Tennessee lawmakers recently passed a law banning all gender
affirming care for minors, as well as a ban restricting performances in public
by Drag performers. These lawmakers are leading the country in pushing
fear and hatred of others under the guise of “Christianity” and what they
consider to be God’s natural order. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/02/tennessee-governor-bill-lee-signs-anti-trans-bill-drag-restrictions-into-law/69937336007/
I am sure that if you talked to any of them, they would
claim that we should all be “how God made us,” and that “God doesn’t make
mistakes.” I have been hearing this all my life. I’m not here
to argue that God makes mistakes. In
fact, I’d offer the opposite, but I know for sure that humans do.
The naïve, simplistic belief that we are all born “male” or
“female,” is, both scientifically and biblically invalid.
Matthew 9:12 speaks of Eunuchs who were “born that way,” which has to at least
confuse the issue for those who take every word of the Bible as
infallible.
Factually, there are many babies born with “ambiguous
genitalia.” Medical studies have found that an average of 1
in 5000 births in which sex-chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is
atypical. Throughout history there have been mentions of
“hermaphrodites,” which are now more commonly called
“Intersex.”
So, from a “God doesn’t make mistakes” standpoint, and
considering how often Jeremiah 1:5 is used by Pro-Life advocates (“Before I
formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the
womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the
nations.”), this raises some interesting questions and implications.
I think what confuses me, is that those who base their entire
faith and life on the belief that God doesn’t make mistakes and created us
all and knows all and is in control of everything; then why would they be
so fearful of those who are not the same as them? Why would they
have such hatred for another creation of God?
I’m sure their argument is that there is a difference between
an obvious physiological condition and what they consider to be a “choice”
someone makes to be a different gender. This, to me, ignores
the miraculous uniqueness that was given to each human being. Even
“identical twins” are not completely identical. There are not just minute physical differences,
but the most important differences (as in all of us) are in the
personality: reasoning, ethics and feelings. Who we are cannot be seen, and none of us can
know exactly what it feels like to be another person.
Biblically, there is a clear delineation between our bodies,
and our “souls.” The “soul,” or consciousness, is what makes us who
we are, not our body. Our body is just a vessel, a
tool. It provides a transport system to get us from one place to another.
It can cause us to feel pain, pleasure,
exhaustion, hot, cold, or ill. Even
more than the physical connection, our relation to our body can make us feel attractive
and confident or ugly, awkward and embarrassed.
Throughout my life, I have attended many funerals, and even
more church services. I cannot count the times I heard the
message, basically a promise, that once we die and move on (presumably to
Heaven), we would leave our “broken” human bodies and have a new “heavenly”
body. That implies that our earthy bodies are imperfect. It is separate from our “soul,” and will be
left behind.
But no matter what happens to our body, or what it
specifically looks like (this physical manifestation that we sometimes abuse
and overfeed and don’t take care of) …what is most important is that we are who
we are. And we are all different.
The mind is the most unique and interesting aspect of any
human being. How can we possibly say that every person has to
think, feel and be the same way (or fall into two specific gender
roles)? Just within the United States, we can’t agree
on religion, politics, humor, food, music, movies, cars, trucks, guns,
clothing, sports, best places to live, and much more. Each and
every one of us is spectacularly different.
How arrogant, shallow, and ignorant it is to say that another
person could not feel different than the body they were born with or have to
love a certain gender. And how horribly cruel to demand that someone who
has made the overwhelmingly difficult decision to admit who they are and how
they feel is just “confused” or faking it.
Can you imagine the courage it takes to come out as LGBTQ, knowing the
level of hatred and condemnation within our society? Can you imagine having to choose being who
you are when that means your family may shun you? These are not easy choices. These are not the choices of people who are
confused or experimenting.
If you want to be afraid of someone who identifies as LGTBQ,
I feel sad for you because you might be missing out on a relationship that
could enrich your life. You don’t have to agree with
them. You do not have to understand them. You can try
to ignore them and live in your comfy sheltered life of perceived
perfection. But don’t say you’re a Christian when you aren’t
showing the Love of Christ to everyone. Don’t say you’re a
Christian if you oppose others living their lives and making choices that don’t
affect you. Don’t say you’re a Christian if you don’t stand up for
the marginalized.
If you want to be afraid of something, imagine standing
judgment before God and being told, “Why did you hate and hurt so many of my
creations? They were just how I made them.”
