Note: this is a four-part blog series that I hope can shed some light on God’s creation – animals, humans, and the societies we’ve lived in – and how we are perfectly designed as He intended.
If you’d like to check out the rest of the posts in the series, follow the links below:
Overview
Part 1: The Divine Blueprint
Part 2: Even in the Animal Kingdom
Part 3: (coming soon)
Part 4: (coming soon)
We’re going through some things right now in the United Methodist Church because of disagreement on the direction of the denomination, largely related to how same-sex relationships are viewed.
I know that there are many who feel that being in a same-sex relationship is a sin and they base this on one or more of the several “clobber passages” found in the Bible.
I’ve had trouble even remotely grasping this concept – that two people who care about one another and who may be raising amazing kids together and who might even be Christ-followers are somehow sinning because of who they love.
And the desire for this understanding sent me on a journey that started with taking a step back, diving into God’s creation, and asking some questions. Because for people like me, understanding the “why” or “why not” leads to a whole greater appreciation for the supposed “rules”.
Is there some reason people think God was trying to communicate His displeasure of same-sex relationships? What do they see in the Bible that supports this?
And if people do interpret that from the Bible’s texts, is there a reason that it might be there? What was God trying to help out mankind with? What would the repercussions be if people of the same sex started having relationships?
Does this labeling of a “sinful lifestyle” make any sense based on what we know about the unconditional love that Christ showed while he was on Earth?
Most relevant to this post, though, I wanted to understand how God’s design of nature made us love one another, who we loved, and how we see ourselves.
I kept contemplating and praying for enlightenment.
God made love. Did He also make some kind of “not-good” committed and fulfilling love?
If this is such a “wrong” thing, then why do some people end up loving others of the same sex?
What about our design determines who and how we love? God made all of creation after all.
Wouldn’t Christ want the most love possible to exist in the world – the most compassion, empathy, and foundation for all that love to be able to help others in need?
Wouldn’t God want us to be who we are, while also loving and taking care of “the least of these”?
Over the next several posts, we’re going to explore the scientific and social aspects of God’s creation and how that creation might reveal some insights into the “nature” of gender and sexuality, specifically same-sex relationships.
I’m hopeful that a better understanding of how nature has continued to exist since the moment God created the Earth might enlighten and provide some perspective.
What some see as simply “choices” being lived out by members of the LGBTQ+ community day-to-day affecting who they identify as or who they love just might be a deep, divine design that took place the day they were conceived.
How much of what we do is a choice, and how much of it is just…nature?
What Makes You “You”?
If we’re going to understand God’s “nature” that He created, we should probably start with understanding the basic building block of most living things – DNA. If you’ve taken a science class in school, you can probably picture the twisting shape of DNA. It’s the set of instructions that makes each of us unique.
And we need to look at DNA with our Christian hats on to see how God’s design of creation meshes with what we know from science and research. Because if, as Christians, we believe that God created everything, then He also created this little bit of molecular programming that He also put into us.
The Discovery of DNA
On the last day of February 1953, scientists James Watson and Francis Crick ran through the streets of Cambridge, England down to the local pub yelling, “we have discovered the secret of life!”
What they had discovered is the now-familiar “double helix” structure of DNA – the long, thin, twisting molecule that contains the instructions for how your body develops and functions.
While they did not discover DNA itself, using a cardboard model developed in their small working space at the University of Cambridge, two years of research had brought them to the moment when they finally understood how the DNA of all living things looked and was assembled.
Crick later wrote in a joint memoir with Watson that the spiral staircase-like structure of DNA was “too beautiful not to be true”.
From simple organisms to plants to animals and humans, the DNA that’s in every cell of almost every living thing defines traits, behaviors, and capabilities.
The Creation Story and DNA
In DNA, God created the “code” that makes every living thing what it is and what makes it unique. It’s the cause of variations in hair and skin colors, behavioral differences, and even taste and smell preferences.
Do you think that cilantro tastes good or does it taste like soap?
It’s theorized that on chromosome 11 in our DNA, a scent gene known as OR6A2 determines how cilantro tastes to people (roughly 5-15% of the population have to deal with this).
In the multitude of variations of DNA sequencing, God didn’t make us all the same. He created a divine framework that creates diversity among all of creation.
In Genesis, chapter one, He provides the foundation – the programming, if you will — for Earth to flourish using His blueprint (bold added for emphasis):
11 Then God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
…20 And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” 21 So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind and the cattle of every kind and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
27 So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
– New Revised Standard Version, Genesis 1:11-27
The fascinating parts of these passages to me are contained in bold, above, in verses 11, 20, and 24.
