tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8971432479782354396.post7116296506378847634..comments2023-10-08T07:10:46.481-07:00Comments on The Two Auntees: Transgender and Religious AcceptanceKay & Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04244257765709660605noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8971432479782354396.post-18245488953562634532008-09-16T12:50:00.000-07:002008-09-16T12:50:00.000-07:00You have to be careful in applying Romans 14 to ou...You have to be careful in applying Romans 14 to our situation, it is too easy to proof-text and end up misapplying the passage. The passage needs to be looked at in its entirety. Yes, it does apply in that there are stronger and weaker Christians, and just because the weaker cannot accept you does not condemn you in God's eyes. As it says in v. 22 "Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves." But it also talks in v. 13-21about not being a stumbling block to the weaker christian. Years ago, the application of this verse to us would have been straightforward, i.e. be closeted if part-time, stealth if full-time. In this you are neither condemned by God nor a stumbling block to the weaker around you.<BR/><BR/>But in this day and age, God is moving in our world. The purity system that has embedded itself in Christianity of our age is as much an abomination to God as the purity system that Jesus railed against in the Jewish religion of that day and age. Do you really think that it is mere coincidence that God is calling more and more gay and lesbians to the ministry to the point where those variations of Christianity that reject them have shortages of qualified clergy, and those that object most vociferously are being deluged as in a biblical sense with them--ask your self about tremendous number of catholic gay priests and the numbers of gay closeted evangelicals that keep getting caught literally with their pants down. Isn't that soooo like God? The methodology is almost straight from the Beatitudes: the last shall be first, and the weak shall inherit the earth? God is moving and woe to those who fail to heed the leading of God.<BR/><BR/>God is also moving in the trans community as well. Transgender people have been led by the hand of God throughout the Bible, and contrary to the past in this country and this day and age I believe God expects us to teach and to lead. This is where Paul's use of the consumption of food in his day breaks down in being applied to our day. In the face of God's leading, we cannot stand silent. We need to defend each other in love, and stand up for the sexual and gender minorities as we are able and enabled by God. God does not expect us to just jump out there and scare others, or to combat our churches acrimoniously, for that would lead us in pride to become the stumbling block that Paul calls us to avoid. Rather reaching out in quiet love as you are doing in your own community. We are quietly teaching and being a witness by our story, when we lead lives of devotion to God, service to others, and love for all. In so doing we teach those around us and build strong Christians in our own communities.<BR/><BR/>ShannonBUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17631061620290259045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8971432479782354396.post-15772892751639272702008-09-16T04:19:00.000-07:002008-09-16T04:19:00.000-07:00After I declared myself to be Episcopalian and a t...<I>After I declared myself to be Episcopalian and a transsexual</I><BR/><BR/>Oh, that's a simply gorgeous line. I love it.MadPriesthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15120376342802143188noreply@blogger.com