When ever I hear someone who claims to be a "good Christian" talk about how transgenders are committing a sin because by changing the body we are in is against God's will, it makes me cringe.

People have their bodies changed all the time when there is a deformity at birth or later on, and the same people claiming that we are sinning have no problem with that. Should someone with a cleft palate go through life without having it fixed because God meant for that person to be born that way?

I really don't see the difference between that and a transgender's situation. Our body did not agree with our brain for some reason, and having hRT or surgery to make the two fit makes us more comfortable and able to live a better quality of life. People are allowed their beliefs, and there are a number of different religions, but I draw the line at that. We are not having our changes done purely for vanity. I know I can't change what others believe, and keep my mouth shut, but it bothers me.

sam1234

Whenever anybody describes themselves as a 'good christian' to me I want to run a mile.

There's a very old story about an old desert hermit who was attending a church gathering and when a man was thrown out of the gathering because of his grievous sins the old hermit went over to him and said, 'Come I'll walk with you because I am a sinner too.'

If you don't mind, I agree and would like to make a few points:

1-II think one can try to be a good Christian. However, judgement of that should be reserved to others (potentially devine other/s), not claimed for self. Kind of hard to to be objective enough to do that accurately.

2-Lady Smith, you rock. Great parable.

3-Okay this is more like two sub categories. When I hear "God doesn't make mistakes, you shouldn't change what he has made", two things come to mind: A-right. God doesn't make mistakes. We humans do. How ever I deal with my experience may well have been intended by God; B-the stories in the new testament suggest that Jesus and God were pretty into tolerance for all. Human judgement(stoning sinning prostitutes, ignoring and hating short tax collectors, pardoning a known criminal while convicting a political pariah...) has seemed to have a lousy record.

Who gave any of us the right to judge others. Free will suggests choice about ones own life, not deciding for others.

On the other hand, it must be nice to be able to speak for God and sleep so well at night. It seems much simpler. Maybe they are right and I should turn my back on all this and adopt their policies. I could use the sleep.

Sorry for the ending sarcasm,

Joanna

I would agree that the new testament is more about forgiveness than hell and damnation. It just irks me to hear other judge anyone who isn't within the "norm".  At that point, it makes me thing that they are using religion for their own means, and that isn't what its supposed to be. Perhaps I'm doing the same, who knows.

Regardless of the God makes mistakes V God doesn't make mistakes, it is a learning experience. If we let it, we can learn empathy, understand the plights of others and be more accepting in general of people's differences. Hearing some of the stories here on this site also makes me realize just how fortunate I am to have had a family who accepted and backed me  so well.

Faith is a very personal subject. For that reason, thought I believe in God and Jesus, I won't call myself a Christian. It sounds like Christian beliefs, but I also see the point in other's religions, and since we can't all be right, I won't call myself a Christian.

I'll stop here mainly because its such a personal subject that it could go one forever. We do the best we can we what we are given, make changes if we need to, and try not to judge. We also all fall short or perfection, which, in my opinion is one of the things that makes life so interesting.

sam1234