Quote from: Kvall on October 20, 2009, 10:33:09 PMthe man was blind, therefore he was a sinner. A holy man would never do anything good for a sinner, so this fellow who healed the blind man must be getting his powers from demons.
"So since I'm transgender, I'm supposedly a sinner. God would never do anything for me because I'm a sinner and have to be transgender as a punishment. In that case, if I did undergo transition, I must be getting a female body from demons?"
There's a reason, if you think about it, why I have this in quotes.
Quote from: Kvall on October 20, 2009, 10:33:09 PMI don't have all the answers and it does seem as if you're faced with something impossible; wants that are physically impossible at this point in time... and maybe there is some balance you will eventually find, with meaning and worth and fulfillment along the way. I certainly hope so. You will be in my prayers.
Thank you for that. I don't expect any of you to have all the answers. But it does point me in the right direction in the walks of life.
Quote from: Kvall on October 20, 2009, 10:33:09 PMThis is important because it is saying that those people who had physical sight but refused to see the blind man as anything but a sinner were blind themselves (spiritually), while the physically blind man could see (spiritually). What happens in our bodies is important, but what is in our hearts and minds is even more important, You may be physically male, but inside and spiritually, you are female already. Maybe instead of seeing your transsexuality as a gift/curse from God, you should see your womanhood as being the gift. Many cissexual women take their bodies and their gender for granted (and if they are transphobic then they are doubly blind); you instead see more clearly what your gender and being female is. Who knows what this opens up for you... perhaps it means you will meet wonderful people you never would have met otherwise. Perhaps it means you will be inspired to help women in some vital way. Perhaps it is just an existential transformative experience. In the blind man's case, it was good because it allowed him to experience a spiritual transformation with Jesus at his side.
Amen. I couldn't agree more. Perhaps in past lives I took for granted being female. Now I have to go through this to really value being female for what it's worth.
Quote from: Kvall on October 20, 2009, 10:33:09 PMThis is important because it is saying that those people who had physical sight but refused to see the blind man as anything but a sinner were blind themselves (spiritually), while the physically blind man could see (spiritually).
"This is important because it is saying that those people who were cisgendered but refused to see the transgender person as anything but a sinner were transgender themselves (spiritually), while the transgender person could see (spiritually)

"

Quote from: FairyGirl on October 20, 2009, 10:48:37 PM
If you don't like the circumstances of your life then change them, it's what we are all doing to the best of our abilities. Eventually you have to get over being god's victim. Nothing anywhere says you have to wait on god to drop the perfect life in your lap. If you do you may be waiting a very long time.
But how? Being transgender is not something you "get over"!
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PM
Let me see if I can tackle this.
first, let me qualify my remarks by saying that I am assuming you are attempting to speak within the context of the Christian God - if not, what I'm going to say will have very little relevance.
Let me just get this one thing out of the way. I am NOT a Christian and nor do I syndicate myself as a part of any particular religious group. The reason this thread is under the Christian forum is because my past rants at God threads; "Blamming Allah?", "A nice note I wrote to God", and this thread I wanted under the Transgender forum where I thought it would belong but a mod would always move them here.
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMI cannot speak to what other faith systems would say to you, but I CAN speak from a lifetime in the Christian faith and, I think, decent reconciliation between being Christian and being trans.
Surrender, I think. First, let's clarify - being trans is NOT, IMO, something God did specifically TO you or FOR you. He didn't look into the womb and see you conceived and say to himself "I think I'll jerk this one around"
Against me, then? That's just the way I feel these days.
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMGod created a world and turned it loose. If you were to think that god "did this to me" then you'd have to think god purposely afflicted the child born with Spina Bifida, or the person who's paralyzed in an accident, or the flood or fire which destroyed a families livelihood, or the cancer that takes a young child from his family.
It's not sane, if you really analyze it, to think that god purposely acts to cause bad things to happen to people.
Likewise, a lot of Christians misguidedly believe that God is some sort of wish machine who capriciously goes about fixing what's gone wrong upon request. Which begs the question - "Why didn't god save my kid with cancer? Why didn't god prevent the accident that crippled me?" and etc.
I have to agree that that kind of makes sence.
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMYes, I believe in miracles and I believe that he intervenes, as he sees fit and for his own reasons, in time and space. But he does that to further HIS goals, not ours. God answers prayer, but he doesn't always answer "yes"
Which again, thank you very much a lot for empahsizing my reason why I really rather not be alive if he's only going to do things because of the way HE wants them to be. Think of it as inviting guests to a party and you're the host. You're the one scheduling this-that-the-other to be at such-and-such a time and going by this strict schedule. Wouldn't your partygoers say to you "Look, why can't we do what we want to do or we don't have to be here!?" Life is no different. If I can't stand with this any longer, I know where the door is.
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMFurthermore, your complaint seems to arise from the conviction that your burden is worse than that of others. Everyone has burdens and afflictions of one sort or another. It's selfish of us to want to be free of ours and it's unrealistic to assume ALL of them will be taken care of.
