I don't understand how someone can declare they adhere to a particular religion, yet not even know the tenets of the religion they claim to practice. At the very least, they should know what the main text of the religion says.
Thats why I say taught faith is not real faith. Basically people regurgitate what's been oft repeated to them and learn to say what they think they are supposed to say. They don't really feel it in their heart. Also, you can tell a person what you think they should believe all day long but until they have their own experience, and come to their OWN conclusion they are just going through the motions to appease you.
As such, this is why people have to choose the faith that is right for them. Muslim, Christian, J witness, etc. The point is that they lead lives that contribute to the continuous improvement of self, community, and the world at large. If a person finds that motivation in, say, Islam, then that is the religion for them. I would much rather someone practice Islam and be a positive, generous, loving person because of those beliefs, than for someone to be a Christian, misinterpret scripture(b/c of corrupt teaching) and go on a killing spree in the name of Jesus. I am sure God would much rather that as well.
I guess my perspective is a bit unique. The bible says God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son and whosoever shall believe in him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
It doesn't say for God so loved only christians. Jesus was God's sacrifice to the WORLD and the sins of MANKIND.Therefore, Christians do not have a monopoly on Jesus, nor on salvation.
Now, I will take Islam as an example b/c I am a little more familiar with it. (Comparative Analysis)
The basic tenets of Islam are the same as Christianity. Islam is like Christianity, a Monotheistic religion. Allah and God are the same. We both worship the same God. So it's not like it's a pagan religion with a different Idol, it's the same God. Now where as Muslims acknowledge Jesus as a prophet and not necessarily the literal Biological son of God, Christians believe he is the biological son of God. Okay let's break that down.
Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet. That is true, he was a prophet - no contradiction.
Muslims believe the message that Jesus taught, I have never heard any muslims say we shouldn't love our neightbor, do good deeds, be an upstanding honest person. again, not in contradiction.
In truth we are ALL God's children so whether Jesus was literally God's son or not is irrelevant. Muslims and Christians both believe the message Jesus taught, they both believe Jesus existed, they both believe Jesus was a prophet. To me that amounts to Muslims and Christians alike, believing in Jesus.
Whether Jesus was or wasn't the biological son of God is irrelevant becasue of these reasons.
1. We are trying to apply HUMAN characteristics to God, and we can't do that. In order to understand the point of the son/father phenom, we must think deeper and take it out of Human context. Jesus is not the BIOLOGICAL son of God because God is NOT a BIOLOGICAL Being. Biological Characteristics apply to our HUMANITY. God isn't bound by the rules of Bilology because God is the ARCHITECT of Biology.
2. i guarantee Jesus had 46- 23 sets of chromosomes just like all humans. He also had DNA from Mary and Joseph as all humans have the DNA of their physical parents.
3. We know God did not impregnate Mary the same way we human's do.
4. Jesus never claimed to be God. Jesus also always refered to God as his father. We all refer to God as our father because God is indeed our spiritual father. So Jesus WAS the Son of God.
5. The focus on Jesus' origin, is a diversion tactic instituted by the evil force in the world to get our attention AWAY from the MESSAGE of Jesus. Believeing whether or not Jesus was a physical son of God is Not what gets one salvation. Believing and living by what he TAUGHT is what will get us salvation.
6. Jesus was the spiritual son of God. That CANNOT be disputed. a "SON" is not limited to the physical definition. Is a spiritual SON, not a Son? Is a Spiritual son any less of a son? I argue that a spiritual son is MORE important.
So we have established, Jesus was indeed the son of God. To acknowledge Jesus' existence, believe in the message he taught, and apply what he taught to our lives ....means that you BELIEVE IN HIM!!!!
So what's the fussing and fighting about? I can tell you, Salvation is such an awesome gift and we know it is valuable. Our human nature drives us to want to make salvation exclusive, so we are the only ones with access to it. Much like membership in a country club, or a clique. We want to be unique and the only ones to have something someone else doesn't.
Again I say God is so amazingly simple, we MAKE God complex. All of this is laid out in black and white right in front of our faces but we overanalyze and look straight past it when we don't need to.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Slim Thug Says: Black Women Are Gold Diggers- An Informed Response to Slim Thug and other Self Hating Black Men
For much of our history in America, black women have been maligned, wronged, and given a raw deal. So much so that it has put many of them on the defensive.
The white man regarded them as promiscuous, oversexed animals.
Many black men have publicly criticized and abandoned them.
They had to pick up the slack and be the man and the woman of the black family unit.
Much can be attributed to the effects of slavery. The emasulation of Black men, discrimination against black men in employment opportunities. Institutional racism and it's destruction of morale and implementation of the black inferiority complex.
While these historical facts cannot be disputed, we often forget, Black women were also subjects of this same discrimination. So why is it that they were able to do what was necessary to keep families afloat in the absence of black men? Something doesn't add up. If she could do it, why couldn't he?
This brings me to the present. We know what has happened in history. We know the reason for the disparities between the races. We also live in a time of opportinity where we are able to reap the benefits of the fight our forfathers fought. We can go to college, we can be successful in business, we can even be president. So why is that so many Black men are still abandoning their families and leaving children for black women to raise alone? Why are so many impregnating multiple women and leaving them to struggle in their absence with no assistance?
Most of all, with the knowledge of our history, knowledge of the mistakes made in the past, and knowledge of the legitimate obstacles faced previously---- Why are black men in this day and age coming out publicly criticizing black women in favor of other races of women when they are a main factor causing the issues they complain about?
The Cycle.....
Man and woman have a daughter.... The black father leaves the woman and child behind. The woman has to raise this daughter in his absence. The child has no Man to help her mother and provide an example of a loving relationship. The mother in a need for companionship has one man or a series of men who mistreat her or doesn't show her respect she deserves. The only example her daughter sees of black man/women relationships are dysfunctional.
man and woman have a son. The black father leaves the woman and his son behind. The woman has to raise this son with no male example for this son. He grows up seeing men mistreating/disrespecting his mother. His only example is also dysfunctional....
These two people get together with only dysfunctional relationships as a reference. It doesn't take a genius to know not only will it not work, but they can only mimic the same behavior they saw. He mistreats her, cheats on her, and disrespects her. She shows her dissatisfaction by increased bitterness yet stays with him and allows him to continue. Meanwhile they are reproducing having kids in this dysfunctional relationship until it implodes and destructs. Then the cycle is repeated. We understand this cycle and we have seen it time and time again .... so these particualr black men know quite well WHY the black women they complain about are this way.... and then they try to innocently act as if they don't know why when they have contributed to the problem.
Referring to them as Hoes,Bitches,Jumpoffs, Tricks, and recreational sexual partners.
Taking an irresponsible approach to sex and carelessly reproducing and running on to the next thing shaking its ass.
Showing a general lack of respect for black women in general.
Publicly criticizing them and accepting no accountability for their part in the equation.
Then they look back at the carnage they helped create in the form of emotionally damaged, bitter, cynical black women with esteem issues due to the constant rejection of this particular damaged pool of black men AND the negative media portrayal, innocently as if What's her problem? They look at this monster they created as they walk off into the sunset with Suzie Q as if they had no part in it.
Heaven forbid he has money and has ignorantly believed Suzie loves him for his kind heart and sense of humor. After she has secured her financial future with no regard to his detriment, he then comes back home for the black woman to nurse his wounds because he knows she is there waiting to have his back. Then I'll be damned if as soon as he gets over his bruised ego, he goes RIGHT back out and does the same thing while telling the black woman to kiss his ass. (O.J. Much?)
It is because of this type of recklessness that black women have become emotional and highly reactive to things like the Slim Thug Interview when he irresponsibly and ignorantly alleged that black women were gold diggers.
Black women then deciding to defend their virtue vehemently lash out and dispute this protrayal. Unfortunately it only comes off as validation of the Angry Black Woman syndrome sterotype.
I understand the outrage of many black women, but I think in instances like the Slim Thug interview, black women should take a step back and process the whole situation.
Look at who is talking. A ghetto man, who has been exposed to Ghetto black women. Who proudly calls himself a Thug in celebration as if its a good thing.
Then he uses phrases like "Don't Gotta" in an interview.
Then obliviously calls attention to his own self hatred the more he talks and generalizes Black men AND women.
When you take a step back you see it's not even worth your time to be upset and furthermore, you really don't care what this person's thoughts are anyway. When he says black women, he's not talking about average black women. He is referring to the hood rats, ghetto divas, and chickenheads he has delt with in his limited social circle.
The white man regarded them as promiscuous, oversexed animals.
Many black men have publicly criticized and abandoned them.
They had to pick up the slack and be the man and the woman of the black family unit.
