Defining transgenderism is quite difficult due to it being solely based on subjectivity. “No one is satisfied with anyone else’s perspective on the topic of gender identity. There are considerable professional and popular divisions that have made it a virtual minefield for any author who wants to step foot on this terrain,” noted one expert on the matter.
Another challenge is the “field’s growing nomenclature. … The gender movement is redefining what it means to be human as a gendered being, and doing so requires many new terms, as well as redefining old ones.” In short, transgender is defined as “an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.”
Defining the Terms
Rev. Sam Ferguson, rector at The Falls Church Anglican in Falls Church, VA, made this observation, “Traditionally, the term, sex, was synonymous with gender. To say a child was biologically of the male sex was the same as saying that he was a boy in regards to gender. Sex and gender were rooted in biology. Fundamental to modern understandings of gender identity, however, is a separation between sex and gender.”
He continued, “Today, sex is still a biological category. However, gender is a psychological and social category that may be defined or expressed in ways that have little or no biological basis. [Per the American Psychological Association (APA)], ‘Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for boys and men or girls and women.’”
“Human identity, formerly anchored in the whole person, is now rooted in inward realities. The center of gravity for personhood and identity has shifted from biology to psychology. [It is now based on limitless] feelings and cultural trends,” Rev. Ferguson said.
There are other terms one will encounter in this field. Gender identity: a person’s deep-seated, internal sense of who [one is] as a gendered being. It is the gender with which one identifies one’s self. Gender expression (masculine, feminine, or androgynous): a person’s outward gender presentation, usually comprising personal style, … vocal inflection, and body language. It can be congruent with a person’s gender identity or not. Cisgender (pronounced sis-gender): a term to describe a person whose gender identity matches one’s biological sex.
There is also gender conforming and nonconforming. This pertains to whether a person expresses one’s gender according to or in opposition of “cultural norms expected for that gender.” The norms are defined as boys and men being masculine; girls and women being feminine. Gender binary refers to the pairing together of sex and gender according to social norms. Lastly, androgyny is the amorphous combination of masculine and feminine traits.
The specific term, transgenderism, can be defined as “a situation where a person comes to identify with a gender other than their birth sex.” The psychological experience is officially termed gender dysphoria. The APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines it as “incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender of, at least, 6 months’ duration.”
It should not be confused with sexual orientation or intersex. Sexual orientation is a “person’s feelings of attraction toward other people.” Intersex is the “atypical development of physical sex characteristics. … These conditions … may involve differences of a person’s internal and/or external reproductive organs, sex chromosomes, and/or sex-related hormones that may complicate sex assignment at birth.”
Regarding gender dysphoria, it is not known what causes it from a medical standpoint. Two leading experts, Lawrence Mayer and Paul McHugh, have concluded it is more of a psychological experience rather than a physical one. “There is little evidence that the phenomenon of transgender identity has a biological basis,” they have said.
Diagnosing gender dysphoria in adults and children varies greatly. For adults, the APA states the person must experience “a marked incongruence between experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender.” For children, the organization says, there should be more “concrete” observations of “behavioral manners,” such as a strong preference for the toys, games, or activities stereotypically used or engaged in by the other gender.
“Some researchers, however, feel that aspects of the criteria are scientifically unsound. ‘There is no scientific basis for believing that playing with toys typical of boys defines a child as a boy, or that playing with toys typical of girls defines a child as a girl. The … criterion for diagnosing gender dysphoria by reference to gender-typical toys is unsound,’” according to Drs. Mayer and McHugh.
Current Treatment
How are people experiencing gender dysphoria being treated by the medical community? Rev. Ferguson explained that “the trend in modern treatment [is] to emphasize affirming the child’s preferred gender identity.” The various ways of helping a child transition include delaying puberty as well as sex-reassignment surgery.
Dangerous side-effects have occurred in young people who have used these methods. The bodily damage can include loss of bone density for girls as well as mood swings, anger, and aggression. Experts also note, “One of the most serious risks is lifelong infertility. Permanent sterility is likely when puberty blockers in early adolescence are followed by cross-sex hormones. There is also the risk of cancer, liver damage, diabetes, stroke, or heart attack.”
There are two significant reasons why treating children for gender dysphoria is “problematic.” Rev. Ferguson explained, “Research shows that a high percentage of children who meet criteria for gender dysphoria do not continue to meet criteria as they grow up and enter adolescence. Second, the scientific data in the area of gender dysphoria in terms of causation, persistence, and treatment, is sparse. This is due to low prevalence in the general population. … To proceed with irreversible surgeries, or potentially harmful hormone therapy, without better scientific data, borders on being immoral.”
Rev. Ferguson said, “The conclusion we reach is that for conditions that are primarily psychological, such as gender dysphoria, surgical alteration is not permissible. Churches must create climates of compassion for people to share these experiences without being rejected or pushed out, but cared for in truth and love.”
Created Order
What is God’s anchoring point for gender? (Gender is “a person’s deep-seated, internal sense of who [one is].”) There are five important truths established during the creation of mankind that are the tent-poles of biblical anthropology. In the Bible’s first book, Genesis, Moses writes, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Rev. Sam Ferguson explained the first truth thusly, “God is the Creator and we are his creatures. … The obvious implication is that we are not our own authors. The Creator determines His creature’s identity. God grants us real dignity to steward and cultivate our identity, but not complete license to create or recreate it. … At its core, human identity is God-given.”
