Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Tuesday May 5 2026
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Mark 10:6-But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.’
When I study the Gospel with friends who are transgender (males who believe they are females and who are attempting to modify their body type accordingly through surgical procedures and hormone therapy, and vice versa), I am often told that we all start off as women in the womb.
However, this is not accurate.
The matter of our sexual identity as male or female is directly established from the moment that we are conceived.
In sum: • Chromosomes hold genes • Genes determine gonad type • Gonad type organizes the genitalia • Gonad type organizes the gamete type Understanding this hierarchy clarifies how each person’s development path is established, from chromosomes, genes, and gonads, to hormones and genitalia. Sex development is not some vague process. It is an orchestrated sequence of development written into the cells of every human being.…At conception, the sperm and egg cell each provide half the genetic material of a full cell, mixing the genomes and creating a new individual. The sperm will provide an X or Y, and the egg will provide an X. In this sense, the sex chromosome in the sperm cell will decide the sex of the baby. For the first six weeks, however, human fetuses are undifferentiated on a physical level, appearing identical externally. During this time, the primordial genital ducts (Wolffian for males and Müllerian for females) are present in each individual, waiting for the differentiation of the gonads into testes or ovaries (Jones and Lopez 2014). Once the gonad is established thanks to sex determining genes located on the chromosomes, sex differentiation uses the hormone profile produced by the gonad to direct the internal and external genitalia down the male or female path. The male embryo differentiates the Wolffian duct and eliminates the Müllerian duct, while the female embryo differentiates the Müllerian duct and eliminates the Wolffian duct. Both sexes still require genetics to guide this process (Rey et al 2020). (Zachary ElliottThe Sex Development Handbook: A Guide to Human Sex Differentiation and Disorders of Sex Development, 2-5 (Kindle Edition): Paradox Press)
Everything starts at conception.
As another doctor points out:
A dress, a pronoun, a new name, a haircut, a hormone blocker there, an injection here, a cut there, a prosthetic here—the litany of illusions and lacerations from the social to the medical heaped one upon another can never change the immutable fact that every single cell in the human body screams “male” or “female.” This isn’t conjecture. It’s science. Dr. Grossman described the process we all learned in school but somehow forgot. “How does that man get a man’s body? He gets it as a result of his chromosomes, his Y chromosome,” Dr. Grossman reviewed. “At conception, when the egg is fertilized by a sperm, the resulting organism either has two XX or an X and a Y [chromosome]. The presence of the Y chromosome is going to direct the development of that fetus in a male direction, not only in terms of his genitals, in terms of his brain as well… That means that in utero his body was masculinized, including his brain. What happened was that at eight weeks after fertilization, his Y chromosome sent out the instruction to his testes to create testosterone, and that testosterone was then distributed throughout the body.” This isn’t some arbitrary process—and it can’t be easily altered later in life. The impacts of this sex-specific development can be seen in other aspects of medicine far outside of “gender identity.” “Let’s say a woman needs a kidney transplant and she gets a kidney from a male,” Dr. Grossman posited. “So each of those cells in that transplanted kidney has a Y chromosome, and her female body can recognize that as foreign. Her female body doesn’t recognize the Y chromosome. It never had a Y chromosome. So it’s best to give a female kidney to a female.” Ironically, at the same time gender theory has spread like a cancer, the field of sex-specific surgery has also exploded. “So we have these two things happening at the same time in history,” Dr. Grossman continued, speaking of research into sex-specific care and the rise of gender theory. “While the libraries, the medical libraries, and the journals are just filling up with articles indicating the vast and profound differences between male and female and how we must recognize that, we have, on the other hand, this ideology that is pushing false notions at us and at our children, and I don’t know how much longer this can co-exist.” (Matt Walsh, What Is a Woman? One Man’s Journey to Answer the Question of a Generation, 141-142 (Kindle Edition): Nashville, TN: The Daily Wire)
Our identity as male or female is directly written into every cell of the human body, from the moment of conception.
Psalm 139:13-16-For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
Yes, there are are sometimes genetic problems that can arise within a small percentage of people that may impact the development of certain characteristics (vocal range, aggressiveness, etc). These are a result of being born in a world that has been damaged by human rebellion against God (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 8:19-22). Yet these examples do not change the underlying reality that maleness and femaleness are determined at the moment of conception.
Part of the reason so many in our culture are confused regarding these subjects is because they have been fed a steady diet of untruths. Let us have compassion on everyone as we speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
Lord, guide us with truth. Help our friends who struggle with questions of gender identity. We thank You! Amen.