Much can be attributed to the effects of slavery. The emasulation of Black men, discrimination against black men in employment opportunities. Institutional racism and it's destruction of morale and implementation of the black inferiority complex.
While these historical facts cannot be disputed, we often forget, Black women were also subjects of this same discrimination. So why is it that they were able to do what was necessary to keep families afloat in the absence of black men? Something doesn't add up. If she could do it, why couldn't he?
This brings me to the present. We know what has happened in history. We know the reason for the disparities between the races. We also live in a time of opportinity where we are able to reap the benefits of the fight our forfathers fought. We can go to college, we can be successful in business, we can even be president. So why is that so many Black men are still abandoning their families and leaving children for black women to raise alone? Why are so many impregnating multiple women and leaving them to struggle in their absence with no assistance?
Most of all, with the knowledge of our history, knowledge of the mistakes made in the past, and knowledge of the legitimate obstacles faced previously---- Why are black men in this day and age coming out publicly criticizing black women in favor of other races of women when they are a main factor causing the issues they complain about?
The Cycle.....
Man and woman have a daughter.... The black father leaves the woman and child behind. The woman has to raise this daughter in his absence. The child has no Man to help her mother and provide an example of a loving relationship. The mother in a need for companionship has one man or a series of men who mistreat her or doesn't show her respect she deserves. The only example her daughter sees of black man/women relationships are dysfunctional.
man and woman have a son. The black father leaves the woman and his son behind. The woman has to raise this son with no male example for this son. He grows up seeing men mistreating/disrespecting his mother. His only example is also dysfunctional....
These two people get together with only dysfunctional relationships as a reference. It doesn't take a genius to know not only will it not work, but they can only mimic the same behavior they saw. He mistreats her, cheats on her, and disrespects her. She shows her dissatisfaction by increased bitterness yet stays with him and allows him to continue. Meanwhile they are reproducing having kids in this dysfunctional relationship until it implodes and destructs. Then the cycle is repeated. We understand this cycle and we have seen it time and time again .... so these particualr black men know quite well WHY the black women they complain about are this way.... and then they try to innocently act as if they don't know why when they have contributed to the problem.
Referring to them as Hoes,Bitches,Jumpoffs, Tricks, and recreational sexual partners.
Taking an irresponsible approach to sex and carelessly reproducing and running on to the next thing shaking its ass.
Showing a general lack of respect for black women in general.
Publicly criticizing them and accepting no accountability for their part in the equation.
Then they look back at the carnage they helped create in the form of emotionally damaged, bitter, cynical black women with esteem issues due to the constant rejection of this particular damaged pool of black men AND the negative media portrayal, innocently as if What's her problem? They look at this monster they created as they walk off into the sunset with Suzie Q as if they had no part in it.
Heaven forbid he has money and has ignorantly believed Suzie loves him for his kind heart and sense of humor. After she has secured her financial future with no regard to his detriment, he then comes back home for the black woman to nurse his wounds because he knows she is there waiting to have his back. Then I'll be damned if as soon as he gets over his bruised ego, he goes RIGHT back out and does the same thing while telling the black woman to kiss his ass. (O.J. Much?)
It is because of this type of recklessness that black women have become emotional and highly reactive to things like the Slim Thug Interview when he irresponsibly and ignorantly alleged that black women were gold diggers.
Black women then deciding to defend their virtue vehemently lash out and dispute this protrayal. Unfortunately it only comes off as validation of the Angry Black Woman syndrome sterotype.
I understand the outrage of many black women, but I think in instances like the Slim Thug interview, black women should take a step back and process the whole situation.
Look at who is talking. A ghetto man, who has been exposed to Ghetto black women. Who proudly calls himself a Thug in celebration as if its a good thing.
Then he uses phrases like "Don't Gotta" in an interview.
Then obliviously calls attention to his own self hatred the more he talks and generalizes Black men AND women.
When you take a step back you see it's not even worth your time to be upset and furthermore, you really don't care what this person's thoughts are anyway. When he says black women, he's not talking about average black women. He is referring to the hood rats, ghetto divas, and chickenheads he has delt with in his limited social circle.
When i Say I Am A Christian by: Maya Angelou
When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin"
I'm whispering "I was lost",
"Now I'm found and forgiven".
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
but, God believes I'm worth it.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need CHRIST to be my guide.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak
and need HIS strength to carry on.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
who received God's grace somehow
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
and need God to clean my mess.
by Maya Angelou
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin"
I'm whispering "I was lost",
"Now I'm found and forgiven".
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
but, God believes I'm worth it.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need CHRIST to be my guide.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong
I'm professing that I'm weak
and need HIS strength to carry on.
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
who received God's grace somehow
When I say..."I'm a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
and need God to clean my mess.
by Maya Angelou
Religion Vs. Science: There is NO WAR. Science is not at war with GOD.The ignorance of Man is at war with Logic.
I ask this because, we always say people make choices that determines their fate, but the choices we make are affected by the capacity of our mental capability. With the strongest will someone with a chemical imbalance can only make choices withing the scope of their affliction.
Many people dismiss mental disorders because they are on the outside looking in. They also pain everyone else with the broad strokes of the brush that governs their own life. Depression is an example. Some people dismiss depression as a blue mood, or someone simply being down in the dumps. It is far more complicated than that. I have been depressed. I have been depressed for LONG periods of time.I have been so depressed that it became a way of life for me. I didn't know HOW to be happy again because I has been so sad for so long. So, I can somewhat relate to Clinical Depression. Even in my prolonged depressed state though, I only got a glimpse into what someone deals with with a chemical imbalance at the root of their depression. Mine was not such that it couldn't be changed by MY actions. I simply had to learn HOW to change it and how to balance and govern my life in a way that would make me happy.
Faith is a good thing to have but along with faith god also gave us COMMON SENSE.... when we allow blind faith to overrule common sense and lep into things that are dangerous do you really think God want's that? Do you really take things so literal that you would jump off a 20 story building and remain faithful that God will prevent you from dying when you hit the pavement? That is not faith... it is stupidity. God didn't make most of us stupid.
Hormones affect everything from mood, mental clarity, coordination, strength, sex drive, sexual desire, emotional state, etc. I am sure most people with a minimun amount of medical knowledge know this to a certain extent. SO I ask, why is it that many of us continually criticize others for what they do when wed don't know the whole story? Why is it that when it is not us, we are an expert at trying to diagnose WHY people do certain things, when we are NOT qualified to do so?
We say people WANT to do things that NO sane person would want to do. Then when presented with evidence of a chemical or medical explanation, we dismiss it not because we don'tbelieve it, but we do it to save face and try to force our previous assumptions to be true int he face of this scrutiny.
How can you say a person is gay b/c they want to be and not because of sexual development or hormonal differences?
How can you say a person can control alcoholism or addiction by simply praying when they have a clear genetic marker for addictive predisposition AND they are a 6th generation alcoholic.
At what point do you have the common sense to realize that GOD is NOT at war with science, the ignorance of man is the greatest impedence to scientific progress. God invented science.. HOW? God is the creator of all and everythign was built according to the LAWS GOD itself created. Science is merely the revelation of those laws and explanations of the laws.
So why do ppl feel that God expects them to reject medicine and pray? Why would you pray with pneumonia and reject the antibiotics the Dr gave you, thinking that to take the medicine would be puttin faith in the Doctor and not God?...... Fool, God made the doctor, and gave the doctor the brain to become a doctor, and to develop the remedies we have. Again, Science is NOT at war with God. Science only explains the laws by which God created and sustains things.Just because youhave no interest or knowledge about something DOES not mean there is a conspiracy, it is invalid, or nonsensical. It just means that you may want to study deeper so you can UNDERSTAND it better!!
Many people dismiss mental disorders because they are on the outside looking in. They also pain everyone else with the broad strokes of the brush that governs their own life. Depression is an example. Some people dismiss depression as a blue mood, or someone simply being down in the dumps. It is far more complicated than that. I have been depressed. I have been depressed for LONG periods of time.I have been so depressed that it became a way of life for me. I didn't know HOW to be happy again because I has been so sad for so long. So, I can somewhat relate to Clinical Depression. Even in my prolonged depressed state though, I only got a glimpse into what someone deals with with a chemical imbalance at the root of their depression. Mine was not such that it couldn't be changed by MY actions. I simply had to learn HOW to change it and how to balance and govern my life in a way that would make me happy.
Faith is a good thing to have but along with faith god also gave us COMMON SENSE.... when we allow blind faith to overrule common sense and lep into things that are dangerous do you really think God want's that? Do you really take things so literal that you would jump off a 20 story building and remain faithful that God will prevent you from dying when you hit the pavement? That is not faith... it is stupidity. God didn't make most of us stupid.
