Consciousness and God's Image (GITS 1-3) Continued

Continuing the discussion, we need to determine whether a person's gender identity has an impact on the state of their consciousness and, in turn, the way in which they experience life issues and deal with them. We can assume that God has a plan for how events are to turn out, that He will have prepared obstacles to test us in our respective lifetimes, and that humanity would eventually reach the point where it is capable of rendering the physical nature of the human body malleable.

Method of Thought 1:
"We must pursue God's 'intended experiences' for us"

We can confirm, based on the gross variation present between male and female perceptions and psychology, that the way in which one sees him or herself results in a particular way of experiencing the world. It would therefore make sense that whatever gender we exist as would have some connection to the intended "experience" and set of "trials" we would experience (as that experience is shaped by our perceptions which are in turn shaped by our gender and psychological state). So this line of thinking gives us the impression that one's gender identity is crucial to one's spiritual development.

Logically following from that realization is the need to identify to what extent gender identity play's a role, in what ways specifically, and exactly how the effect occurs. The setting of Ghost in the Shell could wholly re-define how individuals even perceived the concept of "sex" though. With the technology to live within an alternate body, effectively changing one's outward sex, and yet fully manipulate the hormones and chemicals manipulating the brain (and thereby one's consciousness and sex according to brain chemistry), we can clearly see that the GITS world attempts to free itself of such constraints. In this way, the mental/emotional/social faculties of an individual could be maintained as one sex while their outward appearance is changed to that of the other sex. The level of personal manipulation is limitless, so determining where God would draw the line is most important to our investigation.

So we've gone from "God cares about the state of our consciousness" to "gender state affects the state of our consciousness" to "God cares about gender state in so much as it affects the state of our consciousness." So then, in what ways does gender affect consciousness?

1) Outward Appearance:
Appearance-wise, our own consciousness has no sense of what we look like, except through a mirror, so it might seem as if it's inconsequential in that domain; however, there are passages in the Bible in which men are criticized for attempting to appear as women and vice versa: "A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God," (Deut 22:5) and "For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man," (1 Cor 11:6-7). Some may pose arguments that such specific situations are relevant only to the historical culture of the ancient world, but I think we can, at the very least, make the assumption that, foregoing any notions of hair length and the like, there is a clear intent to uphold not the idea that men can't have long hair necessarily, but that, if such a thing were to indicate the man were attempting to pretend to be a woman, then it is considered sinful, which is a concept that transcends simple cultural limits. So, if we intentionally alter our appearance to appear as the opposite sex, or to be recognized as such, it is sinful due to the fact that we are lying about who we are to others (that particular section of Deuteronomy is highly devoted to laws describing deceit and lies).

2) Social Ramifications:
Societies generally treat women and men distinctly from one another, therefore it is extremely easy to conceive of experiential differences between males and females which in turn would affect the perspective through which they understand those experiences and thereby the resulting consciousness and spiritual development. Other people's perception of the individual and the individual's perception of themselves and their role in society would both be affected dramatically. The only reason such a distinction would be less significant is if the society in question lacked differences between the male and female identity completely, if, culturally, men and women had become unisexed.

3) Mental/Emotional Effect:
Although it has already somewhat been discussed, any modification to brain chemistry would have an extremely powerful effect on the individual's experiences which should be well known to anyone who has a basic understanding of neuroscience and psychology. Now, to what extent the brain can be modified before it enters the realm of a "sinful modification" would require a keen analysis and an awareness of the intentions of the subject undergoing the changes. Naturally, anything that is meant to heal the subject from self-damaging or detrimental effects would need to be counteracted and would be excused; however, if the individual started using hormone changes as a means to alter their sexual identity, that would be considered sin if, as we discussed, the purity/sinfulness of actions are determined by how closely their experiences align with the "natural" development of the individual.

So, if all of these experiences are used to develop a gender-based identity, and if any alterations to these experiences would result in changes to consciousness, then we can assume that God finds sinful any actions that would alter our gender-based identity so long as distinct gender-based identities have direct ties to the development of consciousness.

Method of Thought 2:
"We must pursue, ultimately, the defeat of a self-interpreted, broken world."

Beginning with a counterpoint question: Change in consciousness leads to change in spiritual development?

Granted, all of these differences result in changes to one's consciousness and the way in which they experience the world, but why must it be assumed that changes to experience result in changes to one's spiritual status or development? Surely there are ways in which a person can purposefully alter the type of experiences they would otherwise have in the future and yet not necessarily affect what God would "intend" for them to experience? The fact is that God would know that they would have made that choice and would have taken it into account. Besides, most of people's attempts to change their bodies or lives/experiences are attempts on their part to better tune the same things towards what God's "ideal" for them would be. For example, the argument for a person who gets a nose job is someone who thinks that by changing their appearance, they will make the image that they were born with - a broken image resulting from the broken state of the world - gets a little closer to the more idealized appearance of the human body, thereby making them more attractive/likeable/approachable to others which can only help their ethos with others and, consequentially, their ability to minister to them and act as a positive representative of Jesus Christ by exemplifying an "ideal" human existence more closely.

