It must be, it says it right there in Deuteronomy 22:5
A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.
That seems pretty clear to me. Not only is it a sin, but a detestable sin. At least that’s what my pastor was kind enough to remind me when I went to him for advice. He was quick to point out that while God welcomed all children to His flock – even the hurt and broken – He did not intend for them to stay that way. I asked him for resources and support to help me overcome this and he pointed me to Randall’s website.
Now as you know I’ve previously written about being a Christian crossdresser, and I firmly believe that God can do more than we could ever hope for or imagine – He even has the power to cure crossdressing (if you think about it for a second, this is probably quite easy compared with healing the sick and raising the dead).
But if crossdressing were such a detestable sin, surely the Bible would be overflowing with admonishments against crossdressing. At least a mention in the New Testament, or a reaffirmation by another prophet in the Old Testament. What we have though is Deuteronomy 22:5. Which happens to be only six verses away from Deuteronomy 22:11
Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together
And Deuteronomy 22:12
Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear
Now I’m sure that every good Bible believing Christian checks to ensure their clothes aren’t made from different materials, and is diligent about making tassels for their coats. Surely being just six verses away would make these commandments as important and worthy of fervor? Not so it seems. The inconvenient laws from the Old Testament ‘no longer apply to modern society’. It seems somewhat hypocritical to me that Christians would use this verse to damn the transgendered as sinners and heretics. Joanna does this line of reasoning full justice when she discusses Crossdressing and Christianity
Randall constructs a compelling argument that crossdressing is not Christian. It is worth reading, he begins:
While searching for an answer to the question of cross-dressing being a sin, I realized that I was looking for a black and white literal answer in the Word that was not there. My reasoning was that if the prohibition was not there, it was OK to cross-dress. Later, I realized that was the same attitude the Pharisees had in Jesus’ day – they would strain at observing all of the “must dos,” but they would create all kinds of ways to follow the law literally while breaking it in spirit. It occurred to me that on this issue, I had become a legalist! (more)
Clearly crossdressing is not a sin, any more than eating pork or wearing clothes made of different fabrics. Given this we should should not be willing to accept the condemnation of others, especially not Christians. As Paul says in Romans 2:1
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.
And in rejecting the condemnation of others, we should realize that Jesus Christ does not condemn us.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. – John 3:17-18
So we have accepted that crossdressing is not a sin, but what of the other lines of reasoning Randall puts forth? I’ll discuss those in more detail in a future post. In ending this post I want to again urge you.
Don’t let anyone else tell you that crossdressing is ‘right’ any more than you let anyone tell you that crossdressing is a sin. Your true purpose in life is known to God, and revealed to you through your relationship with Him. He may want to cure you, change your heart, or use you to bring comfort and blessing to others. Be open to His plan for your life.
Hugs and Blessings
Vanessa
More Articles by Vanessa Law
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- I Want to Live Like That
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You might want to look at http://www.gendertree.com/
Sandra Stewart has a fairly good look at this issue and more in great detail.
I certainly think it worth the effort.
D
Thanks for your detailed explanation Lynnea. If I understand your conclusion correctly, by accepting an inappropriate occupation (i.e. living as who we are) we debase ourselves. So this verse is more about being true to yourself and who God made you as, than a condemnation of the transgendered?
Ah, good old Deut. 22:5. Even when I first encountered it (as a callow 13 year-old combing the Old Testament for lurid tales of sex and violence), I was rather skeptical about it, not only because it was to be found in a part of the Bible chock full of bizarre laws (seemingly half of which were to be enforced with the threat of stoning*), but because it seemed silly for God to concern him/her/itself with something so trivial as what people wore (the way I saw it, it reduced him/her/it to the level of someone from the high school… Read more »
@Zosimus: Your comment made me smile. It’s too true how well meaning Christians can get so focused on certain verses and interpretations and easily forget the verse right after it. Or even the second sentence of the verse they’re so passionate about. I think that Jesus correctly chastised those in His time who were doing this. Using the law to take people further away from God rather than closer to Him.
Brilliant Post! Thank You!
I am a m/f c….age 65…….and do it pretty openly for the last 3yrs. and am ok with it. In refrence to you Dt. comment…. I was tol by a christen lady friend who supports me stated that that book of the bible was dated back in the time when the Romans where in full swing of wine drinking and orgies.(not enough woomen to go around). Hmmmm….. I have another christian lady friend of mine for years that supports me, but got on the tangent of it being wrong….I asked her if God made mistakes?..Her answer was no…..Ok then, if… Read more »
hell man get a life and live it as long as you harm no one ,the priests and vicars etc are 99% perverts who molest kids ,so why take their advice
dueteronomy 22:5 seems to be where many hang their hat as the final verse that says crossdressing is a sin. And yet it never occurs to anyone that back in that day womens clothes were probably close to what we would call a berka today. Not lingerie or high heels or flouncy skirts and satin blouses. So how can that verse be the end all and be-all for the narrow-minded bible thumpers?
vicki
Dear Vanessa,
above web site is Jade Catherine excellent research about cross dressing and God. Deut 22.5 refers to neighboring community that praticed CD as attempt to convert fromGod and drive others from God.
Also that portion of Bible has to do with Jewish rules and per NT we are Gentiles and not held to Jewish law. Jesus’s new Conventant replaced the old. And Roman’s 14 Paul talks about eating the meat is not a sin but eating such that it harms others away from God.
It makes me sick that anyone would give a shit about this.
That scripture is a bit varied from what I am used to seeing, but then, I am seeing more and more many varying versions of many scriptures.
I have not seen that passage reading "God detests this"
What I have always seen is "It is a shame for a woman to wear the clothing of a man or a man to wear the clothing of a woman."
I have never read that it was a sin or that God detests crossdressing. I occasionally visit my brothers church and the pastor (and much of the congregation) are very homophobic and transphobic, but one day the pastor, during his sermon, mentioned that someone had come to him freaking out about a man in the church wearing make-up ( I am assuming that was me since I have permanent eyeliner and lipstick) He said he asked them what the big deal was. They quoted that verse and said that it was a sin and that the guy in make up… Read more »
I believe God has a plan for me and it is not wrong for me to crossdress or to have surgery to become a woman. I believe that Gods plan for me is to become a female, but that he first needed me to experience some things as a male that I would not have been able to as a female and could therefore carry those experiences with me as I transition into becoming a woman. I believe that God does indeed know what he is doing, he knew what he was doing when he created me as a male,… Read more »