Hormones affect everything from mood, mental clarity, coordination, strength, sex drive, sexual desire, emotional state, etc. I am sure most people with a minimun amount of medical knowledge know this to a certain extent. SO I ask, why is it that many of us continually criticize others for what they do when wed don't know the whole story? Why is it that when it is not us, we are an expert at trying to diagnose WHY people do certain things, when we are NOT qualified to do so?
We say people WANT to do things that NO sane person would want to do. Then when presented with evidence of a chemical or medical explanation, we dismiss it not because we don'tbelieve it, but we do it to save face and try to force our previous assumptions to be true int he face of this scrutiny.
How can you say a person is gay b/c they want to be and not because of sexual development or hormonal differences?
How can you say a person can control alcoholism or addiction by simply praying when they have a clear genetic marker for addictive predisposition AND they are a 6th generation alcoholic.
At what point do you have the common sense to realize that GOD is NOT at war with science, the ignorance of man is the greatest impedence to scientific progress. God invented science.. HOW? God is the creator of all and everythign was built according to the LAWS GOD itself created. Science is merely the revelation of those laws and explanations of the laws.
So why do ppl feel that God expects them to reject medicine and pray? Why would you pray with pneumonia and reject the antibiotics the Dr gave you, thinking that to take the medicine would be puttin faith in the Doctor and not God?...... Fool, God made the doctor, and gave the doctor the brain to become a doctor, and to develop the remedies we have. Again, Science is NOT at war with God. Science only explains the laws by which God created and sustains things.Just because youhave no interest or knowledge about something DOES not mean there is a conspiracy, it is invalid, or nonsensical. It just means that you may want to study deeper so you can UNDERSTAND it better!!
Fake OG's, Hustlers, Pimps, Playas and Others
I just don't understand why WE continue to idolize, glorify, promote, and portray Pimps, Thugs, Gangsters, and criminals. It's not all Hip Hop's fault. There has always been trashy art in every genre. There is positive, educational, political, thought provoking hip hop. There's party music. Then that which glorifies criminal activity, promiscuity, murder, drugs, etc. And damn if the latter isn't what a great portion of OUR youth don't latch on to and emulate. I am NOT referring to hip hop that mentions the activity in the story. I am referring to that which GLORIFIES it as something to be, take pride in, strive for, or emulate.
Nothing worse than a post 25 yr old man running around talking about i'm a pimp, i'm a G, dig my swag..... sit your old(retarded adolescent) asses down somewhere. I expect it from a misguided child who knows no better and has no one to teach them. Once you grow up and are out of HS, no one has to teach you, life teaches you that the shit these trash rappers spit is Bull and you wouldn't survive one day trying to live that way..... They don't tell you about the downside, but you should see it..... it's a program called the NEWS! or American Gangster. There are some who watch American Gangster(the series) and actually get inspiration from it to be more like the criminal being profiled. WTF?
I wonder how many of our men are in prison right now because of the mistakes they made trying to imitate the fake persona of a "studio gangsta rapper" Rick Ross? or a character they've seen in a movie.
Also, what is up with all these rappers assuming mob associated names .....Gotti,Kapone, etc. Now hear this..... The Mob doesn't even like us, to them you are a silly nigger. That's the blunt truth......To run around calling myself Don Coleone quoting Godfather lines would be akin to Al Sharpton running around calling himself David Duke and acting like a klansman!!!!!
While I'm on it..... Black Women have been stereotyped as less beautiful, promiscuous, Boisterous, Bitter, Classless, and a host of other pejorative adjectives. Then of course many cry foul when they see a black man with another race of woman and light into an expletive laden tirade about how society has given them a bad deal or how black men are sell outs. Yet day in and day out 1. Some black woman is hopping on a track talking about her head game, giving brain, putting in neckwork, Droppin or poppin her p----y, sucking the skin off a D---, then justifying it as embracing her sexuality or female empowerment. 2.Addressing herself, her sisters, and other black women as bitches.... ie the baddest bitch, i'm that bitch, head bitch, the bitch... or a variant of a Ho. Then wonder why men go in and out of their lives and complain about finding a good or real nigga. WTF?
Also, these are the women in the spotlight and do the majority of good black women(our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and friends) a bad name as they are a visual MEDIA representation of the whole. You can argue that each woman defines herself but we all know truthfully, media image play a big part in influencing how the majority is perceived by the masses based on those in the spotlight. Also, you may say white women dont have to do it yet they aren't seen the same way. Another dose of reality, the majority of the population is white people. No one is saying you must mimic them, I am saying however, they are watching, and what they think DOES matter to a point. Until we are building businesses, supporting ourselves, have our own banks, etc etc, and until we build Black World and operate seperately and independently from white america and are self sufficient with our own country, own president, own military etc..... You are damn right it matters. It matters when you have to go ask one for a job, when you have to ask one for any type of assistance. The point is we must assimilate to a point it's called adapting !!! no one is asking to forget culture, race, tradition, or identity..... but there is a COMMON culture and if you arent a part of it, you are outside it and SOL as a one man army.
Black men don't have to devalue or degrade them, they do it willingly. I get so tired of hearing black women call each other bitch in casual conversation or greeting. THAT is WHY you can't find a decent man. Also, if you are looking for a good Nigga..... you will get one 100% of the time. What you will NOT get is a Good Man.... because NO self respecting, positive, UPSTANDING MAN would EVER refer to himself as a nigga... and No upstanding, virtuous, self respecting woman would refer to herself as a Bitch or a Ho.
G.I.T -------------------------------------GET IT T O G E T H E R !!!!!!!!!!
Now Swag That!
Steps off Soapbox, snatches microphone, and walks away disgusted.
Nothing worse than a post 25 yr old man running around talking about i'm a pimp, i'm a G, dig my swag..... sit your old(retarded adolescent) asses down somewhere. I expect it from a misguided child who knows no better and has no one to teach them. Once you grow up and are out of HS, no one has to teach you, life teaches you that the shit these trash rappers spit is Bull and you wouldn't survive one day trying to live that way..... They don't tell you about the downside, but you should see it..... it's a program called the NEWS! or American Gangster. There are some who watch American Gangster(the series) and actually get inspiration from it to be more like the criminal being profiled. WTF?
I wonder how many of our men are in prison right now because of the mistakes they made trying to imitate the fake persona of a "studio gangsta rapper" Rick Ross? or a character they've seen in a movie.
Also, what is up with all these rappers assuming mob associated names .....Gotti,Kapone, etc. Now hear this..... The Mob doesn't even like us, to them you are a silly nigger. That's the blunt truth......To run around calling myself Don Coleone quoting Godfather lines would be akin to Al Sharpton running around calling himself David Duke and acting like a klansman!!!!!
While I'm on it..... Black Women have been stereotyped as less beautiful, promiscuous, Boisterous, Bitter, Classless, and a host of other pejorative adjectives. Then of course many cry foul when they see a black man with another race of woman and light into an expletive laden tirade about how society has given them a bad deal or how black men are sell outs. Yet day in and day out 1. Some black woman is hopping on a track talking about her head game, giving brain, putting in neckwork, Droppin or poppin her p----y, sucking the skin off a D---, then justifying it as embracing her sexuality or female empowerment. 2.Addressing herself, her sisters, and other black women as bitches.... ie the baddest bitch, i'm that bitch, head bitch, the bitch... or a variant of a Ho. Then wonder why men go in and out of their lives and complain about finding a good or real nigga. WTF?
Also, these are the women in the spotlight and do the majority of good black women(our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and friends) a bad name as they are a visual MEDIA representation of the whole. You can argue that each woman defines herself but we all know truthfully, media image play a big part in influencing how the majority is perceived by the masses based on those in the spotlight. Also, you may say white women dont have to do it yet they aren't seen the same way. Another dose of reality, the majority of the population is white people. No one is saying you must mimic them, I am saying however, they are watching, and what they think DOES matter to a point. Until we are building businesses, supporting ourselves, have our own banks, etc etc, and until we build Black World and operate seperately and independently from white america and are self sufficient with our own country, own president, own military etc..... You are damn right it matters. It matters when you have to go ask one for a job, when you have to ask one for any type of assistance. The point is we must assimilate to a point it's called adapting !!! no one is asking to forget culture, race, tradition, or identity..... but there is a COMMON culture and if you arent a part of it, you are outside it and SOL as a one man army.
Black men don't have to devalue or degrade them, they do it willingly. I get so tired of hearing black women call each other bitch in casual conversation or greeting. THAT is WHY you can't find a decent man. Also, if you are looking for a good Nigga..... you will get one 100% of the time. What you will NOT get is a Good Man.... because NO self respecting, positive, UPSTANDING MAN would EVER refer to himself as a nigga... and No upstanding, virtuous, self respecting woman would refer to herself as a Bitch or a Ho.
