Pass the buck. Blame it on God.
“It was determined, for theological reasons, that it is not in God’s will that June remain as our pastor.”
At least they didn’t dead name her.
But 58 congregants of a Baptist church in Ontario felt it was God’s will to reject Junia Joplin after she came out as a woman to them, and 53 felt it was God’s will to reaffirm her as their pastor — which she had been for six years whilst presenting as a male.
Majority rules, even with their god, apparently.
It’s not surprising, honestly. Christians can be such medieval simpletons sometimes. This congregation voted to keep their faith in the Middle Ages — by a slim majority.
Maybe next time they’ll take that leap, eh.
There are different ways I could take this post now. I could talk about there being no coincidences in life, that maybe enlightenment came calling on them through Junia.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t remind Christians and the like that Junia’s spirit — the one that comforted and loved them for six years — hasn’t changed at all. She was only changing her name, personal pronouns and appearance, somewhat.
I could get really metaphysical and talk about the nature of spirit, but that is of little interest to most Christians and other fundamentalists. Their’s is mostly a blind, superficial faith on the first steps of the long stairway to heaven (with respect to Page and Plant).
What really has me shaking my head — apart from Junia’s unfair dismissal — is that they blamed God for their own discomfort with Pastor Junia’s public transition.
If I believed in their version of God, I’d feel bad for that god. It’s a bad rap.
Junia is already being offered spots in other churches, so she will continue to do her thing. Indeed, the media coverage she is getting over her dismissal is actually helping her reach more people.
So, she has been liberated in more ways than one, huh.
Funny how that’s working out, isn’t it.
One could say God works in mysterious ways, fundamentally speaking.
— Jillian
“We are not brought into existence by chance nor thrown up into earth-life like wreckage cast along the shore, but are here for infinitely noble purposes.” — Katherine Tingley
Jillian Page 
Huh? I thought she already was originally there as the woman she is?
Did she really come out recently???
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I went back and checked the New York Times article. She came out to them in June after presenting as male before. But I did get something wrong and have since corrected it: she was a pastor in that church for six years, not four as I had previously written.
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OK.
It was all a bit vague for me from wat I’ve seen about it here in and from Europe.
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SD3R[sexdrugsrock&roll&religion]. 0.0 has changed %|
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“Denied Christ’s cross to one of those, whom Christ came down to save.” Not quite apropos, but close, and from a powerful poem.
Yours was a powerful post (not quite in the same category, but fine indeed). The Church is for Man, not God, but still grievous that they blame their choice on God.
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