Lois responds to reader: does transgender contradict the Bible?

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Hello,

I come to your blog seeking answers with respectful Christian curiosity […] Please respond to this query:

If God is perfect and all knowing; and the Bible is the Holy Spirit inspired instrument of his grace and peace. How can a contradiction in natural birth exist? 
How does the Transgender person of soul reconcile their spirit? 

Jeremiah 1:5: 
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Psalm 139:13-14:

For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

Again, a respectful query on reconciliation.
Thanks

Hello,

To respectfully seek answers, to reconcile ideas and people, to arrive at truth: these are all honorable aims.  I am delighted to respond as best as God lays on my heart.

First, both for ourselves and any other readers, let’s make sure we understand what is meant by soul and spirit.  I took the following from the BibleHub website.  It is similar to what I found on some other sites as well as confirming my previous understanding.

[T]here is in man a spiritual, reasonable, and immortal soul, the seat of our thoughts, affections, and reasonings, which distinguishes us from the brute creation, and in which chiefly consists our resemblance to God, Genesis 1:26. This must be spiritual, because it thinks; it must be immortal, because it is spiritual. Scripture ascribes to man alone understanding, conscience, the knowledge of God, wisdom, immortality, and the hope of future everlasting happiness. It threatens men only with punishment in another life, and with the pains of hell. In some places the Bible seems to distinguish soul from spirit, 1 Thessalonians 5:23 [and] Hebrews 4:12: the organ of our sensations, appetites, and passions, allied to the body, form the nobler portion of our nature which most allies man to God. Yet we are to conceive of them as one indivisible and spiritual being, called also the mind and the heart, spoken of variously as living, feeling, understanding, reasoning, willing, etc. Its usual designation is the soul.

First, a quick explanation of 1^st Thessalonians 5:23 and Hebrews 4:12.  My sense is that the inclusion of both “soul” and “spirit” in these verses is meant as an amplification, not as distinguishing.  We can see that more easily in the Hebrews verse.  When the two-edged sword is described as dividing asunder soul and spirit, it means both, not dividing “soul from spirit”. 

So the simple answer is that if humankind, while we walk this earth as corporeal creatures, are not spirit, but have an eternal soul that has a spiritual nature and therefore includes spirit, then the soul and spirit, even for a Transgender, must be reconciled with each other.  Otherwise, you would be talking about some sort of split personality.  No one I know of, not even our worst detractors, claims that about us.

But let’s look at a broader question of contradiction.  Since God is all-knowing (there is no “if” about it) and the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God, then is there some contradiction between people who claim to be born transgender and God’s Word? 

Let’s take Psalm 139:13-14 first, since that is an all-encompassing situation rather than a verse that applies to one particular person.  I considered this passage so important to discuss that I wrote a three-part blog post on it in the first month of this blog back in November 2013.  (The reader is reminded that I was using the older term, transsexual, at that time.) 

I will provide a link back to those posts so the reader can have further details.  But to summarize for the purpose of this answer, I point out how interesting it is that when these two verses are used as a proof text that transgender is not of God, verse 15 is never included to give the full context of these verses.  It is quite inconvenient to their claims of contradiction to call to mind that every one of us, transgender and cisgender alike, was curiously formed in the lower parts of the earth.

When sin entered into the world, death and corruption entered in with it.  So while the Lord God has final say over everyone how everyone is formed, no one is born perfectly whole and complete.  The imperfections are not sin in and of themselves (think of the passage when Jesus’ disciples ask who sinned, the blind man or his parents).  Furthermore, if someone had been born who was without spot or blemish, there would have been no reason for God to have sent His only begotten Son to shed His blood and nail our sins to the cross.  Only Jesus, born of the Holy Spirit, could have been the perfect Passover lamb to save us, one perfect sacrifice for all time. 