G.I.T -------------------------------------GET IT T O G E T H E R !!!!!!!!!!
Now Swag That!
Steps off Soapbox, snatches microphone, and walks away disgusted.
Biblical Scripture Corruption - 6 Passages Used to Misrepresent God and Falsely Justify Hatred of LGBT Persons
Genesis 19:5
Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13
Romans 1:26-27
I Corinthians 6:9
I Timothy 1:9-10
In preparation for each passage, read the entire chapter. For Romans 1:26-27, read the first 3 chapters of Romans. Read Genesis chapter 38 for a clear picture of the Old Testament attitudes about women, sex, the necessity of producing offspring, the control of men over women, the double standard for men and women, and other sexuality issues.
Genesis 19:5:
"Bring them out to us that we may know them."
Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13
Romans 1:26-27
I Corinthians 6:9
I Timothy 1:9-10
In preparation for each passage, read the entire chapter. For Romans 1:26-27, read the first 3 chapters of Romans. Read Genesis chapter 38 for a clear picture of the Old Testament attitudes about women, sex, the necessity of producing offspring, the control of men over women, the double standard for men and women, and other sexuality issues.
Genesis 19:5:
"Bring them out to us that we may know them."
Author's Note: "Know" simply means know! No hint at homosexuality exists in the original Hebrew. No later Bible references to Sodom ever mention homosexuality as the sin of Sodom. Many modern translations add words to the text to create the lie that the people of Sodom were homosexual.
"SODOMY" is not a biblical word. Laws against sodomy not only violate the Constitutional guarantee of separation of church and state; they also use an incorrect and wrongly translated term for the laws. A "Sodomite" in the Bible is simply a person who lives in Sodom, which included Lot and his family. The term "sodomite" in the King James Version of Deuteronomy 23:17 and I Kings 14:24 is an incorrect translation of the Hebrew word for "temple prostitute." (See the book by Mark D. Jordan: The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology. University of Chicago Press, 1997.)
The average person assumes that the Bible clearly condemns male to male sexual intercourse as "sodomy" and that the city of Sodom was destroyed because of homosexuality, which is seen as the worst of all sins in the Bible. These assumptions are based on no evidence at all in the Bible.
No Jewish scholars before the first Christian century taught that the sin of Sodom was sexual. None of the biblical references to Sodom mention sexual sins but view Sodom as an example of injustice, lack of hospitality to strangers, idolatry and as a symbol for desolation and destruction. See Deuteronomy 29:22-28; 32:32; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Jeremiah 49:18; 50:41; Isaiah 13:19-22 and Matthew 10:14-15. In Jude 7, the term "strange flesh" is Greek hetero sarkos ("different flesh" and from which the word "heterosexual" comes) and refers to foreign idols or people. It is not homo ("the same") flesh or people. Sarkos is never used in the New Testament as a word for "sex."
The word "know" in Genesis 19:5 is Hebrew YADA. It is used 943 times in the Old Testament to "know" God, good and evil, the truth, the law, people, places, things, etc. It is a very flexible word, as are many Hebrew words. In Genesis 19:5, the word was used to express the request of the people of Sodom that Lot should bring out the strangers in his house so that they could know who they were. Sodom was a tiny fortress in the barren wasteland south of the Dead Sea. The only strangers that the people of Sodom ever saw were enemy tribes who wanted to destroy and take over their valuable fortress and the trade routes that it protected. Lot himself was an alien in their midst.
Lot's strange response to the request was to offer his young daughters to the men, an offer that seems to me to be far more reprehensible than any problem of sexual orientation. If the men were homosexual, why did Lot offer to give them his daughters? These hostile and violent people were heterosexual, and homosexual orientation had nothing to do with the incident.
Special note on YADA: The Hebrew word YADA "to know" is never used in the Old Testament to mean "to have sex with". People have been conditioned to think that "to know someone biblically" means to have sex. The use of YADA in Genesis 4:1-2 to say that Adam knew Eve and she conceived and gave birth to Cain is followed by saying that later she gave birth to his brother Abel without any reference to YADA. Why? Simply because YADA does not mean to have sex. It is a general term that describes many kinds of intimate relationships. I have studied all of the uses of YADA in the Old Testament, and my personal conclusion is that it never means what we mean by sexual intercourse. Just substitute a common slang expression for sexual intercourse instead of the word "know" in Genesis 4:1 and you will see how inappropriate the idea is. The Old Testament Hebrew writers never thought or wrote in those terms. The Bible never gives any details about sexual acts. The only clear Hebrew term for sexual acts is "to lie with," which is left without any further explanation.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN SODOM?
To twist the story to say what it does not say is to miss what it does say. The story does not deal with sexual orientation or with homosexuality and has no bearing at all on the issue of God's acceptance or rejection of Gays and Lesbians. The story of Sodom clearly teaches that evil and violent people who attack aliens and strangers whom they do not know or understand receive God's quick and terrible punishment.
The purpose of the story is to show that misunderstood, strange, or feared minorities in any community are in danger from violence by the majority when that majority is ignorant, ungodly, selfish and afraid. The real message of Sodom is backwards from the claims of homophobic preachers and teachers. The Gay and Lesbian minority in our society today is more like the guests in Lot's house who were protected behind closed doors ("in the closet") than like the frightened mindless mob that wanted to expose, humiliate and destroy people that they did not "know" and control.
Set the record straight! Genesis 19 is about the fear (like homophobia) and anger of a mob (like many misguided religious fanatics) directed against a small group of isolated strangers (like Gays and Lesbians today) in their midst. Sexual orientation is not the issue here or anywhere else in the Bible.
Read also the strange story in Judges 19:1-30 of the Levite in Gibeah, which was patterned after the story of Lot and the angels in Genesis 19. Jewish teachers before the time of Christ never saw either of these stories as having any connection with homosexuality or sexual orientation. Neither should we.
Leviticus 18:22:
"You shall not lie with a male as those who lie with a female; it is an abomination."
Leviticus 20:13:
"If a man lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination and they shall surely be put to death."
Author's Note: Both of these verses refer not to homosexuals but to heterosexuals who took part in the baal fertility rituals in order to guarantee good crops and healthy flocks. No hint at sexual orientation or homosexuality is even implied. The word abomination in Leviticus was used for anything that was considered to be religiously unclean or associated with idol worship.
Because these two verses in Leviticus (18:22 and 20:13) have been used more than any other Bible texts to condemn and reject gay and lesbian people, the following material is given to help you think objectively about traditional abusive use of the Bible regarding homosexuals.
The use of Leviticus to condemn and reject homosexuals is obviously a hypocritical selective use of the Bible against gays and lesbians. Nobody today tries to keep the laws in Leviticus. Look at Leviticus 11:1-12, where all unclean animals are forbidden as food, including rabbits, pigs, and shellfish, such as oysters, shrimp, lobsters, crabs, clams, and others that are called an "abomination." Leviticus 20:25 demands that "you are to make a distinction between the clean and unclean animal and between the unclean and clean bird; and you shall not make yourself an abomination by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean." You can eat some insects like locusts (grasshoppers), but not others.
Leviticus 12:1-8 declares that a woman is unclean for 33 days after giving birth to a boy and for 66 days after giving birth to a girl and goes on to demand that certain animals must be offered as a burnt offering and a sin offering for cleansing. Nobody today who claims to be a Christian tries to keep these laws, and few people even know about them! Why do you think that most people don't know about them?
Read Leviticus 23 to see the detailed regulations concerning "complete rest" on the Sabbath day and demands of animal sacrifices to be carried out according to exact instructions. Leviticus 18:19 forbids a husband from having sex with his wife during her menstrual period. Leviticus 19:19 forbids mixed breeding of various kinds of cattle, sowing various kinds of seeds in your field or wearing "a garment made from two kinds of material mixed together." Leviticus 19:27 demands that "you shall not round off the side-growth of your heads, nor harm the edges of your beard." The next verse forbids "tattoo marks on yourself." Most people do not even know that these laws are in the Bible and are demanded equally with all the others.
Why don't fundamentalists organize protests and picket seafood restaurants, oyster bars, church barbecue suppers, all grocery stores, barber shops, tattoo parlors, and stores that sell suits and dresses made of mixed wool, cotton, polyester, and other materials? All of these products and services are "abominations" in Leviticus. When have you heard a preacher condemn the demonic abomination of garments that are made of mixed fabrics?
The warning is given in Leviticus 26:14-16 that "If you do not obey me and do not carry out all of these commandments, if instead, you reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances so as not to carry out all my commandments ...I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that shall waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you shall sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies shall eat it up." The list of punishments and terrors that will come from not keeping all of the commandments continues through many verses.
