Quote from: Tad on December 15, 2010, 11:24:00 AM
Gah. I got a few letters from some unnaccepting christian friends - who their opinions in the past have meant alot to me.
I have such friends too, and it is hard to give them up and/or maintain relationships with them. Some who are willing to live with someone who disagrees with them (granted, it's much easier for me as a spouse than it would be for a trans person), some aren't.
In fact, a few years ago, I would have agreed with your friends - I would have KNOWN you were a sinner and that you were on the path t hell. For me, actually knowing someone who didn't fit 'properly' into gender roles has changed my opinions on things. In fact, I married her, with a religious wedding and the blessing of our church, and I count myself fortunate to be in a church that is willing to be open to us, as most people aren't - and that God gave me a chance to see my error. But through knowing the person who became my wife, I was forced to actually question some of the things I was taught. Either she was living a horrible, sinful life and was going to go to hell, or she was, as she claimed, Christian and living the life God had for her. I believe her to be living the life of a Christian, having seen the fruit in her life.
I am amazed, looking back, at how much crap I just blindly believed in - at the expense of the gospel. I have since realized that I wasn't consistent in my interpretation of the scriptures - I accepted the verses that fit my prejudices (including that homosexuality is sin), while rejecting ones that didn't fit my social views (such as verses that allow slavery - I already properly rejecting those). A slave that ran away, according to the New Testament, was violating God's will. I don't think I would say that every slave in America that escaped to freedom was a sinner that was violating the will of God - instead, I'd say that the slave holder was the one violating the will of God. But my view is not based on any particular verse I can quote, but rather indirectly, based on the idea that God intended all of us to be equals through Christ. In fact, someone could find TONS of verses that support slavery in the Bible (same with Polygamy). It's important to figure out WHY those verses don't need to be applied literally today, but the verses on homosexuality do.
Some verses that "support" Slavery:
1 Corinthians 7:21,7:22 - Slaves should remain slaves, unless they can LAWFULLY gain their freedom (there was a provision in Jewish law to allow that)
Ephesians 6:5-8: Christ himself wants slaves to be "good slaves" according to this.
Ephesians 6:9: Words for masters of slaves - be a good master (but it does NOT say to free your slaves)
Colossians 3:22-23: Slaves, obey your masters! That's God's will!
Colossians 4:1: Masters, treat your slaves right (not a command to free them, however).
1 Timothy 6:1: Slaves, obey your masters.
1 Timothy 6:2: Slaves should serve Christian masters even better than they would serve non-Christian masters.
Titus 2:9-10: Slaves should never talk back to their masters, they should respect them.
1 Peter 2:18: Slaves should submit to abusive masters
This is just the New Testament. Sure, there are some verses that imply it's not great to have a slave, and you probably shouldn't do so, but clearly it wasn't a *sin* to have a slave. Could you, in clear conscious, say that the slaves who escaped slavery via the underground railroad in the US, and those who helped them, were acting contrary to God? It seems clear that a slave that ran away would be violating God's will, at least from a literal interpretation of the Bible. If you can't say that they sinned by running away, why? For me, I can say it because it is clear that people are all brothers and sisters, and brothers and sisters shouldn't own each other. So I'm willing to - essentially - discard these verses because I think there is a principle that is more important: equal treatment of God's children. Yet, I can't point to even one verse of scripture that prohibits slavery. In fact, I can point to many verses that allow slavery - FAR more so than speak about homosexuality. If you are going to be literal on verses about homosexuality, you have to be literal on verses about slavery, or at least have a reason why one chunk of scripture is "God's Word for today" and another chunk is not. And that reason better not be able to equally apply to slaves and gay persons, because if it does you have to recognize that neither chunk applies to us today.
The reality is that most people haven't actually studied this - it's really just people who are passing down what they heard from someone else. Sadly, there's often a political motivation that created the whole thing in the first place, but it later gets repeated as "fact" by an unknowing intermediary because "trustworthy" people said it. This intermediary is, him or herself, trustworthy to others, so the chain goes on.
I'd suggest watching "Fish out of water" (the one made in 2009) if you can find it (it is available from Netflix), as that's the most intelligent response to the 7 "clobber" verses that I've seen (only 3 of which are in the New Testament, and none of the 3 were spoken by Jesus), and it's done in a very accessible way. I'd also suggest checking out
http://mlp.org/staticpages/index.php?page=biblicalinterp which is More Light Presbyterian's resource page on the Bible, although to be honest I think the movie does a better job.
Basically, there are tons of different interpretations of these 7 verses. Yes, there's the common mainstream one which is "Gays go to hell". But popularity doesn't make something right. Of the 7 verses, several are from the old-testament law, and, thus, not applicable for that reason alone (the entire book of Hebrews deals with the subject of whether or not we live under the Jewish law since Jesus died).
I know you have a hard walk, whatever direction you walk down it. Christianity isn't exactly popular among the LGBT community (understandably so - so much horrible abuse has occurred in the name of God), nor are trans-people popular among the Christian church. And going through life living as someone you know you aren't isn't any easier, unfortunately. Please stick it out - no matter what choice you make, or what people say. God loves you, created you to bless the world (and maybe to even challenge the church a bit - prophets didn't typically tell people what they already believed!), and He takes great pleasure in your existence and life. I suspect God has made you a very strong man, but it's still okay to need His help. It is a very hard walk, and I will be praying for you to know that God is walking beside you, and is there to help whenever you need it. I encourage other Christians here to do the same. I'll also pray that you'll be able to live as the person God created you to be.
