The Dangers of Feminizing Jesus Christ and His Gospel

There is a feminization of Christ happening in the world and within the Chruch. This feminization is manifest in many members throwing away parts of the gospel that they deem too masculine, such as laws, and commandments in favor of the more feminine parts of the gospel such as love, tolerance, mercy, and kindness. The reaction to this feminization is a counterculture push to establish the masculine and throw down the feminine Jesus ‘Teddy Bear Jesus’ and feminine gospel.

I want to outline the dangers of both feminizing Jesus Christ and His gospel, as well as masculinizing Jesus Christ and His gospel. As both extremes are actually crafting a false version of Jesus Christ and His gospel. In conclusion, I will outline the need to seek and become like the Balanced Christ, who I argue is the real Christ. As well as some ways we can maintain the balance in our discipleship.

The Dangers of Feminizing Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

The chief characteristic of the feminine Jesus Christ and gospel is love. If a teaching, policy, practice, or doctrine does not promote others feeling loved, it is clearly wrong and needs to be changed or ignored. If we look closely we can see widespread manifestations of the feminized Christ and gospel all around us. People who want to ignore commandments, doctrine, or covenants because they don’t think they are loving.

We see the feminized Christ most predominantly whenever Chastity is talked about. Followers of this Christ push for changes to temple marriage to be more “loving and inclusive.” They use the rationale that a loving God would not do such a thing! It leads to sentiments such as the recent “hell together” song and drama (if you don’t understand this reference, count yourself lucky and read on).

Those who feminize Christ and the gospel often will pluck talks, verses of scriptures, or stories out of their context to justify their false Christ and Gospel. This leads them to believe that certain apostles “get it” and when that apostle then speaks of a masculine aspect of the gospel they are devastated and feel betrayed. Think President Holland’s BYU musketfire talk and how many followers of the feminine Jesus Christ were offended, or President Nelson’s recent talk in Oct. 2023 where he outlined laws we need to comply with to be exalted with our families forever. Both of these talks were decried as unloving and rejected by the feminine Jesus movement.

To give a personal experience; I once sat in a meeting where a local leader pled with us NOT to talk about the Family Proclamation to those members of the Church identifying as part of the LBGTQ+ community and instead focus on making them feel loved. Looking back at this experience, I realize it was the feminine Jesus Christ and gospel approach of wanting to make others feel loved as the highest good even if it comes at the cost of filtering/abridging the gospel to do so. I don’t share these things to attack this leader, from all accounts he was/is a good man. I share this to show how easy it is, even for the elect, to fall into the trap of the feminine counterfeit Christ and gospel.

The Dangers of Masculinizing Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

Because we are humans, we love extremes. So in response to seeing people feminizing Jesus Christ and the gospel, there is a push to masculinize Christ and the gospel. I see this intense push among the more conservative and orthodox members of the Church. But too often it is taken to just as much an extreme as those they are fighting, but merely on the other end of the spectrum.

These people adopt a tough-love approach that focuses on law and justice. Where talking about kindness, mercy, or love is all but taboo. They seek to pull back Christ from the radical feminizing factors of the “woke” world. They get angry anytime you talk about loving someone who experiences same-gender attraction.

Just as the followers of the feminine Jesus Christ get offended during conferences at masculine talks, so too do the masculine Christ followers get annoyed when a speaker is more effeminate or teaches feminine aspects of the gospel. This group also almost unanimously misses the old Priesthood Session of General Conference where we got a heavy dosage of the masculine aspects of the gospel, where we got singed eyebrows and chastised to do our duty.

It is VITAL to realize that the masculine Jesus Christ is just as much a false Christ as the feminine Jesus Christ. The masculine gospel is just as false as the feminine one. God without love, mercy, and kindness is a cruel and evil God! Just as God without law, order, and justice is not even God at all!

The need to find the real Jesus, the balanced Christ.