The second point given was humans are a “dynamic unity.” Moses wrote that “God formed the man from the dust … and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Man is a unity of dust and God’s “breath of life.” The dust “emphasizes Adam’s solidarity with the earth. … Man is made of matter. He is a physical being. Whatever else Adam is, he is not less than a physical body.”
The third key truth of biblical anthropology is gender is an embodied reality. God “formed” man out of the dust. His design was intentional. As was His design for woman for the biblical text says from the man’s rib “he built into a woman.” The distinct, visible shape and function of the male and female forms were created as a key indicator of one’s gender identity.
This leads to the next truth: There are two genders and only two. The masculine gender aligns with the male body and the feminine gender aligns with the female body. The final important truth is “The body is integral, not incidental, to human identity. … In light of this, the modern gender movement has at its core both an anthropological and Christological heresy: a disembodied humanity.
“If the body is not essential to our God-given identity, then the formation of Adam from dust is merely accidental, the embodiment of the Son of God is superfluous, and the future resurrection of our bodies a lie,” Rev. Ferguson said.
Caution must be exercised, however, when relaying this information to those tempted with transgenderism. “If you have gender dysphoria [dissatisfaction], learning that your body is created by God, a gift from God, and determines the gender you’ve been given by God, may feel suffocating. And to suggest that gender reassignment is predicated on a theological heresy will sound deeply offensive. The good news of Scripture often does not immediately sound like good news to those who are hurting,” Rev. Ferguson explained.
Biblical Anthropology Gives Hope
If it is not good news to the gender dysphoric, then how and why can biblical anthropology help those with gender confusion? “First, the biblical story explains the deeper cause of gender dysphoria, without condemning the dysphoric. [Their suffering is manifested in confusion and a sense of condemnation.] Confusion, because it is hard to understand how one’s feelings can be so incongruent with one’s body. Condemnation, because society, and often the church, has made individuals with gender confusion feel like outcasts. For far too long, individuals with these conditions have felt like hopeless outsiders.
“To be human is to have dysphoria. By human dysphoria, we mean the universal human experience of incongruence between feelings within and life without. … The word ‘dysphoria’ means ‘a profound state of unease or generalized dissatisfaction about life.’ It’s the opposite of euphoria. Dysphoria is incongruence between how we feel on the inside, and life on the outside. … This includes tension between broken bodies [including minds] and darkened hearts,” Rev. Ferguson said.
There is tremendous hope, however. Dysphoria is a manifestation of the truth noted in Romans 8. Our experiences of dysphoria are “the sufferings of this present time … in hope, the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. … We ourselves groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
To be human is to be dysphoric. It is our shared experience of groaning. It does not touch only certain segments of mankind. All groan and need “adoption” and “redemption of our bodies.”
Secondly, those with gender dysphoria are not condemned for their feelings. “Often individuals with these experiences will be made to feel as though their confusion is due to some unforgivable sin. But the biblical story draws an important distinction between feelings and actions when it comes to sinfulness. Sin is indulging and acting upon a desire that is outside of the Creator’s design. … Unwanted feelings are a result of our weakness and brokenness, but can be turned over to God rather than acted upon.”
Finally, as stated earlier, biology provides the contours for the two individual genders. Specifically, women have XX chromosomes, and men have XY chromosomes. This is how men and women are defined by their Creator. The Bible speaks nothing regarding what color clothes each sex must wear or what activities they should engage in. “Often, stereotypical tendencies or behaviors of a gender become absolutized by a culture. They then masquerade as essential to true manhood or womanhood, when in fact they are not,” Rev. Ferguson explained.
The Glory of Hope
Transgendered and gender dysphoric people are looking for hope. The world is giving them hope wrapped in the promise of “freedom from all biological constraints.” It is a false hope with harmful possibilities and realities embedded in its set of treatments. The promise of being a new creation in Christ is the hope they need.
The gloriousness of this hope reverberates in St. Paul’s declaration, “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come,” (2 Cor. 5:17). The emphasis communicated in these verb tenses can be chain-breaking for those with gender dysphoria. The “dissonance between the heart and the body” begins to experience the healing power of the Creator. Typically, it is not complete upon belief in Christ. For some it may be, for others it will not be.
But to be a new creation means to be filled with the Holy Spirit with consistent guidance and strength. It also means transgendered people are surrounded by the people of God who are present to uphold and love, which Rev. Ferguson said is the acceptance and care they are looking for.
“Transgender[ed] people, [including] those with gender dysphoria, are just like the rest of humankind, they long to be known and loved. This is what the Church has to offer all journeying in this fallen world. The Church must become their family, the place where they can be carried when too tired to walk and encouraged when the road feels too hard.”
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In the fall of 2017, The Falls Church Anglican, in Falls Church, VA, held the “Being Human” conference where Rev. Drs. John Yates III and Sam Ferguson co-taught five sessions that detailed the meaning of being human according to the Bible, contrasted with the secular perspective. This article is based on sessions three and four taught by Rev. Sam Ferguson.
T.P. Scheiderer 