SPECIAL NOTE TO PARENTS: As your child’s parent, you know what’s best for your child. You know when your child is old enough to comprehend different topics and when discussing certain things is warranted. Every child is different, and that will vary from family to family and from topic to topic. For that reason, we did not put a recommended age on this topic. Instead, we trust that as your child’s parent, you will recognize when it’s appropriate to sit down and have this discussion with your child(ren). This is simply a guide to help you, if and when you choose to have this discussion about gender with your child(ren). In today’s world, including even in many elementary schools, there is a push to teach our youth that gender is fluid. But that’s not what the Bible says. That is not how our loving Creator designed us. God says at the end of Genesis 1:27: “male and female He created them.” With the ever-increasing push to normalize this idea of gender fluidity, and the push to teach it to children earlier and earlier, we have provided this guided discussion addressing the topic of gender from God’s Word.
OPENER
Do you know that God made both men and women (and only men and women) in His image?
Prompts if no response: Of all of His creation on the earth, God created only man and woman in God’s image. They are not a direct copy of what God looks like, but look similar to God. Both men and women have character traits that resemble God. God created man and woman.
Prompts if no response: God created only two genders—male and female. Men and women look different and have different strengths, so men and women can complement—complete—each other. One is not superior to one the other.
Supporting Scriptures
God knew that Adam on his own was not complete, and God made Eve as a companion who was “comparable to him”—like him, similar to him, right for him, suitable for him
Genesis 2:18
. Men and women both have the same spiritual potential
1 Peter 3:7
.
Discussion Question 2:
Why do you think some may be confused or not understand how God designed gender?
Prompts if no response: Satan does not want human beings to become children of God. He will do anything he is allowed to do to prevent that, including trying to hide or confuse simple truths. God did not design human beings to modify their own gender. God designed men and women to give glory to God by living with the gender they were born with. God said a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife—woman. God did not give any exceptions or modifications. Throughout most of history, and still in many countries today, women were treated as inferior to men in spite of God’s design for man and woman to complement—complete—each other. Medical and mental illnesses, as well as bullying and societal pressures, can lead people to be confused about their gender—whether they are boys or girls. Satan will use any tactic he can to twist the things God has made.
Supporting Scriptures
God clearly describes what a marriage is to look like and how a husband and wife are to act
Ephesians 5:22-33
. God is not the author of confusion
1 Corinthians 14:33
.
Discussion Question 3:
What are some ways boys and girls are the same? What are some differences?
Prompts if no response: Both can be kind, strong, smart, problem-solvers, loving, helpful, etc. Both boys and girls can display God’s character. Boys and girls look different, but each have the same potential to be in God’s Kingdom. Women were designed to give birth to babies.
Supporting Scriptures
Man is to be the head of the family
Ephesians 5:23
. Woman is to be a helper to her husband
Ephesians 5:22-24
. Both responsibilities require different strengths to be developed. Men and women do this while striving to have the character of Christ
Ephesians 5:24-25
.
Hypothetical 1 and 2:
What would you think or say back if you heard a boy say, “I think I should be a girl” or a girl say, “I want to be a boy”?
Prompts if no response: God made you special and has a plan for you just as you were made. Not all boys are the same, and not all girls are the same. So just because you might like things that a boy/girl likes doesn’t mean you need to change your gender. Both boys and girls can like sports, writing, trucks, singing, fixing things, cooking, etc.
Supporting Scriptures
We all need to have the mind of Christ
1 Corinthians 2:16
. Men should look like men, and women should look like women
1 Corinthians 11:6-7
, but that doesn’t mean they can be interested in only certain activities.
CLOSER
What are some unchristian reactions to those who might be confused about their gender? What are some Christian reactions?
Prompts if no response: Unchristian reactions include bullying them, making fun of them with your friends, mocking them, calling them stupid, thinking that they are sinning worse than other people who are confused and sinning, etc. Christian reactions include remembering what God teaches about gender, showing kindness and love while not agreeing with them, etc.
Supporting Scriptures
If we are disciples of Christ, we will have love for everyone
John 13:34
. Christ treated everyone with love and respect
Mark 2:16-17
.
Do you know what race and ethnicity is? Discover more on the topic of race with these guided discussion questions.
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Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so letthe wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
30 For we are members of His body,[fn] of His flesh and of His bones.
31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and thetwo shall become one flesh.”[fn]
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
