It’s A Great Story. But It’s Only A Story
They’re great stories.
Mutually contradictory.
In reality, absolutely impossible.
Certainly not history.
Llamas, alpacas and koala bears.
Alligators and buffalo.
Black bears and moose.
Tulips, royal palms, flamboyant poinciana and Canadian maple.
And food enough for all of them for close to sixty days.
Chapter 6 of the story says God commanded Noah to “bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.”
But Chapter 7 has God directing Noah
“Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.”
To make life even more difficult, God expected Noah to corral all those animals from continents Noah and his people didn’t know existed in seven days after receiving the command of Chapter 7.
Sweet God Almighty, collecting buffalo, pandas and alpaca – from North America, Australia and the Andes mountain range!
Not even American Airlines and the U.S. Air Force combined can pull that one off in seven days.
And the numbers. According to the Genesis accounts, Adam lived 930 years; Seth 807, Enoch 905, Cainan 840, and Manalalel lived 890 and these guys didn’t start to have children – at least those whose births are recorded – until they were 130 (Adam), 105 (Seth), 90 (Enosh) and 70 (Cainan).
Don’t forget that there are two – not one, but two – creation stories in Genesis.
They are mutually contradictory in the order in which God created things – from the “firmament” to human beings.
The Adam’s rib tale?
It’s not in Genesis 1. “Mankind” and “male and female” “in the likeness of God” appear in Genesis 1.
Adam’s rib and “It is not good for man to be alone” and
“Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man.
“The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
Great story – Genesis 2.
The New International Version of the first two chapters of Genesis contains roughly 1460 words. (There’s enough different “versions” or translations of the Hebrew scriptures to fill a wall of shelves – and that’s just in English.)
Nonetheless, some theologians, law makers and too many people who wish/need to control others focus on six words – six words – “male and female He created them” - that appear only in the Genesis 1 account. Those “theologians” and controllers-of-others overlook the preceding verse: “God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness….’” And God is spirit – without body, neither male or female
The Hebrew and Christian Sacred Scriptures don’t come with an original date of publication.
It is probable that Genesis 1 and 2, including the differing accounts of creation, were written by a member or members of the priestly class and designed to give hope to the people of Jerusalem and Judah who had been force-marched 800 miles into slavery in Babylon – Mesopotamia, on the banks of the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq. - around the year 587 BCE.
Enslaved in a foreign land - having lost homes, family members, land, their Temple, everything, it would have been profoundly human for the priests’ audience to believe God had abandoned them. So, the priests used a primitive (by today’s standards) people’s oral traditions and brought them together, linking ancient stories to reassure a downtrodden people of God’s election of and continuing presence with them.
The Babylonian exile reflected the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden; Noah became a model of fidelity to the One God; the destruction of the Towel of Babel would reflect the longed-for fall of their captors and the Babylonian ziggurats – places of worship.
Great stories.
Not History.
Certainly not Science.
Not even stories shared by all the world’s religions.
On January 20, the newly inaugurated president declared “As of today it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female” and followed this with an executive order declaring the nation will (at least for the present moment) recognize only two sexes - male and female - and defining sex as “an individual’s immutable classification as male and female.”
Focus on the Family president Jim Dale pulled out the Genesis “male and female” quote to argue the presidential declaration was “an acknowledgement of this fundamental truth.”
It may be a “fundament truth.” But it’s not.
It is a “fundamental truth” based on a story or stories developed by authors who did not know of the existence of the Americas and Australia, had no idea of the Periodic Table of Elements, did not understand the atom, and – generally – believe diseases were caused by evil spirits.
Built upon traditions and beliefs tracing back to the Bronze Age (c. 3300 – c. 1200 BC) and with approximately 1.2 billion followers (around 15 percent of the global population) Hinduism is often referred to as the world’s “oldest religion.”
Writing for Religion News Service (“Gender diversity is a question of religious diversity.” February 27, 2025) Professor of Religion at Saint Olaf College, Minnesota Anantanand Rambachan observes:
“Speaking from my perspective as a Hindu theologian and practitioner, my tradition recognizes that human sexual orientation is diverse and not just heterosexual. Ancient texts enlarge our thinking about sexual identity with categories, like that of third-nature persons (tritiya prakriti), that go beyond the usual binaries and refute the idea that there are only two sexes. Sex diversity is regarded as a part of natural human diversity.
“LBGTQ+ people have not been regarded or treated as deviant, immoral or as transgressors of divine law within Hindu traditions. They are not condemned, as in some religions and now in government policies, for their sexual identities. There is no evidence of efforts to change their orientation. They are accorded the same dignity and value as heterosexual persons since the ultimate source of human dignity is the equal presence of the divine in every human heart.”
The Conversation is described by its directors as “a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good.” Incorporating material originally published in 2017, Boston College assistant professor of Classical Studies Tom Sapford (“How Roman society integrated people who altered their bodies and defied gender norms.” The Independent. February 24, 2025) offered perspectives from antiquity:
“In the ancient Roman world, which I study, biological sex and gender expression did not always line up as neatly as the president [Donald Trump] is demanding to see in today’s government.
“In antiquity, there were masculine women, feminine men and people who altered their bodies to match their gender expression more closely. In particular, two figures – the cinaedus and the gallus – provide examples of men whose effeminate behavior and modified anatomies were striking yet still integrated into Roman society.
