28 Aug THE LGBTQIA++ ISSUE: A BIBLICAL RESPONSE

Pride month, gay rights, drag queens, preferred pronouns, queer theology… this mishmash of sociocultural and even “theological” terms and concepts inundate us wherever we turn in today’s world. Fifty years ago, no one would have thought that the reality of humanity’s division into two sexes — male and female — would be questioned, much less under attack. Yet that is the reality of the world we now live in.

Changes in the secular culture are also changing our vocabulary. “Gender” no longer means only male or female. According to healthline.com there are 68 terms that describe gender – and they keep changing on a daily basis. There is even disagreement on the number of biological sexes.
A summary of world views

Sex Assigned at Birth: Based on the biological characteristics of males and females, observed at birth, such as reproductive organs, chromosomes, hormones, etc.

Gender: The socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles and relationships. While most people are born either male or female, they are taught appropriate norms and behaviours. When individuals or groups do not “fit” established gender norms they often face discriminatory practices. Gender is a social, psychological and cultural construct, developed in the process of socialization. A person’s gender may or may not correspond to their biological sex. Gender is more about identity. People that do not identify as male or female are often grouped under the umbrella terms ‘non-binary’, but the range of gender identifications is in reality unlimited.

Gender expression: Gender is something we express, sometimes intentionally, and sometimes without thinking. We communicate our gender in a number of ways, for example, by our appearance or our interaction.

Sexual orientation is about who you’re attracted to and want to have relationships with.

Sexual orientations include gay, lesbian, straight, bisexual, and asexual.

The ever-changing acronym LGBTQIAP++ denotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and pansexual, with the plus sign indicating all of the other gender identities and sexual orientations.

Gender dysphoria
Some people who are transgender will experience “gender dysphoria,” which refers to psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. Though gender dysphoria often begins in childhood, some people may not experience it until after puberty or much later. (American Psychiatric Association)

What is wrong with transgenderism?
Such people are born with normal anatomy and physiology, but experience a mental ‘disconnect’ with their normal body function of sexuality. This leads often to tampering with their normal anatomy and physiology through “Sex Reassignment”, including hormones and surgery. In their lifestyle, sexually active transgenders are usually homosexual. Many of them experience severe mental stress and depression, with a high suicide rate.

“Born this way”?
Extensive research to establish a biological connection with homosexuality has failed to produce any positive result. There could be genetic and environmental influences here like in every other behavioural trait. Much of the known environmental influence appears to be intra-uterine, and there is no convincing evidence that social environment plays a significant part. Ganna, A. et al. (2019), who led the largest study to date on the genetic basis of sexuality (477,522 individuals), reported just five spots on the human genome that are linked to same-sex sexual behaviour — but none of the markers are reliable enough to predict someone’s sexuality. “There is no ‘gay gene’,” says lead study author Andrea Ganna, a geneticist at the Broad Institute of MIT.

Are intersex persons transgender?
People who are intersex have genitals, chromosomes or reproductive organs that don’t fit into a male/female sex binary. Being intersex may be evident at birth, childhood, later in adulthood or never. This condition does not affect their gender orientation, though some of them might experience gender dysphoria.

What about eunuchs?
Eunuchs are typically castrated men, and were traditionally employed as keepers of the harem or in other offices in the royal court. In the Indian subcontinent, the small community of hijra are transgender or castrated people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as guru-chela system.

Gender-affirming Treatment: What does medical science say?
There was a time when opinion was strong for medical/surgical transition for any teenager who felt a strong disconnect between their “sex assigned at birth” and their gender orientation. This included puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and “gender reassignment surgery”. Of late, a shift is taking place in the ruthless promotion of this kind of tampering and mutilation. A new position statement from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) stresses the importance of a mental health evaluation for people with gender dysphoria – in particular for children and adolescents – before any firm decisions are made on whether to prescribe hormonal treatments to transition, or perform surgeries, often referred to as “gender-affirming care”. (Psychiatrists Shift Stance on Gender Dysphoria, Recommend Therapy, Oct. 2021)

What does the Bible say?
The biblical view of gender and sex takes into account not only the creation of a biological man and a biological woman, but also love, marriage, fidelity, and reproduction.

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion …” Gen. 1:27-28, NKJV).

The Bible teaches that God made us male or female, and no matter our own feelings or confusion, we should act in accordance with the biological reality of God’s good design.

The Bible knows no other gender categories besides male and female. There is an organic unity of biological sex and gender identity. This is why male and female are (uniquely) the type of pair that can reproduce.

Paul speaks of homosexual partnerships as deviating from the natural relations of male-female sexual intercourse (Rom. 1:26-27). If the binary of male and female is God’s idea, then it stands to reason that the confusion of these realities would be displeasing to God. In the Old Testament, among the sexual sins punishable by death, incest, adultery, bestiality and homosexuality are all placed in the same category (Lev 18:22; 20:10-16). The New Testament explicitly upholds the sexual laws that were mandated for God’s people in the Old Testament. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,… will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-11, ESV).

It is important to understand that the Bible prohibits all kinds of sexual promiscuity: heterosexual as well as homosexual. There is simply no scriptural support for endorsing sexual immorality (i.e., sexual activity outside the bond of heterosexual marriage) for anyone, no matter what his or her personal sexual feelings may be.

Homosexual orientation and homosexual behaviour
A common argument by some evangelical Christians is: “Homosexual orientation is involuntary and so not sinful. Only homosexual behaviour is.” This objection bases moral accountability upon whether one has the ability to choose his proclivities. But this is not how the Bible speaks of sin and judgment. There are all manner of predispositions that we are born with that the Bible characterizes as sin: e.g., pride, anger, anxiousness etc. Why would we put same-sex attraction in a different category? Jesus says that all such sins proceed from the heart and that we are therefore morally accountable for them (Mk 7:21). The very nature of sin is that it is not freely chosen. We are in bondage to sin but still accountable to God’s righteous judgment of our actions. Therefore, it cannot be maintained that a homosexual orientation is morally neutral because it is involuntary.

The canon of Scripture is unequivocal in its presentation of homosexual behaviour as a part of human depravity. There is not one syllable of Scripture that condones or supports homosexual behaviour. Homosexual practice, like any other deviant behaviour, is not irreversible. We are all born into iniquity, but Scripture teaches that the power of the gospel is mightier than the power of sin and its multitude of manifestations.

What should be our response to the LGBTQIA community?
We recognise that all of us are sinners, and that the only true hope for sinful people – whatever our sexuality – is in Jesus Christ. We affirm God’s love and concern for all human beings, whatever their sexuality, and so repudiate all attitudes and actions which victimise or diminish people whose affections are directed towards people of the same sex. We affirm that marriage is an institution created by God in which one man and one woman enter into an exclusive relationship for life. Marriage is the only form of partnership approved by God for sexual relations. We do not accept that holding these theological and ethical views on biblical grounds is in itself homophobic.

So, as we reach out, let’s do so with compassion. However, compassion is not affirmation. The love of Christ is inclusive, but the Church, as the body of Christ, is exclusive. Therefore, such persons cannot be accepted into the full fellowship of the Church without any change in their sinful convictions and practices. But there is the need to let go of un-Christlike biases and bring down barriers within our minds and churches – not by inclusive tolerance, but by loving confrontation.

Mathew Jacob is a senior member of the Ernakulam unit of Kerala EGF. He is an ophthalmologist, now retired from hospital practice. In UESI circles he is a Bible teacher, with a special interest in doctrines, Pauline epistles, and Christian home. He is married to Susan, a gynecologist, and they have three married boys and seven grandkids. He can be reached at mathew1820@gmail.com