Seeking Conservative/Christian Input -- Coming Out Letter (Trans, MTF)

Well said. It takes me back to another post in a different thread about what it means when Jesus says you must "hate your mother and brother and sister," etc. I've heard the interpretation that it really means "love less" or "love God so much that your love for these people looks for hate." But doing so takes away from what Jesus actually said and the way people hearing him would have understood it.

Instead, what he's trying to say is that no one has inherent worth. When Jesus says to "hate" these people, it's because there's nothing in an of themselves to love. Doing otherwise would degrade the goodness of God. Why? Because God is love. And as Jesus says, "As I have loved you, so must you love one another" (John 13:34-35). Accordingly, our love for others isn't because of their inherent worth - but because of the fact that Jesus loves that person and our hearts are to be aligned with His.

This is why the Pharisee asks for the greatest commandment, but Jesus essentially says, "I really need to give you two." That's because we can't love God without loving others - but at the same time, our love of others should be exclusively because of our love for God and as a reflection of His love for those people also. This is also why Jesus is so quick to cast aside blood-relationships in favor of those whose hearts were aligned with His (Matthew 12:47-50).

I guess my point is that as long as God's love does not run out for OP, ours should not either - and that includes her parents. But OP should expect that love because of God and give credit to Him for her parents' love, rather than expecting love and acceptance (note that I did not say acceptance before) just because of the parent-child relationship.

Another interesting implication of the whole "God is love" thing is that no genuine love can exist apart from God. So, when one non-Christian loves another non-Christian (in a genuine way, not a "you give me good feelings" way), this love is also a grace from God and He should be the one getting credit for it. As James says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights" (1:17). So, even when Christians aren't in the picture, God still gets the glory for love.

Taking this concept one step further, we also see Romans 1:21 expressing the idea that people should know of God - in the above case because he has granted himself as a bond of love between two people - and yet they refuse to acknowledge Him or give thanks to Him for his involvement in doing so, choosing to worship the idea of love rather than the creator of love, who is love. So, what happens? V. 24-27 - They fall into sexual impurity, including "shameful lusts," and he doesn't stop them.

This is one example of where OP's decision runs afoul of the scriptures. But my point is not to condemn OP; rather, it is to point out that OP's misunderstanding (or otherwise refused acceptance) of where love comes from is what has led to this decision - and that source, misunderstood or otherwise, is the exact reason that we should not condemn OP, but continue to acknowledge Jesus' love for OP and do likewise :)

Anyway, I'm sure some of this was off-topic, but you had a great post and it made me think of a lot of things that I thought I'd share.

/r/TrueChristian Thread Parent