"God Doesn't Make Mistakes"

[zianuray]

is something any Transgender person hears a lot -- "You were born (fe)male and that's what G-d intended!"  

Yes, and that child was born with a cleft palate, so let her starve, 'cause "G-d made her that way."

And that child had heart surgery BEFORE birth or he would have been born dead -- so why are you interfering with "G-d's Will"?  

And the man who is scarred form a fire -- don't do skin grafts to make him more comfortable both physically and with his appearance, because that scarring is "G-d's Will" and cosmetic surgery is just "vanity."

Same for the woman who loses a breast to cancer or is in car accident where half her face gets pulverized.

In fact, don't own/drive/ride in a car or any other form of transportation like a wagon, 'cause G-d made feet. 

And don't send food to countries in famine, 'cause it's "G-d's Will" that they're hungry.

Oh, and guess what?  We're all born naked.  So why are you wearing clothes if how one appears at birth should be the standard for one's entire life?

Comments

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Perhaps if I may interject with a more reasonable variation on the "God makes no mistakes" idea.

Everything that God creates is good. Look at Genesis 1, and you will see "On the nth day, God made... and God saw that it was good." That includes Man. However, as God looked over his creation, he said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him" (Gen 2.18). So God marched all of the animals past man, but none of them were suitable, so he created something for Man as a helpmate, and called it Woman. Again, the creation itself was good, even to the point where "Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame" (2.25).

I'm not going to get into the discussion of whether or not Adam and Eve were alone until they had children. There are reasons it's important to study those texts as though they were alone, but there are also strange comments later in Genesis that seem to indicate they may not have been alone. The important thing to consider, for my point, is that when Adam and Eve ate the fruit (not an apple), sin entered the world, because of their disobedience.

Now, a lot of Fundamentalists look at Psalm 139 and see this passage:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you. (Ps 139.13-18)

And they think, "If God made me, then I was born perfect!" But that is not true. As a creation of God, formed and blessed from the womb, we are indeed good, as God described it. But that is not the whole story. But if that meant we were born perfect, then there would be no sin. Instead, because of original sin, we are cursed. In the story of Adam and Eve, it's a literal curse spoken by God, in which man must labor for his food because there will no longer be an abundance growing naturally; woman will suffer childbirth in pain, which in itself implies imperfection in the process; and Satan will desire to pull all of us down, so we must continuously strive against him. Paul says it this way:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8.18-23)

There you can see that sin creates imperfections in the creation. Variations and flaws, such as a cleft pallate, or flat footedness, and yes, even variations where someone is born one way, though they feel as though they should be the other. Most significantly, we are all born in sin, which corrupts not our bodies, but our deeds.

Post exceeds length... more to follow.

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Continued from previous...

One form of sin is to rebel against God, but another form is to worship the Word of God so much that one loses sight of God himself, as the people who condemn others for not being "good enough." I have a news flash for those people: they aren't good enough, either. No one is. It is, in fact, impossible to be wholly obedient to the law on one's own. The Greek word that we translate "sin," hamartia, is a perfect word for this. It's an archery term, meaning that the archer missed the target-- the core wood on the end of a small branch cut off, shot from over a hundred feet away. I know I would miss the mark! And in life, all of us do every day.

This is why we must look on each other with grace and forgiveness. God freely gives ME all the grace I need, and so there is no reason why I should refuse such grace to anyone else who needs it from me. Whether someone chooses to change their gender, really, is none of my business; but I should continue to recognize that, male or female, that person is a child of God and, like me, has his or her issues which require God's grace, every bit as much as I require it for mine.

I hope you will find that answer more suitable. It actually fits with scripture better than what you've been hearing from the people you've encountered. Please don't judge Christ based on the foolishness of his followers!

Distinctions

[zianuray.livejournal.com]

You may have noticed that my post was more about calling an @$$ an @$$ than about what I think God thinks. People like the ones I was speaking to above are the reason I no longer attend church and have distanced myself from "christianity," the ones who want their own prejudices to dictate what I should do. I don't agree with many of their practices, but I don't interfere UNLESS what they are doing actually impacts me or endangers a bystander.

Re: Distinctions

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

That's fair. I was more trying to assure you that that not all of us are asses, especially those who actually take the time to understand what the scripture really means, instead of being stupid fundies who cherry pick certain scriptures and use it then to condemn everyone around them who's different. *hugs*

[akaemilyrose.livejournal.com]

First, I will merely point out - AGAIN! - this post as a prime example of, "Can you see why I love this woman so much?"

My own personal theory is that spirituality, (I abhor the term religion; religion is certain people, such as televangelists & the "policies" they spout in the effort of their ONLY goal - money to line their own pockets), is - or rather, SHOULD be - an evolving thing. Anything which does not becomes stagnant, & is nothing short of a pool of death. Even by Christian beliefs, "The Old Testament doesn't count anymore; it's why we have the new one." (So why is it even included in the standard Bible, anyway?) But I digress.

What Christianity - as I have been subjected to in my life, before I offend anyone - has evolved into something that has a LOT of personal power for those that learn to work "the system", but almost nothing of Christ's message to the world, "Love one another." Ghandi said it best; "I like your Christ. I don't like your Christians. They are nothing like your Christ."

Finally, I do not judge Christ. It's not MY place - nor ANY (wo)man's - to judge anyone, except perhaps yourself, at the end of each day. I've always found, if you can look yourself in the eye with neither shame nor pride, you're probably doing okay. If I WERE to judge Christ, it would only be something along the lines of, "Hey, you're a pretty kewl dude! But listen... about some of these nutcases that keep following you around..."

I believe in Christ, as a son of God/dess. I also believe in Krishna, Buddha, etc. as OTHER equally enlightened sons & daughters of God/dess, sent to try (like pounding their heads against the proverbial brick wall) to teach us just a sliver of enlightenment as well. Him - I have no problem with. The majority of his followers - present company of readers probably excluded - I do.

[wren08.livejournal.com]

My (personal) response would be something along the lines of "God doesn't make mistakes... but some of the tests and challenges are doozies!"

[zianuray.livejournal.com]

Good one!

[reynai.livejournal.com]

'So God doesn't make mistakes -- doesn't mean my Mom's name is Mary.'

[reynai.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that, don't know why it posted twice.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

Amen!