Lois responds to reader: does transgender contradict the Bible?

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Hello,

I come to your blog seeking answers with respectful Christian curiosity […] Please respond to this query:

If God is perfect and all knowing; and the Bible is the Holy Spirit inspired instrument of his grace and peace. How can a contradiction in natural birth exist? 
How does the Transgender person of soul reconcile their spirit? 

Jeremiah 1:5: 
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139:13-14:

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

Again, a respectful query on reconciliation.
Thanks

Hello,

To respectfully seek answers, to reconcile ideas and people, to arrive at truth: these are all honorable aims.  I am delighted to respond as best as God lays on my heart.

First, both for ourselves and any other readers, let’s make sure we understand what is meant by soul and spirit.  I took the following from the BibleHub website.  It is similar to what I found on some other sites as well as confirming my previous understanding.

[T]here is in man a spiritual, reasonable, and immortal soul, the seat of our thoughts, affections, and reasonings, which distinguishes us from the brute creation, and in which chiefly consists our resemblance to God, Genesis 1:26. This must be spiritual, because it thinks; it must be immortal, because it is spiritual. Scripture ascribes to man alone understanding, conscience, the knowledge of God, wisdom, immortality, and the hope of future everlasting happiness. It threatens men only with punishment in another life, and with the pains of hell. In some places the Bible seems to distinguish soul from spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 [and] Hebrews 4:12: the organ of our sensations, appetites, and passions, allied to the body, form the nobler portion of our nature which most allies man to God. Yet we are to conceive of them as one indivisible and spiritual being, called also the mind and the heart, spoken of variously as living, feeling, understanding, reasoning, willing, etc. Its usual designation is the soul.

First, a quick explanation of 1^st Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12.  My sense is that the inclusion of both “soul” and “spirit” in these verses is meant as an amplification, not as distinguishing.  We can see that more easily in the Hebrews verse.  When the two-edged sword is described as dividing asunder soul and spirit, it means both, not dividing “soul from spirit”. 

So the simple answer is that if humankind, while we walk this earth as corporeal creatures, are not spirit, but have an eternal soul that has a spiritual nature and therefore includes spirit, then the soul and spirit, even for a Transgender, must be reconciled with each other.  Otherwise, you would be talking about some sort of split personality.  No one I know of, not even our worst detractors, claims that about us.

But let’s look at a broader question of contradiction.  Since God is all-knowing (there is no “if” about it) and the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God, then is there some contradiction between people who claim to be born transgender and God’s Word? 

Let’s take Psalm 139:13-14 first, since that is an all-encompassing situation rather than a verse that applies to one particular person.  I considered this passage so important to discuss that I wrote a three-part blog post on it in the first month of this blog back in November 2013.  (The reader is reminded that I was using the older term, transsexual, at that time.) 

I will provide a link back to those posts so the reader can have further details.  But to summarize for the purpose of this answer, I point out how interesting it is that when these two verses are used as a proof text that transgender is not of God, verse 15 is never included to give the full context of these verses.  It is quite inconvenient to their claims of contradiction to call to mind that every one of us, transgender and cisgender alike, was curiously formed in the lower parts of the earth.

When sin entered into the world, death and corruption entered in with it.  So while the Lord God has final say over everyone how everyone is formed, no one is born perfectly whole and complete.  The imperfections are not sin in and of themselves (think of the passage when Jesus’ disciples ask who sinned, the blind man or his parents).  Furthermore, if someone had been born who was without spot or blemish, there would have been no reason for God to have sent His only begotten Son to shed His blood and nail our sins to the cross.  Only Jesus, born of the Holy Spirit, could have been the perfect Passover lamb to save us, one perfect sacrifice for all time. 

While we are in the Psalms, we ought not forget Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  It is another Biblical reminder of our humble origins.

https://ts4jc.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/i-am-fearfully-a…ully-made-part-1/

https://ts4jc.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/i-am-fearfully-a…ully-made-part-2/

https://ts4jc.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/i-am-fearfully-a…ully-made-part-3/

That brings us to the Jeremiah verse that you cited.  And guess what?  I cited that same verse in Part 3 of my blog post series “I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”.  Look closely at that verse again.  God is not just telling Jeremiah that He formed him in the womb.  He is also telling Jeremiah He knew what manner of person he would become.  This means God knows Jeremiah on the inside: his heart, soul and spirit, not just his skin color, bone structure and yes genitalia. 

