Once in a while, I have said something that seemed worth noting. Something witty or possibly wise, maybe just unusually worthwhile. This page is for that stuff, since it doesn't fit on the Quotes Page.
from a Straight Dope Message Board thread on religious fundamentalists & transsexuality:
Asmodean: How many people does it take to make something fashionable?
I think the percentage required is socially subjective--it depends on the accepted standards of the society. But in the USA, a thing probably becomes "normal" somewhere between 22% and 46% incidence. Merely "fashionable," however, requires a lower threshhold than "totally normal," & there are regional variations. [stats from Out-of-My-Hat, Inc.] I've long thought this rule does leave an interesting loophole for fashion designers & the willfully avant-garde: "If I say it's a pour l'homme, it's pour l'homme!" But then, I was raised a fundamentalist/evangelical Christian, not an Orthodox Jew.
As for the OP:
Protestant fundamentalism is neither centrally governed nor doctrinally homogenous, so there is no one policy regarding transsexuals. I can't give you a definite universal answer to your question for that reason.
Since there is no one policy, in many cases, the leaders of a local church will take a position that sounds right to them, and this position may be the opposite of one taken by another church of the same stripe a few hundred miles away. This is probably not a matter of clear church doctrine so much as personal philosophy of the pastor advising the transgendered Christian.
The attitude is also going to vary as the general moral philosophy of the church varies. Within "fundamentalism," there are (among others) rabid legalists, inconsistent legalists, barely-legalists, libertarian-but-not-libertine moderates, know-it-alls, Know-Nothings, holy rollers, raving loonies, people-who-don't-know-they're-fundies, people-who-don't-know-they're-not-really-fundies, charlatans, sincere seekers, & folks who just wandered in to get out of the rain. You're not really going to get total agreement on masturbation--or private property, or the relative morality of war and assassination--let alone something as outside of typical human experience as sex reassignment.
kellibelli: Here I have been doubting the possibility of 'god' just because my precious mother is dying.
I need doubt no longer, because you see, I saw a bit of the Grammys. I saw some group win for best R&B I think, and the guy getting the award said: THIS IS GOD'S WORK.
Now it is all so clear. Mom is dying, people are getting aids, there is war, famine, crack babies....all because 'god' is apparently in the music biz.
Another Einstein told the world to: PRAY FOR HIP HOP!
As for R&B singers thanking God: Yeah, well, it's chic but sounds stupid.
What bugs me is that you doubt the possibility of god --because your mother is dying? Um... I think part of the reason people turn to religion is for hope of life aftr death. If anyone has been telling you that god guarantees the earthly survival of your mother, their theology is--well, crap.
OK, that wasn't fair. This is something you have to go through, and i know you feel horrible--every childhood assumption about what was safe and good comes crashing down, and the world seems ungoverned, loose form its moorings.
So let me try to say this gently:
Honey, we're mortals. We die. Part of the deal, i'm afraid, along with having children and getting to watch them grow up. I once wanted to believe that my family would survive indefinitely. But that's not the case. The big moment for me was when my aunt Mary on my ma's side died in a car crash. My cousin Shan--a teen at the time--was driving. I imagine he was really shaken by that. I was shaken, a thousand miles away--she was the closest relative i'd had die on me since i could remember (except my paternal grandmother, who was diabetic, and i didn't like much after all).
This is part of the deal. I could say something analytical and weird about the biological and philosophical reasons for death, but i think you'd shut it--and me--out; too cold, right?
Yeah. But (i believe) God (if something like the Judeo-Christian God exists) isn't there to override nature, or keep our families in the shape we first found them. Whatever we believe about the transcendent--God, the Tao, whatever--religion, at its best, gives us a hope in something greater than ourselves, our fragile little families, our fragile little lives. And, i think, can remind us that it's ok, that life is flux, but there are still things worth loving and defending.
Unfortunately, some well-meaning (?) religious people miss this truth, and say utter nonsense like "Jesus won't let your dad/mom/brother/gerbil die." And some religious traditions seem determined to make people more inept at living in reality, not better-adjusted.
Anyway, i hope you don't sour on the idea of God permanently 'cos of your loss. Not that i'm a raging theist. But i think the transcendent is there; there are things worth loving and believing in; and the understanding of these--the true good of the universe--is what i might call "the mind of God." Of course, the Christians and i might disagree on what God is about...
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