QuoteDear Uncle Shawn, I deleted you from my friend list because of what you are about to undergo and what you profess. I know from God's word that it is wrong. I say this in all love, but I cannot with good conscience act like it is okay.

It says in Psalms 139:13-17: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!"

How can you say you are not a man and undergo procedures to change yourself if God has created you? When you do this, you are declaring that God made a mistake, but he is a perfect God (He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. -Deuteronomy 32:4) so it cannot be that you were "made wrong". It also says in Leviticus 20:13: "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. " It is wrong to be lustful and physical in an intimate way with another man. Finally, it says in I Corinthians 6:9-11: "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."

I don't know if you've gotten this far down or not, but I hope you will consider the word of God before you make any decisions you might regret. You must come out of this before you can become a part of the people of God. I love you so much, and if you would like to have some bible studies, I am open to it.  I hope you have a wonderful day!

My Response to my niece on facebook was:

Quote
I did not say i was not a man Aubrey, i am intersex and two spirit , i have an actual physical condition that happens at birth that makes me a blend of both genders. It happens to about 1 in 500 babies. Many Native American tribes had children also in this fashion and gave them the love and affection they needed and embraced who God made them to be. Also I am not a gay male. Not that it matters but I am and have always been attracted to women. I feel wonderful on hormones now and having estrogen in my system has helped my mind have peace and has even helped with my bi polar symptoms. I am sorry you don't want to stay in touch with me now and that hurts my heart because I do love you and your family, even though your parents did not stay in touch with me. God Bless you my niece.

So I am pretty taken aback as I had just reconnected with my niece (my brothers daughter, one of them) (I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters)  and The family on my bio dad's side had never really seen to keep in touch with me anyways even after i met them in 2002.

I think the statement that stings the most is the one I bolded in her comment. But she was and is raised in church of christ, the very strict church in a small town, who believe you must be baptized in water to be saved. I hope this is not a preview of what my younger brother Ryan will say (who i have a bond with and was raised with)

Hugs

So sad to see things like this.  HUGS to you.

Thanks, I was going to tell her that I was also more of a woman than a man but I felt that would have just made her more confused. She has never probably even heard terms like genderfluid or two spirit or anything like it.

Lol "word of God".... Which one? There's thousands to choose from. Let it go. Rational discussion doesn't work with religious people. If it did, they wouldn't be religious.

Hugs! 

Quote from: Isabelle on March 15, 2015, 10:28:15 PM
Let it go.

I will try though!

I mean it. She's in a cult. Maybe one day with luck and hard work she will free herself of her mental prison but really, that letter she sent you, like the vast majority of the "morals" in the bible, is hateful, disgusting bile. She needs help.

Huge Hugs!

It is hard to hear words like that.  Especially word where religious is used against us, but it's not actual what the religion says.

I grew up in an Evangelical Christian church.  What the Bible actually says, is that yes God is perfect, and the original Adam and Eve were perfect.  But they stopped being perfect beings once they committed the original sin.  If we were perfect, we would never get sick and never die.  This topic really rials me up.  I have lots of empathy for you.

Quote from: jessical on March 15, 2015, 10:46:45 PM
Huge Hugs!

It is hard to hear words like that.  Especially word where religious is used against us, but it's not actual what the religion says.

Oh piffle. It is so what the religion says. She even provided references to the passages.

The irony here is a Christian using laws from the Old Testament to justify her hate.

I'm not religious at all, I have no respect for religions and their made up rubbish. I'll tolerate people's right to be religious but, never their bigotry. Especially when the bigotry isn't even well disguised. If you're going to use scripture to hate on someone, at least put some effort in.

Warning. Flaming groups or individuals is not welcome.
That includes Christians.

Ok. How was what anything I said a flame???

I am a Christian, but now an open and affirming once going to UCC in Alameda, in fact they have helped me understand myself and how to still keep my faith. I have a lot to discover yet, but I know that I can still be who I am there. So not all Christians are bad though for sure.

Quote from: Isabelle on March 15, 2015, 10:45:18 PM
I mean it. She's in a cult. Maybe one day with luck and hard work she will free herself of her mental prison but really, that letter she sent you, like the vast majority of the "morals" in the bible, is hateful, disgusting bile. She needs help.

I don't think its hateful, disgusting bile coming from her as she really is a nice young teenage girl. She is just misinformed and undereducated about the whole thing. She is doing what I used to do years ago, mentally seperating herself from me and not associating or support me, which is very hurtful.

She's qouting Leviticus at you...
If Leviticus were written today, it'd be roundly dismissed as hate speech and banned from schools.

Also, I never meant to imply all Christians are bad. I'm sorry if I gave that impression. That said, the morals in the bible, by today's standards and by human rights standards are bad. Even the holy Qu'ran is accepting of trans people, and it's probably one of the most anti human books I've ever read.

Even though im ready to lose my religious family it will still always sting.  Seeing posts like this prepares me for this kind of thing.

Thanks

Shawn honey, I'm sorry about your niece. I know that must hurt.

OK everyone lets just calm down. Shawn has had some very distressing news. No matter our individual opinion of religion and the Bible or any Holy book, many people derive comfort etc from their religion.

Let us drop the critique of the Bible and provide some support for Shawn Sunshine at this unpleasant time.

Thank You

Cindy

Hi Shawn, disappointing reaction from your niece... I do hope, without the FB publicity, you can sort the issues out... as there is no right and wrong in this...

Hugs and kisses to you... don't let it get you down too much... were you really close?

Family and close friends can react in very polar ways, some are un-phased, others get really Anti, the Anti ones, generally will come around, give them space and time...

L Katy 

Edited for correct English