I consider myself a very blessed man in a number of ways. This blog has become one of my great blessings. One of the reasons I love this blog community is the variety of people who interact on it. There has been an increase in the number of people who aren’t Christians who comment on various posts. I want to share with you the perspective of one young woman on how she views Christians. These comments come directly from her comments on some of my posts. They have not been changed.
On Being Selfish, Not Really Interested in Others
I remember a rather outspoken evangelical Christian young woman I worked with – I’d just moved to town, and we went to a movie together. Each week she invited me to her church, and I didn’t want to offend her by saying “No thanks.” As it was, I had Buddhist activities one Sunday and I was mentoring a young girl two other Sundays, but that theoretically left a Sunday open. We only worked together for 3 months, and it never worked out. I went to a different job.
She showed up there one night, and jumped right to the church invite. No “Hey, how’ve you been? Haven’t seen you in a while!” Nope – just “Do you want to come to church with me this weekend?” Since I was on to her game, I decided to play. I said, “Sure, I’ll go to church with you, because I’m interested in seeing what you’re interested in. That’s what friends do, after all. And I’m sure you’ll want to come with me to a Buddhist meeting to see what I’m interested in, right?”
“Oh no!” she replied. “I just love the Lord so much!”
“Well,” I said, “then there’s no point in me going to your church because I’m not interested in either becoming a Christian or joining your church.” I never saw her again.
That’s how far Christian friendship extends – I’ve seen it over and over and over. Christians look at everyone else as if they’ve got targets painted on their foreheads. Nobody likes being hunted down or treated like someone else’s project. We don’t need to drop all our beliefs just to accept yours, and we don’t need to become more like you just to be acceptable people, worthy of being regarded as people instead of targets. Love does not seek to create clones of itself. Selfishness does.
On Being Self-centered and Judgmental
Keep your religious beliefs to yourself. If I have any interest in what you believe, I’ll ask you. And if I don’t ask you, then go right ahead and assume that your “witnessing” will be unwelcome. I’m sure that you like whatever you believe very much, and I’m very happy that you like it. However, just as your favorite flavor of ice cream is not necessarily going to be mine, I wish you would assume that I’m just as content with my own beliefs (or lack thereof) as you are with yours. Why not ask me first what *I* believe? Why not show an interest in what’s interesting to me instead of expecting me to always be interested in what YOU’RE interested in? Christians are so selfish and self-centered! Tell me – when was the last time an atheist rang your doorbell to tell you about his worldview? The reason the world hates Christians is because they behave badly, they’re rude, boorish, arrogant, conceited, full of themselves, ignorant, and judgmental. Go ahead – accuse me of being judgmental now. Doesn’t matter – I don’t claim to follow a belief system that has actual rules AGAINST being judgmental, so it’s *fine* for me to be!
On Being Unwilling to Develop True Friendships with Non-Christians
As a mother of young children in a homeschooling environment, we found ourselves surrounded by Christians. Of course, the kids would become friends and we moms would chat while they played. Without a single exception, this “acquaintanceship” only progressed to the point that I had to make it clear that no, I would not acceptjesusasmypersonalsavior, and no, I would not be attending their church. Then the Christians never called again, and I was left to explain to my sad children why their new friends wouldn’t be playing with them any more.
When my son was just 6, the boys down the street told him he was not allowed to play with them because he wasn’t a Christian. I went down to see what was going on (because my 4-yr-old daughter was going to go down there and teach those boys a lesson!) and I confirmed that what my son had reported was indeed what they’d said. And the mother of one was right out in the front yard, 25 feet from me, pretending to be very focused on trimming some plants. She never said a word.
Finally, the 6-yr-old girl across the street told my kids, ages 7 and 9, that if they weren’t Christians, they would be going to hell. She certainly learned the “Good News”. And you Christians wonder why we non-Christians avoid you?? HINT: It’s not because we’re intimidated by your awesomeness and are just sitting here, pining for you, wishing you would like us. We already know you don’t.
Your Response?
