So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them…And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:27,31 NASB)
The best stories start at the beginning—and are true…
God, the ultimate story teller, begins his tale in a garden, with the purpose of laying a foundation upon which he will build a tower of high truth unto which his children may entrust our very souls, a beacon of radiant light which, if followed, will lead us home to God’s great heart of purest love from whence we sprang.
In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, in the very first chapter of this book God answers three questions of seminal consequence. Questions that have haunted men and women for millennia—even though the answers have ever been before us, in us and all around us.
Before us in that they have been embodied in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Old Testament.
In us in that, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, we have “inside knowledge.” An awareness of a moral law residing in our conscience, a law that often strives against our instincts encouraging us, for example, to be courageous and run into the face of danger to help someone when our instinct exhorts us to flee for personal safety’s sake.
All around us as found in the natural world God created. A world that speaks of intelligent design at the hands of the Grand Designer.
The three seminal questions I refer to are:
Where did we come from?
Who are we?
Why are we here?
Harkening back to the book of Genesis we find the answers.
We came from God. We are his idea and his creation.
We are his children and he is our Father because he made us in his own image. Like God, we have free will, the ability to choose courses of action independent of our instincts or the opinions, preferences and desires of others—including God himself.
We are here to do the work that God, our Father, has called us to do together with him and to become Christ-like, perfected in love with all the wrongness out of us.
To become, each one of us, all that he intended when he thought of us as a unique individual, as his beloved child. To be like Jesus, of the same kind: an obedient child—son or daughter—whose every action reflects our Father’s will and is rooted in the same love. To grow into the promise embodied in the white stone spoken of in the book of Revelation. The stone inscribed with our true name, known only to God and revealed at the proper time to us. A name capturing all that we were individually meant to be and are, even now, becoming—though the process may take ages upon ages. For the process is dependent upon our choosing to align our wills with that of God our Father. Just as Jesus did, our Lord and Savior. Our example in all things. The One who beckons us to Follow me! all the way home to his Father’s eternal kingdom. His Father, and ours.
Sadly, the story of humanity’s beginning as related in Genesis, although founded in goodness, quickly takes a turn in a calamitous direction: independence!
I suppose it seems strange, and even contrary to our cultural history and norms to think of “independence” in a negative light. So let me explain.
In the garden of Genesis there was a choice to be made. A choice that must, sooner or later in the course of life, be made by everyone who has ever been born and given the breath of life. The choice of childship or independence, of acknowledging and declaring our dependence on God for every aspect of life, or declaring like the prodigal son, our independence, striking out on our own and imagining ourself to be self-sufficient, choosing to turn away from the God who loves us more than we can possibly imagine.
This declaration of individual independence expresses itself in countless ways. Some subtle. Others not so subtle. All impacting not only the individual doing the declaring but those with whom he or she makes contact. For we do not live isolated from one another but throughout our lives impact those around us whom our words, actions and ideas influence for their good…or sadly, their harm.
To be clear, all of us fall into the category of those declaring their independence from God. Many of us on a near daily basis. All of us sin (choose our own will over God’s) because we are sinners. And sin is at the very root of such declarations.
Take the time when we have repeated a story, even though we ourselves play no part in the tale, simply because it titillates the senses. We choose to indulge—if only for a moment—in gossip. When we do so, we, in a small way and perhaps but for a brief moment, declare our independence from the God who disdains gossip and commands his children not to take part.
And taxes. Do we keep hidden from the IRS a portion of our income subject to taxation, choosing to be less than honest on our annual tax return because we deem the government to have taken enough of our money? Is this not a declaration of independence from a God we think insufficient to provide for our needs?
Is it not difficult—nay, impossible!—to think of Jesus as a gossip or tax evader?
Following Jesus is no easy thing and, even as I write, I convict myself on multiple fronts! And so, like Paul, we must bear in mind:
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. (Romans 2:1)
It is important to me as I continue, that my readers understand that I judge no one. The judgment of hearts lies solely in God’s province, the One who knows our hearts better than we ourselves. He knows the circumstances of our lives and the varied influences that bear upon us and wend their way into our choices.
And it is in the personal choice of gender identity I now pay particular attention.
I write on the topic having no expertise on the matter from the perspective of those declaring themselves knowledgeable in the area of human sexuality. I write as a lover of Truth and one who endeavors to love the neighbor God brings near and shun my tendency to declare my own independence, desiring to be a good and obedient son of God, my Father. I write as one who struggles, like everyone else, against thoughts and temptations that seek to echo the Devil’s own words back in Eden’s Garden: Did God really say? I write as someone who counts as his friends a number of individuals who fall into the broad categories known in our culture as LGBTQ.
