(WokePreacherTV) Genesis 1 doesn’t mention intersex people.
Genesis 1 doesn’t mention frogs.
Frogs are not a result of the Fall.
Therefore, being born with under-developed and/or non-functioning genitalia is NOT a result of the Fall.
CHECKMATE, FUNDIES!!!
This is the reasoning of Dr. Megan K. DeFranza during a 2016 speech for The Reformation Project, the subversion campaign of Matthew Vines working towards queer affirmation among Christians. DeFranza goes on to use the existence of hermaphrodites to argue for a new “lens” to interpret the creation of Adam and Eve.
—TRANSCRIPT—
Look at the three categories of animals. What kinds of animals are missing from this taxonomy? Amphibians. Yep. Gimme some more. Reptiles. Huh? Insects. Insects. Is that what you said? What else is missing? Sorry. Bats. They’re not a bird, they’re a mammal that flies, right? Birds that don’t fly. Penguins, ostriches, right?
There is no mention of any creatures that inhabit more than one category. Now, have you ever heard your pastor get up and tell you that frogs are a sign of the Fall? I have never read that in a commentary on the book of Genesis, ever! Ever.
But every time I talk to Christians about people who are intersex, they say, “Well, they must be a result of the Fall, because we don’t find them in Genesis chapter one.” It’s funny how the logic can change with the topic. I’m not making this up. It’s right there. It’s been there all along, but we didn’t have the eyes to see it.
So maybe we need to rethink how we talk about Adam and Eve. Maybe instead of seeing them as the pattern that all humans should fit into, maybe we should read them at the parents of the beginning of the story.
What if instead of considering them God’s best, what God truly intended, what if they’re just the beginning of what God was gonna do? In this grand story of redemption, what if instead of being the exclusive model for humankind, they are the statistical majority?
When I read Genesis one, I see the author talking about creation with these broad brush strokes, right? Most animals either live in the water or on the land, or they’re air creatures that do have to land at some point, right? And most humans fit into the category of male or female fairly adequately. What if this is not a complete inventory of everything that God created? What if this is just speaking in general?
What if Adam and Eve don’t represent the ideal masculinity and femininity that all of us have to squeeze ourselves into? What if they’re the fountain heads of the beautiful variety of human beings that were going to come in the course of the story?
Now, the Bible doesn’t tell us which of these lenses to use as we understand the book of Genesis. These are theological lenses that we bring to the text. We have to choose which one makes more sense. But I think the latter makes more sense because of other things that we find in the scriptures.
You know, if we’re trying to get back to Eden, there are a lot of things we’re gonna lose. If we’re trying to get back to Eden, there is a lot we’re going to lose. Do we wanna get back before the admission of different tribes and languages and peoples? We’re not trying to get back to Eden. This is not paradise lost and regained. This is not a circular story. This is a linear story that starts out with a few main categories and expands. Adam and Eve, Abraham, Israel, and bringing the gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth. It’s a story that gets bigger and wider and is going someplace different than where it started.
How do we know this? Because the Bible tells us so. That a great multitude will be gathered before the Lamb. So many that we can’t even count them. From every nation, tribe, people, and language. We are not going back to the Garden Of Eden. We are going forward into a humanity that we cannot even conceive yet.
There’s so much rethinking that we have to do in our churches. But we don’t have to change the scriptures that have been given to us. Maybe we just need to change our lenses.
Editor’s Note. This whole post was posted at @WokePreacherTV’s YT channel and reposted with permission.
