Welcome to Gaia! ::

You can't just decide you're gay or transgendered. You can realize it, but you can't decide it. I would also assume (and this is an assumption on my part so I could be way off the mark) that realizing you're in the "wrong" body is alot more traumatic than realizing that you're simply attracted to members of the same sex. I have to agree that alot of mental disorders and deviations (and I don't want either of those terms to sound offensive in any way- it's just what most of the scientific, especially the psychological, community refers to these situations as) are a result of sin in some way, only insomuch as they cause problems for people around those individuals. It's hard to understand someone who is attracted to members of the same sex or who feels they are honestly in the wrong body, especially if the same is not true for yourself or if you have no experience dealing with these notions. They're a result of sin the same way all other sicknesses are, but sicknesses themselves aren't bad- they're just microorganisms doing what nature and God intended for microorganisms to do: survive. What's bad is that our bodies see these other organisms as threatening (and sometimes they are, but sometimes they aren't- like dust and pollen and pet dander, wtf?) and flips out, causing us to feel sick. Homosexuality and transgenderism (I think I made up that word) is like that. They exist naturally, maybe unfortunately (for the people who aren't sure how to deal with the situation in a healthy way) not because those things in themselves are bad, but because our society sees them as threatening and freaks out, making those people feel bad.

There is a reason for these things (usually biochemical) and maybe one day researchers will figure out exactly what causes "gay" and what causes "transgenderism" and try to stop it, for the sake of those people who don't know how to deal with it. It would be quite a pity though. I don't have any transgendered friends in real life but I've got plenty of gay ones and they're so much fun. biggrin

Yeah, I was just rereading this thread and I just caught that. No offense meant, I just apperently can't read, type, or some combination of the two.

There's a Women's Museum in Dallas and in one of their exibits is says something to the effect of:

"When boys are born, they're dressed in blue and told to grow up big and strong while girls are put in pink lace and told how adorable they are. As children, boys are told to climb trees and get dirty while girls are told to be careful and not let their panties show. As teenagers, boys are told to eat up so they can grow up big and strong while girls are told to watch what they eat so they don't get fat. And we wonder why men and women differ from one another so much."

The point is that (like Fushigi said) gender identity is based on the notions society has given us, but God is removed from this so to him Gender is irrelevant.

(Can't... resist... pun...)

That's a bitter pill to swallow.

xd

Tough one, but this is what I think: Transexuality is a sin, yes. God made us a certain way for a reason and we do not have a right to change that. That's like looking at the original Mona Lisa and drawing a mustache on it. The painting is not our masterpiece, we have no right to defile it.

However, no sin is unforgiveable. Everybody sins, everybody. Even the most "holy" of Christians. Personally, I find it hard to believe that any true Christian would commit this particular sin, but i cannot say it's impossible.

Basically it comes down to this: Is your friend a true Christian who is simply making a bad choice, or is she thinking more along the lines of "it doesn't matter what I do because God will forgive me anyway." In the second case, this person is simply taking advantage of God's loving/forgiving way and I would most certainly not call him/her a true Christian.

Hope this helps!

Edit: I'm going to add one more thing. If your friend is wondering if she would still be "ok" with God and be able to go to Heaven, she seriously needs to readjust her thinking. The question of going to Heaven should never be a question, because that says you're only interested in the rewards of a Christian life. Rather, the question should be how can she please God? What does God want of her? The objective should always be to please God, not to get to Heaven.

When your mom grounds you for staying out too late, does it mean she doesn't love you?

Show-off.

Lethkhar, I know that you're a good guy. You're more mature than other kids your age, you go out of your way to help those in need. You work hard to be a good, kind, giving person. Say, for the sake of argument, you could get into heaven through works alone. You made it. You earned your way. And the guy right in front of you is a man who beats his wife in drunken fits every night, is cheating on her with an underage girl, has openly killed a number of people and is generally the type of person one would think is not getting into heaven. He's allowed to pass through the gates without so much as 'I'm sorry.' Wouldn't it irk you a little to know that you WORKED for this, and someone else who doesn't care what he did in life because HEY, look! Heaven's free. In God's eyes it's very simple: to come into his house, you have to know him. And you have to apologize for breaking his rules. Not everyone aspires to be a good person, and not everyone wants to hang around the people who couldn't care less. God knows this, and I personally think it's a fantastic form of love that he's allowing those of us who strive to be good from the people we couldn't tolerate in life and would only bring nastiness and corruption into a holy place.

/end rant