I know that I did not post this originally with this intent,--which I am now extremely ashamed of-- but I think this is a very good move for the Church. "Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still. Let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing side by side, draw the circle wide."
Are they still human beings? If so, and they openly attribute their redemption to Jesus Christ and owe their allegience to him as their New Covenant Head, then I see no reason they should not be able to recall for us the redeeming act of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us all. None of us are perfect. .
I wonder if they have gotten over their gender confusion? One would not ordinarily want to ordain priests who constantly exhibit confusion.
I am friends with a few trans people. They aren't confused in the least. Except for why so many people are so invested on what pronouns they ask to be identified by.
But most people are confused about something, some even many things. It's just that these seem to you to be confused about something which particularly seems to bother you. I too find all this pronoun preference stuff confusing, and for some reason it bothers and confuses me. I can't see though that should be a reason to stop them reminding us all about what Jesus has done for the human race, unless of course we think that role, as a human being, requires them to be perfectly non-confused about everything it's possible to be confused about in this or the next life. I don't think a single fundamentally non-confused person can be found among the human race on earth today, so if a total lack of confusion about anything at all is to be a qualifying factor in acceptance for the priesthood I can't see anyone possibly meeting the requirements. I watched a TV show last night which featured two 'female' panelists. One of these was a trans gender male to female. Of the two 'women' I found the transgender one the more attractive by far. I found that confusing and a little disturbing. I think the fault might have been with me though rather than with 'her'. She was only being what 'she' felt herself to be, on a TV chat show. I was ranking her against the other female as a possible sexual object, knowing there would be a practical problem with that for me if it went any further than 'imagination'. In fact even letting it get as far as my imagination was causing a problem for me according to Matthew 5:28. .
Many US churches use a psychological screening as part of the ordination process. Trans would certainly be flagged for further evaluation. Some denominations would probably love it, others would make it an automatic disqualifier.
There's a difference of magnitude between "confused" and "visibly confused." A prospective minister of the Gospel is rightly held to a higher standard, and the other church leaders (historically at least) take this into account.
Hmm...shame they don't flag pedophiles and filanderers with the same level certainty. All about priorities I suppose.
Maybe they do. It's just more difficult to spot. Trans is more easily labeled and honestly revealed. The others more cloaked in darkness. .
As long as they are not confused about how to treat their neighbour and God and not confused about how to preach the Gospel. I guess being confused about something is OK, since most of the human race is anyway. .