“A female-to-male transgender member of the George Washington women’s basketball team wants to be identified as a man this season.” (AP for ESPN.com)
When I came across this story in Google trends (for wednesday trendsday), all kinds of things went through my mind. Discussing the sexual identity/orientation and trans gender issues can be pretty explosive, especially in Christian circles.
But what floored me the most about this was the comments that were flying around on the ESPN.com story about Kye.
It looks like ESPN.com may have cleared them out, but I’ve rarely seen more judgement thrown somebody’s way for a decision that they’re making about their own life. As you could imagine, there was everything from hateful comments to crude jokes directed at Kye.
That kind of treatment towards another human being absolutely sickens me.
Honestly, I don’t care how much I disagree with someone’s decisions about their life on moral and ethical grounds… NOBODY deserves to be treated the way that Kye is being treated right now!
I actually applaud Kye’s teammates for standing by her (or ‘him’ as Kye prefers to be referred to). It’s funny, but that’s the unconditional acceptance that the church should be known for.
All I know is that Jesus loved me unconditionally. And that’s the kind of love that the church should have for others…
Unconditionally means NO MATTER WHAT!
What would happen if the church asked Kye, “I know what you’re dealing with is difficult. How can we help?”
I agree that Christ loved me unconditionally, and that I should love others just the same.
However, even with this conviction, I’m left wondering how to balance unconditional love and tolerance to the point of not advancing the gospel. It seems like I can be caught up in just loving and accepting people regardless of their beliefs that my love for Jesus isn’t seen because I’m not blatantly saying I’m a follower of Christ and my actions become merely tolerant. Or maybe [EUREKA] my simple act of simply loving and accepting the individual for who they are speaks louder about Jesus than literally saying it or speaking against their behavior. Is there a point of being too tolerant? Or maybe tolerant isn’t the right word here. But I think you get the picture and what I’m wondering.
I just know my heartbeat is, and my friend said it so well the other day, I want to love others with the “extravagant love” Christ gave me when I didn’t, and still don’t deserve it.
“I want to love others with the ‘extravagant love’ Christ gave me when I didn’t, and still don’t deserve it.”
That about sums it up! I think of another question from that same friend in this situation…. What does love look like?
I do know that love holds no record of wrongs… So it doesn’t matter what we think of Kye’s decision, true love doesn’t care. I struggle with the idea that ‘extravagant love’ would bear any sort of judgement.
In order to tolerate an action or person you must disagree with the action or the person. If my child does something I don’t like I can choose to correct the action or tolerate the action. There is no toleration necessary if you agree with the action. You don’t tolerate something you agree with – you enjoy it. Unfortunately, in today’s society we have confused the word toleration with acceptance, which have very different meanings. Tolerance is to suggest that I have the right to disagree and if I choose communicate my position. But I will still support the rights of the person and tolerate their action. Toleration is a good Christian principle. God tolerates our decisions every day. I will support the right of Kye to make his/her decisions. Although, if I was to have a conversation with Kye I would hope to encourage her with Christ’s intentions for her (the gospel) and Christian hope of the resurrection. I will, however, tolerate her actions – just as Christ tolerates me.
This is by far the best description of the idea of tolerance that I’ve ever heard. My favorite part… “I will … tolerate her actions – just as Christ tolerates me.”