No body of evidence

The best thing about the new documentary In His Image may be its confidence in the goodness of God’s establishment of—count ’em—two sexes, male and female. The browbeaten body of Christ needs the boost. This American Family Studios film will encourage congregations struggling to hold their ground and challenge others who’ve rejected the Creator’s design for sexuality.

In His Image largely consists of interviews with Christian leaders and theologians. Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation sets the record straight: The premise that “sex is assigned at birth” has no scientific support. What’s really going on, he says, is “the high priests of our culture—doctors and scientists—are dressing up ideological statements as if they are scientific or medical.” Stephen Black, executive director of First Stone Ministries, points to a study from Johns Hopkins University that found “there is no propensity towards a genetic disposition to homosexual behavior.”

Translation: DNA doesn’t lie.

Why not just live and let live? Because children suffer spiritually and physically. Abraham Hamilton of the American Family Association explains that same-sex adoption “deprives a child of a full illustration of God’s image born with a marital union.” And a study from alt-lifestyle-friendly Sweden shows that despite acceptance, transgender folks are 19 times more likely than the general population to commit suicide.

The stories are heartbreaking. Denise Shick from Help4Familes tells how her father bombshelled her at age 9 with the news that he wanted to become a woman. Envying her maturing body, he abused her for years, she says. On her wedding day, he told her, “I wish it were me in that gown.” Parents will want to shield youngsters from the film’s disturbing content, including YouTube clips of transgender kids talking up their hormone blockers. It’s painful to see what passes for respectable nurturing nowadays.

Despite the politically fueled sexual turmoil, the church is not helpless and transgender people are not hopeless. Relief from bodily confusion begins with Christ and His body, not body-rearranging surgery. Laura Perry provides one of the film’s moving testimonies. She grew up in a Christian family, transitioned to male characteristics, but was won to a true relationship with Jesus and a new appreciation of her femininity through the love of several older church ladies. Today’s godly grandmas have a calling they probably didn’t see coming 10 years ago.

“The Lord wants transgendered people in the pews,” one interviewee reminds Christians. For even if you were “born this way,” still you must be born again.