Read what Jesus said in Matthew 7:1-5 about hypocrites who judge others. "Do not judge lest you be judged yourselves... Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? ...You hypocrite!"
If you have been led to misuse Leviticus and other parts of the Bible in order to condemn and hate and reject people, you are on the wrong path. Jesus quoted only one passage from Leviticus: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (19:18). Jesus used Leviticus to teach love. Many false teachers use Leviticus and other writings to condemn, humiliate and destroy. I know which approach seems truly Christian to me. Jesus never condemned homosexuals or even mentioned anything that could be taken as a reference to sexual orientation.
Any charge against Gays and Lesbians based on the life and teachings of Jesus has to be dismissed for a lack of evidence!
The use of Leviticus to judge and condemn anyone today is ludicrous and absurd in the light of the total content of the book. To call the content of the Book of Leviticus the "word of God" and try to enforce any part of it today is without support in the teachings of Jesus and in the letters of Paul.
Jesus in Mark 7:18-23 chided his disciples for their lack of spiritual understanding. Jesus and his disciples had been condemned by the religious leaders because they did not wash and eat according to the Law. Jesus said, "Are you too so uncomprehending? Don't you see that whatever goes into your mouth from the outside cannot defile you; because it does not go into your heart, but into your stomach, and is eliminated? (Thus Jesus declared all foods clean."). And Jesus added, "That which proceeds from within you, out of your heart, defiles you. Evil thoughts, abusive sex acts, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness, deceit, not caring, envy, slander, arrogance and foolishness: all of these evil things proceed from within and defile you."
Paul also rejected the absolute commands of Leviticus in Colossians 2:8-23, where he said, "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using) in accordance with human commandments and teachings? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against human indulgence." (2:20-23). Paul declared in 2:14 that Jesus has "canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us; and Jesus has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
Many people have answered the argument that most of the "abominations" in Leviticus referred to food by saying that the people back then knew that pork was unhealthy, and that is why pigs were declared to be unclean. If you follow that logic, you would declare anything that is unhealthy to be an "abomination." We know that cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, fat food and many other things are unhealthy; so why are they not also called "abominations" and condemned by the rabid Bible literalists with protests and pickets against cigarette machines, all liquor stores and bars, all fast food outlets, and any store that sells anything that is unhealthy? The reason is simple. The use of Leviticus to condemn and reject anyone is impossible to justify in the light of the facts.
The use of Leviticus to condemn and reject homosexuals is absurd and makes literal legalistic bible based religion look ridiculous.
Romans 1:26-27:
"For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions: for their women exchanged the natural use for that which is against nature. And in the same way also the men abandoned the natural use of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error."
Author's Note: All of this refers to idolatrous religious practices that were common in the time of Paul.
Taking anything that Paul said out its context is like trying to drive a car blindfolded. You don't know where you are, where you have been, where you are going, or who you just ran over and killed!
Paul's writings have been taken out of context and twisted to punish and oppress every identifiable minority in the world: Jews, children, women, blacks, slaves, politicians, divorced people, convicts, pro choice people, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, religious reformers, the mentally ill, and the list could go on and on. Paul is often difficult and confusing to understand. A lot of Paul's writing is very difficult to translate. Since most of his letters were written in response to news from other people, reading Paul can be like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. We know, or think we know, what Paul is saying, but we have to guess what the other side has said. As 2 Peter 3:16-18 pointed out, we have to be on guard against using Paul's writings in unhealthy and destructive ways.
The theme of the first 3 chapters of Romans is expressed in 1:16: "The gospel is the power of God for spiritual freedom (salvation) for all who believe." Paul showed that all people equally need and can have Jesus in their lives. Paul's gospel is inclusive, as expressed in Galatians 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Romans 1:26-27 is part of Paul's vigorous denunciation of idolatrous religious worship and rituals. Read all of Romans 1:18 to 2:4 for the context of the verses.
Romans 1:26-27 contains some words used only here by Paul. Familiar words are used here in unusual ways. The passage is very difficult to translate. The argument is directed against some form of idolatry that would have been known to Paul's readers. To us, 2,000 years later and in a totally different culture, the argument is vague and indirect.
Verse 25 is clearly a denunciation of idol worship, "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature and not the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."." Paul at no point in his writing dealt with same-sex orientation or the expression of love and affection between two people of the same sex who love each other.
Paul wrote Romans from Corinth, the second largest city in the empire and the crossroads of world trade and culture. Pausanius observed at about the same time as Paul that there were over 1,000 religions in Corinth. The most prominent were the fertility cult of Aphrodite, worship of Apollo, and the Delphi Oracle, which was across the bay from Corinth. Paul's readers would have been aware of the religious climate from which he wrote Romans and would have understood Paul a lot better than we do.
The word "passions" in 1:26 is the same word used to speak of the suffering and death of Jesus in Acts 1:3 and does not mean what we mean by "passion" today. Eros is the Greek word for romantic love, but eros is never used even once in the New Testament. "Passions" in 1:26 probably refers to the frenzied state of mind that many ancient mystery cults induced in worshipers by means of wine, drugs and music.
We do not know the meaning of "burn" in 1:27, because Paul never used this particular word anywhere else, and it's origin is uncertain. The term "against nature" is also strange here, since exactly the same term is used by Paul in Romans 11:21-24 to speak of God acting "against nature" by including the Gentiles with the Jews in the family of God. "Against nature" was used to speak of something that was not done in the usual way, but did not necessarily mean that something "against nature" was evil, since God also "acted against nature."
One more word needs special attention. "Committing indecent acts" in 1:27 is translated by King James Version as "working that which is unseemly." Phillips goes far beyond the evidence and renders it as "Shameful horrors!" The Greek word is askemosunen and is formed of the word for "outer appearance" plus the negative particle. It speaks of the inner or hidden part or parts of the individual that are not ordinarily seen or known in public. "Indecent" in 1 Corinthians 12:23 referred to the parts of the body that remain hidden but are necessary and receive honor. 1 Corinthians 13:5 used the word to say that love does not behave "indecently."
This word for "indecency" was used to translate Deuteronomy 24:1 into Greek to say that a man could divorce his wife if he "found some indecency in her." The religious teachers argued endlessly about what "some indecency" meant. Some said it was anything that displeased the husband. Others were more strict and said it could only refer to adultery. In Matthew 19:1-12, Jesus commented on Deuteronomy 24:1-4, but he did not define the term.
Paul was certainly aware of the variety of ways that the teachers interpreted the word "indecency," and he used it in a variety of ways himself. To read into "indecent acts" a whole world of homosexual ideas is to abandon the realities of objective academic study and to embark on useless and damaging speculation that cannot be supported by the meaning of the word or by Paul's use of it elsewhere.
If Paul had intended to condemn homosexuals as the worst of all sinners, he certainly had the language skills to do a clearer job of it than emerges from Romans 1:26-27. The fact is that Paul nowhere condemned or mentioned romantic love and sexual relations between people of the same sex who love each other. Paul never commented on sexual orientation. As in the rest of the Bible, Paul nowhere even hinted that Lesbians and Gay men can or should change their sexual orientation.
SPECIAL NOTE on Romans 1:31, where the King James Version translated the Greek word astorgous as "without natural affection." This is one of the characteristics of people "with a reprobate mind" (KJV of 1:28). The word for "reprobate" is more recently translated as "depraved" or "perverted" in order more neatly to fit the sexualizing of everything possible in the list. The literal meaning of "reprobate" (Greek dokimon) is "to fail to measure up" or "to fail to meet the test" and simply means that the list of things that follows is the result of a mind that has abandoned God. The word astorgous, "without natural affection," is used only here and in 2 Timothy 3:3. It has nothing at all to do with homosexuality or with sex. It is the Greek word for "family love" or "family ties" with the negative prefix. It refers to people who despise and reject their family members. Rather than being directed at homosexuals, it is a term that is directed at people who despise and reject their own homosexual children and brothers and sisters! Modern translators, knowing this, usually render the word as "unloving," and the implication of some sort of "unnatural" or "perverted" affection is removed. Many more translation corrections are needed elsewhere!
The use of Romans 1:26-27 against homosexuals turns out to be a blunt instrument to batter and wound people who were not intended in the original text. Paul clearly taught throughout Romans, Galatians and his other letters that God's freely given and all inclusive love is for every person on earth. Notice what Paul said about judging others in Romans 2:1: "Therefore you are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."
I Corinthians 6:9:
"The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. So do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the realm of God."
Author's Note: The Greek words translated "effeminate" and "homosexual" do not mean effeminate or homosexual!
I Timothy 1:9-10:
"Law is not made for a righteous person but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and fornicators and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound (healthy) teaching."
Author's Note: The Greek word translated "homosexual" does not mean homosexual!
These two verses contain completely wrong translations to create "homosexual ghosts" that do not really exist! Ghosts may not hurt you, but they can make you hurt yourself! The homosexual ghosts in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 were created by the inaccurate and intentionally misleading translation of two Greek words.
1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 sound very convincing in including lesbians and gay men in the most dreadful lists of depraved human behavior imaginable. The fact is that the word translated "homosexual" does not mean "homosexual" and the word translated "effeminate" does not mean "effeminate"!
The English word "homosexual" is a composite word made from a Greek term (homo, "the same") and a Latin term (sexualis , "sex"). The term "homosexual" is of modern origin and was not used until about 100 years ago. There is no word in biblical Greek or Hebrew that is parallel to the word "homosexual." No Bible before the Revised Standard Version in 1946 used "homosexual" in any Bible translation.
The word translated as "homosexual" or "sexual pervert" or some other similar term is Greek arsenokoites, which was formed from two words meaning "male" and "bed". This word is not found anywhere else in the Bible and has not been found anywhere in the contemporary Greek of Paul's time. We do not know what it means. The word is obscure and uncertain. It probably refers to male prostitutes with female customers, which was a common practice in the Roman world, as revealed in the excavations at Pompeii and other sites.
When early Greek speaking Christian preachers condemned homosexuality, they did not use this word. John Chrysostom (A.D. 345-407) preached in Greek against homosexuality, but he never used this word for homosexuals, and when he preached on 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10, he did not mention homosexuals. See the full discussion of this in John Boswell's book: Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality - Appendix 1, "Lexicography and Saint Paul," pages 335-353.
"Soft" does not mean "effeminate." The word translated "effeminate in 1 Corinthians 6:9 is Greek malakoi and means "soft" or "vulnerable." The word is translated as "soft" in reference to clothing in Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25 and as "illness" in Matthew 4:23 and 9:35. It is not used anywhere else in the New Testament and carries no hint of reference to sexual orientation. Malakoi in 1 Corinthians 6:9 probably refers those who are "soft," "pliable," "unreliable," or "without courage or stability." The translation of malakoi as "effeminate" is incorrect, ignorant, degrading to women, and impossible to justify based on ancient usage compared to the meaning of "effeminate" today.
This incorrect rendering of malakoi and arsenokoites as references to gender orientation has been disastrous for millions of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual people. This mistaken translation has enlisted a mighty army of ignorant religious fanatics against homosexual people and has turned many Lesbians and Gays against the Bible, which holds for them as for all people the good news of God's love in Christ.
Evil homophobic Bible "translations from hell" must not go unchallenged. The use of these translations by ignorant religious bigots to incite fear and hate against Gays demands a clear, academically sound, credible and easily understood response. Material given in this web site is only a beginning. Every Bible word that has been incorrectly used to wound, alienate and oppress people must be examined in detail and carefully exposed. God has called us to return the Bible to the oppressed and outcast people for whom it was written.
Three of the passages: Genesis 19:5; I Corinthians 6:9 and I Timothy 1:10 are incorrectly translated. The other three: Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 and Romans 1:26-27 are taken out of their original setting of condemning idolatrous religious practices and wrongly used to judge and condemn people of the same sex who love each other. None of these passages refer to people of the same sex who love each other. None originally were aimed at homosexuals.
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ART AS ENEMY OF THE TRUTH
Art often has been our enemy. Literature also in such "masterpieces" as Dante's "Inferno" and "Paradise Lost" and thousands of other flights of imagination have replaced the realism of the Four Gospels with fantasy and speculation that have caught and dominated human imagination far more than the truth for over a thousand years. Current writers and moviemakers have given vivid realistic images of the "end of the world" and the so-called "rapture" so that the unending cacophony of confusion about Jesus is multiplied through the Internet and all other mass media of television and books.
We are nowhere close to a resolution of our dilemma of knowing a different Jesus from the Jesus of traditional religion that is entrenched in the minds and hearts of millions of people in conflict with the real Jesus of the Gospels. Fantasy and speculations have replaced the realism of the Four Gospels. Artistic pictures of Jesus are far more vivid in the minds of most people than the simple human portrait of Jesus in the Four Gospels, where Jesus is most often pictured sitting with the outcasts and eating with the unclean people of his community. Jesus accepted and welcomed the people that everybody else, including religion, rejected and despised.
The suffering of Jesus is magnified in art at the expense of his realistic humanity and identification with average people. To identify with the pitiful image of the suffering Jesus is to abandon the realism of living life to the fullest as a beloved child of God in the image of God, which is what most of the Gospel story is really about.
The "pitiful Jesus" has been magnified in art beyond the evidence to induce emotional self-rejection and to arouse remorse instead of discipleship, sadness instead of joy. "Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" is an unfortunate misrepresentation of the true Jesus, who enjoyed life with his friends so much that his enemies accused him of being party boy and a heavy drinker! Jesus welcomed and "ate with sinners" instead of condemning and rejecting them.
THE IDEAL OF JESUS
The call of Jesus is not to deny your real self and reject who you really are. It is the same call that Jesus followed by accepting himself as God had made him and accomplishing what he alone could do. You also have a mission in life that fits you. It may not fit anybody else who ever lived. But it fits you.
Why is that so difficult to grasp? Is it because religion itself has taught you to reject yourself and deny your true nature and reason for being? Religion has betrayed you, and religion also has betrayed Jesus. How can you recover the "real Jesus" in your spiritual path of faith?
How can you really let go and move on? Try being logical and realistic. What kind of God would create you as a gay or lesbian person and then condemn you to eternal fires of hell because of how God had made you? That kind of thinking is totally destructive and is not logical or realistic. Whenever religion condemns and rejects people because of how God made them, it is obviously false and out of touch with reality. Yet millions still believe in it!
ESCAPE INTO REALITY
Leaving the comfortable fold of traditional abusive religion is often the hardest decision a person has to make. It is far more difficult than joining the church in the first place. Leaving the fold invites rejection, condemnation, judgment and self-blame and guilt. It is not an easy path out of delusion into the truth. Yet your health and wholeness as a person depend upon your escape from abusive religion.
Make the leap of faith out of destructive religion into the reality of God's love.
WHO ARE THE ANGELS?
In the Sodom story in Genesis 19, the angels were the messengers from God who represented the truth of God's love and protection for Lot and his family. The angels were like GLBT people, who are different from others and who are seen as aliens and strangers and therefore a threat to those who are misinformed and who do not really recognize what God is doing. The people of Sodom were the "sodomites" who wanted to expose, demean, humiliate and destroy the angels, whom they did not understand and who were strange and different.
Isn't it incredible that the biblical literalists have gotten the terms backwards! They have called people who like the angels are different and strangers, such as Gay and Lesbian people, the "sodomites" when actually the sodomites are the rigid legalists who judge and condemn people they don't understand and who seem to threaten them and who must be attacked and destroyed!
Homophobic legalists have distorted and misrepresented the Bible to create a "power tool," a religious chainsaw, to massacre LGBT people.
Biblical literalism always betrays those who try to force their ignorance on others in the name of God. Run! Don't walk, to the nearest exit and escape!
WHO IS JESUS?
Jesus is the one person who rises above all of the misinformation and deceit about the value of each individual to God. Jesus has already accepted you and loved you and done for you everything that Jesus has done for all people. Everything that Jesus did was done for the entire human race, and that includes you and me! "Whosoever" is not a mistake or a misprint. It is the basic principle of God's way of dealing with humans, who are all represented in Jesus. Jesus said, "Because I live, you shall live also." God's acceptance and approval of Jesus is God's acceptance and approval of you. Enjoy it!
Being logical, realistic, objective and practical comes at a high cost. You have to let go of illusions, fantasies, imaginations and inconsistencies, which seem to be what life is about for many religionists. You have to grow up into the maturity of Jesus and learn to love yourself and others in the Spirit of Jesus.
The Reality of Sexual Development VS Hate Rooted in Biological Ignorance
In this day and age the stupidity and ignorance of some people is amusingly sad. We all know that 10 times out of ten, those who project the most vitrolic hate are some of the most ignorant people we've ever come across. These are also the people who in their determined ignorance try to force their views on other people. We all have our own definitions of what a man or a woman is.
My personal definition is based on the biological definition. People love to shout that God made Men and women, no one is born gay, and it is a choice. Usually these people are closed to any proof or information that challenges or disputes their asanine beliefs. They believe that a person's sex is determined by how they look and based on that their orientation should also reflect the way they look. In the real world, people are born in many different ways based on their genetic makeup. It is easy to point and tell someone what they whould be and like and want according to your own beliefs.