Frankly, I found these comments painfully true for many of us. Though my first reaction was one of defensiveness, the more I read them, the more I realize that this women has identified many of us Christians too clearly.
What do you think? What is your response?
Posted on June 15, 2013
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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302 Comments
I appreciate the comments especially those that make us (Christians) to look at ourselves and change for the better. Christians are people like all of us, they make mistakes and are prone to sin BUT we have a mandate (Matthew 28) to go to all corners of the earth and tell the people that God loves them (John 3:16) through Jesus our Lord. The truth is “God loves the earth”. God loves even people who say with their mouth that He does not exist.
No one in their right mind will reject the Good News from God, when calling everyone to His grace and mercy, shown on the cross of calvary, through the death of Jesus our Lord. Indeed this message will be OFFENSIVE to those who choose not to respond to God’s Word, that does not demonize those Christians who want to see PEOPLE build a relationship with creator God. God puts a choice before us and allow us to make that choice. He does not force us or put a gun on our heads to believe in Him. whether we reject God or deny his existence, that does not mean He is not calling the world to himself. We need to make it clear what is it that makes people angry with Christians who share their faith. 1. If it is the style we use, then help us to correct the way we do evangelism. So that we will be sensitive when sharing the gospel. I agree that we need to show love and care before anything else, for Jesus shows us love all the time. 2. If it is the content of the message, that makes people offended and angry, then we cannot keep quite just because people are offended, chew the meat and spit the bones.
This is certainly a subject that troubles me because there are people claiming to be Christians that actually push others away from becoming Christians with their overbearing “goodness” Being a good Christian is not about pestering everyone you meet into making commitments, or making people uncomfortable to be around you. Some Christians make the mistake of thinking that they are walking 2 feet above everyone else and feel the need to preach. But they have not learned enough yet to be able to preach and should leave that to the experts. They have forgotten how to be humble and are afraid to be real. Perhaps they don’t trust themselves to resist temptation so they have to announce their involvements with the Church as a sort of shield from the Evil they believe is all around them. It is actually quite a cleaver ploy that the devil himself came up with to push people away from becoming Christians
Then Christian’s should wear their sin’s list on a board hanging from their necks. So, the rest of us non-believer’s and The LGBT can drone on and on and on about how they’re not following their own rules. The same rules Christian’s “impose” on the rest of us, the non-believer’s.
That mentality.. “Be tolerant of my intolerance” is pure Christian word vomit. Non-believers and The LGBT always have to be the ones to give more or make allowances for Christian’s and this unbelievable Christian love I keep hearing about.
Christian’s resemble spoiled children having a tantrum when they do get their way. If you’re not going to let me preach to you and control you than I’m against you, is the Holy Roller mentality.
Christian’s need to step back and look at the way they behave. Look at it from a human perspective not as a Christian – than tell me what you think of Christian’s?
You’re one of the real Jerk Christians, Lentikile. I hope I never have the misfortune of ever meeting you in person.
“No one in their right mind will reject the Good News from God”
You really are full of yourself, aren’t you, Lentikile? You’ve defined everyone in the world for your own convenience. Either they’ll knuckle under to your indoctrination (like YOU did) or they’re insane. Lovely.
NO, I *don’t* want anything to do with your “Good News” – you may not realize this, but what you consider to be “Good News” is very BAD NEWS indeed for the rest of us. Because it creates self-centered, self-important, overbearing, boorish, rude, inconsiderate jerks who think they’re better than everyone else. Like YOU.
People don’t “hate” you because you’re so *noble* and *illustrious* and *SUPERIOR* – they hate you because you don’t respect other people; you reject the concepts of consent and basic inalienable fundamental human rights; you worship the worst monster human brains have been able to devise; and you routinely trample others’ boundaries and rights in your zeal to create clones of yourselves. When you’re nasty human beings, you should expect to be rejected. And you’re just the WORST. It’s because you behave so BADLY that people hate you. You *could* change that, but you *won’t*. You LIKE being jerks. And the fact that you believe your “jeezis” gives you LICENSE to maltreat others and behave as bullies and jerks drives uncountable numbers *AWAY* from your “gawd” and your “jizzis” – but you don’t think there’s any PENALTY for being an anti-salesman! Think about THAT once – do you REALLY think that the “god” that has commanded you to *effectively* sell a certain belief system in the world is going to *REWARD* you for driving people away from it?
Upvote!!
I’m a die-hard Christian, have been my whole life and I have rarely met people like this who ridicule others based on what they are thinking. God calls us to love everyone and to speak words of love not hate, and condemnation. This article is full of hate in the form of ridicule aimed toward the lady, not the enemy for convincing this woman that the body of Christ is against her. There is a lot of truth in her statement, but there is a point where someone needs to learn when to speak out against injustice and when to sit and stay silent. In this case, all this comment is doing is creating harassment and proving the point of these people because they are sharing their opinions and she condemns them for what she thinks and sees. I’m not agreeing with these people but it’s not okay to be displaying this kind of hate, especially in the name of Jesus.
“chew the meat and spit the bones.”
That’s really what defines you, your whole identity, and all of Christianity, that little slip of honesty you let out saying that those you harrass and threaten with eternal torment are just meat or bones. They aren’t people to you, and they never will be, because your god doesn’t see them as people either. Just a consumable, or garbage.
I had a similar situation with the writer. This is my story. For about fifteen years, I wondered why people believe in god. Why would people read the bible or go to church or believe right to the bone that they would go to heaven. I read articles of why people believe in god and I read articles of people who do not believe in god. I realized that to find the answers, I needed to meet the christens in person not on the web and surround my self with one-hundred or two-hundred christens. So I joined a christen club every four days out of the week at college. I hanged out with the same people who also went to church two or more times a week. I also communicated with christens on Facebook. I sat down with christens who translated the bible and the group was asked what did you think about it? Through the entire process, I met 125 people within three years. I learned that christens are beautiful people, they work hard at school and at home; thus, they do the best of their ability as any human beings.
All that being said, I only had two friends. One guy and my ex-girlfriend who are christen believers and does everything by the book. The guy who I handed out with reads the bible every day for hours, goes to church at least five days out of the week. The two of us went to the movies, hiked, shopped at Costco, and read the bible and went to church. We did this for six mounts. We were close friends and he even called me his brother. At the 8 month, I told him that I am a non-believer in god. And despite me going to church with him for weeks and he seeing me interact with more than a hundred christens, he said ” you are pulling my leg”. I said that I am not. I truly am atheist. I told him that a true friend would not lie. After that, I never heard of him again. He would not call me, nor see me in person. I looked at my self and asked “was I a good person to him”? I retraced my steps of what I did for him was enough! Of course it was. I paid full bill at least five times when we ate at Denies. I even was a huge supporter for him to stop drinking addiction and never judged his faults or his views. I soon realized that I made a mistake. I hated that I could not be his friend no more. The reason is because though he was a christen, he had other gifts. I felt that his warm heart was one out of a thousand guys. Meaning, he and I would do crazy things out of no were. We would go to Safeway and buy some rise and beans to give to the homeless people at First ST. Napa Ca at 11:00 pm. It was just the two of us. We helped twenty-five homeless people that needed food just to sleep the night. I felt that I was Martin Luther King because I was changing people lives for the better even though our society is not ready for constructive positive change. No other people I know would do that. My heart was lost because I knew we could do great things together despite we having deferent perspectives of life.
