman with masculine pronouns. The use of color and language reserved for males, coupled with the actions of the priest, supposedly had the magical power to change her gender in her coffin. After this transformation, it is said that the woman later returned to her original female state and incubated herself for rebirth into the afterlife as a woman.
You see, coffins that represented women with red skin and masculine pronouns were previously regarded by scholars as mere mistakes. However, after further research, it became clear that this transformation was, in essence, a sort of cross-dressing facilitated by artisans and scribes with the express purpose of confusing the gods as the woman transitioned to the afterlife. Given that this ancient practice occurred in order to supposedly facilitate rebirth, it is interesting to note that many who undergo gender reassignment surgery consider themselves “reborn”. In fact, it is a word that you will see used time and again when people give interviews about their transition. To give you an example, a trans Filipina-Australian woman giving an interview in 2024 said: “Gender reassignment is about rebirth”.
Gender confusion and its association to rebirth was also prominent in the Roman Empire. In the 3rd century BC, during Rome’s wars against Carthage, the cult of Cybele made a dramatic entrance into Rome. Priests of this cult were known as the Galli and were male eunuchs. They would castrate themselves in the midst of sexual pleasure as a means of symbolically offering up their own fertility to the mother goddess. After entering the cult, the Galli wore the clothing and jewelry of a Roman woman. This led an ancient author by the name of Prudentius (348-413 AD) to say that the Galli belonged to “a gender between the two.”
But the central rite which the priests would be subject to was referred to as the taurobolium. The taurobolium involved the digging of a trench and the placing of a grate on top. Then, a eunuch priest would enter into the pit in the ground. Shortly after, a bull would be sacrificed on top of this trench, allowing all of the animal’s innards to flow onto the priest. After the priest had been fully enveloped by every drop of bull blood, the genitals of the bull were cut off and also ceremoniously thrown into the pit. Such descriptions show how these ceremonies had close thematic links to birth because after being “baptized” by the blood, the initiated priests would often drink the milk of the animal, simulating having just been born. In fact, the priest was considered (in Latin): renatus in aeternum which means “reborn for eternity”. In fact, despite the connotation, the supposed rebirth was only guaranteed for 20 years!
So, there you have it – two examples of the clear connection between gender confusion and its associated mythological rebirth in the ancient world. You could say that it proves there is nothing new under the sun. Satan has simply instituted similar false beliefs and practices and inspired mankind to call it “gender affirming care”. Yet, it is the same lie – that the manipulation of gender is somehow inextricably linked to a rebirth. God indeed desires all of mankind to be born again (2 Peter 3:9) but mankind must put aside the notion that it is done through mythology or medical practice (Ephesians 2:8-9). Being born again means having a saving faith in Jesus Christ and rejoicing in the declaration contained in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Now that is a new creation worth celebrating.
