Transgender and Christian

[Gennee]

There is a wonderful essay about finding our identity as transgender people and as Christians. Whenever time permits I suggest reading it
(www.religiondispatches.org.).
Allyson Robinson shares her story of struggling with her transgender identity. I I see that much of her struggle had, not so much to do with gender, but of the strict religious orthodoxy in many mainline churches. Robinson believed that being transgender was something wrong. It was a sin and an abomination.
While I believe that religious tenets are valuable they are not finite. Many denominations over the centuries changed their belief systems in regards to slavery, women, Native-Americans, the poor, immigrants, aids, and now LGBT people.
There are times when God moved in another direction. It’s up to the congregants to decipher and go in God’s direction. When the church becomes stagnant it loses its power and spirit and eventually it dies. Many transgender people who are Christians have left church because of the cold shoulder and disapproval among the other congregants. I can’t blame for leaving; I would too.
The church has always been a part of my life. I believe that it is one place that anyone should be able to go to for spiritual nourishment. Many churches are
nothing more than social cliques and status symbols. If you don’t believe like they do, look like them, or think like them, you are considered an outsider.
It is implied that one cannot be Christian and transgender. As a transgender woman and a Christian I totally reject that idea. One of the hallmarks of the first century Christian was its inclusiveness. For the first time women, disabled, the disenfranchised, the sick, and slaves could come and worship. I will add that there were gender variant individuals also (I may cause some to chastise me on the last point). It also demonstrates God’s variety.
One obstacle I find in some churches regarding transgender people is expectations. Transgender people are told that we are going against God’s plan for our lives. My question is how they know what God’s plan for my life is unless it is revealed to them. God’s plans may not always fit our perceptions of what his plan is for us. That includes gender and sexuality. Never in my mind did I think that being transgender would be germane to His plan for my life.
There are many transgender people who are Christians. They desire to be part of a like-minded group who embrace their spirituality. We don’t have to justify our being transgender because God has made us this way. I support LGBT rights just as much as I encourage transgender people to reclaim their spirituality.

Gennee

[Victoria]

If God transcends Gender,
and we are Made in His/Their image, and likeness,
Does it not follow that we, also, transcend Gender?

[BenL]

If God created both male and female in God's own image (as the Bible says, and I would add everything in between or outside of the binary), then doesn't it follow that God personfies the essence of both male and female and everything else related to gender?

I think so.

[Gennee]

Victoria, Ben, I agree with you on that point. It's amazing that some churches haven't seen that. It's very clear to me in the Scriptures. That's why being transgender was never an issue with me when I came out.

Gennee

[BrianB]

Victoria, one of the names of God; El Shaddai, can be translated "the breasted one". That clearly implies that God trancends gender. Some christians just can't wrap their mind around that idea. They end up fearing what they don't understand.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by BrianB

Some christians just can't wrap their mind around that idea. They end up fearing what they don't understand.

Well, all the Anti-Female sentiment that's been pushed on the world for... only God knows How long... it's no wonder that they can't see the Truth.

~Everyone~ is Feminine in the presence of the Father... So what happens then, knowing that The Holy Spirit is Feminine, and that to Deny her is told to be the only unforgivable Sin... In the context of the Father of Lies, what Lie could be more hurtful to God's Children, other than that God is "male only", as Roman Catholics have always tried to say, when it says ~explicitly~, right at the ~beginning~ of the book, Otherwise?

I fear that they've replaced the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom, with the Spirit of Fear and Lies... and they can't even see it yet =(

To me it seems that the world is finally coming to understand this, even if they don't have the whole truth of it yet, and even if it's slow going, that LGBT Folks ~already know~, as we ourselves are Guided by the Spirit of Truth, when we Dare to do what we Know to be Right, Regardless of fear, Regardless of persecution, and Regardless of the lies we've been told all our lives, and the lives our those before us. We know this, and understand this, That God Makes Us This Way.

God made us this way. Why can't some supposedly Christian people see that, in this cursed, backwards world, how easily possible it is that some of us might have been "cursed" to ~be~ female, and ~live~ in a male body, and vice versa? To ~be~ Feminine, but Forced to live as Masculine as possible, and vice versa?

If the Devil's Curse is Made to be God's Blessing, might it not also be that we are here to give these same people opportunities to ~Not~ judge, as they were instructed? Might He also use us as ~Proof~ God is Male and Female, by Giving us prime examples of people who are Both male and female, in a variety of clear and understandable ways, knowing we are made in His image? Why do people so often choose Fear-filled views, rather than Love-filled ones? What the Hell are they Afraid of? When He Told us we have Nothing to Fear?

He made us. He loves us, and He hopes that we might ~choose~ to Love Him Back.

I've already made my choice, and I'll keep making the same one, every day, and always. =)




Sorry if my ideas are a little scattered here, they come from a few ideas I've been working on for awhile now ;-)

[souly]

Thank you so much on sharing this essay.