The earth “put forth”, the waters “bring forth” and the earth “brings forth”. God made the “dry land” earlier in verses 9 and 10 and then the earth “put forth vegetation”.
So in Genesis chapter one, we have this interesting picture of God implying that the “earth” and the “waters” would play a key role in the ongoing propagation of the earth. He would need something to keep that going. He needed the code for the design to stick with us on earth.
In his popular book, The Purpose-Driven Life, pastor and author Rick Warren remarks on this amazing partnership between God and science:
Science has not and cannot disprove the existence of God. In fact, as we learn more about the intricacies of DNA and the complexity of life, we can see even more clearly the hand of our Creator at work.
God provided creation with a way to keep going. And in the DNA that He designed, creation has a way to do just that.
Our omniscient God intended for His “code of life” to make the world vibrant and diverse as DNA mutated, mixed within and between species, and was inherited from parents by offspring.
The Diversity Provided by DNA
While most creatures will have typical DNA that varies common traits like hair and skin color or personality, sometimes DNA mutations happen that can have both positive and negative effects.
Mutations in human DNA can cause conditions like Alzheimer’s, sickle-cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, and Down syndrome.
Sometimes genetic mutations provide capabilities that most of us don’t have. For instance, a mutation of the DNA of people living in high-elevation climates of the Himalayas and Andes Mountains creates more oxygen-carrying hemoglobin, which is needed in lower-oxygen, high-altitude climates.
And while sickle-cell anemia can be a painful and debilitating condition for a portion of the population, people with this condition also possess a higher level of resistance to the malaria parasite due to the mutated hemoglobin in their bodies.
So we know that the original DNA put into us was also given the ability to change. God’s creation – from its outset – was divinely given the ability to continue to be diverse through the years.
The Christianity of a Leading DNA Scientist
Dr. Francis Collins was raised as a Christian, became an atheist, then turned to Christianity again and would go on to become one of the world’s most respected DNA researchers.
Collins grew up Episcopalian, but as he got into college, he began to have doubts about the existence of God and was influenced by his science peers who convinced him that religion was mere “superstition”.
But later, as a medical resident, Collins began to reexamine his belief system as he saw families in difficult health and end-of-life situations leaning on their faith in God to give them strength.
He was pointed to the writings of C.S. Lewis by a Methodist minister and over time began to rediscover his faith in God and began to see it as a complement to his explanation of science, as many other scientists have through the years.
Later in his career, he became the director of the Human Genome Project, which sought to completely map human DNA. He went on to be appointed as the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the U.S. Government.
Collins once said of his experience mapping the entirety of human DNA and its relationship to his belief in God:
As a believer, I see DNA, the information molecule of all living things, as God’s language, and the elegance and complexity of our own bodies and the rest of nature as a reflection of God’s plan.
– The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. 2006
In an interview with PBS, Collins further expounded on his appreciation for how science and faith worked together:
Running the genome project, hardly a week goes by where some gene isn’t discovered that plays a critical role in understanding a disease that had been completely obscure until now. That is a remarkable experience, particularly if you have the chance to be part of the actual moment of discovery, which I have had on a few occasions.
For me, as a person of faith, that moment of discovery has an additional dimension. It’s appreciating something, realizing something, knowing something that up until then no human had known – but God knew it.
And there is an intricacy and an elegance in the nature of biology, particularly when it comes to the information carrying capacity of DNA, which is rather awesome. And so, in a way, perhaps, those moments of discovery also become moments of worship, moments of appreciation, of the incredible intricacies and beauty of biology, of the world, of life. And, therefore, an appreciation of God as the creator.
DNA Ultimately Contributes to Sexual Preference
Much of the conflict in the United Methodist Church today can be traced back to disagreements on whether sexual preference and gender identity are something that people are born with or are something that is chosen by people at some point in their lives.
A 2017 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 57% of Americans believe that being gay or lesbian is something a person is born with, while 28% believe it is due to factors such as upbringing and environment.
And the attitude toward same-sex marriage has changed over time. A 2019 Pew Research study showed a shift from 35% of people supportive of it in 2001 to 61% in support in 2019.
Based on these polls, a significant majority of the population does not feel that a person’s sexual preference is chosen. And, the trend is continuing to shift in the direction of a greater acceptance of same-sex relationships.
