"A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

From the UPCI:

"""As Christians we should treat everyone with love, respect, and compassion. We should also bear witness that God has created humans as male and female (Genesis 1:27). While some erroneously suggest that gender is merely a social or psychological construct, it originates in God's creative purpose and is rooted in genetic and biological reality. In rare cases of atypical anatomy, qualified medical personnel can be consulted. Aside from such rare cases, families and society should strongly affirm each individual's biological, anatomical gender. For those who experience gender dysphoria (psychological distress with their sex or gender as determined by their physical anatomy), we recommend spiritual and professional counseling by qualified persons who are committed to biblical values. When children and youth experience confusion related to their social gender identity, we should provide them with biblically based encouragement, training, and modeling. We should not block or subvert puberty through artificial means.

Recently, the US government has issued directives for public schools to make accommodations for people who identify as transgender. Our view is that public restrooms, changing rooms, and showers should be segregated by sex as determined by anatomy rather than as constructed by personal feelings and preferences. Private rooms can be designated for those who express difficulty with this standard arrangement. Individual or family restrooms are already available in many public facilities. The privacy, modesty, moral values, peace of mind, security, and safety of the overwhelming majority of people who affirm traditional biological gender should not be compromised for the sake of political expediency. Safety is an issue not because of people who identify as transgender, but because of predators who could take advantage of the opportunity to harass or molest people of the opposite sex.

How should churches and private religious schools respond to governmental directives? First, they are not covered by the new federal regulations. Second, these regulations will no doubt be subject to court challenges and could be changed under a future administration. Third, under the US Constitution churches and religious institutions have freedom of religion, including the right to uphold biblical convictions regarding sex and gender, and thus the government has no authority to force them to open restrooms to members of the opposite sex. Finally, as we have discussed, without compromising their convictions churches could (if they so chose) provide appropriate, private accommodations for people who dress or otherwise identify as members of the opposite sex."""

https://upciorg.wordpress.com/2016/0...ransgenderism/

"""Finally, as we have discussed, without compromising their convictions churches could (if they so chose) provide appropriate, private accommodations for people who dress or otherwise identify as members of the opposite sex."""

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

I think it is awesome that the UPCI leadership is responding and giving Biblical guidance for contemporary issues.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Anyone who thinks that gender is a social or psychological construct, is stupid and should cut their wrists. Not their Testicles.

I think so, too. They have released a lot of position statements regarding political/social issues since Dr. Bernard became GS.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Any church that would have special transgender bathrooms are reprobate.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

The post said nothing of making transgender bathrooms. It said making private accommodations (if they so chose). Many public places have family restrooms where there is only one allowed at the time. If some transgender is uncomfortable sharing a restroom with another I think it would be appropriate if there was a single bathroom that only accommodated one at a time, but I certainly would not want a bathroom labeled transgender in the church. Some of these transgender people are going so far as altering their bodies and I could see where they would never feel comfortable again sharing a bathroom. No matter what you change your body to look like you still are what God made you.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Advocating suicide instead of repentance?

"Some of our members may exercise the freedom guaranteed by HB 1523 and similar legislation not to support certain marriages based on their religious convictions and the teaching of Scripture."

"Finally, as we have discussed, without compromising their convictions churches could (if they so chose) provide appropriate, private accommodations for people who dress or otherwise identify as members of the opposite sex."

These two together are rather curious. The first is from the UPCI response to the NC Bill; the second is from the link in the OP.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

I'd think this is less about accommodating TG and more about protecting members of the church if a TG happens to visit.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Do away with multiple stall bathrooms. Make several one-seaters that lock.

Problem solved.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

How loving of you. Really makes me want to come visit your church.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

You are shopping for a church on an Internet forum?

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Leave it to you to have everyone stand on a line waiting. :lol

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Guys, sometimes people have to pee or take a dump. I've had to go so bad, I've gone into the ladies room before. While I think it is inappropriate except in times of emergency, I think it is stupid to make it a "crime".

At the end of the day, it is all about keeping an eye on your kids. Be a real parent and you'll not have to worry so darn much. When my kids go to the bathroom and I'm the only parent on duty.... I take my little girl into the men's room with me. And most of the time men act rather decent knowing a little lady is in the room. I do not leave her unsupervised. And when my boy is with me, he too is adequately supervised. If you allow your kid/kids to be vulnerable to ANYONE harassing them in a public bathroom.... maybe you're not a fit parent.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

My daughters are teenagers and not once have they gone with me in to the men's room.

Being teenagers, that's a good thing! :lol

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

The thing is, it was neither legal nor illegal until just recently...

because it didn't matter. Men weren't going into the ladies room and transgendered people were doing what they were doing while no one was the wiser because we neither cared nor noticed.

Enter the Social Justice warrior Progressives...

THEY have decided to rip the frabric of our culture to shreds because doing so will give them targets to destroy.

The progs want to insure anyone that opposes them is ruined. period end of discussion.

They don't care about transgendered people. They are just tools to be used by Progs to destroy non-progs. period.

Note that the progs didn't try to find a solution to help trans people. They created laws that allow MEN to decide "today I feel like a woman" to enter the ladies restroom. (that's deviance at the highest order)

Progs are the bad guys. those are the ones we need to be focused on.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Totally right.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

No, but you're snide retort lets me know everything I need to know about you too, "Evangelist".