In reality, the world doesnt work that way and neither does God. The bible is a double edged sword because on one hand it is full of knowledge and insight(when you have the facilities to comprehend it WITHIN it's own context), on the other hand I think the bible is the single source most responsible for a multitude of evil actions by ignorant people who fail to understand what it says.... these people are responsible for things like murder, mayhem, gossip, slander, libel, violence, oppression, disenfranchisement, slavery, rape, abuse, prejudice, discrimination, and pure hate. Below I will list some of the different ways in whihc people are born that affects sexual development.
My often repeated question to the aforementioned person is: If a person can be born with male and female genitalia, extra male or female chromosomes, or and imbalance of female and male hormones, why is it so beyond belief that a man can naturally be attracted to men or a woman be naturally attracted to a woman?
Women with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS). These women often have primary and secondary sexual characteristics typical of other women; however, they are genetically XY and have internal testes, rather than ovaries. They have the same likelihood of a genetically XX woman of enjoying sexual pleasure but are unable to biologically reproduce.
So what does the bible say about someone who appears to be female but is genetically male(xy). Because people simplify them and label them as a woman then it is a sin for her to love another woman? So how does the fact that "she" has internal testes instead of ovaries affect this? With sexual drive being linked to hormone levels, exactly how is her sexuality a "choice"? Does she choose to secrete more testerone than estrogen so she can make herself a lesbian? Does she choose to shut down her internal testes and supress testosterone to make herself produce more estrogen? See how stupid (sexuality is a choice) sounds?
In human beings, the sex status is defined at four levels: chromosomal (XY; XX), internal organs (ovaries; testicles), external organs (breasts, vulva + vagina; penis), and psyche (sexual identity).
In a XX human the default development process results in a female. In a XY human a set of genes on the Y chromosome trigger a cascade of events resulting, "if all goes well", in a male. A complete female or male developmental process entails the expression of female and male sex hormones, respectively, and of their corresponding receptors in the target tissues. Without these hormones and their receptors, the internal and external sex organs, and psyche, will not develop as expected. Sex hormones, their receptors, and downstream signal transduction proteins are coded by genes that may be genetically defective.
All these factors mean that genetic mutations can block the sexual development process at three stages: (a) before the development of the internal sex organs; (b) after the development of the internal sex organs but before the development of external sex organs; and (c) after the development of external sex organs but before the maturation of the sexual component of the psyche.
While in (a) the XY human will be indistinguishable anatomically and psychologically from a female;
in (b) the individual may either be born with ambiguous external genitals or have genitals apparently in the normal range at birth but, at pubertal age, not develop secondary sexual characteristics at all or develop secondary sexual characteristics that do not match the external genitals; and
in (c) the individual will be transgendered (formerly referred to as transsexual).
There are other intersexual states that are not the result of the genetic configurations above.
Our Sex organs are not ONLY external. We have sex organs inside as well Things like: A prostate, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and the uterus. So a person's sex is not defined only by what they LOOK like.
Also------ One of the compnents of sexual development is the psyche! Does the bible dispute any of this ? No. The bible categorically separates us into two sexes because the authors of the bible had no knowledge of biology. In the time the bible was written people thought that the male "seed" contained everything needed to make a baby and that a woman's womb was basically the incubator.
They didn't think the woman had any input in the baby's makeup whatsoever. To me this ignorance is proof that the bible is NOT the word of God .... but the word of MAN "inspired" by the word of God. So where is the word of God so we can read it then? Simple. The word of God is in us. It was included in the creation .... as stated, "the word of God is written into the hearts of all men."
In particular, where either the individual is a genetic mosaic (resulting from a fusion of two distinct embryos, one male and one female, during fetal development), or the individual contains duplicated chromosomes in the genome (XXY; XXXY). In the former case some tissues will be in the XX and others in the XY configuration; in the latter, all cells contain the Y chromosome and may or may not use it. This is a gynandromorph, which has both female and male characteristics at all four levels and may have either ambiguous sex organs (the XY/XX configuration may not be evenly distributed throughout the body) or unambiguous male and female sex organs (hermaphrodite).
So please tell me where God said if someone is attracted to a sex that doesn't match the sex that you have assigned to them then it is a sin? Also remember God made definitive males and females, but God also made these people who are not definitieve males and females either. Every human is not born according to definitions and categories predetermined for them by other people. They born according to the way God arranged them genetically.
Klinefelter syndrome, 46/47, XXY, or XXY syndrome --------------is a condition in which human males have an extra X chromosome. While females have an XX chromosomal makeup, and males an XY, affected individuals have at least two X chromosomes and at least one Y chromosome.Because of the extra chromosome, individuals with the condition are usually referred to as "XXY Males", or "47, XXY Males".
In humans, Klinefelter syndrome is the most common sex chromosome disorder in males and the second most common condition caused by the presence of extra chromosomes. The condition exists in roughly 1 out of every 500-650 males but many of these people may not show symptoms.Principal effects include hypogonadism and reduced fertility. A variety of other physical and behavioural differences and problems are common, though severity varies and many boys and men with the condition have few detectable symptoms.
Intersex, in humans and other animals, is the presence of intermediate or atypical combinations of physical features that usually distinguish female from male. This is usually understood to be congenital, involving chromosomal, morphologic, genital and/or gonadal anomalies, such as diversion from typical XX-female or XY-male presentations, e.g., sex reversal (XY-female, XX-male), genital ambiguity, or sex developmental differences. An intersex individual may have biological characteristics of both the male and the female sexes.
Intersexuality as a term was adopted by medicine during the 20th century, and applied to human beings whose biological sex cannot be classified as clearly male or female. Intersex was initially adopted by intersex activists who criticize traditional medical approaches to sex assignment and seek to be heard in the construction of new approaches.
Some people (whether physically intersex or not) do not identify themselves as either exclusively female or exclusively male. Androgyny is sometimes used to refer to those without gender-specific physical sexual characteristics or sexual preferences or gender identity, or some combination of these; such people can be physically and psychologically anywhere between the two sexes. This state may or may not include a mixture or absence of sexual preferences.
The condition affects only genetic males (that is, those with a Y-chromosome) because DHT has no known role in female development.
5-alpha-reductase deficiency
Individuals with 5-ARD can have normal male external genitalia, ambiguous genitalia, or normal female genitalia. They are born with male gonads, including testicles and Wolffian structures, but usually have female primary sex characteristics. As a consequence, they are often raised as girls, but usually have a male gender identity.
In general, individuals with 5-ARD are capable of producing viable sperm. In individuals with feminized or ambiguous genitalia, there is a tendency towards a macroclitoris or microphallus, and the urethra may attach to the phallus. This structure may be capable of ejaculations as well as erections, but may be insufficient for intercourse.
At puberty, individuals often have primary amenorrhoea, and may experience virilization. This may include descending of the testes, hirsutism (facial/body hair considered normal in males - not to be confused with hypertrichosis), deepening of the voice, and enlargement of the clitoris. In adulthood, individuals do not experience male-pattern baldness. As DHT is a far more potent androgen than testosterone alone, virilization in those lacking DHT may be absent or reduced compared to males with functional 5-alpha reductase. It is hypothesized that rising testosterone levels at the start of puberty (around age twelve) are able to generate sufficient levels of DHT either by the action of 5-alpha-reductase type 1 (active in the adult liver, non-genital skin and some brain areas) or through the expression of low levels of 5-alpha-reductase type 2 in the testes.
Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a condition that results in the partial or complete inability of the cell to respond to androgens.The unresponsiveness of the cell to the presence of androgenic hormones can impair or prevent the masculinization of male genitalia in the developing fetus, as well as the development of male secondary sexual characteristics at puberty, but does not significantly impair female genital or sexual development. As such, the insensitivity to androgens is only clinically significant when it occurs in genetic males (i.e. individuals with a Y-chromosome, or more specifically, an SRY gene). Clinical phenotypes in these individuals ranges from a normal male habitus with mild spermatogenic defect or reduced secondary terminal hair, to a full female habitus, despite the presence of a Y-chromosome
Aphallia is a congenital malformity in which the phallus (penis or clitoris) is absent. Aphallia is a rare birth defect of unknown cause. It is not linked to deficient hormone amounts or action, but rather to a failure of the fetal genital tubercle to form between 3 and 6 weeks after conception. The urethra of an affected child opens on the perineum.
Clitoromegaly (or macroclitoris is an abnormal enlargement of the clitoris (not to be confused with the normal enlargement of the clitoris seen during sexual arousal). Although clitoromegaly denotes just a clitoris larger than expected (thus involving some uncertainty about what can be defined as normal), it is commonly seen as a congenital anomaly of the genitalia.
