I did say that I wasn’t Christian. Neither am I 7th Day Adventist, nor Jewish (except on a technicality). Nor Buddhist.

As regards “disordered” brains. Good point. The trouble is though that we have to decide what is natural variation, what is abnormal (but possibly beneficial), and what is pathological.

There is (usually) nothing wrong per se with a transsexual person’s neurology. Had the rest of the body matched, the person would be trouble-free. Not quite normal – they would tend to have a rather higher IQ, greater creativity, more intense powers of concentration – but likely ambidextrous (more like ambi-clumsy), poor co-ordination, and a few cognitive impairments due to greater connectivity in the corpus callosum. That varies – some are ballet dancers, but in general, it’s more likely than not. Within normal range, just the lower level.

To say “female brain in a male body” does over-simplify. The cross-sexing that happens often has other effects too, some quite beneficial.

Just see the biographies of these women to see what I mean:
http://aebrain.blogspot.com/2010/01/four-extraordinary-women.html

Given how rare transsexuality is (the official estimates say 1 in 30,000 – though that’s a considerable under-estimate), the number of Engineers, Scientists, Surgeons, Artists etc is staggering.

The problem is not the brain: nor the genitalia/emdocrine system. The problem is the mismatch. This is illustrated well in my own case – biologically and neurologically female (or more female than male), but I had a condition that made me look almost completely male for most of my life. I had the same psychological distress as do transsexual women, even though objectively it was my body that was disordered. And that (mostly) resolved from natural causes, as it sometimes (VERY rarely) does.

If someone was born with an extra arm – one that was useless, no working neural connection to the brain, but otherwise 100% healthy, bones, muscles, veins, nerves, all in good working order – would you say that amputation there was “going against God’s Holy Order”, should the patient be unbearably distressed by its presence? It would be the destruction, rather than reconstruction (as in genital reconstruction surgery) of a perfectly healthy organ after all.

Thanks for reaching out to Zoe and interacting. Perhaps Zoe’s response to your final question would be, “But isn’t the brain part of the body, just as much as one’s physical organs? What if the brain is made one way or the body another way? Isn’t it easier to fix the body?”

I’ve actually heard this argument from those who support sex-change surgery. How would you respond? Any, I share your approach here but I would like to get your thoughts.

Also with regards to transsexuals, regardless of who the person thinks they are on the inside, they need to accept who God made them to be biologically. If they can’t be attracted to opposite biological sex, then they need to accept that no other alternative is valid according to the Word of God. People who aspire to be professional soccer players and are born with no legs, need to accept they will not be playing in the professional soccer leagues. There are just some things in life we have to accept to put it bluntly. God’s order of life according to His Word does not change, so who are we to tinker with what He has set into place?

One, Marci Bowers, is Transsexual. A woman born looking male. She has seen and experienced horrors you will never know. Trust me on that.

Here’s part of what the other lady, Kim Pearson wrote to me:

Zoe, while I appreciate what you are attempting to do I’m not sure there is really a conversation to be had. I have only 3 points I am willing to speak to.

1) TYFA was founded by 3 moms with 3 kids; we are now 3 moms with 2 kids; these are the statistics that keep me awake at night.
2) When I understood that my child was transgender I was faced with the question of having a dead daughter or an alive son; MY God and I are fine with my decision to support my alive son.
3) This is a medical condition with available medical treatment which in my experience proves to be 100% successful and produces happy, healthy, contributing members of society.

Not sure what more I can say.

If we try any other course of action, children die.

You can see how that kind of experience might make someone a little passionate, too passionate, about their cause.

Even me, I’m afraid. Thank goodness Dr Brown is the kind of guy Yeshua Bar Joseph would approve of. He doesn’t just preach Christianity, he lives it. Hence his kindness in allowing me to put forward my views here, views he does not always share.

He has intellectual integrity – and charity. I’m no theologue nor minister, merely a Rocket Scientist, but I hope to match his example.

In view of the first line of Matthew 19:12, the word “Eunuch” in the Bible also covers Intersexed people. That’s in line with various Talmudaic scriptures, that often go into great length about classifying apparently Intersexed people into “Tumtum” and “Androgenous”. The latter corresponds to the Koin “malakoi” or “effeminate men”, and is deemed, um, not Kosher so to speak.

If there is a hereafter – a matter about which I’m Agnostic, I don’t have enough faith to be Atheist – then people like me have been given a promise, direct from the Almighty.

It’s in Isaiah 56:3-5.

We can’t follow the Levitican and other laws that are there to guide others and prescribe behaviour for men and women. We have no rulebook or detailed guide.

What we have to do though is to keep the Sabbath, and choose what pleases God. We have to do our best, as we don’t have the book of rules to follow that everyone else does. Some apply, but others we’re not physically capable of obeying.

And in return for “winging it” this way, choosing what pleases God, and strictly keeping all the laws that apply… we’re told not to complain. Even though we’re forbidden to enter the temple, even though we’re persecuted by the ignorant and fearful.

For taking all the trials and tribulations of this Earth, the injustices and wounds, the loss of being able to have children (apart from a very few of us)…. we’re promised a special place in the hereafter. A place of particular honour.

It is a very personal promise to each one of us, and an instruction on what we must do, and how we should behave, in the places where the usual laws do not and cannot apply. There’s no carte blanche about it : we must choose what pleases the Almighty, and Keep the Sabbath. That’s it.

And that means we must do our best to ascertain what pleases Him. He’s given some pretty unsubtle hints though. Matthew 22:35-40. “All else is commentary”.

Also, thanks for sharing about your condition. I know none of us have to tell you that you are not any less a person than the rest of us, and that God loves you just the same. People are often born with various disabilities or deformities that make them different than most of society, which can make it harder for them to follow God’s Word for various reasons. But one thing is clear, regardless of whatever conditions or circumstances we face, we have to trust that God’s entire Word is true and that we can’t pick and choose what we want from it. As hard as it can be, we must put His will before our own. And remember that God is a merciful and loving God who will forgive those who have sinned against Him if they come to Him and trust in His Son Jesus.