Christian Responses to Transgenderism and Intersexuality

links of london pendants is at discount, and links london pendants with top quality and fashion style. Silver links london pendants have cheap price here, with which you are interested and surprised. Come here quickly to enjoy it.

  It has been  my experience that there are exceptions to the common held beliefs.  I have had conversations with LGBT's and I have come to the following conclusions:
(1)   Some aren't "born that way", some choose their orientation due to past abuse, rape, etc
(2)  Some people do go from being homosexual to heterosexual (and vice versa)
(3)  Some interpretations of Romans 1 explain the passage of "exchaning natural relations.." in that staright men are so lustful that they will in a sense go after whatever they can just to be able to satisfy themselves.  This is 100% true, go take a look at the craigslist personals and how many married men seek other men for a quickie to satisfy themselves.

In all cases though we need to approach others with love.  If we feel that homosexuality is wrong then fine, butwe don't need tobeat them over the head with it.  We don't need to quote bible verses either.  They've no doubt heard them many, many times.  They are looking for a place to be loved.
  I don't believe anyone is going to change their sexuality because they got a bible verse quoted to them, as if they'd say "Oh really I never heard that before, well I guess i have been wrong all this time...".  Althoughthat is how many Christians approach this issue, that we think we're so much smarter than everyone else.  Or worse yet that we earn our salvation by being good.  Instead grace is freely given.  And because it has been freely given to us, even though we don't deserve it we are loved so much that we should share that with others. 
  If we feel the need to change someone then let us change ourselves into a living example of God's love.
 

Churches need to be welcoming to all people and journey with them. I don't mean that we shouldn't share our views and convictions. In this particular issue the possible moral aspects are not at all clear. The science behind all this is not at all clear.

1.) My own views on Gender Ambiguity (such as they are) have been informed by the following:

a.) In college I was a chemistry major. This has not only gave me a strong and enduring "hard science" bias against psychology, it also first introduced me to the complexities of human gender. In advanced Organic Chemistry we began to touch on some of the facts of animal & human biochemistry. Our professor showed us, in a series of chemical formulas, the relationships between the human sex hormones. After filling the board with diagrams, formulas and reactions, he, then, turned to the class and said (his words not mine): "And, given what you see on the board, it's a wonder more of us aren't screwed up than are!" We laughed.

But, that lecture left a lasting impression on me. When you actually hear the facts of human gender on the chemical/hormonal level, it's a little ... um, eye opening... or something.

b.) In the 1980's I heard Mansell Pattison lecture on sexuality and homosexuality. Pattison's view on homosexuality was that it is developmental (along the lines that Nicolosi or Socarides or others associated with NARTH would maintain). In one of his lectures he dealt with the development of gender in human beings. It is a complex process and there are a number of things that can go wrong. He felt very strongly that Gender Reassignment Surgery was justified in certain cases. There are apparently several different types of gender anomalies that can and do occur in the human species. And, again, given the facts of human development, both physical and emotional, it's a small wonder things don't go wrong more often than they do!

I think this impressed me all the more because of Pattison's conservative SideB views on homosexuality. His research was in "religiously motivated" change in sexual orientation. In fact Pattison's old study is constantly floating around the Internet as proof of homosexual "change."

c.) Subsequent interaction with transsexual individuals on the Internet has also given me considerable "food for thought."

One early example still stands out in my mind. Quite a while ago I read an long and painful exchange in the alt.religion.christian newsgroups between a transgendered person in the Southern Baptist Church who was going by the name of "Jennifer Ussher" (I think) and her many detractors. It was heartbreaking to read -- on many levels! Since it was a Usenet discussion, she got flamed repeatedly from all sides. But, she hung in there. She was castigated, condemned, called a pervert, etc. Bible verses were thrown at her (the OT on cross-dressing and malakos in 1 Corinthians 6) -- and all for what? She'd already had the operation, for crying out loud. And, I don't really think those verses relate to the "transgender" phenomenon -- whatever that may be! (I wish I knew what malakos in 1 Cor 6 refers to. I am not at all sure.)

Since that time I have had other opportunities to interact with transsexual individuals. It has given me quite a bit of food for thought. I have appreciated hearing about their (very different from mine) expereince of life.

While I believe there is a strong Christian moral case against same-gender sex acts, any case against transsexualism is very shaky, indeed -- in fact, upon close examination, nonexistent.


(2.) Nonetheless, I am inclined to want to defend the notion that gender is "bipolar." There are two poles, though there are also some people who are inter-sexed. What I would want to avoid is something like this: