Day 47: Breathtaking News:
"We hoped for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but found only terror."
—Jeremiah 8:15
Not exactly the most uplifting scripture, I've got to say Anderson.
Nor is the story one of great hope and deliverance. Instead Anderson earnestly urges us to heed God's warnings by sharing a story about a young man named Dylan who had asthma and smoked three packs of cigarettes a day. Both of Dylan's parents smoked and when Dylan became a teen, he joined them. He had been warned of the dangers time and time again, yet he wouldn't quit smoking. In his early thirties he started to cough up blood and by then it was too late; he had developed cancer in his lungs and it had spread to his liver. Dr. Anderson promised Dylan that he would pray for him and that he would try to make his last days as comfortable and as pain-free as possible.
With confidence Anderson states that we are no different than the Israelites who "heard God's warnings from the prophet Jeremiah, yet failed to heed his commands." Many times, just like the Israelites, we don't seek forgiveness and we seal our fate. Instead of healing, we find terror.
I suppose it's only fair to mention that at some point there will be consequences for ignoring the warnings of God; I just wish it wasn't today. I've been feeling a little unsettled inside because of something my brother said. He told me that "it's important to remember that we can still exhibit God's love while not compromising on His law. Just as the Lord did."
In my mind I hear, it's important to remember that you can love your daughter without supporting her decision to become a male. You can love without accepting, thus condoning that decision and breaking God's law. That's what I hear. That and the fact that we shouldn't accept gay marriage or condone abortion regardless of the circumstances. However it's fine to support Christians who are willing to submit gay teenagers to electroshock treatment in order to shock them out of their gayness. That's fine. It's also fine to elect a man who does not respect the sanctity of marriage, nor women, nor minorities, nor laborers, nor God's earth, nor...
Uh... I'm just going off and really no good can come from that. I guess the real struggle for me is trying to figure out who (beyond the Bible) is God using in my life to lead me to the truth. Is it my brother, who for me exemplifies the God I knew when I was a member of the Phoenix Valley Church of Christ, or is He using people like Amelia and those in her church, my best friend, my oldest brother Lonnie and his wife, and my friends Janet and Chrisa—who are all accepting of my child and my decision to support him? I just can't see Jesus turning his back on my child and forcing him to live as a girl when deep within, he is boy. Where does gender really live? I'd say in the heart, mind and soul of the person. I wake up every day knowing that I am a girl; it has nothing to do with my genitalia, my sexuality. It is what I am in my mind, in my heart, and in my soul.
I know what my brother would tell me. He would say that he doesn't care what gender my child believes himself to be; it is his soul that he is concerned about. (If that was truly the case, then why does he refuse to use the proper pronouns of he, him and his and son instead of daughter. He cares! He believes that God put him in a female body; therefore, he is female and that is it. Any attempt to change that is going against the will of God and is simply wrong and will have eternal consequences just as much as my son not believing in God does). I know that he is concerned because my child does not believe in God. Honestly, he is not helping in that area at all. My kid is completely aware of what my brother thinks and wants none of it. So yeah, for someone who is a believer, that is hard to take. None of this is easy for me. Because I believe in God and His promises, I, of course, want the same for my child. How can I get there? How can I help my child even want to know God when most of what he has seen and heard Christians do in the name of God repels him?
What does it really mean to love and not compromise on God's law? Jesus commands us to love and the Bible is fairly clear on what love is. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:4).
The part in this scripture that I question in regards to my brother's view of my acceptance and support of my son is "love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth." I assume that my brother sees my acceptance and support as "delighting in evil." Is that really the case? Is it evil to support and accept my son even though he began his life as my daughter? Is it evil and against God's will to separate conjoined twins if possible to do so? After all, they were born that way. Is it against God's will that people born with handicaps take opportunities to heal themselves and make themselves whole? How about babies born addicted to drugs? Shouldn't they just stay that way because that is how they were born? My child was born in a female body. Is it God's will that he live as a female even though doing so makes him not want to live? I do not believe so.
How does my brother know what plans God has for my son? Does he know why after 16 years of trying to be a girl, my child has given up and accepted who he is and has embraced it with determination and courage? How does he know that this was not God's plan all along? He doesn't! Nor do I. What I do know is that love "always protects, always trusts, always hope, always perseveres. Love never fails."
No comments:
Post a Comment