According to Genesis 1:27 (quoted by Jesus in Matthew 19:4), ‘God created mankind in his own image…male and female he created them.’

We are creatures, and therefore our identity is found, not by asserting our independence, but by embracing what our Creator has made us to be.

We are not machines; we are ‘flawed masterpieces’.  If you set out to restore an Old Master, you don’t think: “This would look better with a car, rather than a hay cart”: you must be true to the work of the original artist.

Abandon that outlook, and the result is confusion. Previously, the most momentous questions for the school-child was, “Which subjects should I take,” or, “What job should I apply for?”  But now teenagers are having to define their sexuality and gender.

This confusion is seen in the trend for visiting speakers to be ‘de-platformed’ by Student Unions:- ‘The extreme sensitivity of some groups, and the determination of others to protect them from hearing anything that might offend them, does suggest a deep insecurity.’

God did not make us as disembodied spirits, but as embodied creatures.  Current thinking reflects that of ancient Greece, in regarding the psyche (or soul) as the ‘real me’.  Biblical thinking regards everything – body as well as soul – as the true self.  The body matters because God made it (see 1 Corinthians 6:13,16).  If we suffer from some ailment or disability, then it is right to seek healing – but not by attempting to re-define ourselves, but rather by following our Maker’s instructions.  And that includes accepting the sex that he has given me.

God has made us sexual creatures, Genesis 1:21.  That doesn’t just mean being equipped with male or female genitalia.  It means being men and women.  In fact, the distinction between men and women reflects the distinction between God and human beings – see Ephesians 5:32.  The image of Christ and his bride (the church) ‘requires the union of two distinct and different, but complementary, “others”‘.

What the Bible does not do, however, is lay down lots of rules about this.  Whereas a clear distinction is made between men and women, nevertheless considerable latitude is permitted regarding differences between men and men, and between women and women.

Transgender, by Vaughan Roberts.  The Good Book Company, 2016.