(Sent by one of a couple of transsexual people I'm talking with at the moment. Rowland)...

A TRANSSEXUAL THEOLOGY

So God created humanity in God's own image, in the image of God, God created humanity; male and female God created them. -- Genesis 1:27

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. -- Galatians 3:28

He whose testicles are crushed or whose male members is cut off shall not enter the assembly of the LORD. -- Deuteronomy 23:1

Let not the eunuch say, 'Behold, I am a dry tree.' For thus says YAHWEH: 'To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which shall not be cut off.' -- Isaiah 56:3-5

For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it. -- Matthew 19:21

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus. And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?' And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. -- Acts 8:35-38

The subject of Transsexuality is not directly addressed in Scripture.

One might come to this issue with the perspective that where the Scriptures are silent we are to make our decisions based on empirical evidence and reason. Therefore, we would turn to Psychological research which indicates that Gender Dysphoria is an actual condition, probably inherent, and that the best treatment is a chemical and surgical sex change.

However, there are a few concepts in the Scripture which indirectly address the idea of people of unusual Gender conditions and how we are to relate to them within the church. This is the idea of eunuchs. What we have here are not people who are transitioning from one sex to the other, but people who no longer are true members of their original sex. Eunuchs have been a part of society in many cultures since the beginning of recorded civilization. So it is not a far stretch to see a continuity between eunuchs and Transsexuals.

We see this new inclusion and celebration in the unfolding of Salvation History in Acts. we have the wonderful little story of the Ethiopian Eunuch. It is interesting that when he meets Philip, the Eunuch, most likely a Jew who probably knew that Deuteronomy excluded him from the covenant, was reading the prophet Isaiah, which envisions the inclusion of eunuchs. Unlike Peter, who needed a vision from heaven to cross the boundary of including Gentiles,

Philip needed no prodding to know that the Spirit was calling him to include eunuchs in the Kingdom of God. Philip proclaims the Good News, the eunuch believes and is received into the family of faith immediately by Baptism. Thus the first boundary that was broken down in our Baptism in Christ was not one of religious differences or race, but one of unusual gender conditions.

When the Apostle Paul describes how our being one in Christ through our Baptism breaks down the normal human boundaries that we see as barriers, he is very explicit in including gender as one of these now irrelevant conditions. Of course Paul is not saying we as individuals are no longer male or female, just as he is not saying we as individuals are no longer Jew or Greek. However, Paul clearly felt that this new freedom in Christ meant that a Jew could now live as a Greek, abandoning the dietary and calendric restrictions that separated them. It is consistent with the rest of Paul's ministry to see this passage as teaching that men and women need not be limited by the gender roles assigned to them. So Paul includes women in leadership and conceivably would extend nurturing roles to men. It is not a far stretch from this concept to see that in Christ those who are of unusual gender condition have the freedom to live in the gender opposite from the one assigned to them at birth if they find it necessary for the development of their true selves.

Developing True Self

But this leaves us with a much more profound and deeper question. Is it even appropriate for those who are in Christ to seek the development of their true selves? Is the concept of self actualization consistent with the Gospel? Didn't Jesus say, "He who seeks to save his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake will find it"? Doesn't that mean that our goal should not be finding a life of happiness, fulfillment and self realization but having a life of service, sacrifice and self denial?

The Calling of God

A very important part of Theology is the idea of Vocation, or the calling of God. Most Christians recognize that God calls some to exercise the Ministry of the Word within the life of the Church. The genius of the Reformed doctrine is the idea that God calls all believers to various ministries both within and without the Church. No calling is "higher" than another. Some of these ministries are what those who do not hold the Reformed doctrine of Vocation would call secular occupations. But to those of us who hold the Reformed view, someone engaging in an "secular" occupation of a doctor, or a farmer, or craftsman is serving God and God's world as much as someone who is engaged in the pastorate.

Furthermore, this doctrine teaches that God calls us by gifting us in a certain area. Thus God doesn't call someone to be an artist without gifting that person with artistic talent. There are two very valuable ways to tell where someone is gifted, one is that when they exercise their ability others will recognize they have the ability. The other is that when the person engages in the activity they are gifted in, they will experience joy, satisfaction and an ongoing desire to continue to engage in that activity.

The doctrine of Vocation, then teaches that in our life calling we will not primarily find sacrifice but fulfillment. Of course there might be sacrifice in order to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. But the fundamental idea of Vocation is that when God calls us to a ministry God also places within us the desire to be in that ministry. When the desire is not met, we will experience extreme distress, as when Paul said that he would die if he could not preach. When the desire is met, we will experience a deep sense of satisfaction.

If God calls us to be farmers, shop-keepers, house-wives, lawyers, craftsmen, pastors, laborers, or whatever, God expects us to find fulfillment in that calling. If something stands in the way of that inner fulfillment and satisfaction, it stands in the way of our ability to serve God and God's world well in our calling. A sense of Vocation would drive us to remove whatever barriers make it difficult for us to fulfill our calling. If Gender Dysphoria keeps one from being who they truly are and fitting into the reality around them, then it keeps them from serving God to the best of their ability. Vocation then demands that the individual do whatever they can to change this Gender Dysphoria. We now know that the body's gender can be changed to fit the mind's gender, but the opposite cannot be done.

"When the Apostle Paul describes how our being one in Christ through our Baptism breaks down the normal human boundaries that we see as barriers, he is very explicit in including gender as one of these now irrelevant conditions."