It seems that churches would do well to embrace this acceptance among the population and trend to bring even more people to Christ by doing the same.
But what’s the real answer? Is someone’s sexual preference or gender identity born established within them at conception or chosen?
Science’s answer seems to be “probably a little of both”.
While researchers have identified some genetic and biological factors that may be associated with sexual orientation, they do not provide a simple or definitive explanation for sexual orientation. Some studies suggest that there may be genetic influences on sexual orientation, as evidenced by the fact that sexual orientation tends to run in families.
However, no specific “gay gene” or “straight gene” has been identified, and sexual orientation is likely to be influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
So what are “environmental factors”?
Think of it in terms of “the ability for a person to explore how they are genetically designed”.
If I am wired to be attracted to the opposite sex but live in a family that rejects the idea of same-sex attraction, then I’m probably going to keep my true sexual preferences hidden. This is an environmental factor that might limit me from revealing the nature of my attraction.
However, if I am surrounded by people who allow me to explore who I truly am and how I’m designed, then I’m probably more likely to feel the freedom to explore more of my attraction to the opposite sex.
Science says that I’d already – from birth – be wired this way.
My wiring would just be one without the typical “limits” that a heterosexual person would be born with.
Our DNA determines who we are capable to be attracted to. While there may not specifically be a gene that determines same-sex attraction, some of the foremost DNA and sexuality researchers seem to acknowledge that from the formation of our first cells, some of our attraction tendencies are coded within us.
DNA Ultimately Contributes to Gender Identity
The term “gender identity” refers to one’s internal sense of his or her gender. A person’s gender identity may or may not align with the gender that the person is born with. This creates a potentially lifelong struggle for people who have to navigate life feeling that they are wired in a way that is different from the body parts they possess.
So where does this confusion originate?
It goes back to God’s blueprint – our DNA.
In 2018, researchers in Germany looked at the brain structures of both transgender and “cisgender” (people who identify as the gender that’s related to their biological sex at birth) individuals to see if they could identify physical differences between brains that might cause someone to be transgender.
The results showed that transgender individuals had significant differences in brain structure compared to cisgender individuals, particularly in the regions associated with body perception and self-awareness.
But just like sexual preference, a person’s gender identity likely has both a genetic and an environmental source. But foundationally, who a person feels that they are – male, female or even neither – is rooted in how their DNA has wired them.
While transgenderism has recently become politicized with issues like sports competitions and gender-neutral restrooms, it is not something new in culture. Critics of the concept of being transgender may paint the picture that it’s a recent “trend”. In an upcoming post, we’ll explore human history and its inclusion of transgender people, which will hopefully enlighten readers that this isn’t the case.
The United Methodist Church is taking steps to be inclusive of transgender persons. A 2021 modification to local church forms now includes “non-binary” in addition to “male” and “female” options when indicating the sex of a church member.
The Takeaway
There are many negative events in society that we could attribute back to God’s design of our DNA. Just because God created something doesn’t mean that it always turns out as something we can see immediate good in.
For example, a killer’s DNA is of God’s design. The killer’s genetic framework was created by God as part of the creation story in the Book of Genesis. It’s in us all.
And we could quickly take that killer’s malicious genetic design and its outcome in humanity, place it up against Jesus’ teachings of love, and clearly see that the killer’s behavior was counter to what Jesus taught. There would be zero doubt. And we would label the killer’s action as a “sin” in the eyes of God.
Can we really do the same, though, with the genetic design of someone in the LGBTQ+ community?
Can we really say, “God designed some of his children to be attracted to the same sex and science tells us sexual attraction is rooted in our DNA design, but we’re going to label it a sin anyway?”
Are we being Christlike if we know that someone who struggles with gender identity – a situation that research shows begins with genetic makeup – is being condemned by Christians simply for who they are?
We really just need to step out of the way and let love be love. Focus on “strangely warming” hearts and leading people to follow in the footsteps of Christ.
We need to stop clobbering our fellow siblings of the kingdom of God with text that just isn’t reflective of a New Covenant.
If you struggle with the idea of same-sex relationships or people identifying as a gender other than what they’re born with, maybe take a minute to realize that it’s not some casual choice and that science supports this very fact.
And realize that any actions you might be taking that keep God’s LGBTQ+ children feeling like lesser humans are doing serious societal and emotional harm to them.
Come as you are.
Come as whomever God designed you to be.
Come and learn to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life with him as we love God and love one another as we would ourselves.
Because I believe you’re already wired for it.