First of all, I agree to the fact that things can be a lot worst. But how can you accuse me of being selfish of wanting to escape our burdens? You would want to be free from yours, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you want to escape the hell that you go though time and time again if you know what I'm talking about?
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMThat's just one possibility - but it's only meant to serve as an example of the fact that, as the Bible says, His ways are not your ways and his thoughts are not your thoughts. Just because you can't see the good he sees in a situation doesn't mean none exists. Maybe he wants you to learn not to meet hate with hate? You know the cool thing about God? He is ok with your anger. He know WHY you hurt, he knows HOW you hurt, and he knows what you don't - what good will come from your pain.
Oh, really? Well say you badly offended a person unintentionally and learned of their hurt when you witness their hate and anger directed at you. You would understand why they are feeling the way they feel, would you not?
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMbut if you believe that he is, and you believe that he does have the ability to fix the things you have a problem with, then you HAVE to believe he knows better than you. And if he does, then you should be very careful about trying to out think him or put him in a box of your design.
Well, what is this, you suppose? To test my abilities to work my way around a No-Win situation? A no-win situation that makes me so desperate that I'm willing to kiss God's behind for him to make me a female?
Let me tell you one other thing-
My mother always told me that "If God wanted me to be a girl, then I would be," but all that does, is angers me with burning passion and it boils my blood. I would reply with, "I don't care," and she would say "Oh, well you're being selfish then!" How the heck am I being selfish in that case? All telling me things like that does is get my angry enough to do something crazy. I can't say exactly what because if a mod reads it, I'd be kicked off the board but something psychotic... yes, that. It only makes me begrudge God even more and it's more like God is the entity who is being selfish, really.
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMIf there's no other good argument for sticking around, there's at least the belief that he's going somewhere with this and if you quit early you never find out what the endgame was. If you believe in the Christian God, and what is called his Word - then there is no past life.
If you disagree with me, then that's you. But I know in a much higher level than belief that there are past and future lives, and forreal forreal, the events that take place in our current lives are proof of it all. We have lessons to learn and if we don't learn the lesson here, we'll have to keep coming back until it's learnt. Some people want to whine and groan that they don't want to come back but just to be female... I DO.
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMAnd, by the way, bad things don't happen to people as a "punishment" for something they did or are going to do. Bad things happen to good people and bad people sometimes live charmed lives. god is not micromanaging to "get" people.
Ever hear of the Karma's Law?
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMBut the person looking at the bottom is poorly positioned to comment on the image on the other side.I've already addressed the idea of being done "to" you, but as for "deserve"? We ALL "deserve" FAR WORSE than what we get in this life. There are ten thousand bad things that could easily happen to you in any given day that don't.
After all my rants and disrespect for God, yeah, you know what, you're probably right. I probably do deserve worst but I'm at least thankful for where I am now on the plus side and things didn't get worst. And you know what else? Maybe God wanted me to post these angry rants about him, as far as your "everything happens for a reason" lecture goes. Maybe that's his way of trying to tell me something.
Quote from: Laura Hope on October 20, 2009, 11:40:35 PMBut you didn't get singled out for a particular affliction - I don't mean to sound harsh but that's just a self-absorbed point of view. don't you think you have it better than the person who has a brain tumor? would you assume that person "deserved" their affliction? Of course not. Do you have it better than the paraplegic? Better than the person who lost everything they ever owned in a fire or a tornado? Better than the person who watched their child die in their arms? Better than the person who has MS?
Do any of those people DESERVE their pain? in your opinion? If they do not, then what makes YOUR pain so special that surely YOU among all of them DESERVE it?I understand anger with God - been there done that - but just in the interest of stating objective truth (in this context of course) - God cannot ever be happy that one of his creation suffer.
If you had ever been a parent you would know that a loving parent OFTEN has to stand by and see his or her child "suffer" because the pain is the only way they mature. but that parent, unless they are a monster, is NEVER anything but broken-hearted that the pain, however necessary, exists.Indeed there are. The fun thing is, he already knows what he has waiting for you, and that if you stick it out, you will understand someday.
I know none of this heals the hurt, and I wish words existed that would. I know from my own life that when you are on the ledge, very little sounds like a good case for coming down. but someone still has to tell you the truth. Love requires no less.
You know what? Sure. I know worst is waiting for me if I let it in. It just feels so wrong that God would know what my ideal body looks like and give someone else mine. I've seen females with that very body I want and the woman in my avatar is one of them. I get so jelious and vexed. Maybe that's something else that I have to learn. But you're defiantely right, things can and will get much worst along the lines. At least I have a home and everything else. But then again, I'm a thickheaded person sometimes and I will fight TOOTH AND NAIL to get the things that I desire most. Which is why I said, even if I have to side with the Devil, I will make sure I get all my dreams met.