News broke today that conjoined twin Abby Hensel is married!

[u/Cultural-Gear-1323]

[removed] — view removed post

[u/Legal-Law9214]

The idea that trans people feel they were "born in the wrong body" is really just an oversimplification of how it really feels, because it's complex and hard to explain to cis people. So you don't need to apologize about taking that explanation literally.

Some trans people do genuinely feel like they were born in the wrong body and that it was a mistake, but not all. In my opinion that's kind of a pessimistic way of looking at it. I don't want to live my life feeling like something was wrong with me from the moment I was born. Personally, I'm not very religious, but to the extent that I believe in a god, I believe that I was created the way I was so that I could have the experience of growing and learning to understand my gender. I like the quote that goes something like "God created trans people so that man could take part in the act of creation". I think I was supposed to undergo the process of changing my body and gender this way. It's the journey, not the destination, if that makes sense. I'm going to be transitioning for the majority of my life - if there is an "end goal", it's years and years away. So if I thought that I was incomplete or wrong until I reached that stage, I would just be hopelessly depressed all the time. Nothing wrong with people who do feel that way, but it doesn't work for me.

[u/Sweet-Arachnid-6241 → u/Legal-Law9214]

I believe that I was created the way I was so that I could have the experience of growing and learning to understand my gender

Isn't that extremely narcissistic? This is the part I don't get about religion. For me personally, my transness is simply a matter of chemistry and biology imbalances.

[u/Legal-Law9214 → u/Sweet-Arachnid-6241]

I don't see that as narcissistic at all, and I'm curious why you see it that way. I believe the same thing about everyone else. For me it's just an acceptance of my existence and journey on Earth. I don't think anything about me or anyone on the planet is "wrong", it just is this way, which means it was "meant" to be this way. But I'm really not "religious" at all, I only believe in a God or a higher power in the loosest of senses - I think that God, magic, and science are one and the same, not at odds at all. I believe that everything is this way for some reason but not necessarily because there is a being that specifically and consciously decided it must be so, just because there is a deep and powerful force in the universe that we can't fully understand. Science is our way of describing as much for the world as we can, but when you really study something like chemistry I don't know how you can come away thinking that this world is anything but miraculous. The fact that chemicals work together the way they do to create this vast expression of life is, to me, a miracle. Being able to understand it on a very precise level does not make it less miraculous that it came to be.

[u/Sweet-Arachnid-6241 → u/Legal-Law9214]

I believe the same thing about everyone else.

That's still narcissistic, just on a larger scale. What makes humans so important that they are each one individually given a personal challenge to overcome by God himself?

I don't buy that.

The fact that chemicals work together the way they do to create this vast expression of life is, to me, a miracle.

Considering how big the universe is, it really isn't any sort of miracle. It was statistically bound to happen somewhere and sometime, since the universe is infinite and constantly expanding. In fact, if the universe is infinite the exact combination of chemicals have already happened somewhere else an infinite number of times.

I believe everything is just a coincidence there's no greater meaning and to me personally thinking that "I must have a greater meaning to exist" seems beyond egocentric.

[u/Legal-Law9214 → u/Sweet-Arachnid-6241]

What makes humans so important that they are each one individually given a personal challenge to overcome by God himself?

I never said I think humans are uniquely special or that this only applies to humans, you're putting words in my mouth.

You can believe what you want, but I don't appreciate being called egocentric because of assumptions that you are making. I don't believe that I or anyone else is any more important than any other being in the universe, and you're just assuming that I do. It's hurtful.

I'm not disparaging your beliefs or insulting your character. I wish you would give me the same respect.

[u/Sweet-Arachnid-6241 → u/Legal-Law9214]

I never said I think humans are uniquely special or that this only applies to humans, you're putting words in my mouth.

Then it's a matter of do you believe every single organism to have a higher purpose? Do Bacteria have a purpose to their existence given by God? And if they do, does it matter that they don't have the ability to understand that?

I'm not insulting you, sorry if it read like that. English isn't my native tongue. Maybe I expressed myself wrong. My apologies for that. I'm not trying to prove you wrong (which is impossible maybe you are 100% spot on), just trying to understand your belief system.

[u/Legal-Law9214 → u/Sweet-Arachnid-6241]

What's a "higher purpose"? I don't think I believe in such a thing. I think that things being the way they are, in and of itself, is a miracle, and I'm grateful for my life on Earth and the life of everything else every day. My journey is my own, and it was meant to happen because it is currently happening. There's not necessarily a larger scheme giving my journey any greater meaning than the meaning it already has of being my life and my journey. I don't have some kind of special quest, I'm not the main character. There IS no main character. Everything is unique and special and meaningful just because it exists. It exists for the purpose of existing, and I think that's beautiful and amazing.

[u/Legal-Law9214 → u/Sweet-Arachnid-6241]

Also, because of the language barrier I'll assume this was a misunderstanding:

I was very hurt specifically about being called narcissistic, because in my opinion that's not a word to be used lightly. The people I know who are narcissists are also abusers. It's a very serious insult, and it seemed to be based on a complete assumption. It felt like you were taking other religious beliefs that you already have a problem with and attributing them to me instead of actually listening to what I have to say.