Transgender 4 – Fall
Genesis 3 records the scene in which the first humans, given great freedom to enjoy God’s good creation, defied his clear command. But their bid for freedom, far from making them ‘like God’, dragged them down into a state of brokenness, of fallenness.
We are created, but fallen – and every aspect of our humanity is affected by this: we are all prone not only to bodily sickness and decline but also to disorders of our intellects, emotions and wills.
A Christian worldview promotes understanding and compassion, precisely because it teaches that all – not just some – are broken, only in different sorts of ways. Not all our infirmities – including issues of sexual orientation – are consciously chosen by ourselves. We may not be responsible for the various urges and desires we have, but we are responsible for how we respond to them.
Our fallen nature affects not only our bodies and minds, but also our hearts. We are idolaters: we worship created things rather than the Creator himself (Romans 1:21ff). Paul teaches that homosexuality is a case in point: ‘we show our rebellion against God in a particularly obvious way when we refuse to go along with the way in which he has made the world, such as in the division of the sexes.’
We should not regard those who are same-sex attracted, or those who reject the sex they were born with, as more sinful than anyone else. None of us is in a position to sit in judgement over others (Romans 2:1); none is morally upright (Romans 3:10).
Transgender, by Vaughan Roberts. The Good Book Company, 2016.