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

No retort, I asked you a serious question. It seems that you are looking for a fight. So, you believe an evangelist should cater to your infantile behavior and walk on egg shells until you convert to the evangelist's religion? That sounds like what your parents had to do with you. Sorry, but you are looking for an enabler not a minister. Again, shopping for a congregation on the Internet isn't the way to go. Now that's not being snide.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Is that the attitude of Jesus?

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

No, it is the attitude of Fionn mac Cumh and the Fish of Knowledge!!!

You silly Latin poet! :heeheehee

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

why would you confuse an ancient Irish warlord with Geebus?

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

:lol

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

People like you make me so glad I left the church. Reading things like this only serves to reinforce my decision. You may have won some souls, Sir, but I guarantee you've turned far more off to the church and not even known it.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

God saves, not people. If anyone dies lost it won't be because some evangelist failed to make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

whats "Geebus"?

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

I vote we treat transgendered people like eunuchs. That's essentially what they are.

Remember there are several classifications of eunuch:

1.) Some were born eunuchs. These were born with deformity or hermaphroditic genitalia. Some might argue that some seemingly "normal" individuals (primarily males in this example) identified as the opposite sex since their earliest memories and fall into this category.
2.) Some were made eunuchs by men. These were castrated as a result of being prisoners of war, being chosen for special service to the king, or by personal request due a lack of interest in being male. These are said to have never felt passion towards a woman.
3.) Some were made eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom. These individuals felt that it was best to abate or correct passions through castration.

Ancient depictions of eunuchs from ancient writings illustrate that not all eunuchs were castrated. Instead, many who were men lived as women. The ancient world didn't classify them as male or female, but rather as being "eunuch" (a third gender based on behavior and physiology). Eunuchs of all kinds were said to have been "soft spoken" and feminine in disposition. They typically wore bright colors and flowing silks. They were regarded as being highly intelligent and due to their lake of passion for women, they made excellent guards and care givers for a king's harem. In ancient times eunuchs were often used as concubines by their masters (a eunuch could never be classified as a "wife").

Jewish eunuchs who were castrated were not permitted to worship in the Temple.

Prophetically speaking, God states that He would one day give access to the eunuch and a name better than that of sons and daughters, an everlasting name that shall not be cut off:

Isaiah 56:3-5King James Version (KJV)
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.

Today eunuchs can still be found in remote regions of the Middle East, Pakistan, and India.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC-k27Kvtrw

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Ex trangender man testimony

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yDxDi3ynY8g

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Thank You!

I have two daughters. NEVER would I take them into the men's room.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

The transgender movement is not a "eunuch" movement. I can't believe I have to even point that out.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

There are a lot of things surrounding this issue that I'm finding hard to believe. Especially how professed Christians are ok with this, and have adopted the arguments of the world to attack fellow Christians who aren't.

Not necessarily happening here, but I've seen it all over FB.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Its the end of days, brother! Women talking back, stringed instruments...

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

well clearly its not an Ancient Irish Warlord.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

I'm simply saying that the eunuchs of ancient times up until now have been comprised of men castrated against their will, men who desired to live as females and were willingly castrated, those castrated for royal service (typically the care and training of royal wives), those born with various genital deformities, and ascetics who chose castration as an extreme measure to overcome lust. In fact, the ancient mind regarded eunuchs as a third category of identity. They were no longer men, and they were not women. They were a third gender, an altered person.

And frankly, the early church appears to have had no problems with sharing the Gospel with the eunuchs among them. You see, they didn't regard them as men.... they were seen as a being in a category of their own.

C'mon, I even showed you a video of the eunuch community of India, which mirrors that found in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, etc. Our Bible commentaries and dictionaries give a false impression of what the eunuchs were and are by romanticizing the definition of a eunuch.

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Well, when I've had to go... I certainly wasn't going to leave my daughter unsupervised outside of the restroom. Nor was I going to place her into the care of strangers. And up until recently (she's now going on 10), I wouldn't even allow her to use the ladies room by herself. For the most part, I've kept her under my direct supervision every single second when I've taken her out-and-about with me.

Her assessment of the men's room, "The boys room is smelly." lol

Re: "A Pentecostal Approach to Transgenderism"
 

Why you judging? lol

You mean to tell me that if your 5 year old daughter needed to use the restroom "immediately" while out in a public place without a family bathroom, you'd send her into the ladies room alone???? Or are you saying that you'd go into the ladies room with her? Or are you saying that only take your daughter(s) out with their mother because you want to avoid having to face circumstances like that? Sorry bro.... one time I was at Meijer's and she had to go. And they had no family bathrooms. I took her in with me. When she's out with me, I'm her wing man. I've got her back... and I always will.

So, I've taken my little girl into the men's room with me. She was shy at first, but after a couple times she'd square her shoulders and allow me to show her to a stall or quietly stand against the back wall while I took a leak. Most of the men in the men's room would man-up, act decent, and move along. When she'd have to go, I'd stand outside that stall like a guardian and only open that door to assist her if she needed help.

Oh, and speaking of "help".... When I worked for the MRDD, I knew a dad to had to routinely take his wheelchair bound daughter with cerebral palsy into the men's room because he had to assist her.

Some of y'all are acting so "holy" you'd let your daughters mess themselves before manning-up and being a dad who could march them into the men's room and stand by her like a hero.