{"id":12640,"date":"2026-05-27T15:29:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/?post_type=articles&p=12640"},"modified":"2026-05-27T15:29:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T22:29:57","slug":"you-must-not-change-romans-132-and-the-gagging-of-grace","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/you-must-not-change-romans-132-and-the-gagging-of-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYou MUST NOT Change\u201d: Romans 1:32 and The Gagging of Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c[D]o not nullify the grace of God\u201d1<\/sup><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201c[W]here sin increased, grace abounded all the more\u201d<\/i>3<\/em><\/sup><\/p>\n

\u201c[S]uch were some of you.\u201d3<\/sup><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201c[Do not] trample underfoot the Son of God . . . and outrage the Spirit of Grace.\u201d4<\/sup><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Decisions, decisions!\u00a0 Coke or Pepsi?\u00a0 Diet or sugared soda?\u00a0 Caffeine or caffeine-free?\u00a0 Fries or fruit?\u00a0 Cream and\/or sugar?\u00a0 Bacon or sausage?\u00a0 Boxers or briefs?\u00a0 Nike or Adidas?\u00a0 Gas or hybrid?\u00a0 iPhone or Android?\u00a0 Laptop or Mac?\u00a0 And on it goes. Nearly endless choices [literally] litter our culture5<\/sup> \u2013 we are at times drowning in options and not just about consumer goods.\u00a0 As President Obama \u2013 remember him? \u2013 once [falsely] promised, \u201cIf you like your health plan, you can keep it.\u201d6<\/sup>\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to imagine in this option-rich era that celebrates choices, that some seek to quell choice, especially when it comes to deeply personal choices like mental health care solutions aimed at addressing disorders affecting \u201cpersonal identity\u201d.\u00a0 How so?\u00a0 Let\u2019s get to the gist.<\/p>\n

In this world of sexual anarchy and chaos,7<\/sup> one mantra seems to dominate:\u00a0 \u201clove is love\u201d and therefore, every person must be free to choose their \u201cgender\u201d and thereby compel everyone else to celebrate and enforce that choice:\u00a0 from pronouns and puberty blockers to pubic piracy and pseudonyms.\u00a0 Yet, if you believe the Left, this liberty to self-define and choose should only exist to support and sustain certain ideological viewpoints.\u00a0 Some choices, they contend, MUST cease; they are verboten and must be canceled.\u00a0 To those struggling with gender dysphoria who desire real relief instead of costumes, cosmetics, chemicals and carvings, grace is told to \u201cstay away!!\u201d \u00a0 Why?<\/p>\n

Paul tells us that when the truth is exchanged for the lie, idolatry results:\u00a0 creation instead of the Creator is worshiped.8<\/sup> This produces unrighteous practices.\u00a0 Theology \u2013 disordered worship \u2013 correlates with ethics \u2013 disordered life.\u00a0 But sin\u2019s impulse does not end with \u201cdoing what\u2019s right in his own eyes\u201d.9<\/sup> Rather, those practicing unrighteousness seek to have those practices approved<\/i>.10<\/sup> Their choices must be favored<\/i> in culture and law.\u00a0 This means correlatively that those seeking such approval and dominance, also seek to limit, mute, silence, or eliminate \u2013 \u201ccancel\u201d \u2013 any view that opposes their \u201capproved\u201d unrighteous practices. This is not \u201cmere theory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider this fictional scenario:\u00a0 Mark, a 10-year-old boy, struggles with his self-image.\u00a0 He\u2019s had a challenging, but not abusive upbringing.\u00a0 His parents love him dearly.\u00a0 One day Mark emotionally senses that praise extends to his sister more than to him.\u00a0 He begins to \u201cact out\u201d a more feminine persona.\u00a0 Yet, he recognizes that he\u2019s not a girl, but emotionally he remains confused and troubled.\u00a0 He experiences deep hurt.\u00a0 Mark confides in his parents.\u00a0 Mark acknowledges he\u2019s a boy and deeply wants to remain male, yet he struggles in handling these confusing emotions.\u00a0 And social media algorithms provide him a steady flow of \u201cadvice\u201d confusing him further by driving him to \u201ctransition.\u201d\u00a0 He wants help.<\/p>\n

After doing some research and seeking referrals, his parents locate a faith-based licensed \u201ctalk counselor\u201d who specializes in working with minors who experience \u201cgender dysphoria.\u201d\u00a0 Through talk counseling this counselor \u2013 who enjoys a track record of success \u2013 works with similarly troubled and hurting minors in a way so that their emotions will match their bodies.<\/p>\n

This is really no different from treating young adolescent girls experiencing eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.\u00a0 Talk counselors help these patients align their view of their bodies with their minds.\u00a0 A good counselor would not \u201caffirm\u201d that a anorectic girl is \u201ctoo fat\u201d and encourage her to purge and otherwise starve herself.\u00a0 That would not only be absurd, but it would also be dangerously harmful.\u00a0 In the same way treating gender dysphoria by affirming the patient\u2019s confused delusion would likewise spawn further disorder and irreversible harm if the patent \u201ctransitions.\u201d11<\/sup><\/p>\n

