Eunuch.

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Eunuchs

Admittedly, this is a back door approach; perhaps unfair. Some in society really dislike trans folk, but looking at it from another direction, perhaps we could gain some benefits about what history and the Bible say about Eunuchs, which strictly speaking post ops are.  At any rate, I will own up to it. Read and smile.

Matt 19:12
Eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and…some…were made eunuchs of men

There are several developmental disorders which result in boys being born with ambiguous genitalia or as hermaphrodites. As adults, they are unable to father children and were classed as eunuchs. Another group of eunuchs were “a class of emasculated men attached to the courts of eastern rulers. They were employed to watch of the harems, and also were often given positions as trusted officials.” (Bible Dictionary)

Matt 19:12
there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake

There are no known scriptural or historical accounts which tell us more about these particular eunuchs. So, how are we to understand this passage? Joseph Smith said, “I have a key by which I understand the scriptures. I enquire, what was the question which drew out the answer.” (Teachings, 276) Jesus was responding to the disciples’ statement that it would be better not to marry if the law was so strict.

Christ’s response, in essence, declared, “You’re right, for those who understand and receive the full meaning of the law of celestial marriage, it is better not to marry at all than to make the mistake of violating the covenants of your first marriage in marrying another. For example, there have been men who understood this doctrine and made themselves eunuchs rather than take the risk of violating this holy law.” This response was not meant to justify the mutilating act required to become a eunuch nor to condone a celibate lifestyle but to acknowledge their understanding of the supreme solemnity of the covenant of celestial marriage.

Those who have received a testimony of this principle are obligated to live by its precepts. For them, it would be better to live a celibate life than to violate this law, for ‘he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation’ (DC 82:3). Therefore, ‘He that is able to receive it, let him receive it’–for those who are not able to receive it are not obligated to abide such a strict law.

“If our societies were on a higher plane, then, marriage covenants would be held in great, sacred trust; essentially, divorce would not exist or be considered except for truly serious reasons such as adultery. I would also suggest that in a higher system, with individuals living in harmony with all the Lord’s teachings, there would be no such serious problems and thus no divorce.

“Unfortunately, our societies are less than ideal. Some persons do live in unbearably difficult marital circumstances, suffering as victims of spouse abuse, substance abuse, promiscuity, and other evils that are sometimes addressed through divorce as a last resort. In such cases, the Lord in his mercy ‘permits his agents to exercise the power to loose [to authorize divorce] as well as the power to bind.’ (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 204)” (Jonathan M. Chamberlain,
Ensign, Jan. 1993, p. 60)


Isaiah 56:3-5 ESV

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

Acts 8:26-39 ESV

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

Deuteronomy 23:1 ESV

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.


Matthew 19:9-12 ESV

And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

Jeremiah 38:7-10 ESV

When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern–the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate– Ebed-melech went from the king's house and said to the king, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.” Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

Acts 8:26-29 ESV

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

Esther 2:15

When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.

In all Historical works I can find, eunuchs dresses like women. And, aside from the single reference in Deuteronomy, the Bible looks favorably on Eunuchs. The idea of being seen as a eunuch may be offensive to some, but adding that to the discussion may lend clarity perhaps.