What does the Bible say about the transgender/transexual individual? 7 March 2015.

This is a topic I've been wanting to write on for quite some time. I get the question quite often, "What does the Bible say about being transgender/transexual?" A lot of it is relatively misunderstood, and before we go into what the Bible says about it, we must first look, scientifically, at what Gender Identity Disorder is. To keep it relatively simple, Gender Identity Disorder is when somebody doesn’t feel their biological gender matches their gender identity, or the gender they internally identify with.  With an understanding that Gender Identity Disorder is a very real issue that many suffer from, we can then examine the Biblical text honestly.

Deuteronomy 22:5

Deuteronomy 22:5 is the chief argument that comes up the majority of the time as opposition to being transgender/transexual. The verse states, “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.”

What’s important to note about this verse is context. At this time, the Israelite people were in the land of the Canaanites who believed in multiple gods and had many rituals for those gods. One such ritual would have men dress as one of these goddesses and act as prostitutes in the temple. The prohibition in Deuteronomy 22:5 is a prohibition of this behavior and against the pagan worship ritual. When you look at the context of the verse you can see that it has nothing to do with transgender individuals. Also, as we discussed before, “abomination” in the original text comes from the Hebrew term “toevah”, which doesn’t mean sin, but different culture.

Mark 10:6

Another verse that comes up is Mark 10:6, “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’.” This verse can be applied to this conversation, however, this verse does not differentiate from physical gender and gender identity. It can be reasoned that God forms people in the womb with a gender identity of male or female, but many can be born with the birth defect of being born the opposite sex of their gender identity. It has been established, Biblically, that God allows birth defects to show his works. God allows us to be tested.

Jeremiah 1:5

A lot of folks like to mention a few verses to state that nobody is born transgender and God doesn’t “make mistakes”, but to say such a thing it stands to reason we are looking at the situation the wrong way. Jeremiah 1:5 is a common verse that comes up. The verse states “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” This does not conflict with someone being born with a gender identity that is alternate to their physical identity at birth. This just states that God knew the person from their conception in the womb.

Does God make mistakes?

We, then, must ask the question - does God make mistakes? Absolutely not. But, does God allow things to happen to us; does God test us? Of course. Job is a fantastic example of this. Many people are born with conditions they did not ask for. For example, a man who was born blind. Matthew 9:1-3 is an example. “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? “ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” People who are transgender suffer from Gender Dysphoria, which is also known as Gender Identity Disorder - a condition that is established from birth, much the same as being blind. In this sense, it is the same way as someone being born blind - it is a test to show the works of God, much as with Job, or the person who was born blind. If you had a child who was born with a birth defect, would you not do everything possible to help fix it? The same applies to being born with a physical gender that is alternate to your gender identity. Being born with Gender Identity Disorder is not a choice anymore than being born blind is.

"For you are all one in Christ Jesus."

There are two verses that I think really show how God views people, particularly the transgender individual. Galatians 3:26-28 and I Samuel 16:7. Galatians 3:26-29 says, “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The Bible does not say “….except the transgender/transexual individual.” The Bible plainly states “For you are all one in Christ Jesus

"The Lord looks at the heart."

I Samuel 16:7 says, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” This is a very important verse, because it shows that people may judge the transgender/transexual individual, especially during their transition phase, but God knows them. God looks on their heart and does not judge them. This is an important reflection for us to ponder, as we are inspired to be Christ-like, should we also not view people the same way?

Explaining Bible Mistranslations - 6 March 2015.

I want to be very clear - the original text of the Bible is God-inspired and God-breathed.  Mistranslations are the work of man who attempted to further their agenda.  What I'm about to say is not against God in any way, shape, or form, but it is against men who have perverted the text of the Bible.  

The original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible do not oppose homosexuality. The Old Testament and The New Testament both mention homosexuality, but they cite it as a different culture - but nowhere is it mentioned to be wrong or a "sin". This is a common misconception. The 1611 King James Bible was pushed to have a more Conservative translation, so many words were mistranslated and changed to fit that agenda. Old Testament and New Testament scholars as well as experts in Hebrew and Greek both agree on this. So no, the Bible doesn't say homosexuality is wrong at all. That just comes from mistranslations in the text. In fact, if you reference the Leningrad Codex (which is from as early as 1000 AD and is one of the earliest and most accurate and complete Hebrew texts of the Bible) or the Codex Sinaiticus (from as early as 330-360 AD, and one of the most complete and accurate early Greek texts of the Bible) they are vastly different from modern Biblical text.

First, let’s look at the Bible text prior to the KJV. Prior to 1611, Latin was the only remotely scholarly language used in Europe. The Latin Vulgate translation by Jerome, which was based on an Alexandrian Text was the official text and translation used by most churches. When it came to the KJV, the Protestant translators didn’t have access to the entire Received Greek Official Text. They were familiar with the Vulgate, but without that access they often inserted words that were not there in the original Greek. Most of this is due to the shoddy work of Erasmus, who edited the Greek New Testament prior to the KJV. He was rushed to get the text to press and his work suffered due to that.

Next, to understand more about the modern Bible, it’s important to look at the King James Bible and it’s important that we look at the history of the King James Bible. As most know, King James I hand picked 54 men to translate the Bible. Unfortunately, they ended up modifying the Bible to fit a more Protestant point of view. King James himself gave rules to the translators. He did not allow honest translations of certain words. Many critical words were forced to be translated in accordance with the Episcopalian view of the Church of England. The KJV contained mistranslations on purpose to help further the agenda of the established church. In fact, at the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, King James himself said he would make people conform, or he would force them off their land.

