thinking on things - part 2

Several years ago, the paper featured an article about a semi-local man who believed he was actually a woman - mistakenly placed in a man's body. I have always been a very sensitive person - perhaps even overly sensitive. I was scared at night way past when I should have been, and reading nasty things in the paper before bed sent me straight into my sister's room for the night. Reading this article was no exception. It creeped me out.

Several weeks later, we were in a Goodwill store, perusing the clothes. I looked up, and a couple of rows over was a person who was tall and broad shouldered, wearing a dress, and sporting long hair and makeup. I knew instantly it was the person I had read about in the paper. A weird feeling came over me, and I could not wait to get out of that store.

I mentioned in my last post that I had run across the blogger profile of a gay man. A couple of days later I watched a video where a gay man talked about why he left the army - he was being harrassed and ridiculed because of his transgender-ism.

This peculiarity seems to be popping up all over the place, so I have begun to think on it more. How do we, as Christians, react? Before thinking this through, I was of the opinion that homosexuality was one of the grosser things I had ever heard of. I still believe that. But I am not longer under the idea that we should wall off any contact with anything gay whatsoever. Homosexuals are human beings. Designed by God. Purposed by God. Made by God.

Loved by God.

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' But wisdom is proved right by her actions.

Matthew 11:19

But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Matthew 9:13

If Jesus is our example, then there is no place for shunning people we disagree with, no matter how dramatic we think the sin.

thinking on things - part 1

Last night, thoughts and emotions swirled around, quite at their own liberty. I felt like a jigsaw puzzle inside.

He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. he delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.

Over the past month, my opinions have sidled toward the radical end. Relatively speaking, of course. Tame for some, but definitely radical for me. In discussions with sisters and friends, I have stood up for pink hair, tattoos, nose rings, and words across the backside of women's pants. I'm not sure why. Do I suddenly require a good and valid reason for what is considered acceptable and what is not, or am I feeling rakish - like some small deep inner part of me wants pink hair herself?

I don't know. Whatever might be the cause, I have been arguing for revolutionary - as far as my conservative Christian circle is concerned - ideas.

Until last night. I was blog surfing, and came across the blogger profile of a transsexual person. Suddenly, all I wanted to do was crawl into my mommy's lap and be completely ignorant of the world. Miss Stand-up-for-the-weirdo was suddenly feeling a bit shaky in her former stance.

Being the sheltered, homeschooled, country bumpkin that I am, my mind cannot even wrap itself around such a twisted idea as "female to male" persons. So unused to such unusualness, that I felt slapped in the face. By a blogger profile. What's up with that?

Feeling excessively unnerved, I went up to my room, turned on Nichole Nordeman, and opened my Bible. What I read was the above passage. It doesn't seem to directly apply to rock punks or homosexuals, but in the midst of my mind whirling in a spiral of questions, God simply says "I delight in you." Even though I am grappling with how a person would relate to or act towards a bisexual person, God still "sent from above, delivered me from my strong enemy," and "delivered me because He delighted in me."

With my feet planted on that promise, I can never go astray.