While we are in the Psalms, we ought not forget Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  It is another Biblical reminder of our humble origins.

https://ts4jc.wordpress.com/2013/11/18/i-am-fearfully-a…ully-made-part-1/

https://ts4jc.wordpress.com/2013/11/19/i-am-fearfully-a…ully-made-part-2/

https://ts4jc.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/i-am-fearfully-a…ully-made-part-3/

That brings us to the Jeremiah verse that you cited.  And guess what?  I cited that same verse in Part 3 of my blog post series “I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”.  Look closely at that verse again.  God is not just telling Jeremiah that He formed him in the womb.  He is also telling Jeremiah He knew what manner of person he would become.  This means God knows Jeremiah on the inside: his heart, soul and spirit, not just his skin color, bone structure and yes genitalia. 

Now here’s the question: based on which group of characteristics does God chose Jeremiah to be a prophet, the first group or the second?  Obviously the first group. This is how God identifies Jeremiah as a person. 

None of this is meant to say or imply that Jeremiah is transgender.  What I am saying is that God’s primary identification of us is based on what’s inside, not on what’s outside; the spiritual and eternal, not the physical and temporal.  Only a relatively small percentage of people are born transgender.  But we have been around since the earliest days of recorded history.  I’m not a scholar of ancient languages, but I’m told that the subject of transgender people was dealt with in the Code of Hammurabi.  And my learned Jewish friends (as well as Christians who have researched this topic) tell me that in the rabbinical writings of Classical Judaism, there is provision for six genders, not two.

There is one thing that neither you or anyone else I have discussed the topic with has ever been able to produce: a Bible verse that states that the inner spirit of a person must match the outer anatomy when it comes to gender identity.  I have been reading the Bible faithfully, daily most of the time, from cover to cover over and over again, for over 25 years.  This was always an important topic for me.  That verse would have leapt off the page for me.  Those Christians who naysay transgender would be raising it as a banner.  But they can’t because it doesn’t exist.

But is there scripture that suggests the opposite?  I believe so.  They are the very words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:12.  Jesus describes three categories of eunuchs: those who were born that way, those who were made that way by someone else and those who made themselves eunuchs.   

Now the lesson that Jesus is teaching to His disciples directly relates to the ability of a person to resist sexual temptation and therefore be able to remain single without falling into fornication (any sexual activity outside of marriage).  But there are two things to keep in mind.  First, that Bible teaching can have layers of meaning.  Second, when Jesus taught in parables, He used examples and situations that the people of His day were familiar with.  Therefore, even though scripture is eternal, Jesus never would have taught a parable that referred directly to computers or nuclear weapons. 

Of the three categories, the most familiar would have been those who had been made eunuchs by someone else.  Although the Jews did not practice it, it was a familiar practice for the rulers of the neighboring countries to castrate certain people, whether of their own nation or a defeated nation, for various purposes: watching over harems, becoming trusted advisors who would not be aggressive enough to become rivals, and so on.  Since these eunuchs were neither born that way nor did so of their own volition, the most familiar category is of no further interest.

The less familiar two categories are where we draw our attention.  Remember that Jesus and his disciples would have been familiar with the six genders of classical Judaism. 

The person born a eunuch could be someone born with male anatomy but is impotent and acts more feminine upon reaching puberty.  Such a person would likely be saris and would be considered male to female transgender today.  Or it could be someone identified as female at birth who displays a masculine personality at puberty.  That person would have been identified as ay’lonit in Jesus’s time and female to male today.

What of the person who makes “himself” a eunuch?  Yes, that could be someone seeking to live a celibate life and needing to take extraordinary means to accomplish that purpose.  It was not uncommon for men of the early Christian church to undergo castration to live a celibate life of service.  However, a saris could also fit this description: someone assigned male at birth but who now lacks male genitalia, in this case voluntarily ridding themselves of unwanted body parts to live as in the preferred female gender.

It should be noted that Jesus does not speak disparagingly of any of these eunuchs.  If He had reason to, He either would have used a different example or phrased the parable in a different way. 

We have one more example relating to genitalia (in particular male genitalia) where the spiritual is more important than the physical.  Deuteronomy 10:16 taught: Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. 

