/rel/ - Religion

I would love to hear form ANY religion other than Buddhism that is "live and let live" and has more than one isolated group of followers.

Catholic here.

If someone has a mental illness and believes they are something that they by nature are not (ie, a man who believes he is a woman, or a woman who believes she is a sparkly fox) this in itself does not constitute mortal sin. The individual should be treated with charity and seek help.

However, once someone takes the step of frustrating natural sexual reproduction (ie, a man mutilating his genitals through surgery to make them resemble a woman's) or they engage in any sexual activity outside of a natural (ie, non-contraceptive) heterosexual marriage, they have committed mortal sin and need to to penance. If they are sincere they will be forgiven.

tl;dr- Trannies shouldn't necessarily be purged by fire, but they should not be encouraged, and should be charitably informed that they are depraved and need to reform their lives.

Outlawing sex-change operations and pro-transexual propagandizing of minors would be some acceptable measures in my view.

>>222
Thanks for your input!

Would you designate Hormone Replacement Therapy as an act of frustrating sexual reproduction as well? Taking hormones will eventually leave male-to-female subjects becoming sterile.

>>233
No, no, it's cool. A catholic point of view on the subject is something very rare to find these days. Thanks for sharing!

>>241
>No, no, it's cool. A catholic point of view on the subject is something very rare to find these days

Catholic anon here: I find it incredibly sad that this sounds like a very true statement with regard to pretty much anything outside of the murder of children.

>>241
No problem.

As far as I know, the Church has not issued any official or infallible declarations regarding transsexualism in the same way they have regarding homosexuality and contraception, but as far as I understand Catholic doctrine on sexuality and reproduction, HRT and sex-change operations both constitute mortal sin and will require sincere penance if one is to merit a hope of salvation.

Still, I am just a lay person who studies dogmatic theology in his spare time. If you want a more official answer you're best off contacting a priest or bishop. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican has been known to answer inquiries like this from individuals in the past as well.

>>233
Catholic and I disagree. Diseases (specifically mental) exist, and frequently, the desire to transition is not sexual in nature, it's an actual disease that causes people to feel like they're "in the wrong body" per se, or that their body is lacking things.

God gave us free will, and some times that results in a few problems.

I'm also a layman, though. Also, the Vatican itself is turning on a few issues, because the Vatican, although holy in nature, are still men, and views sometimes change in the wake of time. We've gone from "Burn all homosexuals" to "homosexual sex is a sin because we aren't authorized to marry you, and it's thus out of wedlock, but being gay in itself is not a sin".

>>288
I acknowledged in my first post that transsexualism is a mental disease. As such the culpability of the individual in sinning is somewhat reduced depending on the severity of their psychosis.

>the desire to transition is not sexual in nature

I agree, and I said as much. It's the same thing with homosexuality. The homosexual desire is not mortally sinful in itself, but the act is. Likewise, the desire to be another gender is not sinful in itself, but taking the step of intentionally destroying the God-given life-generating principle within oneself, towards the selfish end of changing gender, is mortal sin.

>God gave us free will, and some times that results in a few problems.

To be sure, it is difficult and those struggling should be treated with charity and given help. But Christ would not have us enter the Kingdom by the wide and easy path, but the narrow one.

>Vatican itself is turning on a few issues

The substance of Church teaching can never change (at most we can say it develops, but never contradicts itself), even if the administrative functioning and rhetoric of the Church does. Homosexual sex, masturbation, contraception, etc. are all still mortal sins that separate us from God and send us to hell if we do not seek penance. This is true even if no priest will tell you that, or say it in a homily.

Best of luck bro

>>210
1 Corinthians 6:9
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,

Deuteronomy 22:5
A woman shall not wear a man's garment, nor shall a man put on a woman's cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

Romans 1:26-27
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

>>242
Protestant here: agreed. The world is going to Hell in a hand basket, and people are cheering it on.