It’s also important to note the revisions of the King James Bible. Since it’s creation in 1611 it has undergone three revisions which have incorporated over 100,000 changes. 300 words in the King James Bible no longer have the same meaning. Many scholars have noted that not only is the English used in the King James Bible no longer understood, but it has been documented to be twisted, perverted and in error numerous times.

Next, we need to turn our attention to the New International Version as well. The NIV was first published in 1978. The translators are Evangelical Christians who showed even more bias than the 54 “scholars” who translated the KJV. They were locked in to believing a certain way, and that bias showed in their translation. When something challenged their way of thinking, they would simply change the text of the Bible. In fact, the publishers of the NIV even stated on record that their purpose was not to preserve the original text of the Bible, but to make a translation that was non-offensive. They eliminated hundreds of words, phrases, and entire Bible verses. In total, 64,576 words were removed with the New International Version.

Now, I want to explain why I bring this up.  It's important to realize that men have intentionally mistranslated important parts of the Bible to further their agenda.  When it comes to important issues like homosexuality, it is important to realize that the original text of the Bible was not against homosexuality - in fact, the Greek or Hebrew words for homosexuality never appeared in the original Bible - they weren't added until 1946!  I always ask people to research their opinions further than just the face level.  Reading the NIV or KJV can't give you the full picture of important topics like homosexuality, it's crucial to look at the original text, as well, to fully understand them.  Our faith and our God is not against the LGBT community, but that commonly held misconception has been created by Conservative men who want us to think that.

Further Reading:
https://bible.org/article/why-i-do-not-think-king-james-bible-best-translation-available-today

http://www.catholicapologetics.info/scripture/translations/kjversion.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/graphic1designer/errors.html

http://www.wordofhisgrace.org/kjvnomore.htm

https://isthatinthebible.wordpress.com/articles-and-resources/deliberate-mistranslation-in-the-new-international-version-niv/

http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/NIV/why.htm

The Truth Behind Sodom And Gomorrah - 6 March 2015.

One of the arguments and statements that comes up the most when it comes to homosexuality is "Remember Sodom and Gomorrah?". Unfortunately, that argument doesn't hold much weight as Sodom and Gomorrah had nothing to do with homosexuality. I've written on it in the past, but I wanted to go into more detail about what really happened at Sodom and Gomorrah.  For this explanation, we're going to use Genesis 19 and Jude 7 to evaluate the Biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Genesis 19 Account
One night, Lot welcomed two strangers into his house.  The inhabitants of the city came to Lot and said, "Bring them out, so that we may know them."  Later translations (such as the NIV) have mistakenly turned this into "Bring them out, so that we may have sex with them," but it's important to note this is a blatant error in translation. The original Hebrew word used for "know them" was "yãdhà". This word has two meanings - one is to examine, and one is to engage in sexual activity. That word is used 943 times in the Old Testament, and only ten times is it used to reference sexual intercourse, and every one of those activities is heterosexual.  Not one time in the Bible has the word "sodom" or "sodomy" been used to describe homosexuality activity.

It is interesting, and important, to note that for 1800 years after the story of Sodom took place, Jewish prophets in the Bible and many Jewish authors who were outside of the Bible universally understood the sin of Sodom to be the sin of being inhospitable, not homosexual activity or relations. That commonly held misbelief is relatively new, and something that is used to bash homosexuality. Sodom is mentioned 48 times in the Bible outside of the original story in Genesis and in no accounts of the story is homosexuality mentioned as the cause of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, Jesus Christ himself judges Sodom for being inhospitable, not for being homosexual. (Matthew 10:12-15 and Luke 10:8-12) The Son of God did not mention Sodom and Gomorrah for being homosexual, but rather for being inhospitable, and that should send across a pretty clear message.  In Ezekiel 16:48-50, the sins of Sodom are listed very clearly as, "pride, plenty, laziness, uncaring for needy, haughty and worshipping idols", but not one of them is listed as homosexuality.  So the Bible is pretty clear that the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality, but rather being inhospitable.

The Jude 1:7 Account
Next, let's turn our attention to Jude 7 for a better explanation of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the events in question. The text states, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”  I want to turn your attention to the word "strange", as many have said that implies homosexuality.  But in fact, the Greek word for strange used in the original text was "heteros", not "homios", meaning the "strange" flesh the men of the city went after was heterosexual, and not related to homosexuality.  Also, the text of Jude 1:7 not only says that it was not a homosexual act, it also states that the "strange" flesh the men were attempting to have sex with was "angelic" flesh.  Not men attempting to have sex with men, but men attempting to have sex with angels.

Explaining The Word "Sodomy"
So why, many may ask, is the word “sodomy” used to equate to anal penetration and male homosexuality. This one is a little easier to explain. This word has been connected to that due to the common misunderstanding that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed over homosexuality, when in reality, that isn’t the case. The modern word “sodomy” comes from the Ecclesiastical Latin “peccatum Sodomiticum”, or “sin of Sodom” - and the sin of Sodom was being inhospitable.  Now you know, if your state has sodomy laws on the books - you better start being hospitable to strangers!

I hope this helps explain this topic further.  I know it's a common held misconception that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed over homosexuality, when in fact, that couldn't be farther from the truth! 

Further references:
http://www.libchrist.com/other/homosexual/sodom.html

http://www.wouldjesusdiscriminate.org/biblical_evidence/sodom_and_gomorrah.html

http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2015/01/08/in-the-bible-sodomy-does-not-mean-what-you-think-it-means/35709
https://bible.org/article/homosexual-theology