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Apologist Abroad

Darryl's thoughts on the Christian Faith, Facts, and World Events

What is the Biblical Difference Between Having a Sex Change Surgery and Getting Braces?

3/24/2021

0 Comments

 
This issue is so emotionally and politically charged that people are unable to even have a reasonable conversation about it.  My goal here is to handle this topic in a peaceful manner that will help the readers think about and discuss this topic in a way that does not compromise the Biblical teaching on the subject.  I freely admit that my interpretation of the Bible could be wrong, but the Bible itself is still the correct authority on this question.

I came across a version of this question on Facebook and it took me a while to formulate a response to it.  Here is a paraphrase of the question:

If God created us as we are, why would it not be wrong (or a sin) to get braces for crooked teeth (change your hair or eye color etc.) but it would be wrong to have a sex change surgery?

I asked this question in the bravest apologetics Facebook group that I know, and the administrators have not yet allowed it to be posted so I feel like I must try address it on my own.

In order to answer this question, we need to break it down into smaller, more manageable questions.

1. Did God create us as we are?  The answer to this question is "Yes, God created us." and "No, not as were are now."  According to the Bible, God created the first humans, Adam and Eve and said that his creation was "very good" (Genesis 1:31).  However, after Adam and Eve sinned and suffering and death came into the world (Genesis 3 and Romans 5:12).

​So, humans now are not the same as God created us to be before Adam and Eve sinned.  We have suffering, sickness, deformity, and death.  Even though Psalms 139 says that God knits us together in our mother's wombs it does not say that our bodies are "very good" as they were at creation (Genesis 1:31).  Romans 8:22 says, "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now."

2. Are braces and other corrective surgeries wrong?  I myself had braces for crooked teeth as a teenager and I had surgery that changed the shape of my nose as a young adult so that I could breathe better.  From my understanding of Scripture, these are not wrong because they are just human efforts to reverse the curse for sin (Genesis 3).  During Jesus Christ's ministry on earth, He healed many kinds of diseases (blind, lepers, paralytics, and more).  There are many instances of healing recorded in the Bible so I believe that this encourages medical procedures in our times.

3. Are cosmetic changes wrong?
From my understanding of Scripture, changing one's appearance for the better is also allowed by Scripture.  For example, in the book of Esther, Queen Esther went through cosmetic treatments (Esther 2).  I personally doubt that Adam and Eve before the fall had any need for cosmetic changes of any kind because they were personally created by God and were "very good."  However, after sin, humans have degraded so cosmetics may also be a way to "reverse the curse."

4. Is our sex part of the curse?
Based on everything I have seen in Scripture, I do not believe that our sex, being male or female, is a curse in itself.  


Matthew 19: 3-6 says, "Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

Furthermore, on studying the miracles of the Bible in general and specifically the miracles performed by Jesus, I can find no example of God changing someone's sex miraculously.  If the Bible taught that sex was part of the Genesis 1:31 curse (Adam and Eve were male and female before sin) and there was a miraculous sex change, I would support sexual reassignment surgeries.  However, it doesn't, so I can't.
 
So what now?
Even though I do not support sexual reassignment surgeries, those who are either considering them or have had them still have the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) as any other human.  God loves them and Christ died for them the same as for me (John 3:16 etc.).

I hope that Christian churches will develop ministries to those who either are considering or have had sexual reassignment surgery which follow the model of pre and post abortion ministries. This is a new mission field.  









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    Darryl Record

    A Christian Apologist, Author, Missionary, Husband, and Father. Darryl has an MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University (CA), an MA in TESOL from Azusa Pacific University (CA), and a BA in Political Science from Truman State University (MO). 

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