“In ancient Rome, some men who did not fit neatly within gender categories were called ‘cinaedi.’ They were usually adult males singled out for their extreme effeminacy and nonnormative sexual desires.
“The cinaedus was already a recognizable figure in ancient Greece and was first mentioned in the fourth century B.C. by Plato… Later Roman authors provide more detail…
“In a fable by Phaedrus, also written in the first century A.D., a barbarian is threatening the troops of the military leader, Pompey the Great. All are afraid to challenge this fierce opponent until a ‘cinaedus’ volunteers to fight.
“The cinaedus is described as a soldier of great size but with a cracked voice and mincing walk. After pleading permission in a stereotypically lisping manner from Pompey the Great, his commander in chief, the cinaedus steps into battle. He quickly severs the barbarian’s head and, with army agog, is summarily rewarded by Pompey…
“The galli, another group that lived in the heart of the city of Rome, also blurred gender roles. They were males who had castrated their genitalia in dedication to the Great Mother goddess Cybele, who was their protector.
“While several ancient sources mock these figures for their gender-nonconforming appearance and behaviors, it is nevertheless evident that the galli held a sacred place within the Roman state. They were viewed as being important to Rome’s continued safety and prominence….”
Hindus, ancient Greeks and Romans…
What about Judaism?
To examine more than two millennia of Jewish teachings on sexuality and gender is (pardon the expression) like opening Pandora’s box.
With a Yale University doctorate in Rabbinic Studies, Rachel Scheinerman (“The Seven Genders in the Talmud,” MyJewishStudies.com) notes:
“The Talmud, a huge and authoritative compendium of Jewish legal traditions, contains in fact no less than seven gender designations including:
Zachar, male.
Nekevah, female.
Androgynos, having both male and female characteristics.
Tumtum, lacking sexual characteristics.
Aylonit hamah, identified female at birth without developing secondary female sexual characteristics at puberty.
Saris hamah, identified male at birth without developing secondary male sexual characteristics at puberty.
Saris adam, identified male at birth without developing secondary male sexual characteristics because of castration.
“The rabbis did not use the word gender as we do today, as referring to a cultural construct distinct from biological sex. The seven genders they describe are distinguished by physical and biological realities, not culturally conditioned categories. But because gender has many implications in Jewish law, how the rabbis understood these categories has consequences for the rights and responsibilities such individuals enjoy in the community.
“The rabbis also had a tradition that the first human being was both male and female. Versions of this midrash are found throughout rabbinic literature, including in the Talmud:
“Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar also said: Adam was first created with two faces (one male and the other female). As it is stated: “You have formed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me.” (Psalms 139:5)…
“Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created him as an androgynos (one having both male and female sexual characteristics), as it is said, “male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)
“Said Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani: In the hour when the Holy One created the first human, He created for him a double face, and sawed him and made him backs, a back here and a back there, as it is said, “Behind and before, You formed me” (Psalms 139:5).”
Getting the picture?
It’s not nearly as simple as a presidential directive would have us believe.
One more example:
Anishinaabemowin, also known as Ojibwe, is the language of many North American Indigenous Peoples and is spoken by First Nation People of Canada and Native Americas in the United States from the Great Lakes to Kansas and Oklahoma. Among Indigenous People of North America, niizh manidoowag – “two spirit” individuals – predated the arrival of Europeans. Indigenous individuals who identified as Two-Spirit folks were seen as gifted and honored in their community because they carried both male and female spirits with them. They were often the healers, medicine people, and visionaries of their communities and they were foundational members of their culture. It was – and still is – believed Two Spirit people are gifted with the ability to see through both masculine and feminine lenses.
The absolute “male and female he created them” insistence of some Americans is built on stories written almost six-hundred years before the birth of Jesus and to encourage an exiled people, to promote a hope for a better future.
Even the most cursory study of ancient literature makes it clear: LGBT+ men and women have been a part of the human story from the beginning.
Today, those Two Spirit and “other” children and adults are victimized and minimized in order to advance a political, christian nationalist agenda.
Make folks afraid and win votes! It’s the great christian nationalist “way to power through fear and hate.”
To put these stories/histories in perspective, we turn, again, to Professor Rambachan at Minnesota’s Lutheran St. Olaf College:
“[W]e are witnessing the implementation of federal policies that reflect the beliefs of particular Christian denominations. These are not beliefs shared by all Christians nor by the practitioners of all religious traditions. Many speak of the United States as a Christian nation, but we are home to the world’s major religions in all their splendid theological diversity. This diversity is ignored when the teachings of one religion or the interpretations of one sacred text are regarded as authoritative and normative for all and implemented in policies that affect the lives of people of different religions and those who may be without religious commitments. It is unjust in a religiously diverse society when state policies enshrine in law one theological viewpoint and disregard all others. This is clearly the case in the declaration that there are only two sexes.”
In Christian churches around the world, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus will begin with the story of Creation – Genesis 1:1 – 2:2.
People of faith will be reminded
“Then God said:
‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’
God looked at everything he had made, and He found it very good.”
It’s a story.
A great story.
It tells us that all the men and women are created in the image and likeness of God.