Friday, February 2, 2007

What is gender anyway?

That is what a German boy and his parents are saying when he became the youngest person to ever undergo gender change treatment. Tim, who is 14, insists that he is a girl trapped in a boy's body, and has been doing so since he was 2. This should break our hearts. Here is a young boy, a child really, who is confused about how God has created him. And who is there to help him? No one. His parents affirm him, the doctors are all for it, and most of the world is embracing this young man's "gender disorder," siting that he is "clearly in the wrong body."

We are not left without an answer for young Tim. Genesis 1:27 tells us, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (ESV). God does not arbitrarily choose gender, nor (most importantly) does he make mistakes when he creates people. Before young Tim was even a thought, God ordained that he be a boy. He created him to be a boy, and to bear his image as a boy. That is the beauty of gender distinctions. That God creates men and women in his image, but he creates them differently, so there can be no confusion as to how you should behave as your God-given gender. And even more crucial than that, he creates complementary genders because it greater manifests his glory and points to Christ. When we abolish biblical gender distinctions, we open the door for more innocent, young people to be confused and socially constructed to think that gender is a non-issue.

My heart goes out to this young man, who no matter what chemicals are given to him, or surgical procedure happens to him, he will still be a man. Because that is how God created him. May God awaken his eyes to the beauty of being an image bearer in the body and role that he was ordained to have by a Holy Creator.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

this is such a confusing subject, or at least our world has made it that way, which is sad, because it should be so obvious what is right and what is wrong. i think what is most sad is how these gender issues are being portrayed to kids and teenagers. i feel like in our society no one can be wrong, and yet the fact is, we are all completely wrong without Jesus, so i guess that just shows what a fallen world we live in. but how do you talk to someone who has decided that God made a mistake in making them? what if they feel that they cant help how they feel, even if they wanted too? i dont know...
-katie

Anonymous said...

As a mom who has raised 3 children(I'm still raising one more), I do believe the question needs to be raised about who is responsible for this boys confusion? Not to say that he is not responsible before God for his own sin, but to question who led him in this direction? Parents have a profound effect upon their children for good and evil. We are accountable to God for them. It is doubtful that a 2year old has the ability to determine his gender, so who gave this young man the idea? God help us, if the church does not teach, from the pulpit,(and in lifestyle) the responsibility of mom's and dad's to "not affirm" our children in what God says is sinful, but to teach and encourage them(and correct)in the truth of God's Word. Not always the easy or comfortable thing to do, but always right. God is faithful to honor His Word. I know, I've had to do it.
Parents, teach your children well. God's grace is sufficient for all these things. His Spirit will guide you through the Word of God to raise them as you should. Reject the words of the so-called "experts" who violate what God says. Go with God, He will go with you. Our testimony to a lost and dying culture depends upon it. Who knows, maybe a 14 year old such as this is watching and observing.

Unknown said...

It is tragic when the truly beautiful is destroyed. (I've had to explain before that I don't mean that it's a sadder event when a fashion model dies than when anyone else dies. Each has its own measure of beauty, being the artwork of the Almighty. I mean, rather, that the perversion of a created form is tragic.) So I feel for "Tim," as well. I wonder in events such as these what I might have said if I had been given the chance to speak to him just before the procedure.