My ex-girlfriend was a fanatic of god. She and I would go to church two times a week. Her church was an extreme christen church. I never went to a church that was so mentally draining. Meaning, I could not stand to be their for two seconds. But I did this for two hours every Saturday and Sunday for one year. I would squint my eyes so that I would not have to see the pastor preach and I squinted my eyes to blur so that I would not have to see stoned Jesus statues in side of the church. Me and her were a great couple. We hiked, went to the movies, fed the ducks at Napa, ate out, read books, drew art work together, had so many things in common. Then one day, I said I am a atheist. She just stared at me and said “if you are a atheist, why would you go to church with me”? I said that you seemed really happy that I would attend church with you. She was still puzzled, but she was not angry. Apparently she did not learn in life to give and take, one of many life skills to learn in a relationship or marriage. After that, she just said we could be friends. I knew in the moment that she was saying I am done with you. At the same time, I was disappointed and content within me. The disappointment was that she was a nine out of a ten goddess of extreme beautifulness. But I was honest and true to my self and to her. We are still friends today. But despite all of that, I had a lot of fun with her. I learned that true christens want to hang out together and if you are not a christen, despite having other things in common is a losing situation. But something that, one must learn for his or her self.
In conclusion, surrounding my self with christens taught me to look at people from within. The hardest things to learn in life is to fully accept people for who they are unconditionally, even if you do not always see eye to eye or have a five things in common, but the other ten things you don’t have in common with that particular person. A couples years have past, and now I look at all people for who they are. I honestly believe that if I did not look at other people perspectives, I would never learn to accept christens. Thank you
This whole thread is like some tragic comedy. A Christian asking ‘how can I be more appealing to other people in order to make them respect Christianity more?’ is fundamentally flawed.
These people you describe, people who seems reasonable, kind, and caring, but who inexplicably aren’t Christian, are beyond your reach. They are that way because they already understand something that you are so close to grasping: That someone’s system of belief and the quality of their character have absolutely no connection. That’s why they will always be out of your reach. If are asking yourself ‘how can I get them to care about my system of belief?’ then you are sorely misunderstanding.
You can’t make Christianity appealing to those who have no need for it any more than you can make a driving a submarine appealing to an octopus.
I know I’m very late to this discussion but I have something that many Christians need to hear.
I was born into and brought up in a christian home and I spent my childhood in the church. Everyone around me was seemingly devout and I tried my best to be. I sang loudly and closed my eyes during prayer so no one would look at me weird, even though I wondered exactly what we were praying for since it seems that our prayers went largely unanswered. Everyone seemed to have a conviction, though, so I sang and prayed and waited for god to show himself to me too.
My earliest memory of real doubt was about 9 years ago, when I was 7 and I wondered why the women in our church were so mean to one another and gossiped about people who weren’t there to defend themselves. Not constructively either, this was some intense backstabbing. And even then I would wonder why they would talk about someone else like this and then smile and laugh with them when they saw them later likes there was nothing wrong.
Then I turned my attention to actually reading the bible and it was very contrary to what our Sunday school teachers told us about what Christians were supposed to be. I started in the Old Testament and some of the things I read I infuriated me. I am female and I did not take kindly to the passages in this link https://valerietarico.com/2012/03/09/15-bible-texts-reveal-why-gods-own-party-is-at-war-with-women/
There are several other parts of the bible where it isn’t stated in this manner, but shown in the actions of “children of god” in the bible, that the bible considers female lower than males. The most disgusting incident was that part of the Sodom and Gomorrah debacle where the men of the town showed up intending to gang-rape Lot’s visitor (these were the immoral people) and Lot, seeking to protect that man, said “Oh no do not shame him that way! Here, shame my two daughters instead!” not quite like that, but you get the gist. (This was the moral man) I had known of the “awful immorality”of Sodom and Gomorrah long before that moment, but I had heard of it from Sunday school teachers, some of whom were female themselves, and the purpose of telling us about it was to highlight what terrible places Sodom and Gomorrah were. How could so many men sleep with one person at once, especially a man? They shrieked. Lot was an upstanding man of god for protecting him. They failed to mention that Lot offered both his daughters to appease the group of horny men, instead of barricading the door and raining arrows on their asses through the windows, like any sensible man should have done.
Oh also, let’s make children suffer for the sins of their parents why don’t we? If a child is born out of wedlock, his decendants for 10 generations shall not be accepted into any gathering of the Lord’s people. But god, considering that anyone who didn’t worship you would go to hell, didn’t you just condemn 10 generations of innocent people to damnation?