Now here’s the question: based on which group of characteristics does God chose Jeremiah to be a prophet, the first group or the second?  Obviously the first group. This is how God identifies Jeremiah as a person. 

None of this is meant to say or imply that Jeremiah is transgender.  What I am saying is that God’s primary identification of us is based on what’s inside, not on what’s outside; the spiritual and eternal, not the physical and temporal.  Only a relatively small percentage of people are born transgender.  But we have been around since the earliest days of recorded history.  I’m not a scholar of ancient languages, but I’m told that the subject of transgender people was dealt with in the Code of Hammurabi.  And my learned Jewish friends (as well as Christians who have researched this topic) tell me that in the rabbinical writings of Classical Judaism, there is provision for six genders, not two.

http://www.transtorah.org/PDFs/Classical_Jewish_Terms_for_Gender_Diversity.pdf

There is one thing that neither you or anyone else I have discussed the topic with has ever been able to produce: a Bible verse that states that the inner spirit of a person must match the outer anatomy when it comes to gender identity.  I have been reading the Bible faithfully, daily most of the time, from cover to cover over and over again, for over 25 years.  This was always an important topic for me.  That verse would have leapt off the page for me.  Those Christians who naysay transgender would be raising it as a banner.  But they can’t because it doesn’t exist.

But is there scripture that suggests the opposite?  I believe so.  They are the very words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:12.  Jesus describes three categories of eunuchs: those who were born that way, those who were made that way by someone else and those who made themselves eunuchs.   

Now the lesson that Jesus is teaching to His disciples directly relates to the ability of a person to resist sexual temptation and therefore be able to remain single without falling into fornication (any sexual activity outside of marriage).  But there are two things to keep in mind.  First, that Bible teaching can have layers of meaning.  Second, when Jesus taught in parables, He used examples and situations that the people of His day were familiar with.  Therefore, even though scripture is eternal, Jesus never would have taught a parable that referred directly to computers or nuclear weapons. 

Of the three categories, the most familiar would have been those who had been made eunuchs by someone else.  Although the Jews did not practice it, it was a familiar practice for the rulers of the neighboring countries to castrate certain people, whether of their own nation or a defeated nation, for various purposes: watching over harems, becoming trusted advisors who would not be aggressive enough to become rivals, and so on.  Since these eunuchs were neither born that way nor did so of their own volition, the most familiar category is of no further interest.

The less familiar two categories are where we draw our attention.  Remember that Jesus and his disciples would have been familiar with the six genders of classical Judaism. 

The person born a eunuch could be someone born with male anatomy but is impotent and acts more feminine upon reaching puberty.  Such a person would likely be saris and would be considered male to female transgender today.  Or it could be someone identified as female at birth who displays a masculine personality at puberty.  That person would have been identified as ay’lonit in Jesus’s time and female to male today.

What of the person who makes “himself” a eunuch?  Yes, that could be someone seeking to live a celibate life and needing to take extraordinary means to accomplish that purpose.  It was not uncommon for men of the early Christian church to undergo castration to live a celibate life of service.  However, a saris could also fit this description: someone assigned male at birth but who now lacks male genitalia, in this case voluntarily ridding themselves of unwanted body parts to live as in the preferred female gender.

It should be noted that Jesus does not speak disparagingly of any of these eunuchs.  If He had reason to, He either would have used a different example or phrased the parable in a different way. 

We have one more example relating to genitalia (in particular male genitalia) where the spiritual is more important than the physical.  Deuteronomy 10:16 taught: Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. 

Nor is this an isolated verse.  We see this theme repeated in Leviticus 26:41, Deuteronomy 30:6 and Jeremiah 4:4.  And that devout scripture student, the Apostle Paul, picks up this theme in Romans 2:28-29 and Colossians 2:11.  These teachings have import far beyond transgender.  It permits Jewish women to stand before the cross of Christ and the Throne of Grace on equal footing with Jewish men.  And it permits physically uncircumcised Gentiles to do the same.  Indeed, this was one of the first debates in the young Christian church when evidence of the Holy Spirit’s anointing of Gentiles was first reported. Would these Gentile men be required to undergo circumcision?  It was eventually deemed unnecessary.  God had already circumcised their hearts.

