Tag Archives: bible

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 9: Jesus Makes a List of Eunuchs

Jesus Hugging Woman
In the latest update to my long-running exploration of religion, faith, and transgender persons, I have now turned my attention upon Matthew 19:12. This is a somewhat curious bit of text, which is located very near the well-known phrases of “…suffer the children…” and “…what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:12 contains a list of the three different types of eunuch which Jesus recognizes as existing, but what’s most important is what Jesus doesn’t say – he holds no condemnation nor claim that the eunuchs have sinned.

You can read the entire article at the link below.

Matthew 19:12 | Transas City.

Transas City Chairwoman Speaks on the Radio a Second Time on Religion and Transgender Persons

Ardhanarisvara
Hello everyone. If you follow Transas City you’ve undoubtedly seen the series I’ve been posting on my research into the relationship between religion, faith, and transgender persons. Today I will be on the radio live at 1:00pm-2:00pm to speak on that very subject as part of The Tenth Voice on KKFI FM 90.1. Hostess Sandra Meade, the State Chair of the Kansas Equality Coalition, will interview me on my research, and you can stream the program over the web if you are outside the area via a link on KKFI’s home page.

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 8: Secrets of the Body and a Genderless Soul?

Ecclesiastes-115In our last roundup of the Old and New Testaments for a little while, I want to call out two specific passages which are concerned with the body and the soul. The first, from Ecclesiastes 11:5, is often interpreted as being a rejection of transgender people by telling us that we do not know more out ourselves than God knows about us – thus it’s presumptuous to say that we know we were born in the wrong body. The objection to transgender persons via this verse of course is hypocritical, in that the person objecting is also pronouncing that God never intended to create transgender persons in the first place. In other words, it’s “God-in-a-boxism” all over again.

ArdhanarisvaraThe second passage is from Galatians 3:28, and is concerned with the concept of whether souls have gender. This passage should be interpreted as favorable to transgender people in its plain-test reading, although different translations can change the intend very subtly. In the case of this verse, the substitution of “and” for “nor” makes a huge difference, and depending upon which translation one reads, one may have a completely different interpretation. For crying out loud, I think some of the newer translators might benefit from an old Schoolhouse Rock lesson.

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 7: Is Surgery a Sin?

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In the latest addition to our deconstruction of the misunderstandings of religion and how it views transgender and intersex persons, we address the versus contained within 1 Corinthians 6:18-20, which appear to prohibit most aspects of body transition.

Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

This at first appears to be a more vague version of Leviticus 19:28. However, what we find here is that Christianity has long since abandoned a strict prohibition against cosmetic body modification, so the question is raised as to why SRS or FFS is any more sinful than porcelain veneers, breast augmentation, or tummy tucks?

You can read a complete examination of these verses at the link below.1 Corinthians 6:18-20

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 6: Crossdressing, Femininity, and Corinthians

1_Corinthians_69Shalimar, the Latin Illusion – A Crossdresser

1 Corinthians in the New Testament is essentially the teachings of the Apostle Paul, via his letters to the early Christians of Corinth. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 contains text of special concern to transgender persons and gay men alike:

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (King James Version)

The fundamentalist view reads this text as damning crossdressers, transgender women, and gay men, and in fact it is often cited against us. However, like many passages of the Bible, a look at the original Greek in which Corinthians was composed, combined with an understanding of the context in which Paul was writing, reveals that he almost certainly wasn’t addressing LGBT persons of any era. You can read a complete examination of this verse at the link below.

1 Corinthians 6:9

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 5: Acts 8:26-40 – Transgender Acceptance

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In my latest exploration of the Bible and transgender persons, I explore the meaning of Acts 8:26-40. This is an important passage which tells the story of Philip and an Ethiopian eunuch, wherein the Ethiopian eunuch who was reading of Esaias (Isaiah) when Philip told him of the gospel of Jesus. The eunuch, so overcome with the new faith, asks what keeps him from being baptized and saved, and Philip replies:

…If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he[the eunuch] answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Acts 8:26-40 says it right there. Believe with all your heart that Jesus is the son of God, and you can be saved. Being transgender has nothing to do with anything.

Read more at the link below.

Acts 8:26-40

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 4: Genesis 2:18-24 – Men and Women Part Deux

Genesis_218
Genesis 2:18-24 seems almost redundant to casual readers, as it basically reinforces Genesis 1:27. Namely, that God created both men and women. However, where Genesis 1:27 states:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 2:18-24 says the following:

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner …” So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man …”

There is a specificity to the second quote which brings up some interesting questions with regard to gender and the Bible. The discussion of Genesis 1:27 can be found here, and the discussion of Genesis 2:18-24 can be found here.

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 3: Genesis 1:27 – Men, Women, and Nothing Else?

Genesis_127

This is one of the most common passages of the Bible which is used to beat up transgender and intersex persons, and it has a powerful effect because most Americans with any Christian exposure at all are familiar with the words. In this third exploration of how transgender and intersex persons really can exist in peace in religion, I deconstruct a false premise which again attempts to put God into a box.

As always, I welcome comments and am researching suggestions which have been kindly offered.

Genesis 1:27

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 2: Isaiah 56:4-5, Deuteronomy 23:1, and SRS

Deuteronomy_23_Eunuch_and_Philip
In this next installment of my exploration of the Bible and transgender persons, I review Isaiah 56:4-5 and Deuteronomy 23:1, both of which concern the acceptance of eunuchs. These texts are sometimes used to decry the use of GRS/SRS to treat gender dysphoria, but in reality there is a much more complex relationship at play. While it is true that Deuteronomy 23:1 appears to prohibit many forms of body modification, it does not differentiate between involuntary versus voluntary modification – something which some believe to be an incomplete and even haphazard ruling. But Isaiah 56:4-5 appears to over-rule Deuteronomy 23:1, in one of the very rare cases where God actually over-rules a previous religious law established by himself.

