Posted on August 14, 2025 by Rev. Jonathan Conner
Godly Living
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Humans exist in a gendered spectrum. This is a lie. It’s a common lie, a repeated lie. It’s a lie told to children in colorful and engaging books (that are adorned with the accolades and awards they have received from “experts”), a lie told to students in polysyllabic, high-minded academese (by the degreed intelligentsia), a lie told to parents by certified professionals (claiming the imprimatur of science). But it is a lie. Rev. Max Mons, LCMS campus pastor at the University of Iowa [1], shares the extent of the lie, explaining that on campus over 70 genders are recognized. To spell this out: students are being told humans are a gendered spectrum ranging from male to female, that from Point A (Male) to Point B (Female) there are at least 70 human genders. This is a lie.
The lie is on display in The Gender Unicorn (see image), a child-friendly, cartoon unicorn designed to teach the supposed gender spectrum of humans by placing identity somewhere on a continuum marked by gender identity, gender expression, sex assigned at birth [2], and physical and emotional attraction [3].
This lie despises the body. It doesn’t admit this openly, but it requires denying the message of the created body. Did you realize that the created body, your created body, communicates a message from your Creator? Your body communicates a message about your identity from your Creator.
Rosaria Butterfield [4], a former professor at Syracuse University who identified as lesbian for years before [5] being brought to repentance by Christ to acknowledge the message of her created body, has referred to the body as being stamped with a pattern that reveals a purpose. In other words, as male and female we have been created with sexual complements. That doesn’t mean that every human will pair with his or her sexual complement (in male/female marriage) or that they’re required to, but it does communicate something about our identity and being.
Our bodies tell us something about who we are and the majestic God-given potential hardwired into our sexed bodies (our male or female bodies). Our bodies are not neutral containers defined by our self-discovered/chosen identity; they tell us who we are and why we were created.
Consider, for a moment, the reality of your body. You have two lungs. Do your lungs need to partner with anyone else’s lungs to secure oxygen for your blood? No. They are sufficient in themselves. You have a heart. Does your heart need to partner with anyone else’s heart to circulate blood to your body? No. It is sufficient in itself. You also have sexual organs. Are they sufficient in themselves to do what they are designed to do? In other words, can they do what they’re designed to do by themselves? No. In order to procreate, they must partner with their sexual complement.
The body testifies to the sacred potential that God has given to male and female. Again, this does not mean that every individual will or must partner with his or her sexual complement. Some will remain single, a state Scripture recognizes, even celebrates. It means that we have been created as sexual complements. We have sexed bodies and this pattern reveals a purpose.
Scripture minces no words when it declares: Male and female He created them. Notice how identity is grounded in the created body. People today are wont to claim God made me gay or God made me trans. What we must understand is that these claims require the denial of the body, even a silencing of the message the body is speaking. These claims treat the body as a neutral shell that is defined by a person’s internal sense and desires. The fact of the matter, though, is that God made us male or female. That’s the language of Scripture (and borne out in science, which we’ll see in a minute). We may (and surely will) discover desires that are at odds with God’s design, but those desires do not alter what God has created. They do not change our identity.
Here’s how this Biblical declaration speaks into our cultural context: Humans aren’t a spectrum. Humans are male or female. To spell that out further: Humans aren’t LGBTQ – we can add H (for heterosexual) – Humans are male or female. This point needs to be appreciated. We’re talking about the is-ness of humans, the essence of humanity. For the Bible, humanity’s is-ness is not anchored in any of these letters: L.G.B.T.Q.H. Those are sexualized letters, and while the body is sexed, identity is not sexualized.
According to the Bible, humanity’s is-ness is anchored in these letters: M(ale) or F(emale). As such, God didn’t and doesn’t create anyone gay or anyone trans. We can even add heterosexual. A person’s is-ness isn’t in sexualized terms. Yes, God created males and females as sexual complements. Yes, this is a heterosexual arrangement, but a person’s identity is not grounded in this sexualized term. God makes everyone male or female. Identity doesn’t belong in desires or internal senses; identity is grounded in creation, in male or female.
