Transgender Eunuch

transgender eunuch

Transgender Eunuchs – The Narrow Minded Church

By Vanessa Law | Published May 25, 2009 | 4 Comments

Vicki’s Inspiration that mentioned the eunuch and transgender reminded me of a conversation I had with my pastor a few years ago. This was the same pastor I never heard from again after he told me he “loved” me. But I digress.

At the time I was struggling to come to terms with the fact that I was transgendered. I had just recently begun to grow in acceptance of who I was, and met many lovely ladies at Tri-ESS. I was trying hard to reconcile the church’s teachings with what I knew in my heart, and what I read in the Bible.

In particular the story about the eunuch that Vicki mentioned. Some have argued that the eunuch may have been an early way of referring to the transgendered. At the very least the eunuch was neither fully man nor fully woman.

I mentioned this to my pastor, trying to understand what I saw as an inconsistency in the church’s teachings. How could eunuch’s play such an important role in the Bible, while the transgendered are vile sinners? His reply, with much conviction, was:

That is a eunuch, not a transgendered person

At the time I was confused, struggling, and perhaps overly emotional, so I accepted his response. Of course, eunuch’s are accepted by God, but not transgendered people. That makes sense, it’s in the Bible.

It took me until yesterday, almost six years later, before I realized how inane and narrow minded his reply really was. If you accept that eunuch’s and transgendered people have nothing to do with each other (a debate for another time), it still makes you wonder.

The church, with all their rules and regulations, all their defined gender roles so easily accept something (a eunuch) because it is mentioned in the Bible. Yet if you describe a eunuch today without using that word they recoil in revulsion. A man without the appropriate genitals. Someone not wholly a man or a woman. They must be an abomination to God.

The narrow mindedness of the church is laid bare in this contradiction. The acceptance of the concept of eunuchs, and the revulsion at the actuality of the same. Just as we sing so often about loving others, yet lose all mercy and compassion before we’ve even left the church parking lot.

Vicki’s Inspirations for Crossdressing Christians: Transgender and the Eunuch

By Vicki Stevens | Published May 24, 2009 | 1 Comment

John 15 1, 7-8: (Jesus said): I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

I spent this last Sunday, Mother’s Day, accompanying my mom to her home church, Trinity Lutheran north of Seattle. Trinity is a large suburban church with an active and growing congregation. I’ve been an absentee worshiper from my own church home of late and it was nice to go back and hear the traditional Lutheran liturgy and music of old, preached and sung by a large and enthusiastic congregation. Plus, sons, (and I’m assuming most of us are men by birth, and not excluding any of our F to M readers,) and daughters, if there is one thing that will make your mother happy, even more than a phone call, a vase of flowers, or a dinner on Mother’s Day, go with her to her church. You get to be shown off to all her friends and it will make her day. And if you missed Mother’s Day, then just go on any Sunday of the year; for sitting next to her in church will do more for her than any tangible gift you might think to give her. If you are fortunate to have both a mother and a church that is accepting of your lifestyle choice, then by all means, go as your true self. I myself am still working on both of those parts of my life, but I live in hope that someday her other “daughter” will be able to attend with her as well.

Beyond the event itself and the strength and renewal for my own journey, there were some wonderful words in the chosen lessons of the day. Starting with the reading from Acts, in which Phillip is instructed by the angel to minister to the Ethiopian eunuch. I made the connection, and wondered where the eunuch might fit in the judgment of those who oppose same sex marriage on the grounds that it is not part of God’s plan. Or who would look askance at a cross-dresser and consider she (or he for our FTM audience) as one who is living in opposition to the way God made us, and heaven help those who would undo the physical manifestation we were given, even when it is so clear that our soul resides squarely in the mental framework of a different sexual proclivity. I must also caution at this point, that nothing in the Scriptures should necessarily be read with the idea that this validates who I am. That occurs of course, if one reads with an open mind and the Spirit’s guidance, but ultimately, the focus has to be on what God has done. I may have more to say on the lessons I took from the story of the eunuch at a later date, but what struck me most yesterday was the hunger this person felt for the word of God, and how God through Phillip was able to satisfy that hunger. The eunuch, filled at once with the Spirit asked Phillip to baptize him on the spot. The story of this encounter ends with the eunuch , “…on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8 v 39) There was no requirement from Phillip, and thus we must believe, from God, that the eunuch had to be made whole, to declare himself man or woman, but simply that he hungered for God’s word, and left filled.

This is a huge interpretation and admittedly personal reading of this passage I will admit; the real point in all Scriptural reading is to see God’s action, not our own. Yet two points I feel are important in this reading, and I believe serve as a reminder to us all that Christ came not to save just a few, but to save the world. That is the primary lesson reinforced once again in this story from Acts. Secondarily but so closely related to Christ’s redeeming sacrifice is that the same rules apply. God can act through any vessel He chooses, it is not up to one’s readiness or perfection. All it takes is a hungry heart and a willingness to hear.

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