Sexual Identity

Q: What is God’s design for sexuality?

A: God created humans into two categories: male and female. A confusion of sexual identity and assigning oneself a sexual identity outside of the one that he or she was naturally born with is a result of sin. God’s design for sexuality and gender identity is most clearly seen in the process of child rearing. The only way that children can be made naturally is with one man and one woman.[1]

 

Q: Why did God designate humans into genders?

A: God designed humans to be complimentary. The man is incomplete without the woman, just as the woman is incomplete without the man. In creation, the only time that God declared something to be “not good” was when he made man and found it “not good” that he be alone, thereafter creating the woman.

 

Q: Are gender identities supposed to be rigid, just male and female?

A: Contrary to our culture’s view of sexuality, God’s view of sexuality is not on a sliding scale. God’s design is a vision of human beings being separated into only two genders, male and female. There is no “third way” of gender identity.

 

Q: Are we all sexual sinners?

A: The Bible says that we are indeed all sexual sinners in some way or another, whether that is through a confusion of our sexual identity, seeking sex outside of it’s proper context in a male-female marriage, or even in our apathy towards sex with our spouse. However, just because sexual brokenness is part of our fallen nature, this does not give us an excuse for engaging in sinful behavior.[2]

 

Q: What should I do if I am struggling with gender identity or confused?

A: The first and best solution is to seek God in His Word regarding his design for sexual identity. Additional ways that you can seek help regarding gender identity is by contacting the pastor of your local church and by seeking Christian counseling. [3]

 

Q: What is Gender Identity Disorder, as defined for a child?

A: Gender Identity Disorder, according to the American Psychiatric Association, is a strong and persistent cross-gender identification with at least four of the following: A repeated stated desire to be of the opposite sex; in boys a preference for cross-dressing or simulating female attire and, in girls, wearing stereotypical masculine clothing with a rejection of feminine clothing such as skirts; a strong and persistent preference for cross-sex role in play; a strong preference for playmates of the opposite sex; an intense desire to participate in games and pastimes of the opposite sex.

 

Q: What does Gender Identity Disorder look like for an adult?

A: Symptoms include a state of desire to be the other sex, frequent passing as the other sex, a desire to live or be treated as the other sex, or the conviction that he or she has the typical feelings and reactions of the other sex.[4]

 

Q: Can Gender Identity Disorder be treated?

A: Yes, particularly in children. Some methods of treating GID include a parent increasing quality time with their child of the same sex, increasing affirmation of the son’s masculine gifts and the daughter’s feminine gifts, encouraging same sex friendships and diminishing time with opposite sex friends, diminishing time with opposite sex toys, and communication with other parents whose children have been treated successfully for GID.[5]

 


[1] Jeff Johnston, Transgenderism and Gender Identity Disorder, Life Challenges. Focus on the Family, 2012, http://bit.ly/1GhsITE. (Accessed Jan. 22.2015).

[2] Bob Lepine, “We’re All Sexually Broken,” Family Life. 2013, http://bit.ly/1wTuKAU. (Accessed Jan. 22.2015).

[3] Richard P. Fitzgibbons, “Gender Identity Disorder,” Marital Healing. 2005, http://bit.ly/1DIgq0A​. (Accessed Jan. 22.2015).

 [4]  Ibid.

 [5]  Ibid.

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 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 over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

 

Deuteronomy 22:5 A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.

 

Matthew 5:27-28 You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

 

Romans 1:26-27 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

 

Ephesians 5:28-33 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.​

 

1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

 

1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.​

 

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

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