Dear Jim,

This question is important because it concerns how we understand God and our own identities. You’re right that many affirming arguments end with, “God made us this way, and God doesn’t make mistakes.” While that phrase can be comforting, it also needs some nuance—especially when we begin talking about gender identity.

For me, it’s essential to distinguish between children of God and being personally handcrafted by God. To say we are “children of God” or “reflections of God’s image” means that every human carries inherent worth and dignity that cannot be taken away. These phrases point to our shared sacredness—not to a literal process in which God sculpts each of us individually.

While I can understand the desire for God to have individually crafted us one by one as a benevolent creator, that’s not the most helpful way to think of God. When we imagine God as a divine mystery—present within us, around us, and beyond us—then the idea that “God doesn’t make mistakes” becomes less about divine design and more about divine connection. God’s creative presence is what holds all things together, including our vast human diversity. If God is the force of love animating the universe, then of course we are all God’s children. Our differences—across race, gender identity, and sexual orientation—become reflections of God’s infinite complexity, not deviations from it.

So, when someone asks whether being transgender implies that God made a “mistake,” I would say: not at all. Trans people reveal yet another beautiful facet of God’s image. The journey of transitioning, for many, is a sacred process of aligning one’s outer life with one’s inner truth—a form of creation and courage that participates in God’s ongoing work of making all things whole.

Our understanding of both sexual orientation and gender identity continues to grow as we learn more about the human experience. But one truth remains constant throughout scripture: we are called to love. Jesus consistently centered those on the margins, including people whose gender and sexuality didn’t fit expected norms. In Matthew 19:12, he refers to three kinds of “eunuchs”—those made so by others, those who choose celibacy, and those “born that way.” That third phrase describes people whose bodies or identities didn’t conform to typical categories of male or female. By naming and affirming them, Jesus acknowledged the sacredness of lives that didn’t fit the binary structure of his culture.

So, rather than seeing trans people as “mistakes,” we might recognize them—as Jesus did the eunuchs—as part of the rich diversity of creation. The point of our faith is not to explain every difference but to embrace each person as a reflection of God’s boundless love.

~ Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines