4thought.tv

This makes me feel pleased. I learned something from it.

I thought it was great that Christine felt empowered by her gender reassignment after all, thats what its all about, being comfortable with who we are. Its not wrong to change gender, it is wrong to be prejudiced, ignorant and unaccepting.

Well pitched appeal for engagement and support from church leaders. But in the 21st Century does it really matter to wider society if there are no 'theological objections or not' to transgender? The bible is full of intolerance - it's thousands of years out of date. You have to find the courage to find your own truth, you did the hard bit rejecting the narrow idea of 'masculine'.

This makes me feel sad.

I'm woman who has transitioned and an atheist. I'm also a transgender rights activist. The Bible really has no meaning to me in respect of a transsexual transition - Transition is an outside context problem to religion. What I objected to and what made me sad was hearing Christina talking about men, women and eunuchs in terms of the bible being trans-friendly. A eunuch is a castrated man, not necessarily a transgendered person and certainly not a male to female transsexual. Like I said, I'm a woman. That bit of my identity is non-negotiable.

This makes me feel surprised. I don't understand the speaker's point of view at all.

this person of god cites the bible and unuchs to support her choice, unuchs had no choice in the removal of thier testis, it was forced on them, furthermore if we were all created by god in his image, who are we to change the way he made us, does that say god made a mistake? she is a minister who is manipulating elements of the bible to suit her self. hypocrasy.

This makes me feel glad, happy and humbled.

As a trans woman I am glad Christina Beardsley has been able to share something of her journey. As a atheist and someone who has experienced transphobia from Christians I am at a loss why Christina would stay in a backwards transphobic/homophobic organisation.

This makes me feel angry.

I thought Eunuchs had no say in the removal of their testicles?(The term usually refers to those castrated (without their consent) in order to perform a specific social function, as was historically common in many societies.

The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 21st century BCE.

Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants. In some translations of ancient texts, individuals identified as eunuchs sometimes historically included men who were impotent with women, as well as those who were celibate.)

Deut. 21: 22 5 - The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

I remember reading about Doreen Hawkmoon who was an allien, and could travel through space and time, and take any form he or she wished. I thought how wonderful it would be to have such capabilities.

This makes me feel glad.

impressed with the achievement and conviction. Glad that C4 has shown this.

I see absolutely no reason why someone should not change gender provided they pay the cost themselves. If someone is so passionate about something they will make the effort and save the money.

This makes me feel happy and pleased.

because I'm glad people aren't afraid to share about themselves having a gender change. I hope now, more people will see that there's nothing wrong with being open about it. This is wonderful, thank you.

Can you show me what passage in the Bible talks about gender change?

This makes me feel glad and inspired. I learned something from it.

i am not a religous person because i believe every one makes their own religion. Every one believes what they want to believe, every one has that right. Being taught to be who you want to be and watch others success' makes me think what do people have against some one being different? I may not be considered old enough to understand this but i know how i feel about people becoming who they WANT to be, not who they are expected to be. Being someone everyone wants you to be is hard, but becoming the person you actually want to be and show off your true colours is the hardest challenge any one can go through, and i respect every single person who holds their head up high and say 'i am who i am, because i want to be'. I find it wonderful that there is technology opening up to help those who feel the need to be who they want to be and show it off. xxx

This makes me feel angry and sad.

Negative attitudes towards transgendered persons should be vigorously pursued. If 'bigotry' is encountered in society, and that is a correct interpretation of so called transphobia, then it should be put to shame. When encountered in a professional situation such as the NHS or other civil service setting, it should be thoroughly stamped on.

Well done Christine! I am transgender and absolutely love myself. This was not always the case. Depression and suicide were never far for me! Some fundamentalists I'm sure would probably I should have ended it all - so let's forget them! I contribute to my local community council and have the most beautiful friends & family. Although I am not a Christian, bless you for giving a voice to ALL Transgender women!

This makes me feel angry.

It is not wrong to change sex. Gender, however, is nothing to do with sex, but is a grammatical term which does not apply in the English language. In French, for instance, a table is of the feminine gender, and a garden is of the masculine gender. In German and Latin can be found the neuter gender. If you wish to put an argument forward on a programme broadcast in Great Britain, please at least use the English language (or Welsh or Gaelic as appropriate)

I don't think Rev Beardsley is saying that eunuchs = transgendered people. Neither is she saying that the Bible is a relevant source of support for non-Christian trans people. What she is saying, and I agree wholeheartedly, is that the Church should be a trans-friendly place, so that no-one has to choose between their gender identity and their faith. In this instance the Bible is a relevant source of support for her argument, because the argument is directed towards Christians and the church. If the Bible says that eunuchs are also the image of God, to Christians (who believe that the Bible is the word of God) this could be seen as an important indication of God's attitude towards gender and the human body - i.e. unconditional love and acceptance. Deut. 21: 22 5 is irrelevant here. It doesn't form any part of an argument about changing gender, because a trans woman IS A WOMAN, so there is no conflict with the prescription in Deuteronomy.

