Do Souls Have a Gender?

I recently participated in a conversation that started out with a question about when a preop MtF should change the formula for a Jewish prayer. Since my background is Mormon I really couldn't answer that question although someone who is Jewish came up with an answer that made a great deal of sense.

I don't really want to go into the nature of that part of the discussion. That is not important for what I intend to discuss here. But as the thread progressed, the question came up as to whether or not souls have gender. (And soul here is interchangeable with spirit). To be perfectly honest, I really don't know although it does fit with my ideas on the matter of why people have problems with gender identity in the first place.

Although when science disagrees with me, I strongly suspect science is usually right, I don't think there's any conflict here. The physical causes of transgenderism are fairly well understood, but what if there is a spiritual connection?

What if somehow our spirits got put into the wrong bodies? If such is the case, it also begs the question, why? Assuming there is an omniscient, omnipotent, and perfect God it was not a mistake. We can all hope he has some purpose for doing so and it is not just a joke being played on all of us. At times I want to believe the former, but I honestly do believe the challenges given to us in our lives are there to help us improve. I can only hope that the sort of fighting I've done with myself over it for the longest time will lead to something positive, rather than the usual fear and anxiety I face over it. As it seems to be a confusing part of this journey through my life, I do not yet know where it will lead. I can't even be sure if it's worth it, or if it's not just one of those internal Hells people are so skilled at creating for themselves.

I'm afraid I can't end this quite as neatly as I'd like to today. I'd love to be able to write some confident sounding paragraph at the end of this blog entry and be done with it, but I suspect whatever readers I have will have their own answers. I welcome your comments.