Apparently we haven’t come very far in 2000 years.  People are still focusing on the less important physical attributes, willing to limit ourselves to what we can see.  As God truly observed in 1^st Samuel 16:7, man judges by the outer appearance, but God judges by the inner things of the heart.  Are we not called upon to grow in spiritual maturity so that we see things as God sees them?

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. – Romans 2:28-29

God bless,

Lois

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Key Bible Verses Posted

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1st Samuel 16:7, 2nd Corinthians 10:7, Acts 3:6-10, Bible Study, Bible verses, blog hits, born transsexual, Christian, dialog, discussion, Ecclesiastes 11:5, eunuch, God, God the source of life, God's sovereignty, harmonizing Scripture, Isaiah 44:3, Jeremiah 1:5, Jesus, John 6:63, John 9:2, key verses, LinkedIn, Luke 11:40, marketplace of ideas, Matthew 19, mental health profession, Psalm 127:3, Psalm 139, Psalm 51:5, Transgender, Transsexual, truth, Zechariah 12:1

One of the difficulties in dealing with transgender from a Biblical standpoint is the lack of any direct references to the topic within scripture.  There is a section of Matthew 19 where Jesus describes three types of eunuchs: those who were born that way, those who were made that way by others and those who made themselves that way.  Two of these examples could refer to transgender individuals, but it isn’t certain.  This passage of scripture will require further detailed study before I will include it in this blog.

It is both intriguing and sad that even without any direct reference, certain Christians can be so insistent on the sinful nature of transgender.  Backed by outdated viewpoints of the mental health profession (which are clung to by a small minority within the profession), they point at a couple of verses that don’t apply at all while selectively referring to the sovereignty of God in creating our physical body.  But they ignore the fact that according to scripture, God creates the inside of a person and puts our spirit inside of us.

A few years ago, comparing scripture to scripture and harmonizing key verses, I began to put together a rationale that, based in part on the growing evidence that someone transgender is born this way, that there is indeed nothing sinful about how we are born.  Part of my reason for this blog was to put my findings into the marketplace of ideas and get feedback.

I do not claim to be a Bible scholar and I did not go to seminary.  But I grew up in the church, heard the Bible stories for children from the earliest age and have read the Bible pretty much since I could read.  About 25 years ago, I began to endeavor to read and study it on a daily basis.  The older I have gotten, the better my discipline in doing so and the more my understanding has increased.  In addition to reading and studying on my own, I have attended many Bible studies and have even led a few studies and preached a sermon or two.  So borrowing part of a phrase from the Apostle Paul, I can say without apology that I am “no mean” Bible student.  Furthermore, any believer on Jesus Christ has access to the Holy Spirit who teaches us all things.

Ultimately, I care about what is right, not who is right.  If I am in error in the ideas and treatises that I have set forth, I want to know about it.  So far no one has been able to find anything in the way of error that holds up after closer examination and explanation.  Sadly, there are some whose pride will not allow them to either admit that they are wrong or at least continue the dialog, so they take their marbles and go home.

The other part of my reason for this blog is that with so little in the way of thorough discussion of what the Bible has to say about transgender, I wanted people in both the transgender community and Christian community to know what I had seen and learned.  If this is indeed truth, then truth sets free.  Primarily in this case, it would remove the shackles that keep most members of the transgender community coming together with and in the body of Christ.

Even with what I have found, there are only so many Bible verses that touch on the subject even indirectly.  Occasionally I find another one here and there, but it is a rare occurrence now.  And I am not about to invent Bible verses out of thin air!

Most of my findings were published in the earliest days of the blog, when readership was meager at best.  My blog is certainly far from having gone viral, but at least it is a lot more popular than it was.  At the first, I was pleased if I had at least one hit every day.  Recently, I had over 100 hits in a day and it is disappointing to have days with less than 10.

Mindful of the growing readership, I have added a page to my blog site giving a list (with brief explanation) of the key Bible verses on the topic.  This post both advertises that page and points the reader to earlier posts using those verses.

As I come across additional verses, I will add them to the page and will write a post on the topic.  I will also add posts to include verses in the list that have not been referred to in a blog post previously.  This exercise is helping me identify those.

