I read something the other day that absolutely infuriated me. It is the story of a transexual teenager whose "Christian" parents were so condemning of her condition that she ended up committing suicide. You can read the details here.
This upset me for a number of reasons. Of course, now that I am a father, any tragedy involving a child hits home. More than that, I am always disgusted when I hear about people who call themselves Christians causing this kind of suffering, especially to their own children. The Bible is quite vague about many things, but one thing that Jesus is very clear about is that it is not man's place to judge. That is exclusively God's domain. It is man's place to have faith and to love one another.
In the article, it says that the mom stated that "God does not make mistakes." That is the most absurd logic. Let's forget that there are examples of God making errors in the Bible itself. The extension of that logic is that one should not seek medical treatment because God gave you the illness, so you should just deal with it. But she is right, God doesn't make mistakes. God made Leelah transexual, and God commanded Leelah's mother to love her.
People like that pick and choose what parts of the Bible to take literally, Most of them will not suggest stoning an adulterer or avoiding clothing of mixed fiber or even following kosher eating laws outlined in the Bible. Generally, these people use the Bible to condemn things they find icky. Homosexuality is icky and they don't like it, so it must be wrong. Shrimp is tasty, so that must be ok.
God commands above all things that we must love one another. Above all other things. If my daughter turns out to be gay, trans, otherkin, or otherwise, I will love and support her. If she has psychopathic tendencies, I will still love her and do everything I can for her. She will never feel alone and abandoned because some book says that some part of her is "wrong."
Being a good Christian is not difficult. The rules are easy: (1) Have Faith, (2) Love one another. Follow those two rules and you are pretty much there.
