Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Does Eve Provide Evidence for Transgenderism?

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

Alan addresses the claim that because Eve was formed from a male rib, she represents the first transgender woman. Consequently, the Bible (and God) permits transgenderism.

Was Eve the first transgender woman? Well, that's what I want to consider in this episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Schliemann. Christians continue to be one of the groups that resist this whole transgender trend. And that's probably why our theological convictions, really, and the source of those convictions, like the Bible, are always under attack. For example, some people have recently claimed that God created Eve as a transgender woman. And so the way the argument goes is that since Eve was formed out of Adam's rib, she was created from a bone that contained male DNA. And that means, so their argument goes, that God created a woman from a man. that God created a woman from a man. Therefore, if God made a transgender person, then of course, it might follow that he approves of people transitioning. After all, he transitioned to first person. Now, this isn't the first attempt to find approval for transgenderism in the Bible.

But like so many other types of arguments that are, you know, trying to use biblical support, it's fraught with a whole bunch of problems. And what I want to do here is just highlight three main problems that I see with this particular argument. All right, here's the first one. Eve does not fit the definition of a transgender person. Okay, so modern gender theory separates sex from gender identity. Okay. They separate biology from psychology. And basically the premise behind modern gender theory is that these two can be congruent or incongruent.

In other words, your biology and your gender identity can match or they could not match. Now, according to the usual definition, a transgender person is someone whose gender identity is incongruent with or different from their biological sex. And so a transgender woman then would be a biological male who identifies as a woman. Now, that's the definition, but Eve, keep in mind, was a biological female. Well, how do we know that? Well, she got pregnant twice, right? She gave birth to Cain and Abel. So her biology was clearly female. And if you were to ask, well, what was her gender identity? Again, that's presuming you could map this modern concept

of gender identity onto the Bible or onto biblical descriptions. Her gender identity would also be a woman, right? So her biology and gender identity would be congruent. Therefore, by today's definition, Eve was not a transgender person. She would be defined as cisgender. Not that I, of course, approve of using that term, but I'm just kind of thinking about this according to the world's definitions just for the sake of argument. Okay. So Eve would not fit the definition of a transgender person. She would be a cisgender person. Okay. Here's a second reason why I think their argument is bad. Eve was supernaturally created, and she can't count as a person who transitioned. Think about this.

God fashioned the first humans in a unique way that disqualifies them from being categorized as transgender. Notice, God formed Adam, and this is what the Bible says, Um, notice God formed Adam, and this is what the Bible says, out of the dust from the ground and breathe into his nostrils, the breath of life. This comes from Genesis two, uh, verse seven. So basically God performs a miracle to make a man out of mud. The scripture then says that God also made Eve supernaturally, but he didn't change a male into a female. Rather, God, and here's the language that the Bible uses, fashioned into a woman the rib which he had taken from the man.

Again, this is Genesis 2.22. Again, this is a miraculous one-time event. It doesn't describe how anyone, male or female, was ever made again. So just because Adam was created by a transition from dust to flesh, this does not mean that Adam was trans in any way. And similarly, just because Eve was created by a transition from a male rib to a full-bodied female, this does not mean that she was trans in any way. These were special creation events that were necessary to sort of kickstart humanity. And so what we have here is an illegitimate attempt to force fit Eve

into this modern category of transgender. And so this is what we call anachronistic, right? And then the third argument or the third reason why their argument is bad is that it doesn't make sense to conclude that God sort of approves of people transitioning. If elsewhere in scripture, he teaches that it's a sin to take on the identity of the opposite sex. Now, I'll just mention two verses, one of the Old and one of the Testament that mentioned this. In the Old Testament, for example, you have Deuteronomy 22.5, which says, A woman shall not wear man's clothing, nor shall a man put on woman's clothing. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God. So here you have a command by God that's intended to maintain the distinction between the two sexes.

And consequently, it prohibits what many transgender people do today. And that is, they try to take on the identity of the opposite sex by how they dress, right? And this is precisely what is being prohibited here. Now, a second verse from the New Testament would be 1 Corinthians 6, 9 through 10, where you have a similar prohibition. Paul writes, 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 the effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor rev revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of god okay now the word that's in english translated as effeminate comes from the greek

word malakoi which according to the standard greek lexicon literally means soft men and it's a reference to men in the first century who try to take on the identity, take on the role of a woman by their mannerisms, jewelry, makeup, or sometimes even by castration. And so the Bible here says that men who behave this way would not inherit the kingdom of God. So therefore, it's highly implausible that God created Eve as a transgender person since he condemns, in both the Old and New Testament, taking on the identity and the role of the opposite sex by the way you dress, by your mannerisms, whatever it be. So basically, God here is condemning a transgender behavior. So God then did not change a male into a female. Remember, he miraculously created a man from dust and a woman from a rib. The Genesis account of Eve's creation is not a transgender narrative.

21st century ideology, which I'd argue is bad ideology, onto an ancient Near Eastern text. This is what, again, I say is anachronistic. It relies on strained logic, and it's ultimately unconvincing. Now, just so you know, scripture does record, however, a very important transition that did take place, but it wasn't a kind of a transgender thing. Rather, it happened when the second person of the Trinity took on human nature. And although Christ, as it says in Philippians chapter 2, existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men, right? So there you have in Philippians 2, the incarnation where God humbles himself, takes on human form so that he might rescue us from transition, right? God to man, born to die, grave to glory, right?

Those are important transitions that make Christianity meaningful to us today. All right, well, that's all I have for you today. If you've enjoyed this episode, I'd encourage you to share it with a friend who might appreciate this content. And also, don't forget to subscribe to my podcast so you don't miss an episode. And thank you for listening. I look forward to thinking out loud with you next time. Thank you.