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I was recently remembering the sad story of a local, Winnipeg man whose life read like a tragedy. In 1966, at eight months old, Bruce Reimer, along with his twin brother Brian, was scheduled for a routine circumcision. The regular surgeon was not available, so a general practitioner stepped in to perform the procedure. Opting for an experimental approach, the doctor attempted the circumcision with an electronic cauterizing machine which would burn the skin off. The procedure was a disaster, scorching off most of Bruce’s penis. The devastated family left the hospital facing an uncertain future for their now mutilated son.
After consulting with countless doctors about repairing the damage, the Reimers had almost resigned themselves to raising Bruce with his injury. Then, one night, the Reimers watched a television profile of American doctor, Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins University. Doctor Money argued that boys, if caught early enough, could be raised to be girls. He contended that gender was not a matter of nature, but rather only nurture- learned behaviour, attraction, and so forth. Willing to do anything to offer their child a normal future, the Reimers brought Bruce to Baltimore to visit Dr. Money, who declared Bruce an excellent candidate for this experiment. And so, Bruce under went surgery to remove his testicles and was sent home to be raised as Brenda Reimer, a “normal” little girl.
Doctor Money declared the experiment a great success, publishing an article in the Archives of Sexual Behavior pronouncing the outcome better than they had even expected. It became widely known in medical circles, fueling an already heated debate on Nature vs. Nurture. The experiment became one of the most influential of its nature on every level of research, education and practice. Where ever the gender question was raised, the name of Dr. John Money was sure to be mentioned.
The Reimer family, however, were far from convinced. Despite the fact that no one knew the identity of the experiment candidate, “Brenda” faced daily ridicule at school. “She” didn’t enjoy playing with other girls, never feeling quite like “she” could fit in. “Brenda” didn’t move like a little girl either, drawing cruel names like “caveman” and “freak”. As puberty progressed, “she” began to display physical changes that further alienated “her” from her school mates. Dr. Money encouraged the family to complete the process by surgically building a vagina for “Brenda”, to complete “her” transformation. Bruce, however, miserable as “Brenda” had had enough. Old enough to understand, the family told him the truth about the experiment.
Bruce was devastated. Bombarded by confusion, anger, frustration, and self-loathing, his life spiraled out of control. He Attempted suicide three times. The third attempt, an overdose of pills, left Bruce in a coma. He eventually recovered and decided to rebuild his life- as a man. Casting off the identity of Brenda, he took the new name of David. It was far from easy for him to make the transition, but he knew it was the only course of action he could follow. Surgery restored much of David’s physical masculinity, but he would never be able to father children. Around the year 2000, studies began to vindicate David’s struggle, indicating that “gender reassignment” was not only flawed, but damaging. This wasn’t breaking news for David or his family. Despite this, however, David made his best attempt a normal life for himself.
However, David was still prone to the devastating circumstances and normal human mistakes we all are. The unexpected suicide of his twin brother Brian, the loss of his wife and step-children, failed business ventures and many other factors began to weigh heavily on him. As difficult as all this was, it was the history of trauma, rejection and confusion that left David ill-equipped to deal with these circumstances. On May 4th, 2004, at the age of only 38, David Reimer ended his life at the end of a shotgun. His mother buried him on Mothers Day, wondering how things might have been different had they only made different choices.
No matter how angry I felt towards the doctor who mislead this family, and though there was a level of irresponsible ambition that impact his judgment, the writings of this man clearly believed in what he was doing, believing he was doing what was best for this child, his family and any future cases with similar dynamics. Yet his good intentions did mitigate the devastating impact of his choices on the Reimers.
As extreme as this story may sound, the reality is that we- the Church- face similar choices every day as we engage in God’s mission in the world. All too often, in the face of the brokenness and otherness of the people we encounter, we seek to fix and “normalize” them in ways we think are necessary for acceptance into the community of faith. How many cultures have been forced at point of sword to swallow our Western culture as part and parcel with Christianity? Just as David was robbed of the chance to father his own children, so to do we rob people of their uniqueness expression within the diverse Body of Christ.
“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it…” (I Cor. 12:26a, NASB)
We are one Body. While it is the others we wound that suffer the greatest consequences of our choices, we are not free from the damage. By destroying, changing or ignoring the unique creation of these others, created in the image of God, we destroy, change and ignore that part of our God that He intended for his whole Church.
Instead of seeing the otherness around us in the world as wounds to be healed or differences to be normalized, we must change our posture from one of well-intentioned superiority to one of humble mutuality. For, as we bring the Good News to the world, inviting others into the community of faith that is the Body of Christ, we stand to gain as much as those we are welcoming in. For every new person, culture, experience, etc.- in every difference we encounter something unique of the image of God that He instilled uniquely in each of us.
Where have you encountered Christ in someone very “other” than yourself?
Tags: Missional
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