When you enter Jerusalem you enter through the narrow gate, which means you leave all of the ways of the world behind you, your luggage won't fit, you leave it all behind you, and then you crawl through on your hands and knees, takeing nothing into it with you. The world and the Kingdom are two totaly different things, opposites in fact, when you decide to serve God you come to him with a humble and contrite spitit and kneel before him, not your way's but Gods ways. In the world but not a part of the world. Anyone who tries to change the things that are writen in this book (the Bible) or takes anything away, or adds anything to it then all of the curses within it will befall them, St John, Revelation.

This makes me feel glad and inspired. It reinforced what I already believed.

Thank you Christina, please keep up the good work you're doing and may our lovely God richly bless you in so doing.

I am a transsexual woman and I am surprised that people still talk of gender change. I believe my gender was fixed at birth as female and all I had to do was change my sex to match my female gender!

What annoyed me about this was the premise that the church needs tot catch up with society, or in other words that society is way out in front of the church, or God. If you fundamentally believe that God or Christ is at the head of your church, leading and directing it, then what you are saying is that God needs to step up to the plate. Who says society is more advanced or intelligent than God? I, for one, do not.

This makes me feel angry.

The Church is not intended to conform to society, but to be transformed. If Christina Beardsley does not believe this, then she should resign her orders, and indeed consider her whole position in the Church of England.

This makes me feel glad, humbled and inspired. It reinforced what I already believed.

This makes me feel pleased.

If I were to disagree with Rev Dr Beardsley about the church "catching up" with society it would only be because, in my limited experience, society is still rather anti-TG but undoubtably she knows more than I do on the matter (I am not TG). And if society is as accepting then I hope the church becomes as if not more accepting also. I agree, as I am sure does Rev Beardsley, that the church should never conform to society SIMPLY because it is society. But equally when society is DOING BETTER what the church ought to be setting the bar on and isn't (be it loving our neighbour, be it seeing poverty and saying "this will not stand" be it being the voice of calm and acceptance in the midst of increasing Islamaphobia, whatever) that is when the church really needs to wake up! I am a regular church goer and I am completely opposed to the assimilation of the church into society's world view simply because our society has stood the test of time enough(at this point)in the popularity contest that allows societies to exist. But equally I am a person of reason and I am completely opposed to the hypocrisy of those who would assimilate all ethical obligation (spiritual and secular) into a PARTICULAR theological understanding just because THAT world view is old and popular.

It reinforced what I already believed.

"and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them STRONG delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." - 2 Thessalonians 10-12

Whether they 'claim' to be Christian or not, they will be known by their fruits.

Futile. All just futile.

This makes me feel glad, inspired and pleased. It reinforced what I already believed.

This makes me feel happy. It reinforced what I already believed.

I have shared my story with Delia.What saddens me is that people would take their own life or attempt to. In my case I used my trans-genderism to save my life last year (kidney cancer - few months to live).Changing gender roles gave me the strength to cope. I am not a religious person but can the church/god/bible explain why I was given both sets of organs at birth?

This makes me feel pleased and shocked.

I didn't expect those comments, thanks Christina x

This makes me feel fine and fine. It helped me understand the speaker's point of view.

I'm pleased to see that Christina is asserting her self and her position in the Anglican Communion. I hope that her point of view gains ground. I've left the Church of England now and am a Quaker, as we seem to have got past these questions of identity and recognition. I loved the bit about the eunuchs!

This makes me feel fine, happy, inspired, pleased, surprised, fine, happy, inspired, pleased and surprised.

I'm so happy to finally see a video Pro-lgbt from a religious point of veiw!

This makes me feel lolling and lolling.

BAFFLED

The problem is that gender roles are so rigidly defined in society. Why do people have to mutilate themselves so they can fit in. We should all be able to be who we are.

I am astonished at Christina's conviction that the bible is transgender friendly and that there is no biblical evidence to oppose the changing of gender. I think that the bible is clear that God made man and He made woman. He, that is God, creates gender specific mankind that in turn display Him. We are made in His image both man and woman. Surely then to change gender is to disown the very image He has given. Having said that all people are loved by Him whatever course they in which they choose to steer their lives, Unlike Chris I would like Church Leaders to stand up for what the bible teaches more. Fear of being seen as politically incorrect, bigoted or old fashioned has pushed many church leaders into silence. Why?