In
all the preceding sections I’ve tried to be pretty clinical and unbiased in my
definitions and discussions. In this final section I’d like to examine my own
views on these various topics and aspects. I have learned a lot based on my
research for this blog entry. And it has taken several days to do the research
and digest it all so that I could present it fairly. I’m going to look at each
of the aspects that I have written about, then in the final part of this blog I
will examine some of the recent controversies in this area.
My Baseline
It
should come as no surprise to those reading my blog that I am a Christian. I
believe that the world was created by a sovereign God. I also believe that
because of the sin of man we now live in a corrupt world and that only through
our acceptance of Jesus’ death on our behalf can we expect to enter into a
permanent relationship with the triune God after our time here on earth has
ended.
But
I also believe that God is fully in charge of all that happens here in this
existence and that he does not “make mistakes”. The things we see through
science are things that he has created so that we should not discard science
just because we may not understand it or because it seems to conflict with our
often limited understanding of His world in which we live.
The Five Aspects
Revisited
The
Genetic Aspect – While my research has shown that this
is much more complicated a subject that the simple XX/XY that I learned in high
school biology, it is reassuring that from a sexual perspective all known
combinations of the 23rd chromosome still result in each cell being
either male or female. And since God has allowed other combinations other than
XX/XY, these other expressions of male/female are equally human and equally
worthy of our love, just as trisomy 21 Down Syndrome individuals are fully
human and fully a part of God’s creation.
The
Biological Aspect – A few terms that you see often these
days is “the sex you were born with” or a slightly cruder version, “your
plumbing”. But these terms presume a binary view of gender, i.e. male or
female. However, as my research has shown, there are a number, however small
you make it by what you may or may not include, of individuals who are
“Intersex,” i.e. those who have “plumbing” that is ambiguous or not within the
typical norms of male/female. Most people who use these “born with” or
“plumbing” arguments ignore the facts surrounding “Intersex” – either out of
ignorance or because they deliberately want to promote a binary view of the
subject.
I
can vaguely recall having heard about this in the past, but I admit that I was
mostly unaware of the existence of this topic. But having done my
investigation, I will listen more carefully to those who continue to make the
binary argument.
God
does not make mistakes. Therefore, I should accept what science has
demonstrated and include it in my worldview. My research indicates that those
who fall into this category generally desire not to be lumped together with
either the trans-sexual crowd or the GLBT… crowd as they have very different
issues to deal with. I don’t know if I have ever interacted with anyone with
this issue – certainly no one has ever brought it up to me. But I need to know
more before I make any judgements in this area. And I would like to include it
in any arguments that others may be making when they seem to have such a binary
view that they are espousing.
The
Gender Expression Aspect – As I indicated when defining this
aspect of gender, gender roles are subject to great variation, either over time
or across cultures. And since I am both old enough to have observed this over
time and have traveled enough internationally to have observed many different
cultures, I have experienced a great variation in gender roles. Just a few
examples:
When
I was growing up all the moms in the neighborhood stayed at home and raised
their families. Now, except for the retired folks on our street there is only
one such family that I am aware of where the mother does not work. Roles in US
families are pretty egalitarian, with both men and women often sharing such
roles as cooking and child-rearing. But in other cultures these roles are much
more clearly differentiated.
The
church that I attend was built in the 1930s with two front doors – one on the
“men’s side” and one on the “women’s side”. The two sexes sat on different
sides during services. Men wore coats and ties and the women wore modest
dresses, did not wear jewelry and often had their heads covered. Even when we
joined the church 40 years ago there were still vestiges of this – for
Wednesday prayer service, after a devotional, the men gathered in groups of two
or three on “the men’s side” and knelt in prayer while the women did on their
side. Now that has all gone away – women wear slacks, even the pastor is often
seen without coat and tie, etc. While the church still preaches biblical values
and distinct gender roles in the marriage relationship, the public expression
of these roles has disappeared for the most part.