That means no one is born in the wrong body. The body is not wrong. A person’s desires may be out of line with reality (something that should be no surprise for anyone taking the fall into sin seriously), but the body is not wrong. Sex isn’t assigned at birth; it is announced (because the body reveals it). Gender reassignment surgeries do not align a person’s body with his/her gender; they mutilate the body God created. The body isn’t out of alignment. A person’s internal sense or desires may be out of alignment with reality, but the body is reality.
Where a person’s desires and internal sense come from is a complicated question beyond the scope of this article, but it shouldn’t be too hard to think through this if we broaden the question to all of a person’s desires and internal senses. Where does a person’s desire for acceptance come from; their insecurities, yearning for success and recognition, or their arrogance? There’s no simple answer, but surely it is a mix of culture, worldview, life experiences, and predispositions/inclinations. And when we factor in the reality of the fall’s effect on desires and senses, it’s not hard to imagine how they go wrong. What we may find is that individuals’ God-given desires for belonging, security, and love have been twisted by sinful inclinations, culture, or life experiences [6].
Some here raise the question of intersex, suggesting this demonstrates that humans are a spectrum. Intersex is an exceedingly rare biological abnormality in the body that results in the atypical development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex characteristics. These abnormalities may make discerning a person’s sex difficult, even impossible. You may have seen claims asserting that intersex is as common as the percentage of people with red hair (approximately 2%). Without getting into the weeds, that claim is false. Those interested in learning more about this can read Dr. Leonard Sax’s paper “How Common is Intersex?” in which he demonstrates that true intersex conditions are approximately .0002% (2 out of 10,000 people).
But here’s what’s important to understand in these exceedingly rare cases: Intersex conditions do not create a new gender any more than conjoined twins create a new category of personhood. Scripture’s declaration holds: Male and female He created them. Intersex (as with conjoined twins) is simply another manifestation of the effect of Adam’s sin on creation. This doesn’t devalue anyone who has an intersex condition any more than being born with one leg devalues someone. We’ve all been impacted by Adam’s sin. And we all have resurrected Redeemer who gives us hope for our bodies!
We move now to the findings of science that confirm the Genesis declaration. In a recent article in Salvo magazine, Dr. Leonard Sax, MD, PhD, shares findings from multiple studies on the human brain. Dr. Sax responds to specious claims made in a 2017 book entitled Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of our Gendered Minds that audaciously asserted that anyone claiming biological differences between male and female brains (i.e., that the categories of male and female actually reach into the physical body) was perpetuating lies by the heteronormative patriarchy [7]. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, this book received a prestigious award from the Royal Society for the best science book of the year.
Dr. Sax marshals impressive evidence that demonstrates precisely what this award-winning book was forcefully denying: that male and female are fixed, biological categories which are increasingly becoming visible to the investigative tools of science. Dr. Sax details the findings of researchers from Stanford Medical School who, using deep learning artificial intelligence methods to study brain activity on approximately 1,500 individuals ranging from 20-35, mapped the brain’s “fingerprint” (perhaps better termed “brainprint”!). They were looking for overlap between males and females, whether there was a continuum from male to female, whether the “brainprint” showed a spectrum ranging from male to female. Dr. Sax relays their findings: “There wasn’t a continuum: the female fingerprints of brain activity were quite different from the male fingerprints of brain activity, with no overlap.”
They used similar methods to “map fMRI (functional MRI) patterns of connectivity onto cognitive functions such as intelligence.” Dr. Sax shares their findings:
Whatever determines intelligence in the brains of men is completely different from the determinants of intelligence in women. And whatever determines intelligence in women is completely different from the determinants of intelligence in men.
They concluded,
Our results provide the most compelling and generalizable evidence to date, refuting this continuum hypothesis and firmly demonstrating sex differences in the functional organization of the human brain.
But! advocates of the “human as spectrum” crowd countered, These scans only reveal the effect of societal influence on humans, not innate differences. In other words, these young adults in the study only show what happens in the brains of people who are socialized in a culture that privileges the binary (i.e. male/female over human as spectrum). Dr. Sax offers a second study in which researchers used high resolution MRI scanners to image the brains of unborn babies. He shares their findings, “They found dramatic differences in the connections within the brains of boys compared with those of girls.”
