Transgender

Question received: If God didn't mean for some people to be transsexual, why did God make some people who are female but have male sex organs?

Response:

In trying to answer this question, I want to be as honest and as straight forward as I can be. I note from the start that I do not accept the premise in the question that “God made some people who are female but have male sex organs”. We live in a world that carries the consequences of human failure. Sin entered into creation in the Garden of Eden and the fallen state of creation can be traced back to Adam’s choice of disobedience. However, since that day in the distant past, humanity has been involved, in many ways, in damaging the world in which we live – we see around us every day the physical damage to our world and may even be aware, to some extent, of the spiritual damage that continues to affect us. As sin has continued to permeate the world, the human race has been bombarded with every kind of sickness, disease, disorder and birth defect we can imagine.

Every day, babies with various forms of physical abnormalities are born and, sadly, many more are aborted. Clearly, the range of physical abnormalities cover just about anything that can be imagined. Some (if not most) of these abnormalities are caused by genetic defect. I suggest that where a baby is born as an hermaphrodite (or intersex as they may be called by some), it is not what nature intended (nor as God intended it to be); rather this would be defined as a birth abnormality.

Where a child is born physically fully male, but grows to believe that they are a female “trapped” in a male body (same principle applies to the male “trapped” in a female body), I suggest that this is an emotional issue rather than a sexual one. The “transgendered” label in this type of scenario reflects a sexual identity issue rather than a physical condition. In Genesis 1:26, the Bible says, “And God created man in His image, in His likeness; male and female He created them . . . . and it was very good.” Maleness and femaleness are God’s choice, determined at conception, but growing into masculinity or femininity and embracing it can be affected by events and influences in the person’s life – some even in infancy – that cause the person to fail to have a clear sense of their gender. Gender identity is a developmental issue, and it starts at birth. All the many, many layers of affirmation and validation of one’s personhood that contribute to self-understanding (of which gender is a part) start being built into a life from the moment the person is born and continue throughout childhood, on through adolescence and even into adulthood. I respect the reality that some people have very deep gender confusion and genuinely choose not to identify with the gender that they were physically assigned at conception, but it doesn’t change the reality that it is an issue of a fallen humanity rather than an “error” on the part of God.

Regarding sexual activity on the part of those who feel that they attracted to those of the same sex as their own physical makeup, I suggest that their Biblical position is the same for anyone so attracted as it is for anyone with same sex attraction. I have no intention of “debating” the whole homosexual issue here, other than to say that the clear Biblical position is that all sexual involvement outside of marriage (i.e. Biblical marriage, the union of one man with one woman) is wrong. Any form of sexual activity, whether a “one-night stand”, prostitution or a long-term monogamous relationship that is outside of the marriage relationship, is by definition sin. I note that this applies equally to all regardless of gender and regardless of whether the sexual activity is homosexual or heterosexual. Despite the labels that are often placed on those of us who hold to a traditional Biblical view on sexual matters, this is not an "anti-gay" or homophobic view as it applies absolutely to heterosexual sex as much as homosexual sex. God has set the parameters for sexual activity and anything outside of those parameters is wrong.