In a similar case, a man who desires a sex-change can argue that he has a consciousness that is more attuned to that of woman, and that it is only because of the broken nature of the world that he ended up with a male body in the first place. He would attribute his suffering as a "female in a male body" to the sinful state of the universe and group it with other such luck-based sufferings like being born in a poverty-stricken region or being born with substantial medical problems. It's not their fault nor is it something that can change so easily. The counterargument to such an idea would be that it is purely a psychological issue and that, through therapy, the individual can be "healed" and regain their sense of being the "natural" gender, or in this example, the sense of being a man as opposed to a woman, mentally/emotionally.

Gender-Confusion Conclusion:
Sadly, we as humans lack the ability to fundamentally determine which of these arguments is correct; we can merely know that they are "correct" ideas according to their respective viewpoints of the world.

It is a fact, however, that wherever suffering exists, sin exists. And it is also a fact that there are people who are gender-confused, and suffer as a result. Therefore, it is a "wrong" state for people to exist as a male within a female body or as a female within a male body. Either their minds should be changed or their bodies should be changed. The fundamental difference of opinion lies in people's idea of what has been wrongly modified by the broken world: the mind or the body. 1) This isn't 

something that we would be able to determine on a large scale - if we could determine it at all. Instead, we would have to examine the issue on a case-by-case basis. 2) As already stated, we can't know whether a person was supposed to be male or female within the "perfect" version of our world (the one in which male and female distinctions exist). Therefore, we have no power to assume such knowledge and cannot adequately make judgement calls upon others in God's place for not agreeing with our assumptions on the matter. It is something that only God can know. Does that mean we should no longer attempt to convince other people of our perspective? Of course not. That would destroy a person's fundamental potential to argue and discuss things. It's more like such an act is in accordance with determining whether someone will be saved or not: it is something personal to the person's heart and is between them and God, not something that others can be sure of.

So, people can't know whether another individual is acting in accordance to God's understanding in this domain. All we can do is attempt to communicate to others the need for inner reflection and contemplation regarding whether such an act is truly something that God desires for them to do: choosing between the dual calls of remaining within "the image of God" provided and remaining true to the original mind God gifted the individual with. Furthermore, one can't argue that another person's original mind is necessarily masculine or feminine since that person is the one who makes such a judgment. This is partly because the "image of God" includes both the male and female identities.

What then should an individual person examine to make their own decision as to whether what they are doing is in accordance with God's wishes? We can guarantee that God's highest priority will be the healing and teaching of others and oneself. Therefore, while we have thought patterns that yield a reality in which our souls are sincere and positively developing, i.e. perpetually pursuing the truth of the matter, then as long as we don't allow ourselves to commit other acts of sin in the process, any attempt we make to make the "right" decision (as we have determined it) will always be the "best" choice that we could have made under the circumstances (Jeremiah 29:13). Beware, though, because this ideology runs dangerously close to the practice of assuming that whatever we do is right simply because we are judging it to be so. We must always take care that in this process we don't make assumptions about our reality and believe something to be "right" simply because it is convenient for us.

Take note that Crossdressing would still be akin to a deception, however, and is a form of lying that is still sin. If someone decides that, with everything they can understand about the universe, changing one's gender identity is not sinful, they should still either be all the way one or the other. Tricking people and lying to others, as well as yourself, is never something God would condone.

In the same way that we would forgive a dog for biting its owner when it is severely in pain or frightened, we can rest assured that God will forgive us for potentially "biting the hand that feeds" when we are likewise confused and afraid in this broken world.

Ghost in the Shell 1-3 Conclusion:
What does this all mean in regards to the crazed world of Ghost in the Shell? Whatever actions one takes must be done in the spirit of remaining true to God's wishes, as closely as possible. Therefore, actions that would otherwise be sinful in the first place, such as changing bodies from male to female simply to have sexual fantasies (as the government official of the first episode did) would be wrong by the fact that they are a perfect example of sexual immorality: obsessing over the feelings, sensations, and physical objectivity of the act of sex instead of understanding the significance of and embracing the spiritual and emotional connection that such an act confers upon its participants. The discussion concerning "sex-change operations" by switching bodies completely can be tied directly to my statements earlier in the post.

For the question regarding whether it is morally permissible for humans to trade in biological bodies for mechanical ones at all has similar dynamics: If you believe that God would find it to be sinful and still do it, then obviously you have sinned, for you have denied what you thought to be God's law. God cares about your devotion to goodness, righteousness, and love, so regardless if something is actually wrong or not, if you still do it believing it to be wrong, then you have acted in opposition to what you believe God is commanding you to do, which is direct disobedience of Him. If you don't think it is sinful, then by all means go ahead, especially if you think that it will help you in your fulfillment of the Great Commission.

All in all, the first three episodes of Ghost in the Shell have explored a range of topics that our society has already begun to address to a certain degree, but will most assuredly be dealing with in a future probably not so far away as we think. Prosthetic technology - along with computing - advances more quickly than we can keep up with sometimes, and it would do us good to ensure that we investigate such conflicts before we are overridden by them. GITS has certainly started the conversation quite well, especially considering the series is already a decade old now. Check back for more discussions on potentially controversial topics.