11/18/13 – Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Part I (Psalm 139)

11/19/13 – Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Part II (Zechariah 12:1 & Psalm 51:5)

11/20/13 – Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – Part III (Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 44:3, Psalm 127:3, Ecclesiastes 11:5)

12/3/13 – God doesn’t make mistakes (John 9:2 & Acts 3:6-10)

12/28/13 – How does God see people? (1^st Samuel 16:7)

12/29/13 – A further look at how God sees us (John 6:63)

6/24/14 – Not all people trapped in the wrong body are trans (2^nd Corinthians 10:7, 1^st Samuel 16:7, Luke 11:40)

3/7/15 – Commentary on anti-trans legislation proposed in Texas (Luke 11:40 & Zechariah 12:1)

Finally, I bid a thankful welcome to all those who have found my blog for the first time through my LinkedIn page.

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: – Isaiah 28:10

God bless,

Lois

I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made – part 1

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Bible, Christianity, God, in utero, Old Testament, Psalm 139, Transsexual

This phrase, taken from Psalm 139, is used by some Christians as a proof text that transition for a transsexual is sin.  Is that accurate?  Let’s look at the whole text on the topic of in utero formation in that Psalm.

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. – Psalm 139:13-16

The general theme of Psalm 139 is that God knows all about us, even if we think we can hide from Him.  Verses 13-16 amplify that point, showing that God even knew all about us, not only before we were born but before we were conceived.

The remaining verses (17-24) praise the greatness of God’s knowledge, and then introduce the idea that the Psalmist (attributed as David) vehemently opposes wicked people, the people who oppose God.  In the last two verses of this section, connecting it back to the main theme, in humility David recognizes that there may be some wickedness in him.  He invites God, who knows all about him, to search for that wickedness and lead him away from it.

Now that we have the general context, let’s take a closer look at how we were made. 

In the very beginning of the text, we may be puzzled by the word “reins”.  After all, we are not riding a horse in the womb.  It is the Hebrew word “kilyah”.  Both words can either be translated literally as kidneys, or figuratively as the seat or source of emotions, feelings or affections.  It is similar to how we figuratively ascribe those same things to the heart in current usage.  Considering both the context (why would just one body part be singled out?) and the fact that the Hebrew word is translated as “kidneys” 18 times in the KJV, it is reasonable to conclude that here the reference is to emotions, feelings and affections: in other words, to a non-corporeal part of our nature.  We are not created tabula rasa (Latin for blank slate).  According to conservative commentary, this is not a controversial translation.

So what does it mean when it says God has possessed David’s reins (and by extension possessed them for everyone)?  This is the Hebrew word “qanah”.  When used in connection to God, it refers to that which He originated and created.  It connotes a sense of ownership.  Note that at least in this verse, it does not say that God possesses our entire body, just the reins.  But there is more to look at.

There is also the parallel statement that God covers us in the womb.  That appears to be a straightforward statement.  But some commentators try to stretch this verse to say that this means that God created our physical body.  This is because while the Hebrew verb “cakak” is usually translated as cover or defend or enclose, there is an alternate meaning (used as a translation twice out of the twenty-three times the word appears in the Old Testament): to weave together.  

In this context, the meaning of “cakak” appears to be most accurately translated that God protects us and hides us in the womb, not that He created our physical body.  The point is moot, however.  The next verse does give a clearer indication of God’s work in our physical development in utero.  And this brings us to the phrase being used to declare that being transsexual and acting upon it is sinful.

It is hard to imagine any quarrel with “wonderfully” being part of the text.  The idea of the gestation period culminating in birth being a miracle, a marvel or a wonder is common.  The use of the word “fearfully”, however, might be troublesome for some people.

What we have to understand is that there are two types of fear in the Bible.  One is positive and the other, manifested in two different ways, is negative.  The Hebrew word in this passage, “yare’”, can be translated in either way.  Used in this context, it is the positive type.  It speaks to the awesome reverence that one has for God, recognizing how much greater He is than mankind.  While it includes an understanding of God’s power and what He could do to us, it is far more encompassing than that, because a true understanding of that greatness includes all of His nature, including His compassion, His wisdom and so on.  Therefore, He is worthy of all glory, honor and respect.

Immediately following this phrase is that His works are very marvelous.  This connects directly to both how we are made and how very special is the birth of a baby.

So we can acknowledge who made us according to Scripture.  But where and how were we made? 

The next verse begins with a return to the idea that we were covered in the womb.  But while we were being made in secret, we were not hidden from God.  Indeed, how could we be hidden from the one who made us?  Yet immediately following, there is a statement that conveys something so unexpected from what has been stated up to now, that even David describes it as curious.  We were made in the lowest parts of the earth.