As Satan seeks to craft false masculine and feminine versions of Christ, we must seek the real Jesus Christ. And when we do, we will realize that He is the balanced Christ. It is in Him that we finally find “Where justice, love, and mercy meet in harmony divine!” As we seek the real balanced Christ, we learn that there is, as Aristotle would say, a golden mean between the masculine and the feminine, where Christ is. He embodies both attributes that would be called feminine as well as masculine. He calls all the sons and daughters of God to become like Him; to develop all the traits and attributes He possesses and that are necessary to be exalted and receive eternal life, aka godhood.

Ida Smith, the daughter of Joseph F. Smith taught the following in an address entitled “The Lord as a Role Model for Men and Women” reprinted in the August 1980 Ensign where she masterfully addresses the fact that both men and women need to become like the balanced Christ. She taught: “Nowhere is it written that he is a model for men only; and nowhere is it written that men and women should each be allowed only half of his traits! The world has divided up personality traits that should be characteristic of both men and women, and has labeled some of them ‘masculine’ and some of them ‘feminine.’ Latter-day prophets do teach that men and women have biological, emotional, and other differences, but we should be careful about assigning mutually exclusive traits to one sex or the other. Nowhere, for example, does the Lord say that tenderness, kindness, charity, faithfulness, patience, gentleness, and compassion are strictly female traits and should be utilized by women only. And nowhere does he say that courage, strength, determination, and leadership should be the exclusive prerogative of men.”
(I HIGHLY recommend a study of this entire talk).

How do you find the balanced Christ?

Every time I have shared this concept with someone they always ask at the end, “So what do we do?”, “How do we find the balanced Christ?” Or as President Holland would say, “Therefore, what?” The answer to all these questions is not nearly as complex as one would fear! Here are a few ideas:

1st: Approach general conferences with a “what lack I yet” mentality. Rather than looking for your favorite talk that confirms your biases, find the one you dislike the most. It is most likely the one you need to apply the most in your life. Apply this mentality to every aspect of the gospel, every conference talk, every scripture, every lesson. Seek to Hear Him and be led by the Holy Ghost to the balanced Christ!

2nd: Study the collective teachings of the apostles and prophets. When you study the scriptures or the words of the Latter-day prophet/apostle try to see what all 15 prophets, seers, and revelators in the First President and Quorum of the Twelve are all saying in a given conference. A single talk addressing part of the more feminine or masculine aspects of the gospel can easily be taken out of the collective context and be used to push the idea that the specific apostle is teaching the feminine or masculine Christ. But, as we study the collective and holistic witness of all 15 prophets seers, and revelators we will find they paint the picture of the balanced Christ at every conference.

3rd: Study entire talks and entire ministries. It is easy for an apostle to give a talk or two on the feminine or masculine side of the gospel (still within the balanced framework) and to be labeled as a feminine or masculine advocate. Even more so when you only have a single paragraph of that talk. But when we study the entire talk, we find out that President Holland’s “musket fire” talk was neither masculine nor feminine, but balanced. It talked about them weeping in prayers but standing for truth. No honest broker can attack him over the entire contents of that talk. Similarly, when one takes the entire ministry of President Nelson into context, one will see vivid sermons on the feminine and masculine aspects of the gospel. Truly anyone thinking he advocates the feminine or masculine Christ is ignorant of the entirety of His ministry.

Ultimately one cannot be lazy and find the balanced Christ. Christ is found through discipleship, and discipleship requires work. God has given us prophets and apostles to help pull us back to the balanced middle when we stray too far to the left or the right. One of my guiding quotes as I seek to find and follow the balanced Christ is from President Ezra Taft Benson. “If we want to know how well we stand with the Lord then let us ask ourselves how well we stand with His mortal captain—how close do our lives harmonize with the Lord’s anointed—the living Prophet—President of the Church, and with the Quorum of the First Presidency.”
First Presidency Message, June 1981

If you liked/were offended by this talk, you might also enjoy: “8 Things I Have Learned From Listening to 6,000 General Conference Talks”