Maybe That's the Point

[Guest ashleynikole]

For those who are not believers in Jesus Christ, this post might not make much sense, but feel free to read on.

Lately we've seen a surge of articles and blog posts about the SBC and their beliefs and how they are persisting those beliefs all the way down to the very people who attend their churches. Also in the same space, I'm seeing a lot of Christians coming out of the closets for the first time. My own brothers and sisters being strengthened to make known their true, God-created, identity, no matter what the body looks like. I can't help but wonder...

When churches fought to keep slavery, I bet there was a surge of Christians who believed otherwise. When churches fought to keep women quiet, I bet there was a surge of Christians who believed otherwise. When churches fought to deny voting rights to women and minorities, I bet there was a surge of Christians who believed otherwise. When churches fought to keep the minority groups from having the same basic opportunities as their majority counterparts, I bet there was a surge of Christians who believed otherwise.

Since I've been born and attending church, none of those fights have existed for me. They all seem to be old relics of the past, a fight that the church no longer fights because it has realized how it was oppressing others for it's misguided interpretation of scriptures. Now, I still see them fighting against LGB people and yet some have come to their senses and said, "Hmm, maybe we read that wrong. Let's go back and take a look." I still see them fighting against trans people (I know, I'm one of their victims) and yet some have come to their senses and revisited the scriptures in light of new medical information.

I can't help but wonder if perhaps the surge of Christians who are gay or trans is simply God's way of showing the oppressors just what they're doing. When I see a fellow brother or sister, strong in the faith, having studied to show themselves approved, showing their true identity in Christ, I get a little more encouraged that perhaps one day, the church will treat us like they finally treat the free slaves, the women, the minorities.

Until then I can't help but wonder if we (my LGBT brothers and sisters in Christ) were put in this very place, at this very time, created this very way to simply help make the body of Christ a healthier group. Maybe that's the point.

[Guest Mickey]

The last twon lines of your post are what I've been saying about myself since last year, when I first accepted that I was trans* and started digging into the scriptures to find out what God has to say about me. I now know why God "stitched me together, in my mothers womb" this way. I am here to help show His LGBT, and mostly the T, that God does love US just as we are, trans* and adjusting our bodies and hormones to line up with who we are. He does not want for us to "bear false witness" about who we are, with every one we meet. So I live free in His love, with His guidance.

[Guest aballofquestions]

I think maybe youre right. And maybe the radicals in the church (SBC, Westboro, etc.) are really the tools of change. I cant count the number of fairly conservative christians who have stood up to say, "look, those people arent like me, arent like us, they dont represent us, and what theyre doing is wrong." How many of those would have had to face that tough choice in their beliefs without that catalyst? I cant help but think that a church actively condoning (even encouraging?) the suicide of children is going to make another group of people stand up and say something similar. How many remains to be seen, I can only hope that it is a lot.

I too used to think that the great social battles were over when I was much younger. As I got older, it became startlingly clear to me that those battles are not close to finished and that the next major social battle, the great social battle of my time, is LGBT rights. And we are a long way off still but motion has started, there is momentum and change is coming. All we need to do is keep pushing the ball along...and who knows...maybe the SBC is, very very unwillingly, helping us push that ball along...

[VickySGV]

God and Christ, as I know and understand them are perfectly capable of pulling that shenanigan off. I certainly do not think we are quite the same toward our coreligionists as the Roman Caesars were in regard to lion pits and other persecution by physical torture but yes we are strong people who have felt God's call in our lives, and on that foundation we stand as did Martin Luther and other reformers of the Church in the past.

Some groups, such as the one I am a member of have an easier, but still not EASY time adapting because we use a variety of foundation stones for our church's canons and doctrines that play against each other to even things out. In our case Scripture, Tradition, and Prayerfully Discerned Human Reason are those foundation footings. The result was a victory two years ago in the change of church doctrines on the national level that was lead by a group in the church that I am proud to be a member of. Gender Diverse people were added to Women, and GLB people who had their inclusion in the last years of the 20th century, and we are now welcome and capable of serving at ALL Lay and Clergy levels today.

I personally side with a group of theologians who consider Fundamentalism as described in the Niagara Conventions of the early 20th century to be a Heresy of the current day church. It is a heresy because it defies a tradition of change and growth in the churches it currently affects and it may be holding to that that makes them feel so uncomfortable with us today . It is the abandonment of the heresy, and not the pain and suffering of those people that the God whom I know and understand wants in place. As I said above, the Lord I follow has this in his Power and it may well be a purpose for us.

Ashley, if you have not seen this web-site before, I suggest you go to it, and think about becoming a blogger there-- http://www.believeoutloud.com/

[Guest LizMarie]

Ashley, a very kind and gentle pastor I met once told me that transgender people are placed on this earth as a test. Not as a test of the trans person, but as a test of the strength of Christ's will in the life of those around them. Can they love this person? Can they accept and even uplift this person?

That same pastor told me that, in his opinion, far too many of the body of Christ are failing this test miserably, and would have to answer pointed questions about it someday.

I don't know if this is true. The pastor claimed no divine revelation, just what he believed himself. Yet there is a quiet beauty in his assertion that truly does look to Christ as the light for the answer in this situation.

[Guest]

Thanks Vicky. I'll check that out. Since I'm about 1-2 weeks from a legal name change, perhaps it's time to start looking for the avenues to publicize my currently "not personally identifiable" blog for more people to read. I couldn't help but write after reading a few SBC articles and the writing seems to flow out of me so naturally. Perhaps it also helps that when I'm confident in a subject, I can talk about it all day. That and I like to philosophize and converse.

Liz, I've heard that before somewhere (maybe from you) but I totally believe that is a possibility. If there's one thing I've learned about my Heavenly Father over the last 20 years I've known Him, if I find myself going, "that really does not make logical sense", then it's a high probability that God is involved. After all, when you use a stutterer to speak publicly to the most powerful leader in a region (Moses to Pharaoh), a devout Jew who was obliged by law to kick his fiance to the curb after he found she was pregnant, to keep her and marry her (Joseph to Mary), and even the most known and feared Christian hater and slaughterer to be one of the largest names in Christian history to lead people to Christ (Apostle Paul), well, you might have a bit of an M.O. in how you do things. Hahaha.

God bless

Ashley

[StephanieVikingGirl]

Hi Ashley,

As usual, you have another great post here. I am not Christian, I am clergy in another faith, but I am glad to read the wisdom here. Yep, things seem to be divinely manipulated lately. Totally illogical means, yet effecting profound change. Has to be divine influence, in my opinion as well. There are an enormous number of religions under the Christian umbrella, and a huge percentage of the earth's population is represented by them. I am so glad that changes are coming along within that great umbrella to free the last of the oppressed; us. My own faith is just a drop in the ocean in comparison, but I am pleased to still be considered active clergy as I transition. I feel honored to have such wise Christian folk as friends.

God(s) bless you all,

Stephanie, Godperson of "the Troth" (a universalist Heathen denomination)