beliefs?

[Smith]

Knowing that there is nothing I can do about my basement flooding until Friday...I think I'll weigh in on this again.

Not that Faith needs my validation, but I can say that after spending a good amount of time speaking with her last evening, I can honestly say this is the very FIRST time I've been thoroughly convinced that someone was convinved about their identity. And you know what? God knows, and that's fine with me because I'm not her judge...besides, methinks its pretty impressive that a chick knows her way around a truck engine.

Kate, I understand where you are coming from but asking for "scripture" to prove something you KNOW can only be an issue of the heart isn't an honest inquiry, in my humble opinion...that would be like asking me for "Scripture" to "prove why I have to take my Paxil", which if you catch me on the right day, I would probably clean the sleepies out of my eye with my middle finger"...that is, if you were a guy.

Also, think about this, WHAT IF someone had an identity change like Faith has and they "got saved" in a Fundy church, what do you think the reception would be? It's not like they could (or would want to) just snap their fingers and BOOM! Cloud of smoke! They're a guy again! No, you must deal with people where they are NOW, not where we think they SHOULD BE...these are real people with real longings, real flesh and at the resurrection, God will deal with everything. In the meantime, you have people that have made, what they feel, are the best choices for themselves and if they are redeemed, they have the Holy Spirit indwelling in them...now what? Are they your brothers and sisters in the Lord or not? Reading from one of Faith's earlier posts, if MY mother were to lovingly call me an abomination, I probably would still be wetting the bed even as we speak...that's not love folks, in any therapists book...but, that is the proverbial "lay of the land" in Fundamentalist America..."why have compassion when a good dose of LAW breaks your spirit?" The idea isn't "what you've done to get where you are" it's where you are NOW and being in the process of conforming yourself to the image of Christ. I will now blow my nose, take a drink of water and step down from my soap box.