The following is under three assumptions. (I have found these to be true but you may disagree.)
1. The reaction of orthodox christianity to homosexuality and transexuality is correct.
That is, holding that these are both disordered and that by embracing one's identity in Christ that a person suffering with these disorder's will be healthier (whatever you understand that to mean). If you disagree with this then please don't debate it in this thread as it is merely an underlying assumption.
2. A victim of sexual confusion or gender confusion cannot be trusted to interpret the Holy Spirit's guidence correctly.
People who struggle are in the middle of a battle and it is easy to mishear the Lords voice when a person cannot help but hope that their own will is the same as God's. This is evident in homosexuals who say that they feel no conviction that their lifestyle choice is immoral, or in transsexuals who feel that God is calling them to be the opposite gender.
3. A person who claims to be transsexual is in fact confused and should be led to embrace their true Identity in Christ.
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The existence of humans who can be classified as neither male nor female poses moral problems that I have found little to no information on. Babies born with this unfortunate condition (or not?) is thought to occur at a rate .018%. The intersexual question appears to all but ignored within the church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex
The most that I have gotten from questions on this issue is a rather naive suggestion that the person with this condition should pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance. This is not a bad suggestion! But all who read this who have talked to people with deviant sexual disorders (e.g. homosexuality) will no doubt have found that sexuality is such a loud voice in people's lives that it often drowns out the still, small voice of God on the subject. This is why sexual deviants often say that they do not feel as if they are committing a sin. The question of the correct moral options for an intersexual person should be worked out logically, with a firm scriptural understanding. The case of intersexuals is especially difficult, however, because there is not necessarily any gender identity that can be trusted within the individual.
Let me explain: If an intersexual claims that they are female because they feel female and therefore that they wish to marry a male, how do we respond? It is difficult. We have no way of knowing if that person's Identity in Christ is actually female. After all, transsexual men claim that they are in fact female. Generally, of course, mainline Christians would reject this. However the problem it poses for the intersexual is obvious: the feeling that a person is one gender cannot be trusted.
And yet, perhaps the question then answers itself. Mainline Christians generally say that a transsexual must, in reality, be the gender that is genetically(XX, XY) and phenotypically(Reproductive parts) obvious. Generally, Christian counseling is focused on helping that person come to see this and embrace it as the identity that they were destined to have. Maybe the same could be done with an Intersexual. If a person is born this way then, perhaps, they should be counseled to except their identity in Christ as genitally ambiguous. Marriage is defined as between one man and one woman, and therefore they should be encouraged to not seek marriage, but instead to embrace the gift of celibacy.
Using this approach, the risk of getting the wrong surgery is nullified. That is, the risk of letting a person who is Intersexual get a surgery that could render them the incorrect gender in Christ would no longer be there. After all, they could well be transexual in their understanding of their identity and it would then be a sin for them to attempt become the wrong gender.
This has even wider implications. Many children born that are gender ambiguous are generally operated upon immediately to render them one gender(usually female). This may well be a sin committed by the parents as it may be rendering their children the wrong gender.
Unfortuanetly, there is very little scripture to go on. However, there is this little gem that Christ spoke:
Matthew 16:
4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'[a] 5and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
Here, the eunuchs who are born eunuchs are contrasted directly with those who are to marry. Thus, those who are born gender ambiguous should not marry.
What do y'all think about about the subject?
1. The reaction of orthodox christianity to homosexuality and transexuality is correct.
That is, holding that these are both disordered and that by embracing one's identity in Christ that a person suffering with these disorder's will be healthier (whatever you understand that to mean). If you disagree with this then please don't debate it in this thread as it is merely an underlying assumption.
2. A victim of sexual confusion or gender confusion cannot be trusted to interpret the Holy Spirit's guidence correctly.
People who struggle are in the middle of a battle and it is easy to mishear the Lords voice when a person cannot help but hope that their own will is the same as God's. This is evident in homosexuals who say that they feel no conviction that their lifestyle choice is immoral, or in transsexuals who feel that God is calling them to be the opposite gender.
3. A person who claims to be transsexual is in fact confused and should be led to embrace their true Identity in Christ.
------------------------------------
The existence of humans who can be classified as neither male nor female poses moral problems that I have found little to no information on. Babies born with this unfortunate condition (or not?) is thought to occur at a rate .018%. The intersexual question appears to all but ignored within the church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex
The most that I have gotten from questions on this issue is a rather naive suggestion that the person with this condition should pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance. This is not a bad suggestion! But all who read this who have talked to people with deviant sexual disorders (e.g. homosexuality) will no doubt have found that sexuality is such a loud voice in people's lives that it often drowns out the still, small voice of God on the subject. This is why sexual deviants often say that they do not feel as if they are committing a sin. The question of the correct moral options for an intersexual person should be worked out logically, with a firm scriptural understanding. The case of intersexuals is especially difficult, however, because there is not necessarily any gender identity that can be trusted within the individual.
Let me explain: If an intersexual claims that they are female because they feel female and therefore that they wish to marry a male, how do we respond? It is difficult. We have no way of knowing if that person's Identity in Christ is actually female. After all, transsexual men claim that they are in fact female. Generally, of course, mainline Christians would reject this. However the problem it poses for the intersexual is obvious: the feeling that a person is one gender cannot be trusted.
And yet, perhaps the question then answers itself. Mainline Christians generally say that a transsexual must, in reality, be the gender that is genetically(XX, XY) and phenotypically(Reproductive parts) obvious. Generally, Christian counseling is focused on helping that person come to see this and embrace it as the identity that they were destined to have. Maybe the same could be done with an Intersexual. If a person is born this way then, perhaps, they should be counseled to except their identity in Christ as genitally ambiguous. Marriage is defined as between one man and one woman, and therefore they should be encouraged to not seek marriage, but instead to embrace the gift of celibacy.
Using this approach, the risk of getting the wrong surgery is nullified. That is, the risk of letting a person who is Intersexual get a surgery that could render them the incorrect gender in Christ would no longer be there. After all, they could well be transexual in their understanding of their identity and it would then be a sin for them to attempt become the wrong gender.
This has even wider implications. Many children born that are gender ambiguous are generally operated upon immediately to render them one gender(usually female). This may well be a sin committed by the parents as it may be rendering their children the wrong gender.
Unfortuanetly, there is very little scripture to go on. However, there is this little gem that Christ spoke:
Matthew 16:
4"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'[a] 5and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
11Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
Here, the eunuchs who are born eunuchs are contrasted directly with those who are to marry. Thus, those who are born gender ambiguous should not marry.
What do y'all think about about the subject?
