Gender Identity Paper
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Apr 3, 2024
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Gender Identity
Benjamin J. Billiard
Liberty University
RLGN 105: Introduction to Biblical Worldview and Contemporary Moral Issues
Lew Weider
11/07/2023
Gender Identity
In our world today, gender identity is becoming much more of a common topic that needs to be addressed. The church needs to enter understanding their biblical worldview on the concept in order that they do not lead their church body away from scripture. According to a biblical view we will begin to go through what understanding gender identity looks like from the standpoint of scripture.
A Biblical Worldview
You may be asking yourself “what is a biblical worldview?” To simply put it a biblical worldview is a worldview that is founded upon the Bible, but it is a little more than that. The origin of the world from a biblical worldview shares that God created the heavens, the earth, and all living things as shared in Genesis 1:1. With the topic of our identity, a biblical worldview founds our identity upon the fact that humans are created uniquely in God’s image. As shared in Gensis 1:26-27 man is given dominion over the land and the animals as well as man is made in the likeness of God. In addition, 1 Corinthians 10:31 shares that our purpose is “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” As Christians, we have been given the purpose to make the name of Jesus known to others. As Psalm 119:11 shares, “I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” declaring that our morality is one that comes from the scripture that we are to have written on our hearts. Last of all, we have the destiny of a gift of eternal life in heaven if we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts. (Word Count: 209)
What Am I?
This question is a hurtful mark of the fall that has led confused and hopeless humans to question their gender identity. Because of the fall, the world that we live in is filled with brokenness, yet “we need to understand that the effects of the fall are not only around us but within us.” In an article written by LGBTQ activists it has been said that “many people believe that cultural expectations should be relaxed so that all individuals can express their genders freely and safely.” They aim to say that
gender is something that one should be able to express if it is felt, not based off of their biological sex. The concept of gender identity teeters between the two of being able to freely express whatever kind of
gender one feels and stepping into the role of one’s own biological sex. This concept can lead to confusion of one’s own identity and can lead others to stumble into sin.
(Word Count: 161)
Who The Bible Says I Am
From the beginning God made man and woman in His own image. He made man. He made woman. In Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let us make human beings in our image to be like us,” and in verse 27 it says, “male and female he created them.” For God to point out a distinction of male and female means gender is an important thing to Him. In addition, there are distinctions between man and woman. While an article may state:
“These classifications in government records are only rough categorical proxies for more detailed and often continuous measures of sex traits, including aspects of anatomy (such as internal organs or external genitalia), physiology (such as hormone milieu), or genetics (such as chromosomes)” (Becker, T., Chin, M., & Bates, N., 2022).
God made these traits important as a distinction between man and woman. As Deuteronomy 22:5 says “A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” For us to tear down God’s initial intent for our gender is to be an abomination to Him. While we will still receive His love as a sinful being, for us to strike down and change His initial plan for us is to turn our backs on Him. As a result of the fall in Genesis
3, we are sinful and broken in thinking that we can change and make better decisions than what God has
planned for us, yet we saw how that went for Adam and Eve when they turned away from God and we see that now in our own lives. While Christians may argue against the face text of Leviticus 20:13 saying
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“the face value reading is not the best reading,” the scriptures have made it clear that “If a man lies with
a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them” (Wingfield, M., 2019).
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Word Count: 340)
References
Andrew T. Walker. (2017). God and the Transgender Debate : What Does the Bible Actually Say About Gender Identity? The Good Book Company.
Becker, T., Chin, M., & Bates, N. (Eds.). (2022). Measuring sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. National Academies Press.
Cook, M., & Hallquist, Christine. (2019). Gender identity : beyond pronouns and bathrooms. Nomad Press.
Wingfield, M. (2019). Why churches need to talk about sexuality : lessons learned from hard conversations about sex, gender, identity, and the Bible. Fortress Press.