- Hello world!
My name is Austen.
Let's talk about being
Transgender and Christian.
In the last couple of
weeks, we've been looking
at the stories of Creation
through trans eyes.
We looked at the story of Genesis One
and the creation of everything
in between binaries.
We looked at the story of
Genesis Two and the creation
of the first human before the
concepts of sex and gender.
In general, the question we've been asking
as we read these texts is could
God have created transgender
and gender non-conforming
people on purpose?
Whether or not we think that God
DID create some trans people on purpose,
we can all agree at this
point that God COULD have.
So this week we're
branching out a little bit.
Instead of looking at one specific text,
we're gonna look at three
different ways to understand
how people can be created trans
just like people might be
created blonde or with green eyes
or autistic or color-blind
or with perfect pitch.
Okay, and I'm not talking biology
here, I'm not a biologist.
And I'm not trying to make a
nature versus nurture argument
or talk about genetics.
I'm talking about this
from a philosophical
and theological point of view.
Really this is just another
way of asking, why did God
create so many different
kinds of people in the world?
So let's start with two
different suppositions.
The first one is that
God created everybody
and God loves us.
With me so far?
Okay, good.
The second supposition is that some people
are created and born transgender.
We don't know why, they just are.
Some people know when they're two
and some people don't figure
it out until they're 60
but chances are that
some seed of trans-ness
has been in our lives since we were born.
So if we know that God loves
us and created us on purpose
and some people are born trans,
then the question is, why.
There are three schools of thought on this
and we're gonna call them the negative,
the neutral, and the
positive schools of thought.
The negative school of thought
says that some people
are created trans, yes,
but not because God wanted it that way.
This point of view focuses on
the effect of sin in the world
especially as connected
to the story of The Fall
where Adam and Eve first disobey God.
This argument says that bad things
happen in the world because of sin
and that some people are born
disabled or die in infancy
and it's not because God
doesn't love those people
or God doesn't care or
God wanted that to happen,
it's just the effect of sin in the world.
The negative school of thought
applies this to trans people
as well saying that some
people may be born trans
but it's not necessarily
because God wanted it to happen.
Maybe it's just another sort of variation
that's caused by the effect of sin.
And to be fair, there's
some really difficult things
about being trans and so,
you know, this is an argument
for the reason that bad
things happen to good people.
The neutral school of
thought says that being born
and created trans is not
necessarily good or bad,
it's just something that is,
like how people have all
different kinds of eye color.
Some people in the neutral
school might also say
that even though being
trans isn't good or bad,
any actions that you might take
because of being trans
could be good or bad.
Therefore, even though
you might be created trans
that doesn't mean that you should change
anything about your body.
Lastly, the positive school of thought
thinks that people are created
and born trans on purpose
because God wanted it that way
and because God meant it for
good both for the trans person
and for the people around them.
So I'm betting you can already guess
which side of this debate I'm on.
Personally, I think that God created
and continues to create
trans people on purpose
and for good in the world and here's why.
First of all, I can't believe
that being trans is an effect of sin.
Part of this is based
on the story of Jesus
and the man born blind
in John chapter nine.
Verses one through three say,
"As Jesus walked along, he
saw a man blind from birth.
"His disciple asked
him, 'Rabbi, who sinned,
"'this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?'
"Jesus answered, 'Neither this
man nor his parents sinned,
"'he was born blind so that God's work
"'might be revealed in him.'"
Now we have to be careful
here because I don't want
to identify being trans and
being blind too closely.
I'm not trying to categorize being trans
as any kind of disability.
But sidebar, why do we
consider being blind
as something that is lesser
than and as a disability
when a lot of blind people wouldn't change
the fact that they're blind?
It's part of their identity,
it's part of who they are.
But what Jesus is saying here is that
the things that we are
born with and without,
the parts of our identity that
have always been part of us
even if other people
see them as problematic,
those things are not anyone's fault.
In fact, our identities
may actually be tools
that are given to us so that
our lives can point toward God.
The apostle Paul talks about this, too,
that we are all created differently
but ultimately to work together for good.
First Corinthians 12:14-22 says, "Indeed,
"the body does not consist
of one member but of many.
"If the foot would say,
"'Because I am not a hand, I
do not belong to the body,'
"that would not make it
any less a part of a body.
"And if the ear would say,
"'Because I am not an eye, I
do not belong to the body,'
"that would not make it any
less a part of the body.
"If the whole body were an eye,
where would the hearing be?
"If the whole body were hearing,
"where would the sense of smell be?
"But as it is, God arranges
the members in the body,
"each one of them, as he chose.
"If all were a single member,
where would the body be?
"As it is, there are many
members, yet one body.
"The eye cannot say to the
hand, 'I have no need of you!'
"Nor again, the head to the
feet, 'I have no need of you.'
"On the contrary, the members of the body
"that seem to be weaker
are indispensable."
So none of the people in the community
in the Body of Christ
can say to somebody else
that their voice or their
talents or their identity
is not important to the whole.
If you're a trans person,
maybe your point of view
lends something to your community
that nobody else can give.
Maybe God is trying to show through you
that God's love is completely unstoppable.
Maybe you're somebody who likes
to point these things
out in Religion class
or maybe you're the
weird kid with blue hair
that totally gets along
with the old ladies
who serve coffee before the service.
Whatever you do, do it with confidence
that you matter to God and
that your identity is important
and integral to the health
of the community as a whole.
Remember that your life and
your identity can be a gift.
So I hope you guys are
all having a great week
and I will see you back
here next Wednesday.
Peace!