I recommend reading the shorter Deuteronomy 23:1 first, then Isaiah 56:4-5 so you can see the texts in the correct order.

The Bible and Transgender Persons Part 1 – A Deconstruction of Deuteronomy 22:5

Deuteronomy_22_Highland_Band

I’ve started to post my analyses of the Bible and how certain parts of it may or may not refer to transgender and intersex persons, and to deconstruct the fundamentalist religious interpretations of certain passages which lead people to condemn and commit violence against us. I’m going to post this link to Deuteronomy 22:5 first, which deals with the subject of cross-dressing.

I’ll let the link below do the rest of the talking for me, rather than repeat it. I intend to start posting my research on the Bible, which I started a month ago, about once per day.

Deuteronomy 22:5 and Transgender Persons

Trans Woman Dares Bible-Quoting Councilman to Stone Her to Death

I admire her courage for standing up and confronting this dingus. It never ceases to stun me how ignorant Christians can be about their own Bible. And how so hypocritical even literalists can be, openly violated the Bible while they dare to try to judge others. Once I had a short conversation with a Biblical literalist, which went like this:

Them: “…and what’s the most disgusting of all is we have these homosexuals spreading Satan’s teachings in our schools! You know the Bible says we should stone them to death, and maybe it’s about time we realized we’re a Christian nation and need to follow Christ’s teachings!”

Me: “Jesus said you were supposed to murder homosexuals?”

Them: “It’s not murder if you’re doing God’s will.”

Me: “OK, two questions. First, are you saying Jesus said you are supposed to kill your fellow humans if they’re gay, and second, why does the most powerful being in the Universe, who created the Universe and everything in it, need to have you as their personal hit man? Are you saying God is so helpless they can’t punish these evildoers themselves?”

Them: “Jesus loves us and wants us to obey his teachings. That’s all you need to know.”

Me: “You haven’t broken any Commandments or teachings in the Bible? How about the ones about never shaving and wearing tassels on your clothing? How about not stealing, something I know you’ve broken?”

Them: “We’re all sinners.”

Me: “So should I punish you? Can I put you to death for violating God’s will?”

Them: “No, because you don’t believe.”

Me: “But I do believe. You’ve just borne false witness. That’s another Commandment.”

Them: “Leave me alone or I’ll kick your ass.”

Me: “Did God just tell you to do that? Otherwise you’ve just threatened to break another Commandment.”

Sobering thought of the day: people like that are allowed to vote.

Trans Woman Dares Bible-Quoting Councilman to Stone Her to Death | Advocate.com.

Can God Make People Who Don’t Fit Into Our Boxes?

Seriously, this is an excellent, if lengthy read which any Christian or one who is among conservative Christians should read. Pastor Morgan Guyton makes a lengthy and logical plea for conservative Christians to accept transgender persons, using multiple references from the Bible, to accept that we are in fact following God’s directives in our transition. I think he builds a good case and shows a lot of sympathy. Although he seems to be a bit befuddled about why someone would be transgender, it ultimately doesn’t matter. The arguments herein could be very useful for presenting to relatives or acquaintances who decide to hate you based on their “understanding” of the Bible.

From the article:

Nothing is a greater abuse of the Christian doctrine of humanity’s “fallen nature” than to use it as a means of dismissing other peoples’ created uniqueness as a mistake. The fact of the matter is that the Bible says nothing prescriptively about what people should do when the gender that they were assigned at birth is not the gender with which they identify, or about how to distinguish the people who are “really” that way from the libertines who are “faking it.” In fact, in Matthew 19:12 Jesus refers to “eunuchs who were born that way,” the term “eunuch” broadly representing the ancient concept of people who don’t fit in the world as regular males or females. When Christians try to turn Genesis 1:28’s statement that “God created them male and female” into a prescriptive prohibition of the acknowledgment of transgender identities, it’s about as reasonable as saying that astronomy is a sin because Genesis 1:14 says that stars are lights that God built into a dome in the sky. (Oh, wait! That sounds like what the church did to Galileo and Copernicus.)

The real reason that, in such Christians’ minds, transgender or other gender-nonconforming people cannot be allowed to exist is that they represent an existential threat to the conservative evangelical fetish of gender complementarity. If God created some people both male and female, then how in the world can their gender expression and/or sexual orientation be adjudicated and policed by others? The biblical prohibition on homosexuality and gender transgression becomes meaningless if we can’t say for sure that everyone is either fully male or fully female, which would mean that cisgender, heterosexual Christians don’t get to give themselves a gold star for being “normal.”

There are all sorts of “liberal” and “conservative” idolatries that we can fall into around sexuality and gender. We shouldn’t be fetishizing either normalcy or exoticism. In both cases we are worshiping creation rather than the creator. I happen to think that we are best guided by Paul’s pragmatic guiding principles in 1 Corinthians 7 of “promoting good order and devotion to the Lord” when we think about these matters.

If someone’s “good order and devotion to the Lord” can be less disrupted by modifying their anatomy, or even just their gender presentation, to match their gender identity, then why should any reasonable Christian oppose that? When Russell Moore says that this smacks of the “Faustian myth of our own limitless power to recreate ourselves,” is he willing to take this kind of anti-scientific stance consistently against the use of medical technology for other biological issues like helping kids who are born without vital organs or with genetic diseases?

Can God Make People Who Don’t Fit Into Our Boxes? The Transgender Question | Morgan Guyton.