Nor is this an isolated verse.  We see this theme repeated in Leviticus 26:41, Deuteronomy 30:6 and Jeremiah 4:4.  And that devout scripture student, the Apostle Paul, picks up this theme in Romans 2:28-29 and Colossians 2:11.  These teachings have import far beyond transgender.  It permits Jewish women to stand before the cross of Christ and the Throne of Grace on equal footing with Jewish men.  And it permits physically uncircumcised Gentiles to do the same.  Indeed, this was one of the first debates in the young Christian church when evidence of the Holy Spirit’s anointing of Gentiles was first reported. Would these Gentile men be required to undergo circumcision?  It was eventually deemed unnecessary.  God had already circumcised their hearts.

Apparently we haven’t come very far in 2000 years.  People are still focusing on the less important physical attributes, willing to limit ourselves to what we can see.  As God truly observed in 1^st Samuel 16:7, man judges by the outer appearance, but God judges by the inner things of the heart.  Are we not called upon to grow in spiritual maturity so that we see things as God sees them?

For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. – Romans 2:28-29

God bless,

Lois

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• Omnipresent God

I don’t want men in the women’s bathroom either …

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I don’t want men in the women’s bathroom either …

… but as always, the devil’s in the details … and in the definitions.

So this is the new rallying cry, is it?  “No men in women’s bathrooms.”

Well I happen to agree.  A man has no right in a public women’s bathroom.  What I disagree on is their definition of man and woman, male and female.

It continues to sadden me that certain segments of the Christian population are spearheading this attack on the safety of transgender people.  But what saddens me particularly today is the blatant disregard for truth by these Christians.  Love of the truth should be one of the hallmarks of a Christian.

The word “truth” occurs 117 times in the Old Testament and 118 times in the considerably shorter New Testament.  It is a major theme in the Gospel of John and John’s epistles.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. – John 1:17

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. – John 4:24

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. – John 8:32

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. – John 14:6

Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. – John 14:17

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. – John 16:13

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. – John 17:17

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. – 1^st John 2:21

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. – 1^st John 3:18-19

John was not the only New Testament writer to deal with truth.  Here are some verses from Paul’s epistles.

[Charity] Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; – 1^st Corinthians 13:6

But [we] have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. – 2^nd Corinthians 4:2

For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. – 2^nd Corinthians 13:8

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. – Ephesians 4:25

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) – Ephesians 5:9

And still more verses from the New Testament:

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. – James 1:18

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. – James 3:14

Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: – 1^st Peter 1:22

Now what truth does this segment of Christianity ignore, deny and dispute?

• They dispute our personal testimony. Even with conservative estimates of the frequency of transgenderism, hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and millions around the world claim that this is our story, our experience, our reality.  It is the testimony of little children whose lives are improved when they are allowed to live in their true gender identity.  It is the testimony of people of my generation, baby boomers, who tried to repress and deny the truth about ourselves even more than our opponents do.  But our identities persisted despite everything we did.  It is the testimony of many fine, upstanding citizens and many whose potential is untapped because of discrimination.  It is the testimony of Christians like me who have and continue to proclaim Christ, tenaciously holding onto our faith in the face of every attack we have received from those who claim to speak for the church and for Christ.
• The ignore the danger that transgender people face every day because of bigotry and hatred against us. They ignore the horrific murder rate against transgender people, a rate that is most likely even higher than reported in a world where many murders are reported with the transgender identity of the victim hidden behind rejected name and gender; where there are many countries (e.g. Russia and China) where our very existence is denied.  They ignore the even greater danger we would face if forced to use spaces based on our gender assigned at birth rather than our true gender.
• They outright lie about transgender people being a danger. Earlier this month, a sheriff with 41 years of law enforcement experience unequivocally gave testimony to the legislature of his state that he has “never heard of a transgender person attacking or otherwise bothering someone in a restroom. This is a non-issue.”  This is not a sheriff in the liberal Northeast or California.  This is Leon Lott, Richland County (SC) Sheriff since 1996.  His county includes the state capital, Columbia, so he serves in a populated area.  In addition, any law enforcement official at his level is going to keep up-to-date on crime trends and issues outside of his own area, especially once the issue rises to the be on the front burner in his state and around the country.  The plain truth is that of the jurisdictions that have passed laws protecting the right of transgender people to use bathrooms consistent with their innate gender, laws that have been in place for many years in some cases, there have been ZERO problems.  In addition, when transgender people are in public, we have to use restrooms.  So even in locales where such protections don’t exist, we fearfully use the restroom that corresponds to our identity.  Again there have been ZERO problems.
• They dispute the preponderance of learned opinion of the medical community, in the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. They were very willing to accept their findings decades ago when these groups had little to go on in the way of research and real life experience.  But with nearly three full generations of evidence at hand (and more being gathered), these respected organizations have updated their opinions and protocols based on the enlightenment gathered from their findings.  Somehow in our opponents mind, without evidence, this is all a plot.  Instead, they lean on discredited studies, discredited psychiatrists, rogue organizations and misrepresentation of valid studies.  (I’m old enough to have lived through this before.  I can remember when rock ‘n roll was supposedly a communist plot.)
• They often lie and hide their true motive for waging this battle. But not always.  With a debate version of three-card monte, they deftly shift from reason to reason behind their legislation and umbrage.  When the moral/Biblical argument is rejected, they shift to the need to protect women as the purpose.  When that argument is countered, then it becomes a matter of a right to privacy: balancing the rights of transgender people against that of cisgender women.
  • As far as the moral/Biblical argument, I will touch upon that in the next bullet point. As far as the protection argument, I have already shown that to be a canard.  But I will take it one step further.  There is a group known to be a danger primarily to women and children.  They are the people on the sex offender list.  Where is their hue and cry about such people being allowed to use public bathrooms?  And as far as transgender protection laws opening the door for perverts to take advantage of it (recently parroted by Curt Schilling, among others), not only doesn’t it happen, they (many of whom are staunch 2^nd Amendment defenders) would never apply the same rationale to strict gun control measures just because a small minority of people in our society actually do carry out horrific violence using firearms.
  • As far as the privacy argument, the only bathrooms I have ever seen where the stalls had no doors was in men’s locker rooms. (I hated them.  I avoided using them whenever I could.)  A naked cisgender woman in a public women’s bathroom would likely receive a negative response unless it was a clear case of a medical problem.  I have never seen someone in a public bathroom whose genitals were in plain sight unless they were on the changing table.  In spaces where nudity is more likely to be involved, the topic is more sensitive.  (I never totally disrobe when I go to my gym, and there are private changing stalls if I ever would need to.) But even here, social custom is changing for reasons other than transgender.  When I went to my 40^th college reunion two years ago (Cornell), the dorm where my class was housed is a coed dorm.  Most of the student rooms do not have private bathrooms.  The common bathrooms (including showers) are also coed.  This is a growing trend according to what I have read.
• They distort or err on what the Bible says on the topic of transgender. I have written many blog posts countering their arguments (in conjunction with all the medical evidence that has been gathered on the nature of transgenderism).  The short version is that very little can be found in the Bible on the topic and the term is not found in the Holy Scriptures.  Of course, there are many modern terms (e.g. democracy and republic) that are not found there, either.  The closest we can come is when Jesus describes three types of eunuchs in Matthew 19:12.  The person who is born a eunuch could describe a number of situations, including someone who is transgender.  Most importantly, Jesus does not condemn any of the three examples, consistent with many instances in which the new and better covenant is more inclusive than the old.  And as to whether God defines us by our mind/spirit or our body parts, I have shown by many verses the preponderance of evidence that He identifies us by our mind/spirit.

Please understand that this is not a transgender vs Christianity issue, nor should it be.  I and a number of friends are evidence that a person can be both.  And I have many devout conservative Christians in my life who are accepting and supportive.

I know full well that there are a number of topics on which Christians are in disagreement.  And there is always room for honest disagreement.  But what hurts the most is the vitriol directed by this segment of the Christian population at the transgender community.  And even if Christianity has come under attack from some segments of the transgender community (and I will not descend into a “who started it” black hole), Christians are not supposed to return evil for evil.  We are called to a higher purpose.

Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. – 1^st Corinthians 10:32-33

When you read the many verses earlier in my post, you may have noticed a connection between truth and a loving attitude.  (If not, look again.)  Even if the segment of Christians who I have called out in this post earnestly believe what they are preaching about transgender people, all Christians are admonished to be “… speaking the truth in love …” (Ephesians 4:15).

God bless,

Lois

Christian Mom Encounters Transgender Woman In Bathroom: These ‘Ghastly Things’ Happened Next

Another Christian Blogger’s Viewpoint on Matthew 19, Genesis 1, Intersex and Transgender

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Benjamin L Corey, birth defects, brain, Brain Gender, Christian theology, Creation, Differences of Sex Development, Dr. Megan DeFranza, eunuch, Fall of mankind, Formerly Fundie, Genesis 1:27, God, goodness, Intersex, Jesus, Matthew 19:12, Melissa Hines, Old Testament, sexual organ, The Salvation Army, Transgender, Transsexual

The past two days have been full of ups and downs.  On the down side, I got my monthly maintenance bill from the new management company that has just been hired for my apartment building.  It took me over two years of dealing with lawyers and assistants, foul ups by Citicorp Mortgage or my County Clerk office in recording my mortgage payoff, and foot dragging by the former management company to get my new stock certificate and even longer to get the name changed on my monthly bill.  My first bill from the new management company somehow has my old name on it again.

Another minor annoyance happened with I bought something at Staples today.  I am supposed to get a discount as a perk from the company that I purchase my tax software from.  There was no discount.  So I have to look into that on Monday.

On the plus side, I received a call this afternoon from one of my clients.  He had built my previous computer for me, the one whose power supply died at the end of April.  When he built it back in July 2011, he was able to take my existing computer at that time and make a virtual hard drive of it because there was some old tax software and a few other programs that would not run on Windows 7.  Today he had time to move the virtual hard drive to my new computer.  In some cases, I will find ways to get the data from the VHD.  In other cases, I will just use the programs until I am forced to upgrade to a newer version of Windows and can no longer use them.

I also received an interesting e-mail from the woman at the Salvation Army who invited me to start attending church at the corps nearest to me.  As part of an online course she is taking from a Christian college, her instructor posted a link to a blog post entitled “If God Only Made Male & Female, What About Intersex?”  It appears on “Formerly Fundie: The Official Blog of Benjamin L. Corey.”

Corey admits that while he has wanted to post a blog on this subject, he is not an expert in this area.  So he interviews Dr. Megan DeFranza who is an expert.

Much of the post echoes things that I have already posted (even if I do not qualify yet as an expert).  I do agree with Dr. DeFranza that those who are born with mixed sex characteristics are not proof of the fall into sin.  On the other hand, I do maintain that once sin and corruption entered into the world, so did birth defects.  What is important to remember is that a sexual organ or gender related birth defect is no more sinful than any other birth defect.

I was generally pleased with how the connection was made between Intersex and Transgender within the constraints of a short blog post and interview.  It is correct to recognize that not all Intersex individuals are Transgender.  But mindful that the brain is also an organ of the body, I make note of growing evidence that many transgender individuals are also Intersex.

What intrigued me most about the post and the interview with Dr. DeFranza is that she gives a historical account of how Judaism in the Old Testament era, Jesus and early Christianity dealt with Intersex individuals.  She compares part of Jesus’ statement about eunuchs in Matthew 19 to the way that Jews had special laws for those who were born with characteristics of both male and female.

So here I had just written that I needed to do more study on Matthew 19 and nine days later, God lays at least some of that in my lap.  God is good all the time and all the time God is good: for that is the nature of God.

Rather than rehash Corey’s entire blog post, here is a link to it:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/if-god-only-made-male-female-what-about-intersex/

There are also links to Dr. DeFranza’s book and her blog at the end of Corey’s blog post.

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. – Matthew 19:12

God bless,

Lois