Let’s not forget other cases of gross treatment of people by god, including, but not limited to; considering men unclean after they ejaculate, decimation of other innocent nations by god’s chosen people, COACHING HIS PEOPLE ON HOW TO TREAT THEIR SLAVES(when Christians tell me that the fact I don’t worship god makes me immoral, my head catches fire and I literally cannot talk due to anger) I can’t remember any more right now, but a through reading of your bible should give you plenty more instances.
I decided that this couldn’t be what Christians believe in, because surely a third of the world’s population wouldn’t put their faith in such a god, right? I wasn’t the only one who was seeing this, right? There must be an explanation for this. I went to my church teachers with this and guess what? They condemned me for even daring to question their precious word. They wouldn’t even look at it. They called me a heathen and a fool, for only a fool says in his heart there is no god (even though that’s not what I said!), and then forced me to attend deliverance sessions for a week. I learned to keep my thoughts to myself after that.
I continued reading the bible and listening to the messages the pastors gave us, and all I heard was judgement convert save the lost ones homosexuality is bad (no jokes, an entire Sunday was dedicated to telling us why homosexuality is a willful subversion of nature and how they were satanic worshippers who deserved condemnation) with increasing disgust, horror and resentment, and at one point I just decided The holy book is full of contradictions, the church is run by people who talk the talk but don’t have a foot down on the right path and the world is full of proof that whoever or wherever this god is, he isn’t a god worth worshipping
I began to think for myself. I began to try and use logical arguments to explain the things that I had previously attributed to god, and yes I know that god doesn’t work on our level, but he doesn’t seem to work at all, so what use is listening to anything he has to say? Better to figure it out for myself.
This has not made me popular with many people. Once, I tried to argue why we should allow people to identify with whatever gender identity they’re comfortable with, and someone I work with told me that is bullshit, god created people into two genders and the reason I say such things is because I’m not a Christian. Two people I considered friends once spoke to each other, about me, in my presence, as if I wasn’t even there, saying things about how I need deliverance, and that when I grow up I will realize there is only one true god, and one of them even suggested that my parents didn’t teach me properly. When I got up and excused myself, they had the audacity to ask me what was wrong.
Having said that, let me tell you what I think about Christians. I think Christians are condescending, arrogant, intolerant people who get a kick out of thinking that in millennia of human existence they are the only ones who got it right. What in the world makes you think that those people who worshipped Thor and Ra and Shiva were all wrong and that yours is the only right way? You consider yourselves enlightened, and the way I see it, you consider everyone else brainless and in need of rescuing. People before you devoted themselves to their gods. Do you think they did it for shits and giggles? This was something they believed in. I didn’t wake up one morning and decide to become the antichrist(someone called me that once). People outside Christianity DO know how to think. Those priests that devoted their lives to their gods thousands of years ago weren’t fools. I did not decide to turn my back on everything I grew up with because it’s fun to rebel. I have a brain and I can use it and I have decided that I don’t want to be a Christian. That is all. That does not mean I’ll become a stripper, serial killer, lesbian, dictator or whatever. It simply means I don’t believe in god.
That’s what so many Christians don’t know. It’s incredibly insulting when you treat non believers like little children who don’t know what they’re talking about, who need guidance and deliverance and prayer from you, o mighty self righteous being, because you have unlocked the secret to existence. Please keep it to yourself. We don’t need your prayers or deliverance. We are not lost and we are not in the dark. We are on a different path, that’s all.
We didn’t just not believe in Yahweh to frustrate you. We don’t hate god. We don’t worship the devil. We don’t need you to tell us the truth. We have a brain and we know how to use it. So next time you meet someone who isn’t a Christian, instead of aggressively inviting them to church, or telling them they’ll go to hell or whatever tactic you’re using this week, why don’t you respect that person enough to trust that they did think their faith and their stand on religion through, instead as regarding them as lost or worldly or sinners? Maybe less people would see Christians like hyper-religious bastards and more like the person you’re all striving to be like. Did you ever think about that?
