Not Caitlyn; it's all about Him!

Yesterday Vanity Fair preleased its cover with Caitlyn Jenner. In case you have a real life, are not in the US, or are in the US but have been living under a rock for the last few months, Caitlyn Jenner is the female who, as the male-born-Bruce Jenner, not only won a gold medal for the Decathlon in the 1976 Olympics, but set a new world record in that event.  The winner of the Decathlon is traditionally known as “the world’s greatest athlete.” 

There had been rumors of a sex change for years, and perhaps there was a TV interview regarding her gender dysphoria.  It didn’t interest me so I didn’t pay a lot of attention.  I was shocked when I saw the cover of Vanity Fair, though – she looks incredibly good!

Of course, my Facebook timeline is lit up.  While the vast majority of people support Caitlyn, there are always the “saints” who condemn her as “attempting to change what God made,” and the ones who simply refuse to acknowledge this transformation.  I'm amazed.  Caitlyn Jenner was once more man and is now more woman than most of us will ever be.  All judgement aside, that right there is remarkable.

I don’t pretend to understand trans people;  a score of years ago in an early seminary class, I wrote something to that effect and the professor suggested I make an attempt to understand.  As a female who fits almost none of the traditional markers of “femininity,” but who has always felt quite comfortable with herself and in her body (aside from the flab), I’ve come to understand that our concepts of “masculine” and “feminine” are social constructs.  I’ve also come to understand that, at least in America, our thinking around gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, and, indeed, all things having even a vague sexual connotation -- they all boil down to our thinking about sexual intercourse.  Everything else is laid atop that, as if the net sum of human sexuality rests inside specific sexual acts.  If we then put the prefix homo- or hetero- or trans- or poly- or pan- or a- in front of the word sexual, we come up with something that we inherently consider related to sexual acts.  And with the exception of hetero-, and possibly a-, we tend to consider those sexual acts as "other."

Or something like that.  I am no expert on human sexuality. As I said, I don’t really understand gender dysphoria, largely because it’s never impacted me personally (despite what y’all say).   But what I can sort of understand is the amount of pain one must experience to consider gender reassignment a viable option.  So there are a couple of things that stand out for me: 

1) No matter whether we consider that pain as pathological or not, why aren’t we addressing it? Why am I seeing so many people who disagree with Caitlyn’s transformation expressing condemnation of her rather than acknowledging the pain she must have felt (Think what you want.  As a male, Bruce Jenner became known as "the world's greatest athlete."  Who would possibly cast all that aside if they weren't really going through?), and attempting to meet her to offer some way to ease that pain?  Even if, as some have suggested,  this transformation and gender dysphoria are manifestations of mental illness, why is it met with condemnation instead of compassion?

2) As I posted somewhere, I wonder why we view sexual reassignment surgery as inherently different than shaving our bodies or using deodorant or straightening or perming our hair or having liposuction or rhinoplasty or using makeup or any of the stuff we do to alter the vessels we were given?  If we assert that “God doesn’t make mistakes," then why do we automatically have surgeries for children born with cleft lips or palates, or with any number of physical aberrations for which surgeries are routinely performed (pinning the ears, straightening limbs, amputating extra fingers and vestigial tails)?   Oh, but those are minor and this is major?  Why is there no outcry or reliance on God's Omniscience when conjoined twins are separated?  That is routinely celebrated, and considered to be physically and emotionally healthier for all involved.   I don’t understand why our collective focus right now is on the physical vessel occupied by Caitlyn and not on the spirit inhabiting that vessel.

Sometimes I wonder if we who call ourselves Christians have lost our ability for spiritual discernment, for critical thinking, or both.  For many of us (and I certainly include myself here), our first inclination is to look at the external situation, and then to slap it into some spiritual box of our choosing.  I’ve watched with interest, and more than a bit of consternation, the hubbub surrounding one pastor’s request for a $65MM jet.  Again, many of my friends have very strong opinions (as do I), and I've chosen to forego alliteration in the title and not mention the person’s name.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s a $65MM jet, a million dollar home, a hundred thousand dollar car, or some other material extravagance;  it doesn’t matter whether we parade around in theologically incongruous vestments, make indefensible financial appeals, or demand cult-like obedience from those seeking Jesus ---  none of this foolishness could be perpetrated upon the flocks without their permission. Sadly, we as a Body long ago ceded that permission.

Early on in the Christian tradition, those who called themselves Christians routinely prayed several times a day, continually seeking both physical and spiritual union with God through subjugation of the flesh.  After a few hundred years, we had relegated most of the daily prayers and many of those ascetic practices to monasteries, to which we offered material support. This arrangement began to backfire (or implode) by the 12^th century and, for those of us in the Protestant tradition, came to an end in the 15^th  and 16^th centuries.  Slowly traditions emphasizing personal piety and holiness re-emerged and spread throughout much of the world. 

But something’s happened along the way.  These traditions of piety and holiness often arose not purely for spiritual reasons but also as a backlash or counterpoint to an intellectualized, rational, "enlightened," or scientific worldview.  For many, this tension resulted in a fairly significant gap between and faith and reason.  Sadly, that gap remains today, as does the outdated idea that to love Christ with all one’s heart and soul and strength implies not loving Christ with all one’s mind. 

So we see nothing wrong with accepting the Bible as the True, Inerrant Word of God when it comes to things that don’t immediately concern us, like (for many people) homosexuality or abortion.  But if we look at other issues (sexually,  fornication and adultery come to mind; socially,  the role of women and of slaves comes to mind), we agree that times have changed and somehow the words that are written in the Bible don’t apply in those circumstances.  And we are quick to justify our beliefs.  But before we become defensive and venerate the positions that appeal to us, we need to be able to see that a disconnect actually exists.  Sometimes we consider the Word True and Inerrant, and sometimes we want to interpret it.  For the vast majority of us, that interpretation is not at all systematic (that would be too rational); instead, it ebbs and flows and changes "as the spirit leads us."  But (and this is where spiritual discernment comes in) how many of us realize that every spirit is not a Holy Spirit?

We are people who want to be like Jesus, the same Jesus who stated that animals had homes but He had no place to call home – we want to be like Him, but we see nothing wrong with subsidizing one person's extravagant lifestyle while stepping over the hungry and the homeless.  We want to follow Jesus, the One who decried the excesses of wealth, we want to follow Him, led by troubadors singing songs of a mythical "Prosperity Gospel."

For the record, I don’t think the issue is with Caitlyn.  I don’t think the issue is with the jet guy.  I think the issue is with we who would call ourselves Christian.  We look at this thing called Christianity as if it’s some sort of cosmic test or exercise, at the end of which we all hope to get some reward, or at least to avoid eternal punishment.  We lose sight of the fact that the Same Eternal God who placed us here stands in Time and Eternity and could have, had God chosen, placed us at any point in either one. If we dare to use our minds, we might conclude that we are here  -- in this time and in this place  -- for a Divinely ordained purpose.  Is that purpose to criticize those in pain?  Is that purpose to participate in or subsidize lavish lifestyles?  Or is that purpose to honor the precious Gift we’ve been given and – in whatever way we’ve been blessed to do it – to share it with the rest of the world?  How long til we Christians understand that it ain’t about Caitlyn or the jet guy -- it's not about any of them – it’s All About HIM!