{"id":1240,"date":"2016-04-03T04:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=1240"},"modified":"2016-04-03T04:00:21","modified_gmt":"2016-04-03T04:00:21","slug":"the-goodness-beauty-and-power-of-biological-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/the-goodness-beauty-and-power-of-biological-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"The Goodness, Beauty, and Power of Biological Sex"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today\u2019s Second Reading, Revelation 1:9-11A, 12-13, 17-19, the risen Lord Jesus presents himself \u201clike a son of man.\u201d\u00a0 His eternal power, extolled by John in Revelation 1:6, and striking and dramatic physical features overwhelm John (v.17).\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 physicality is palpable not only in our Second Reading but also in the Gospel, John 20:19-31, in which Jesus shows his Apostles his hands and his side, and later tells Thomas to put his finger on the wounds on his hands and place his hand into his side.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019s risen Body is quite real.\u00a0 His identity\u2014including that of his biological sex\u2014is the same, only his risen Body is glorified.\u00a0 Jesus was conceived a biological male (e.g., Luke 1:31), died a biological male, and rose as one as well.\u00a0 The same continuum is true of the Blessed Virgin Mary: she came into the world as a biological female, and she was assumed into heaven as one also.<\/p>\n

When God created our first parents on the sixth day, he created them male and female.\u00a0 At the end of this day, he not only found that all he created was \u201cgood,\u201d as in previous days, but \u201cvery good\u201d (tov me\u2019ohd’<\/em>) (Genesis 1:27, 31). Our biological sexuality is sacred to God\u2014it is a very good, beautiful, powerful gift.\u00a0 With this gift, through our holy bodies, we can image Trinitarian love physically in the marital embrace, or symbolically by our self-giving love to God and neighbor that mirrors the faithful love between Christ and his spouse, the Church.\u00a0 We also can incarnate marital love physically by \u201cbeing fruitful and multiplying,\u201d or symbolically by transmitting, protecting, and nourishing the Word of God in people\u2019s lives by word and deed.<\/p>\n

Tragically, in today\u2019s world, contaminated by an ever-growing cancer\u2014the culture of \"538px-man-and-woman-iconsvg\"<\/a>corruption and death\u2014we have forgotten the simple biological lesson and yet mystery of the \u201cbirds and the bees\u201d applied to human sexuality. \u00a0We no longer remember the purpose of sexuality, so easily and well-articulated in natural law and God\u2019s revelation.\u00a0 A symptom of our cultural amnesia, ignorance, and moral dysfunction is our acceptance, approval, and advancement of transgenderism.\u00a0 This is an obvious consequence of the nominalistic priority enshrining the act of choice over and against nature and reason, as well its consequent reduction of sexual activity to mere pleasure, in whatever disordered way.<\/p>\n

Yet transgenderism is not simply the outgrowth of a bankrupt philosophical trend, but also often reflects a serious underlying disorder, gender dysphoria.\u00a0 Men and women and boys and girls identifying as the opposite sex or in flux between the two sexes need real, compassionate help, not support or encouragement in \u201cfeeling like\u201d or impersonating the opposite sex.\u00a0 Of course, lest we condescend and forget our own disorders and frailties, we must view someone struggling in this way first and foremost as a person of lofty dignity, a human being made in the image of God and redeemed by Christ\u2019s Blood.<\/p>\n

We also must respect the most unbiased medical studies and other studies in health that advance our understanding of this issue.\u00a0 For example, concerning sex reassignment surgery, the University of Birmingham\u2019s review of more than one hundred international medical studies of post-operative transsexuals shows there is no scientific evidence that surgery is effective as a treatment to improve their lives, with many of them left critically distressed and suicidal post-op.\u00a0 In a renowned study published in 2011, \u201cLong-Term Follow-up of Transsexual Persons Undergoing Sex Reassignment Surgery: A Cohort Study in Sweden,\u201d considerably higher mortality rate, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population characterized these results.<\/p>\n

Just last month, the American College of Pediatricians published a statement urging \u201ceducators and legislators to reject all policies that condition children to accept as normal a life of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex.\u00a0 Facts\u2014not ideology\u2014determine reality\u201d (www.acpeds.org\/the-college-speaks\/position-statements\/gender-ideology-harms-children<\/a>).\u00a0 I encourage you to read the entire statement.\u00a0 Also, check out www.sexchangeregret.com<\/a>.\u00a0 The ACP highlighted the following points:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Human sexuality is an objective binary trait: \u201cXY\u201d and \u201cXX\u201d are genetic markers of health\u2014not genetic markers of a disorder.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. No one is born with a gender. Everyone is born with a biological sex.\u00a0 Gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept, not an objective, biological one.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. A person\u2019s belief that he or she is something they are not is, at best, a sign of confused thinking.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Puberty is not a disease and puberty-blocking hormones can be dangerous.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. According to the DSM-V, as many as 98% of gender confused boys and 88% of gender confused girls eventually accept their biological sex after naturally passing through puberty.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
              \n
            1. Children who use puberty blockers to impersonate the opposite sex will require cross-sex hormones in late adolescence. Cross-sex hormones are associated with dangerous health risks including but not limited to high blood pressure, blood clots, stroke, and cancer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                \n
              1. Rates of suicide are twenty times greater among adults who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex reassignment surgery, even in Sweden which is among the most LGBQT-affirming countries.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
                  \n
                1. Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  God made no mistake in assigning each of us a biological sex.\u00a0 Rejecting this divinely-bestowed identity and assignment is rejecting a very good, beautiful, and powerful gift. In addition, when this rejection includes bodily harm and mutilation, we violate the moral law (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2297) and further harm ourselves and offend God.<\/p>\n

                  If we care about our transgender brothers and sisters, and about the greatness, beauty, and power God has bestowed upon us through our gift of biological sex, we will by God\u2019s grace\u2014even in our fallen world\u2014generate the compassion, courage, and persistence to advance chastity, personal integrity, and God\u2019s honor as the Great Designer\u2014to the end!<\/p>\n

                  Mark Koehne<\/strong> teaches moral theology for Saint Joseph’s College Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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                   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  In today\u2019s Second Reading, Revelation 1:9-11A, 12-13, 17-19, the risen Lord Jesus presents himself \u201clike a son of man.\u201d\u00a0 His eternal power, extolled by John in Revelation 1:6, and striking and dramatic physical features overwhelm John (v.17).\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 physicality is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[297],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moral-theology","category-uncategorized","tag-transgenderism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}