Oh, of *course* they didn’t think of that! As for the rest, well said, but I will direct you to the following passages that clearly state that the “sin” of Sodom and Gomorrah had *nothing whatsoever* to do with homosexuality:
Matthew 10:14-15; Luke 10:10-12; Wisdom 19:13; Isaiah 1:10-17; Ezekiel 16:49; 2 Peter 2:5-9
Besides, here’s what happened, according to Genesis (King James version):
“But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”
1) According to this account, *all* the males of Sodom, even crawling babies (!), converged on Lot’s house – with one accord. How realistic is *that*??
2) Lot had brought *strangers* into town without going through the customary introductions and notices; why *shouldn’t* the townspeople be concerned about the people Lot had *SNUCK INTO TOWN*?? Since these were lawless times with no centralized government to provide police protection and border guards, it was up to the people of the town to watch over their own territory, and Lot had violated their trust by sneaking strangers in? Why *shouldn’t* the townspeople demand a proper introduction?
There’s *EVERYTHING* wrong with this account, not limited to the internal inconsistencies of the tale, but also the way other sources within this same Bible ascribe *different* sins to the people of Sodom, all of which necessitate their brutal destruction.
This is a very BAD religion.
Jesus asked the Father to keep His disciples in the world so that He could send them out into the world, as He was sent. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Christians are to share our faith as well.
To tell someone of God’s love and the gift of eternal life through His Son, Jesus Christ, is not dismissing, discriminating against or oppressing the person. How it could bring war is not clear to me.
I see it as the most loving act a Christian could possibly do, when done in the right spirit. Unfortunately, I don’t believe many Christians are telling the world of this most precious gift, which is available.
Many atheist or agnostics have had a disdain for Christians, set out to prove us wrong, examined the evidence and became the most ardent apologist for the Christian faith.
Actually, I’ve seen some harsh things said about Christians on this thread, which is fine; we deserve some of it, but I’ve not seen Christians saying how horrible nonbelievers are.
As a non-Christian I’ve been told on numerous occasions that I’ll be going to Hell to be tortured forever and I’ll deserve it because I don’t believe in your “loving” god. That’s Christians telling me exactly how horrible I am.
Dr Rainer – I stumbled across this while preparing a sermon series on evangelism. I was searching to see what non-Christians think of us. It’s worse than I thought. It is sad to see the world’s perception of our Christian faith and no doubt we have brought it on ourselves in some respects. I appreciate the various views. But, I do believe we must still live in obedience to our Savior by sharing the gospel with the lost. What I wanted to add is that someone shared the gospel with me when I was a teen. I’m grateful for them doing the very thing that offends so many on this thread. Unfortunately, when I went off to college, I parted from the Church and lived a worldly lifestyle for 20 years, one I regret and feel ashamed of. I only wish a Christian or many Christians would have approached me, during that wilderness trek, to hold me accountable for what I had once professed. I can’t gain back that 20 years, but I can use my experience in coming back to Christ 27 years ago, as a testimony of the change Christ makes in a life running from Him and one walking with Him. I only wish the atheist on this thread could experience the love of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The lesson I’ve learned from this thread is to stress truth AND love. It’s something we know, but we need to be extra diligent when we share our faith. We may be mocked and persecuted for sharing our faith, but Jesus was hated by the world and said we should expect the same. He loves every person that posted on this thread, even those who have mocked Him.
One thing Christians and non-Christians have in common is that we all that we must struggle to honor and respect each others’ choices in life. Belief systems are all deliberate choices; some people arrive at their chosen one without much thought, but many people have spent years, if not lifetimes discovering what they hold to be the Truth. When we dismiss other belief systems, whether we realize it or not, we are dismissing the person who holds them, and that is a gateway to discrimination, oppression, and ultimately, war.
Stop saying I’m “lost” simply because I’m not your clone. I’m just *fine*. YOU don’t get to define me for your own convenience – I am not your *tool* to use as you please. I’m NEVER going to believe as you do, so please just leave me alone. Steer well clear of me, as I do whenever anyone I meet goes out of their way to identify themselves as “Christian”. I want NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with you horrible people, and anyone who self-identifies as “Christian” will never get a second chance or a chance to follow up with me. Because I’ve met too many Christians. You’re done. And I’m completely closed off to Christians because of Christians. YOU earned this.
