Wouldn’t the world be such a better place if everyone were like you? I mean, if you think secular movies are bad for our culture, is it a sin if Christians go see them? And secular music. Music that doesn’t point to the Lord. Is it a sin if Christians listen to it? What about dancing? Many Christians think dancing is a sin, maybe you’re one of them. So you would condemn Christians who go to a nightclub and dance? If dancing is sinful, is it a sin to go watch a ballet? I mean, you’re not actually the one doing the dancing are you?

We Christians are the BEST when it comes to finding Biblical justification to judge others.

What about alcohol? I remember being in high school and the pastor at my Baptist church mentioned how the wine in the Bible wasn’t strong like the wine today, and that’s the reason to stay away from it. Are people who drink alcohol guilty of sinning simply by putting the glass to their lips?

We Christians are the BEST when it comes to finding Biblical justification to judge others. Really. We are the best!

We take Ephesians 5:18 that says “Do not get drunk on wine” and condemn everyone who consumes any amount of alcohol, leaving out the rest of the verse that reads “which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit”. Well, a glass of wine in and of itself usually doesn’t lead to debauchery, at least I hope in most people. In fact Christians who drink wine are perfectly able to have a glass of wine AND be filled with the Spirit at the same time. But if you personally think any alcohol is a sin, then you just concentrate on the first six words of that verse and ignore everything else. You ignore that Jesus turned vats of water INTO wine for wedding guests. In fact it was the very first recorded miracle he ever performed. I don’t know how you reconcile Jesus’ action providing a substance that leads to debauchery with what you believe to be a sin.

People who are transgender live in a state of torment

But the examples above are poor examples to use as contrast because they all involve choices. We as Christians make the choice to drink wine (or any alcohol) or not, we make the choice to go to secular movies, concerts, etc. or not. We don’t have to, but for most of us we can appreciate the artful expression without making it our God or letting it influence our living for the Lord.

In Biblical times, people who were born with a difference were thought to be the product of a parent’s sin (a generational sin). In Jerusalem Jesus saw a man who was born blind. Even His disciples asked Him “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John chapter 9). So it was common thinking at the time that people born with a defect or anomaly were either guilty of a sin or their parents were. I guess the thinking was that God knew you were going to sin in a BAD way, so he punished you at birth by giving you a birth defect.

Fortunately I don’t know of anybody today that still believes that (though I’m sure there is someone, somewhere with a few friends living in a cave or log cabin somewhere and handling snakes that believe it). We know that anomalies at birth occur for a variety of reasons, some are genetic (i.e. in our DNA) and passed down from our parents. Others are environmental, for example mothers who smoke during pregnancy have a higher risk of having a baby prematurely, or having low birth weight or even a risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). And some things just happen in the womb for reasons not fully understood.

We know for example how Down Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis occurs in babies. However there are birth defects like Anencephaly in which the brain and bones in the skull don’t develop normally in the womb, and it’s not really known yet what causes this condition. Sadly babies born with Anencephaly usually die in the first few hours or days after being born.

This isn’t about sex.

Many reading this would consider being Transgender a sin, because they consider it a choice that someone has made. And in a sense you are right and also wrong, but not for the reason you think.

I have been transgender since the day I was born. I don’t know (and medical science isn’t sure either, but they are finding clues) why or how it is that I’m wired the way I am, but I am. I didn’t realize it until I was around seven years old, and even then it was the sense that I was different, and shortly after that it came into focus that “I wanted to be a girl” (that is how a seven year old would put it). I did however make a choice. I chose to live (rather than die) when I could no longer live as the person my body said I was supposed to be (as the world saw it).

People who are transgender live in a state of torment, because they/we know that we aren’t wired the same as our body. It’s an anomaly that is not yet fully understood, but an anomaly none the less.

Rather than end the torment by ending my life, I CHOSE to transition and life my live as a female. Yes, my DNA didn’t magically change, I didn’t magically get nine inches shorter in height, develop a cute button nose and was able to sing like a soprano.

What I WAS able to do, and what others who transition are able to do, is relate to the rest of the world in a way that makes sense.

This isn’t about sex. If you hadn’t gone there yet you would soon, because every rebuttal I’ve ever heard come from people eventually refers to sex and usually homosexuality, which this has nothing to do with. If you’re heterosexual it’s because you’re attracted to the opposite sex. If you’re homosexual you’re attracted to the same sex. Being transgender has NOTHING to do with who you are attracted to. Being transgender is being just as sure that WHO you are (in a gender identity way) doesn’t match your body as you being just as sure that your identity DOES match your body.

How Should I Live My Life? Your way or God’s way?

The hard part for many Christians to understand is that Christians who are transgender love Jesus every bit they do. That Christians who are transgender want to serve the Lord every bit as much as non-transgender Christians do. In fact because of the rejection many who are transgender get from the Christian community, there is research that Christians who are transgender attend church more often than anyone, simply because they/we want to be a part of that community so badly.

Christians who are transgender are torn. They are torn often to the point of killing themselves. That’s because they are told time and time again from Christians that being transgender is a sin, and to “remain” transgender will condemn them to hell. And not being able to reconcile who they know they are from birth from what they are being told by Christians and even pastors, they do in fact end their lives. That’s on all of us who claim Christ yet feel compelled to condemn those who can’t change who they were born as. You might as well condemn someone born with no arms for not being able to grow new arms on their own.

Being transgender is not a choice. No one would choose this. It’s not fun. It’s not easy before you transition and it’s not easy even after you transition. After transitioning, at least it’s an “abnormality” that you can live with (at least for most, but even then some can’t live with it.)

How Should I Live My Life? Your way or God’s way?

The greatest struggle Christians who are transgender face is “how do I live and honor God”. There is so much judgement from the outside saying you’re not honoring God by being transgender, but if honoring God is loving Him and loving others, I think you’ll find Christians who are transgender are ahead of the general Christian population in that category. We love the Lord in spite of the rejection and judgement we receive from our fellow Christians, and even our own family.

Christians who are transgender struggle through a lot to get to the point they realize that God still loves them, and that they are now released to show His love to others.

And yes, I’m painfully aware that I too am being hypocritical when calling out Christians for wrongfully judging people, I’m being judgmental. I leave myself at the mercy of the Lord Almighty, who justly judges and loves unconditionally. Something we humans don’t have the capacity to do.

I hope you’ll find a way to accept your transgender brother or sister in Christ as your brother or sister. Accept. Not tolerate. Not put up with or make nice until it becomes inconvenient for you. Full, loving and unconditional acceptance. Stop listening to the news about the activists, they are outside the norm just as most activists are. Christians who are transgender don’t want to turn your boys into girls or your girls into boys (I’ve actually seen Christian journalists say that). They just want to be accepted for the person they are, to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ just as you do, without an agenda. To actually BE a part of the family of God, adopted into His kingdom just as you were.

-Blessings

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