In this case, Mark, the patient, his parents, and the counselor all agree that Mark\u2019s mind needs to be aligned with his body.\u00a0 The \u201cwar\u201d between mind and body must be healed by alignment, not by fostering greater enmity between them and then irreversibly marring the physical to appear \u2013 and only appear – to be a different sex.\u00a0 Harming and neutralizing heathy tissue and biological systems \u2013 \u201ctransitioning\u201d – is no real answer.\u00a0 This makes perfect sense and should be unremarkable \u2013 except in a world dominated by Gender Ideology. \u00a0 Gender Ideology seeks to cancel Mark\u2019s choice and make it extinct.\u00a0 It seeks to withhold grace from him.\u00a0 Again, why the hostility?<\/p>\n

Remember Romans 1:32 \u2013 idolatry presses unrighteous practices to be approved<\/i>.\u00a0 This approval can occur culturally, but also legally.\u00a0 That is exactly what we are seeing today.\u00a0 Colorado, as have some other \u201cblue\u201d states, has enacted laws designed to stifle, mute, and censor talk counseling that seeks to dissuade troubled and confused youth from \u201caffirming\u201d their gender dysphoria disorder, even if the minor desires \u2013\u00a0 and chooses \u2013 to seek that solution.\u00a0 This statute punishes private confidential speech, speech to which both patient and counselor consent:\u00a0 The hurting boy wants this, his parents want this, and the counselor is willing to provide this.\u00a0 Colorado says that choice is off the table.\u00a0 Grace must be gagged.\u00a0 But this is no mere hypothetical \u201cwhat if\u201d scenario.<\/p>\n

Chiles v. Salazar<\/i>, litigating this scenario, reached the Supreme Court this term.12<\/sup> Alliance Defending Freedom, who represents a talk counselor, summarizes the situation this way:<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s law violates Chiles\u2019s freedom of speech by prohibiting licensed counselors from having any conversation with clients under age 18 that \u201cattempts or purports to change an individual\u2019s sexual orientation or gender identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Significantly, the law only prohibits counseling conversations in one direction.<\/i><\/b> For example, it allows counseling conversations that aim to steer young people\u00a0toward\u00a0a gender identity different than their sex but prohibits conversations that aim to help them return to comfort with their sex when they desire that<\/i><\/b>. The law threatens severe penalties, including suspension and even revocation of the counselor\u2019s license. This one-sided censorship comes amidst a growing national mental-health crisis and prevents many Colorado children from obtaining the counseling that they desire\u2014and that science says is likely to help.13<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This law uses unconstitutional viewpoint<\/i> discrimination<\/i>14<\/sup> to censor private speech (as well as religious exercise).\u00a0 This is what occurs when pagan spirituality \u2013 whether acknowledged or not – is permitted to flourish.\u00a0 Did Colorado legislators \u201ccall upon\u201d pagan idols when fashioning this law?\u00a0 Doubtful.\u00a0 Yet, the pagan ethos runs strongly in such schemes.\u00a0 Intending to \u201cdo good\u201d they actually erect and enforce evil.\u00a0 They thereby nullify grace.\u00a0 Solomon summarizes it well:<\/p>\n

There is a way that seems right to a man,<\/i><\/p>\n

but its end is the way to death.15<\/sup><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thankfully, the Court, in a robust and strong 8-1 decision, ruled for the patient and against the Colorados\u2019 statute that sought to gag grace.16<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"publisher":[28],"class_list":["post-12640","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","publisher-center-public-legal-theology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cYou MUST NOT Change\u201d: Romans 1:32 and The Gagging of Grace - Trinity Law School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/you-must-not-change-romans-132-and-the-gagging-of-grace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cYou MUST NOT Change\u201d: Romans 1:32 and The Gagging of Grace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201c[D]o not nullify the grace of God\u201d1 \u201c[W]here sin increased, grace abounded all the more\u201d3 \u201c[S]uch were some of you.\u201d3 \u201c[Do not] trample underfoot the Son of God . . . and outrage the Spirit of Grace.\u201d4 Decisions, decisions!\u00a0 Coke or Pepsi?\u00a0 Diet or sugared soda?\u00a0 Caffeine or caffeine-free?\u00a0 Fries or fruit?\u00a0 Cream and\/or sugar?\u00a0 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/you-must-not-change-romans-132-and-the-gagging-of-grace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trinity Law School\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/you-must-not-change-romans-132-and-the-gagging-of-grace\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.tiu.edu\/law\/articles\/you-must-not-change-romans-132-and-the-gagging-of-grace\/\",\"name\":\"\u201cYou MUST NOT Change\u201d: Romans 1:32 and The Gagging of Grace - 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