I feel so sad reading this post. I just want to cry. Lord, forgive us and help us to embrace Jesus! He loved sinners, the outcasts, the irreligious, and they loved Him. Teach us to care for people with grace and truth, just as Jesus did. Thank you that Jesus died for our sins, reading this reminds me that our lack of love is real and our sins are many. Thank you for the grace that saves and transforms us. Lead us to a deeper love as the church and I pray that those outside the church would experience your love for them through us as we experience your love for us!
Bigotry is a serious, chronic problem in religious cults and churches. I probably should not have shown dissimilarity, because churches are for all intents and purpose cults.
It is true for about 99.4% of the human race who are cisgender individuals. But the remaining 0.6% is transgender. In most cases, this means that their genital structures, which almost always come in a standard male or female shape, define whether they are declared to be male or female at birth. But everybody also has another pair of structures in the brain that tell them what their gender identity is. They come in either a male or female version. A transgender adult will have female structures in their genital region and male structures in their brain, or vice versa. This discordance can cause massive conflict in people, often leading to suicide. The brain structures cannot be changed! For some people, the best option is to change their genital structures and/or take hormones so that their body more closely resembles the gender of their brain structures. It is a form of dualism that divides the human race into two groups: “us” and “them.” The same circumstances are found in the animal kingdom, but they haven’t yet leant to hate or be concerned about the disparity.
Still speaking of bigotry; this often results in the rejection or denigration of every member sight unseen of an entire group because of a single factor: their age, body shape or weight, caste, skin color, gender, national origin, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc. It is sometimes expressed as a desire or action to deprive an entire group of individuals of fundamental human rights, like freedom of religious expression, or freedom to marry. Additionally, the general consensus is that a homosexual / transgendered person is a sexual predator, which basically couldn’t be farther from the truth. The individual condition is not an alternative; it is genetic reality, just like being born left handed. Accordingly, there should also be a church statute to decline fellowship to all left handed people?
Don’t forget intersex and androgen-insensitivity individuals! Feel free to look up those terms if you are unfamiliar with them.
Christians are so holy that for centuries they would not fellowship with someone that was born with a “sinful” combination of chromosomes. The sex chromosomes are the X chromosome and the Y chromosome. In a man, both an X and a Y chromosome are present, giving an XY configuration. In a woman, there are two X chromosomes, giving an XX configuration. The X chromosome is, therefore, one of the two sex chromosomes that determine an individual’s gender. Humans are sexual beings just like all other forms of life, including plants. Occasionally someone is born with mismatched set chromosomes and developed into the wrong body for their inmost self. This person has been categorized by religion as sinful, deviant, perverted, Queer and lesbian while being shunned by the so self-righteous Christians. Have you virtuous Christians ever studied why men have breast nipples. (Did he just use a dirty word?) It is simply that every human was originally female while developing in the womb. Maybe you came out with a matching set and that evidently gives you the exclusive right to become a Christian!
Christianity was not fabricated until about two thousand years ago. Before that time, there had been millions, if not billions of people who had lived out their lives and died while having no religion or worshiping an incalculable number of deities. Now Christian condescendingly supports the proposition that Jesus is the “only” path to salvation. Is there a proviso in Christianity of retroactive salvation, or are all those gone souls through no fault of their own doomed to everlasting torment in hell?
On that same thread, the Bible is simply a collection of very ancient manuscripts that were assembled into a single volume and accepted for publication by a committee. Additionally, the committee was comprised of men who believed for an absolute fact that the earth was flat and the sun circled the earth. (Stupidity does not exactly make for a compelling resume.) There is no accurate record of how many other manuscripts were rejected for inclusion or what parts were omitted from the included texts. However, the Bible text had the clandestine purpose of manipulation (control) of the population