Friday, October 17, 2008

Trans-gression

Bear with me on this one, as its a real issue, not like some of my more speculative posts.

There is someone who I interact with on an occasional basis who is going through the transition from female to male. (S)he has already adopted a male name, dresses as a man and will eventually have gender reassignment surgery.

Not that (s)he's the church going type, but I wonder what the various different parts of the church would make of the situation. How would they relate?

You see, until recently she was a heterosexual female with identity issues - the sort of person that many churches would welcome with open arms. He's now going through the transition to being a homosexual male, someone who I imagine would not be half as welcome in most churches.

I'm not quite sure what to do (if anything). WWJD?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

WWJD, forgive his/her sins and ask her to follow him... that would be my best guess.

I'm currently studying transgender/transvestite/homosexual/gender dysphoria as part of my degree, and I'm moved at different levels by different arguments.

But as far as I am aware Christ spoke to individuals, not to political-legal-philosophical-religious systems. Every person needs to be brought within the scope of the bible; what does the bible say?...

I'm a protestant, it's yours to interpret.

John Cowart said...

The question here is not what a church body might or might not do, but how can you handle the situation.

Sounds to me as though your friend is going through a bad patch and, whatever the outcome, needs your friendship now more than ever.

If I were in your position, I think I'd try to treat her just as I'd treat any other lady... or treat him just as I'd treat any other guy friend.

What was it Jesus said about eunuchs? Some born that way, some made that way by men, and some "Which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of Heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it".

So, what would Jesus do? He'd fry up some fish on the beach and say, "What is that to thee? Follow thou me".

Anonymous said...

Agree with the other guys so far, just be a good friend.

My views on trans/homo/bisexuality lately are just that it is between the person involved and God. Currently, however, it seems a lot of the church treats trans/homo/bisexual in such a way that they will never come to know Christ and that to me is a huge shame.