God’s
word is still correct and valuable. Children grow up best in families where
there are two parents, each parent with different roles. But there is wide variation
within those boundaries. So we need to be careful of defining gender roles too
narrowly and allow for the diversity in God’s plan as long as we are still true
to His word.
The
Sexual Orientation Aspect – My wife and I both come from
relatively large families. So we have a number of relatives that we can
observe. As a result, I have a number who have a sexual orientation which is
different than mine.
One
of my male cousins was a participant in the gay community back when most had
not yet “come out of the closet”. He was also unfortunate enough to contract
AIDs back when it was viewed as mostly a disease that affected homosexual males
and those of African-American descent and he died from complications of AIDs at
the age of 44. He and I had been very close growing up as we lived in the same
small town and were in the same grade in school. So I was sad to see his life
come to an end in this fashion, especially because he had moved to another part
of the country and I had not seen him for several years.
More
recently and another generation removed, I have three nieces who are in lesbian
relationships. Two of them have recently married their partners now that the
legal system allows it. But as my daughter pointed out, all three situations
resulted from a dysfunctional relationship (or the lack of one) that these
girls had with their fathers at crucial points in their growing up years.
I
believe that one of the primary purposes for which God created us was that we
marry and have children. So same-sex relationships are not part of His plan and
there are numerous references to this in the Bible.
But
that does not mean that I condemn those who hold different views than I do. I
still love these nieces just as I do any other of my relatives. None of us are
free from the influence nor the practice of various sins – myself included. So
while I may disapprove of the life choices of others, it does not matter
whether it is being in a homosexual relationship, cheating on one’s taxes,
driving over the speed limit, or being neglectful of one’s duties as a spouse
or parent. I personally continue to struggle with the latter two.
A
good friend of mine has had an ongoing relationship (not a sexual one) with a
woman who has been an avowed lesbian for many years and used to run the “Women’s
Center” at a local college. She was also very much opposed to his Christianity
as he was an ordained pastor and she was not accepting of Christianity. When
she asked him why he continued to meet with her, he replied, “I want to love
you enough that when you die and do not go to heaven, it will break my heart!”
Like
my friend, I am neither homophobic nor do I “hate” homosexuals, even though the
current tendency of many is to call anyone who does not celebrate homosexuality
a hater of it.
The
Gender Identity Aspect – Because this aspect of gender has
been so much in the news recently, it’s difficult for me to separate my views
on it from the current controversies. So I will have to reserve most of my
comments for the next section of this blog. But there is one important issue
that I would like to address here.
A
lot of the gender identity argument has to do with what is the basis of one’s
identity. This has been sometimes called the “fact v. feeling” argument, but it’s
more than that. As a Christian, I believe that our gender (and everything else
in our world) is a product of God the creator. But part of the “feeling”
argument often includes that each individual has the right to define one’s own
existence and that God must be excluded from the picture.
So,
I accept that there are very real issues of “fact” in God’s creation (and He
does not make mistakes), starting with the genetic ambiguity of some of those
who are truly Intersex at the time of birth. And there is still ongoing
research into the impact of hormones during the development of the human brain
that are not yet well understood. But I reject the notion that anyone is free
to decide on their gender apart from these aspects of human development.
Some Conclusions
Apart
from these individual aspects, there is so much that has changed in the last
few decades that is a concern. The term sometimes used is that we are on a “slippery
slope”, i.e. we have started down a road and the changes are accelerating. We’ve
gone from civil unions to same-sex marriages and some are now talking about
polygamous marriages. We’ve moved even quicker through opening up bathrooms to
locker rooms and showers. We’ve gone from tolerance to acceptance to forced celebration.
The
viewpoint that was in the majority throughout most of this country’s history –
and still is, but by far less a majority – has been shouted down and turned
into “hate speech”. We’ve removed any mention of God from our classrooms, then
from the public arena. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton began referring to “freedom
of worship” instead of “freedom of religion” (see https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/freedom-worship-vs-freedom-religion).
Continue to Part 5 - https://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2016/05/gender-and-sex-part-5-recent.html
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