{"id":48206,"date":"2018-06-09T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-10T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=48206"},"modified":"2022-06-05T22:02:43","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T03:02:43","slug":"should-the-church-accommodate-transgender-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-church-accommodate-transgender-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Should the church accommodate transgender members?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\nWhat is the church’s position on those who are transgender? Are there three genders: Male, Female, and Transgender?\nIf someone has transitioned from male to female or female to male, would they be welcomed at your congregation? For example, would Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn) be welcomed or does she have to go back to being Bruce? Would Chastity Bono (now Chaz) be welcomed or does he have to go back to being Chastity?\nI remember the news story on Thomas Beatie (a transgender man) who got married and Thomas himself gave birth to three children. How does God view that family and other families like that?\nWould a church have to have unisex bathrooms to accommodate its transgender members?\nAre there Scriptures on this?\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 22:5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Transgender is the modern acceptance of people pretending to be someone they are not. There are only two genders: male and female. “God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them<\/em>” (Genesis 1:27). Wearing the other sex’s garments is a way of deceiving people regarding your true gender. Today people take it further through operations to disguise their true sex, but the end result is the same. They don’t really change their gender, only their appearance. When their DNA is examined, it still shows the same gender they were conceived with.<\/p>\n

Moral concepts have not changed between the Old and New Testaments. Lying was wrong under the Old Law and remains wrong under the New Law. What you find in the Old Law are more details explaining exactly what God meant by certain laws. The New Testament is written assuming that the reader is familiar with the Old Testament (Romans 15:4;\u00a0I Corinthians 10:6). In the New Testament, we continue to find God stating that a distinction is to be made between the sexes: “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:14-15). In\u00a0I Corinthians 6:9, among those who will not inherit the kingdom of God are the\u00a0malakos<\/em>. This Greek word is translated as “effeminate” in the King James Version. It literally means “fine clothes” and refers to a catamite, a male who acts like a female. While it is primarily understood to be in sexual action, it is not restricted to just sex. I generally used Deuteronomy 22:5 because it makes the point clearly without having to define words most people don’t know.<\/p>\n

Therefore, transgenders are breaking God’s laws. As such, they cannot be a member of the church while they remain in their sin. There is no requirement that a church needs to accommodate people’s sins.<\/p>\n

“Thomas Beatie” is a female who had surgery to make herself look like a male, but she kept her reproductive organs intact, which is why she was able to have children. Thus, you had two women who married, one disguised as a male. One got herself artificially inseminated. In reality, this was nothing more than a homosexual relationship masquerading as a legitimate marriage.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: What is the church’s position on those who are transgender? Are there three genders: Male, Female, and Transgender? If someone has transitioned from male to female or female to male, would they be welcomed at your congregation? For example, would Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn) be welcomed or does she have to go back to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[305],"class_list":["post-48206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-transgenderism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90822,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-kinds-of-sex-are-included-in-leviticus-1822\/","url_meta":{"origin":48206,"position":0},"title":"What kinds of sex are included in Leviticus 18:22?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: According to Leviticus 18:22, \"Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable\" (NIV). My Question: Is it oral or anal sex, or something else? What if the person is a transgender woman, meaning male to female? Answer: \"You shall not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32460,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-man-now-attends-church-as-a-transgender-female-should-he-be-withdrawn-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":48206,"position":1},"title":"A man now attends church as a transgender female. Should he be withdrawn from?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The ex-minister of a Baptist church now attends as a transgender female. Can this person be ex-communicated? This person not currently in leadership. His presence is very difficult for his now-divorced wife and children. God Bless. Answer: \"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33738,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/episcopals-approve-transgender-clergy\/","url_meta":{"origin":48206,"position":2},"title":"Episcopals Approve Transgender Clergy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: \"Episcopal bishops approve blessing for same-sex unions,\" Associated Press, Omaha World-Herald, 10 July 2012. \"In a separate vote Monday, the full convention approved new anti-discrimination language for transgender clergy candidates and church members. Some dioceses already ordain transgender people or elect them to positions of parish leadership. But advocates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4974,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/no-evidence-people-are-born-gay-or-transgender\/","url_meta":{"origin":48206,"position":3},"title":"No Evidence People Are Born Gay or Transgender","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: Tyler O'Neil, \"Johns Hopkins Research: No Evidence People Are Born Gay or Transgender\", PJ Media, 23 Aug 2016. Source: Dr. Lawrence S. Mayer and Dr. Paul R. McHugh, \"Sexuality and Gender,\" The New Atlantis, No. 50, Fall 2016. \"The understanding of sexual orientation as an innate, biologically fixed property\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37522,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-i-change-my-gender-and-marry-my-best-friend\/","url_meta":{"origin":48206,"position":4},"title":"What if I change my gender and marry my best friend?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have someone who I love deeply. He is more of a best friend because of how we experience each other. He is like a friend or best friend than a lover, which is a spouse. I want more than anything to get married, have a child, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-really-not-that-many-homosexuals\/","url_meta":{"origin":48206,"position":5},"title":"Are there really not that many homosexuals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: Justin McCarthy, \"Americans Still Greatly Overestimate U.S. Gay Population\", 27 June 2019. A poll in 2017 found 4.5% of the United States population identifies itself as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.\u00a0But notice that this lumps a lot of people together with different sexual practices. Source:\u00a0Statista Research Department, \"U.S. Homosexuality\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}