by Dallas Wilson
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “There is no such thing as a dumb question.” Our grade-school teachers made sure we believed this so we would feel comfortable learning. And at one level, that instinct is right—questions are how we grow.
But as adults, we also come to realize that some questions really are dumb.
Perhaps it would be helpful to define what makes a dumb question dumb. A dumb question is one that is fundamentally unserious but is posed with an air of deep seriousness. For example: “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Dumb. Or, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Dumb.
The clearest modern example of this kind of question surfaced during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, when a sitting U.S. Senator asked, “What is a woman?” Justice Jackson was unable to answer.
To be clear, Justice Jackson is not a dumb person. Dumb people do not rise to the highest court in the land. Her inability to answer this question is not merely an indictment of her—it is an indictment of our society.
And sadly, the questions surrounding gender and sexuality only get dumber from there.
- Can men who identify as women use restrooms that align with their preferred gender identity?
- Can biological boys compete on girls’ sports teams?
- Do parents have the right to know if their children express confusion about their gender identity at school?
Here is the good news: these questions do have answers—and you don’t need to be incredibly smart to find them. You simply need to know where to look.
The answers are found in God’s Word, where we discover biological clarity, divine order, and a roadmap for human flourishing.
The Bible is crystal clear regarding gender and sexuality.
Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created humanity male and female. Gender is not a sociological construct that is malleable or subject to reinvention. Gender is the result of biological sex, defined by God in two distinct categories: male and female. These sexes exist in complementary duality. There are no variations of sex. There is no gender spectrum. There are only males and females.
Moreover, God delights in this design. When He created humanity in two sexes, He stepped back, observed His work, and declared it “very good.”
The goodness of human sexuality is seen most clearly in the flourishing that occurs when men and women live within their God-given design. When men behave as men—embracing God’s calling and responsibilities—and when women embrace theirs, societies flourish. History bears this out.
Conversely, our own cultural moment bears witness to the damage that follows when God’s design is rejected. The transgender movement has sold the illusion of self-identification to people longing to belong, while simultaneously making those most worthy of honor and protection—women and young girls—more vulnerable to dishonor and harm. When God’s order is cast aside, destruction is not accidental; it is inevitable.
We live in a society that has become proficient at asking dumb questions. But the solution is not smarter people offering smarter answers. If intellect alone could solve the confusion surrounding gender and sexuality, these issues would have been settled long ago.
The reason smart answers aren’t enough is that the problem isn’t rooted in genetics, chromosomes, or anatomy. The problem is rooted in the human heart, as all sin problems are.
The human heart was created for a relationship with God. And when sinful people live separated from Him, they will always search for identity elsewhere. That is why the ultimate solution to questions of gender and sexuality is not found in clever arguments, but in Christ Himself.
Christians living in a confused culture don’t merely need to give smart answers. They need to give Jesus answers. When confused hearts encounter Christ, clarity begins to emerge at every level, even the most foundational ones. People begin to understand who Jesus is, who He created them to be, and how He calls them to live.
So, what is a woman?
We know.
And Jesus does too.