And these differences persist into childhood and adulthood. Dr. Sax relays findings from a long-term study on a cohort of children who had their brains scanned yearly. Dr. Sax shares,
Girls’ brains are smaller than boys’ brains, at every age, and girls mature faster than boys do. Girls reach the inflection point… roughly the halfway point in brain development – around 11 years of age… Boys don’t reach the inflection point until around 15 years of age. Girls reach full maturity in brain development by roughly 22 years of age. Boys don’t reach full maturity until about 30 years of age.
Lest someone misread these findings, size does not translate to intelligence. Remember the findings shared before: What determines intelligence differs between male and female. Dr. Sax shares,
Men’s brains are more compartmentalized; women use more areas of the brain for the same task. Women’s brains are smaller but develop faster and function more globally. Men’s brains are somewhat larger but apparently are more pigeon-holed.
Space prevents unpacking these findings in terms of interpersonal relations between men and women (which would be enlightening and amusing!) [8]. What concerns us is Dr. Sax’s conclusion:
The gender binary is not an arbitrary social construct. It is a biological reality, manifest in the organization of the human brain prior to birth. Men and women are different.
In short, humans aren’t a spectrum. Humans are male and female. Scripture’s assertion holds true: Male and female He created them. And, as Scripture says, this is very good. It is left to us to appreciate the goodness of God’s creation and to celebrate it. – Pastor Conner
[1] This is, by no means, unique to the University of Iowa!
[2] Sex assigned at birth essentially asserts that the body is irrelevant when it comes to gender. It may be biologically sexed, but that has no bearing on an individual’s gender. A person’s gender is discovered later in life as they become aware of their inner sense. In short, this ideology believes it wrong for a doctor to say to a new mom, “Congratulations! You have a boy.” That, they claim, is assigning sex at birth instead of letting the child discover their gender in their own time.
[3] It appears that the creators of this cartoon illustration do not appreciate the irony of their creature: Unicorns are mythical animals. They do not exist! They have unwittingly undermined what they are trying to promote.
[4] Rosaria is author of several thoughtful books, including The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert and Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age.
[5] The language here is important. Rosaria identified as lesbian. At the time she would have said that she was lesbian. After being brought to repentance by the Holy Spirit she was able to appreciate her nature as a creature of God, specifically a female creature. She wasn’t lesbian, she was female. She may have had same-sex desires, but her identity wasn’t grounded in her sexual desires; her identity was grounded in her creation (as a female) and her re-creation in Christ.
[6] We must give sober acknowledgement to the power of the social internet to disseminate ideas, both through the ubiquity and universality of the means and by the very means themselves which make certain ways of thinking about the human person (i.e. as a disembodied profile or avatar) conceptually possible. In short, the social internet has the power to spread anti-creational ideas through a two-dimensionalizing, disembodying means. All this contributes to the disparaging and silencing of the created body. For those wishing to think more on this reality, see Samuel James’ Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age.
We must also soberly acknowledge how our reproductive technologies are increasingly diminishing the centrality of the sexed body to marriage and children. We used to understand that sex makes babies and that babies need their mom and dad. But our reproductive technologies (ranging from contraception to donor technologies and surrogacy and IVF) have progressively separated (first conceptually and then physically) sex from babies (i.e. we no longer intuitively connect sex and babies, that sex makes babies, and this means something has gone right in the act) and now babies from sex (i.e. we no longer need sex to make babies; we can produce them like any other commodity). This disparages the sexed body and makes the body as shell / human as spectrum idea more intellectually feasible.
[7] This is a pejorative label that some use to demonize what they see as cultural norms that privilege heterosexual sexual relationships (while stigmatizing other sexual identities) and that privilege men in social, political, economic, and familial structures (at the expense of women and non-binary people).
[8] For those interested in these questions, I recommend Deborah Tannen’s book You Just Don’t Understand and Steven Rhoads’ Taking Sex Differences Seriously. Caveat: Rhoads approaches this question from an evolutionary perspective. Readers will need to filter out the evolutionary propaganda and bring Biblical discernment to bear. Nevertheless, the findings communicated in the book are fascinating and support Scripture’s teaching on God’s creation of male and female.
Rev. Jonathan Conner is a contributor and speaker for Lutheran Family Service in the areas of mental health, godly living, and parenting. He is a regular guest on the podcast Issues, Etc., and the multi-part series Kids Have Questions. Pastor Conner is a graduate of Concordia Seminary St. Louis and currently serves as the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Manning, Iowa.
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