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.
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I have looked at this scripture as well. I have a Masters in Christian Ed. This is an important passage because it is the first baptism after Jesus ascends if I remember correctly. There is a very interesting thought I had that taking the eunuch as having no gender, then the acceptance of the person is most important. It has some deep meanings in it, more than a simple post can convey. There is a strong message to not shun those who are not in the body that matches their soul.
Being a pastor in Mumbai, India, i have observed that church is not allowing ‘others’. The strict bock in the minds of the people is the same as the pastors. However, I would like to give a try. Today i have spoken to a transgendered person to start a church exclusively for them. I hope, it may be a beggining for an ‘united worship’ in the future.
Rev. Godson Samuel
Dear Godson, is it really you who I know from UTC college in 2003 in Bangalore? Please contact me if it’s you…I miss talking to you. You sound really brave in what you’re doing. Keep it up!Love, Claudia
Good luck Rev, it’s a very bold and courageous thing you do in service of those less fortunate.