Last week my local newspaper published an article on comments Catholic Bishop Robert McManus made at a Catholic health care conference on transgenderism and how it “poses troubling challenges to church institutions as well as modern culture.” McManus seemed to handle the topic carefully and the article did a nice job of sticking with the facts of the speech, and didn’t do a hit job on the bishop.
The most important points in the article though are the second two paragraphs. Here they are:
“Bishop McManus said that while people who consider themselves transgender are children of God who are to be treated with love, dignity, and compassion, transgenderism represents a sharp departure from Catholic understandings of the human person and natural moral law.
That departure, he said, is rooted in theological heresy, as well as unsupported science, and presents significant spiritual, as well as societal dangers.”
In the early 1900’s, many of the Protestant churches felt attacked by modernism and the higher criticism of the age. A series of book were written for Protestants specifically called “The Fundamentals: a testimony to the Truth”, and boasted a gathering of several pastors of the day writing essays on issues that were “fundamental” to the faith. Each of the 12 volumes showed several essays, along with a specific testimony displaying someones turn to Christ.
The early volumes, true to their word, stuck to very specific doctrines that are the core to what many Protestant Christians believe, but eventually, they expanded to address other issues of the day, like spiritualism, Mormonism, other religions, end times theology, Creationism, Catholicism, and of course, the evils of socialism.
Hundreds of thousands of copies of the books were sent out to pastors and by the midway point of the twentieth century, fundamentalist churches were building the first megachurches in the United States. By the time I was born in the mid 70’s, their belief systems were rock hard, and their message was not going to change on any topic for any reason.
But even in the different volumes regarding Fundamentalism, there are differing opinions in matters of science. Pastor James Orr, in volumes 4 and 6, came out in favor of science and the Bible working together and not against one another, even going as a far as stating that there is no problem with the scientific notion that earth is older than 6000 years old. Later on volumes take an antagonistic approach towards evolution and by the time I arrived on the scene, Evolution in part and science in general had become Fundamentalism’s number one enemy with Christian rock music and women wearing pants a close second.
I have some friends who are transgender. They are amazing! Like anyone they seem to use facebook to discuss some of the problems they have as a result of their lifestyle and I have to tell you, the stuff they go through and the burdens they carry, I wouldn’t wish on anyone. There’s nothing glamorous or prideful in what they are trying to do. People aren’t looking at them in an envious way like they do when a pilot walks through an airport. Deep down there is a problem, and they’ve decided to use all of their resources to figure out how to alleviate some of that problem. I wouldn’t want to be the person who wants to use a public restroom but is generally regarded as a public menace/predator every time I decide to use the one I’m most comfortable in.
Here’s how the church generally likes to take care of things. Someone from the top makes a statement, then everyone acts on that statement and goes along with the truths of that statement. In this case, it’s Bishop McManus saying, “Treat them with love, but remember, it’s heresy”. (My paraphrase) In Fundamentalism, it was simply, here’s what we believe, get on board and believe this way too. In evangelicalism, there’s just a general feeling that we can be cool enough to get people to come to us and we’ll win them over as a result of our relationship with them.
But what if the church solves problems best when it goes to the hurting?
Earlier I mentioned that transgender people feel that “deep down there is a problem and they’ve decided to use all of their resources to figure out how to alleviate some of that problem”. So instead of handing down policy from above, what if you and I go to our friends who are transgender and find out what we can do to help them with that problem? Then in a crazy twist of events, what if we did something about that and actively helped them with that problem? To be clear, I’m not referring to conversion therapy. I’m referring to actively praying for, loving on, and serving those who are hurting.
What should the church do when someone is buried with problems such as lack of legal protection, poverty, harassment, violence, and immense barriers to healthcare? What would Jesus do?
Listen, policy and legislation is all about influence and power. Early Christians had none of that, and yet changed the world. You don’t need a policy to help someone who’s hurting. Honestly, you don’t even need an organization entitled church to help you be the church. What you do need is to step outside of your comfort zone, find some friends who would like to help you make a difference, and go actively help those who are hurting. Whether it is the transgender community, the poor, the rich, the grieving, the addicted or any number of communities in our present age who are struggling to alleviate the problems inside of them, you are called to be that person.
On another post, we’ll look at how you can proactively move toward loving people and being the church, but today, know this, you don’t have to wait for a top down announcement from your church organization on how to love your neighbor as yourself. You are called and no doubt have been led by the Holy Spirit of God to serve and love someone else. Now it’s just a matter of listening and obeying His voice.
Written by Marty Holman
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