But write on the topic I feel compelled to do for I am not ignorant of what God has revealed. Though humanity may weave a web of a billion strands of cunning rationale in favor of positions contrary to their Maker, God’s truth will forever stand because it is founded in his love. And it is his truth that sets us free.
It is into this freedom—the willingness and ability to do what is right in God’s eyes—that I desire every man and woman to grasp. Including certain trans individuals precious and dear to me—and far more so to God!
According to Perri O. Blumberg, in an article dated May 13, 2021, “Transgender people are folks whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth.”
Assigned by whom if not the God who created them? Assigning to them either of two genders: male or female.
If we are to reject such a biological assignment of gender are we not forced to declare that, in the case of certain individuals, we think God mistaken? Or worse yet, a God of torment and confusion willing to give his child the body of a male with the personhood of a female? Or the body of a female with the personhood of a male?
I understand that, in rare cases, there are individuals with chromosomal variations such as de la Chapelle or androgen insensitivity syndrome. But are not these intersex persons rare exceptions to the norm, aberrations of a physical nature such as individuals born with a cleft palate or with a disfigured limb? A different matter entirely than that of an intact male or female who, at some point in their life, declares they are of the opposite sex.
In the Garden of Eden, Eve found herself listening to, and acting upon, the not-so-subtle lie of the enemy of her soul: Did God really say…? In that lie was the germ of every temptation to choose independence over childship, trusting ourself over trusting our Father. In the case of transgender, the lie comes across as, Did God really say you are male? Did God really say you are female?
Is it not evident from our own bodies what God has said?
Some counter by saying that their body may well express a particular gender but their soul heartily disagrees! That their interpretation of their soul’s gender trumps the outward physical expression. This is muddy-water thinking that leads back to the terror of a God who puts his children together haphazardly with the wrong parts—both those visible and invisible—fitted in conflict.
I don’t say this to minimize the awful struggle undertaken on a daily basis by those who experience such a disharmony. A struggle sometimes leading to efforts at transitioning their bodies into those whose features are, on the surface, more reflective of the opposite sex. Such hormonal and surgical procedures only underscore the depth of this personal tragedy, mutilating the body gifted them by God to such an extent they become physically able to deceive both themselves and others as to their true sexual identity.
I realize, too, that my focus in this writing has been limited to the self-proclaimed trans person as opposed to the fifty-two, fifty-seven or one hundred and twelve supposed alternative gender identities. (The number varies wildly according to what source referenced!) But the foundational truth remains the same: there are but two genders, male and female, by the design of the God who has created all that is seen and unseen.
In the world in which we find ourselves, my writing as I have here carries with it a measure of danger. A measure that, by all indications, may well increase over time. As it is, I feel constantly the pressure to yield my opinions for safety’s sake, trade the truth of God for the rationalized “truths” of so-called enlightened and progressive society and adhere to the popular cultural norms, using the chosen names and pronouns insisted upon by those adopting a gender other than their own biological sex.
Danger becomes magnified any time an individual declares that there is such a thing as truth that can be counted on whether we like it or not. God is the revealer and personification of such truth for he himself is true.
Have I taken it upon myself to speak for God? No! I have but conveyed what I have found from the Bible, the Book that speaks of him. I encourage you to read it for yourself, starting with the four Gospels of the New Testament followed by a reading of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 and see what conclusions you come to on your own.
All of this leads us to ask, how should the followers of Jesus Christ respond to those who opt for independence by declaring a gender of their own choosing?
That’s an easy one: Love them! And remember, opportunities to speak to others holding different opinions must not be demanded. Better it is by far to be invited to share one’s thoughts—coupled with a willingness to listen with a compassionate heart!
If you are one of my trans or other LGBTQ friends reading this essay, you may question my love. I understand. Yet speaking the truth in love, in a respectful manner acknowledging the value of the hearer as one who is a living thought of Almighty God, is in itself an act of love.
To those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ I remind us that we are commanded to love: all of humanity all of the time. We are also commanded by our Lord to judge what is right and good and what is wrong and evil—but never to judge individuals. And to overcome evil by goodness that steadfastly refuses to be anything else.
© Michael Kimball 2021 (This writing may be freely shared in its entirety without prior permission from the author.)