Now if we are made by God, wouldn’t we expect to be made in heaven?  What’s going on here?  Is there a contradiction?  How do we explain this?  These are questions that need to be answered.

The Hebrew phrase “tachtiy ‘erets” is translated literally here.  The word for earth carries with it a sense that it is used in contrast with heaven.  David uses the same Hebrew phrase in Psalm 63:9.  It describes where those who are seeking to kill David (implicitly because he is a follower of God) will be sent after God judges them.  In both cases, we are talking spiritually, not about the earth’s core. 

In the New Testament (Ephesians 4:9), the KJV translators used the same phrase in English as Psalm 63:9 to describe where Jesus descended spiritually while his body was in the tomb between the crucifixion and the resurrection.  It is what is referred to in the Apostle’s Creed in the phrase “He ascended into hell.”

Now let it be understood that this is not referring to the place of final, eternal destruction.  Indeed, we could not have been born if our formation occurred in such a place.  Revelation 20:14 states that even “death and hell” will be thrown into the place of final, eternal destruction.  So there is something even worse than this reference to hell.  But we should still understand that the lowest parts of the earth is not a very nice place. 

So guess what, those of you Christians who accuse us of sin merely because of our transsexual identity?  You were formed in the lower parts of the earth, right alongside of us!

Lest we become high-minded, let us quickly move on to the rest of the passage.  Most of the last verse (also the last sentence) seems to follow from the preceding three verses.  But we do have to be careful with the word “unperfect”.  First of all, the prefix “un” would be “in” or “im” in modern English, as in the phrase in the Declaration of Independence “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”  Today, we would use the word “inalienable”. 

In the same way, we can understand this word better as “imperfect”.  But before we jump to a conclusion that this is referring to birth defects, we have to consider that in the early 17^th century, “perfect” was often used as a synonym for “complete”.  In fact, the lack of awareness of this causes confusion in the understanding of other parts of Scripture.  But that discussion is for another time.

The Hebrew word here is “golem”.  This is a word that has evolved into vastly different meaning in Jewish folklore and in Modern Hebrew.  But the word, used only this one time in the Old Testament, is generally agreed by scholars to mean embryo or fetus.  For whatever reason, the translators used a euphemism (perhaps for the same reason that there was a time when you could not say the word “pregnant” on television or radio and had to use a phrase like “with child”).  But the meaning is the same.  We were formed from nothingness to a state of being incomplete but continually fashioned until we were ready to be born.

We know that birth defects do occur.  Can we derive an understanding of the cause of birth defects from this passage?  To ask it another way, does God cause them or allow them?

Where does Satan have power and authority, even if it is a limited leasehold? According to the Bible, it is on and in the earth.  Three different times, the Gospel of John calls Satan the “prince of this earth”.  A slight variation is presented by Paul in 2^nd Corinthians 4:4 where Satan is called the “god of this world” (note the lower case “g”).  Satan is also referred to as either the ruler or power of darkness. 

Now put this information together with Jesus talking about people being punished by being cast into “outer darkness”.  Furthermore, 2^nd Peter and Jude refer to the angels who rebelled against God.  From these accounts, we are told that they are cast into hell and chained in (or under) darkness to be held until the end of time judgment.

Where else can one get more into the earth and away from heaven than in the lower parts of the earth?  The connections are all there: hell, darkness and punishment.

Finally, let’s look at an Old Testament lesson on this subject: the book of Job.  What did God grant Satan in Job 1:12 and 2:6?  Limited authority to attack Job, first his possessions and family and then Job’s own body.  Also, we note that Satan told God that he had been walking up and down the earth (surveying his territory, one might say).  In addition, it was God, not Satan who brought up the topic of Job, and by the end of the story we can see God’s purpose in doing so.

Ultimately, the Christian has to discern what the Bible says about the cause of birth defects, God or Satan.  When the question is framed that way, the inclination would be to blame Satan, not God.  Seeing that Satan has some authority in this realm, that the lower part of the earth and darkness is part of his habitation, and that he is the author of harm and evil against people, the inclination is correct.  Satan sticks his wicked finger into what was originally God’s perfect creation in His own image.  As a result, no one is created without “spot or blemish” (i.e., imperfection).

In the next post, we are going to look at the implications of the Biblical teaching that it is God who creates the seat or cause of emotions in a person.  In later posts, we will look at more verses that are used to talk about how we were made.

God bless,

Lois