In Atlas of Human Sex Anatomy (1949)by Dr. Robert Latou Dickinson, the typical clitoris is defined as having a crosswise width of 3 to 4 mm. (0.12 - 0.16 inches) and a lengthwise width of 4 to 5 mm (0.16 - 0.20 inches). On the other hand, in Obstetrics and Gynecology medical literature, a frequent definition of clitoromegaly is when there is a CI of greater than 35 mm2 (0.05 inches2), which is almost twice the size given above for an average sized clitoral hood.
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) refers to any of several autosomal recessive diseases resulting from mutations of genes for enzymes mediating the biochemical steps of production of cortisol from cholesterol by the adrenal glands (steroidogenesis).[1] CAH is one of the possible underlying synthesis problems in Addison’s disease. CAH is a genetic disorder in which girls are masculinized because the adrenal glands secrete large amounts of androgen during prenatal development. The extra androgen does not affect a baby boy's physical development, but in baby girls it can enlarge the clitoris so that it resembles a penis. The girls sometimes have surgery during infancy to correct their physical appearance, although this practice is highly controversial, and they can receive hormone therapy to correct the imbalance of androgen. During childhood and adolescence, girls with CAH prefer masculine activities and male playmates to a much greater extent than girls not exposed to these amounts of androgen.
***Most of these conditions involve excessive or deficient production of sex steroids and can alter development of primary or secondary sex characteristics in some affected infants, children, or adults.
Gonadal dysgenesis is a term used to describe multiple reproductive system development disorders. They are conditions of genetic origin. It is characterized by a progressive loss of primordial germ cells on the developing gonads of an embryo. This loss leads to extremely hypoplastic (underdeveloped) and dysfunctioning gonads mainly composed of fibrous tissue, hence the name streak gonads.
It originally referred to Turner syndrome, but use of the term has expanded to cover other conditions.
During embryogenesis, without any external influences for or against, the human reproductive system is intrinsically conditioned to give rise to a female reproductive organisation. As a result, if a gonad cannot express its sexual identity via its hormones—as in gonadal dysgenesis—then the affected person, no matter whether genetically male or female, will develop both internal and external female genitalia.
In both sexes, the commencement and progression of puberty require functional gonads that will work in harmony with the hypothalamic and pituitary glands to produce adequate hormones. For this reason, in gonadal dysgenesis the accompanying hormonal failure also prevents the development of secondary sex characteristics in either sex, resulting in a sexually infantile female appearance and infertility.
Hypospadias is a birth defect of the urethra in the male that involves an abnormally placed urinary meatus (the opening, or male external urethral orifice). Instead of opening at the tip of the glans of the penis, a hypospadic urethra opens anywhere along a line (the urethral groove) running from the tip along the underside (ventral aspect) of the shaft to the junction of the penis and scrotum or perineum. A distal hypospadias may be suspected even in an uncircumcised boy from an abnormally formed foreskin and downward tilt of the glans.
The urethral meatus opens on the underside of the glans penis in about 50–75% of cases; these are categorized as first degree hypospadias. Second degree (when the urethra opens on the shaft), and third degree (when the urethra opens on the perineum) occur in up to 20 and 30% of cases respectively. The more severe degrees are more likely to be associated with chordee, in which the phallus is incompletely separated from the perineum or is still tethered downwards by connective tissue, or with undescended testes (cryptorchidism).
Ovotestis or hermaphroditic gland (in Latin language: glandula hermaphroditica), can be found as normal anatomical features in the reproductive system of some gastropods such as the land snail Helix aspersa.
Maternal use of androgens or high doses of certain weakly androgenic synthetic progestogens (progestins) structurally related to testosterone can masculinize (virilize) the external genitalia of a female fetus during susceptible times in pregnancy.
Some degree of fusion of the labioscrotal folds and urogenital folds and clitoral enlargement can occur if exposure occurs from the 8th through the 12th week of gestation, but only clitoral enlargement can occur if exposure occurs after the 12th week. This can in some cases result in ambiguous genitalia.
Fetal masculinization of female external genitalia is usually due to enzyme abnormalities involved in adrenal steroid biosynthesis, resulting in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH); fetal masculinization of female external genitalia is much less frequently due to maternal use of androgenic steroids.
Progestin-induced virilisation
Fetal masculinization of female external genitalia due to maternal use of androgenic steroids is generally less advanced than that due to CAH, and unlike CAH, does not cause progressive virilization.
Affected females mature normally with normal fertility, there is almost total regression of the genital anomaly in cases of simple clitoral enlargement, and in even the most severe cases, surgical correction of labioscrotal fusion is relatively simple.
Swyer syndrome, or XY gonadal dysgenesis, is a type of hypogonadism in a person whose karyotype is 46,XY. The person is externally female with streak gonads, and left untreated, will not experience puberty. Such gonads are typically surgically removed and a typical medical treatment would include hormone replacement therapy with female hormones.
Turner syndrome or Ullrich-Turner syndrome (also known as "Gonadal dysgenesis") encompasses several conditions in human females, of which monosomy X (absence of an entire sex chromosome, the Barr body) is most common. It is a chromosomal abnormality in which all or part of one of the sex chromosomes is absent (unaffected humans have 46 chromosomes, of which two are sex chromosomes). Normal females have two X chromosomes, but in Turner syndrome, one of those sex chromosomes is missing or has other abnormalities. In some cases, the chromosome is missing in some cells but not others, a condition referred to as mosaicism or 'Turner mosaicism'.
Occurring in 1 in 2000 – 1 in 5000 phenotypic females, the syndrome manifests itself in a number of ways. There are characteristic physical abnormalities, such as short stature, swelling, broad chest, low hairline, low-set ears, and webbed necks. Girls with Turner syndrome typically experience gonadal dysfunction (non-working ovaries), which results in amenorrhea (absence of menstrual cycle) and sterility. Concurrent health concerns are also frequently present, including congenital heart disease, hypothyroidism (reduced hormone secretion by the thyroid), diabetes, vision problems, hearing concerns, and many autoimmune diseases. Finally, a specific pattern of cognitive deficits is often observed, with particular difficulties in visuospatial, mathematical, and memory areas.
So as we see people are born with a host of different possibilities in regard to sexual development. We know sexual drive and response is directly related to hormones. To say that someone "chooses" their sexual orientation would be the same as saying people with the above disorders "choose" their sexual response, which is basically saying that these people "choose" the way their genes and chromosomes are developed in the womb. It takes a very ignorant person to say and believe such erroneous information when there is a wealth of information available and proven. i have always said that hate comes about because it is the "easy" road to take. It is easy because it is always easy to formulate an opinion on things one knows nothing about and decide to hate it in an effort to keep from putting forth the initiative to learn about things we don't know. Hate comes as a result of laziness. People who hate don't know, don't want to know, and don't want to learn.
My personal definition is based on the biological definition. People love to shout that God made Men and women, no one is born gay, and it is a choice. Usually these people are closed to any proof or information that challenges or disputes their asanine beliefs. They believe that a person's sex is determined by how they look and based on that their orientation should also reflect the way they look. In the real world, people are born in many different ways based on their genetic makeup. It is easy to point and tell someone what they whould be and like and want according to your own beliefs.
In reality, the world doesnt work that way and neither does God. The bible is a double edged sword because on one hand it is full of knowledge and insight(when you have the facilities to comprehend it WITHIN it's own context), on the other hand I think the bible is the single source most responsible for a multitude of evil actions by ignorant people who fail to understand what it says.... these people are responsible for things like murder, mayhem, gossip, slander, libel, violence, oppression, disenfranchisement, slavery, rape, abuse, prejudice, discrimination, and pure hate. Below I will list some of the different ways in whihc people are born that affects sexual development.
My often repeated question to the aforementioned person is: If a person can be born with male and female genitalia, extra male or female chromosomes, or and imbalance of female and male hormones, why is it so beyond belief that a man can naturally be attracted to men or a woman be naturally attracted to a woman?
Women with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS). These women often have primary and secondary sexual characteristics typical of other women; however, they are genetically XY and have internal testes, rather than ovaries. They have the same likelihood of a genetically XX woman of enjoying sexual pleasure but are unable to biologically reproduce.
So what does the bible say about someone who appears to be female but is genetically male(xy). Because people simplify them and label them as a woman then it is a sin for her to love another woman? So how does the fact that "she" has internal testes instead of ovaries affect this? With sexual drive being linked to hormone levels, exactly how is her sexuality a "choice"? Does she choose to secrete more testerone than estrogen so she can make herself a lesbian? Does she choose to shut down her internal testes and supress testosterone to make herself produce more estrogen? See how stupid (sexuality is a choice) sounds?
In human beings, the sex status is defined at four levels: chromosomal (XY; XX), internal organs (ovaries; testicles), external organs (breasts, vulva + vagina; penis), and psyche (sexual identity).
In a XX human the default development process results in a female. In a XY human a set of genes on the Y chromosome trigger a cascade of events resulting, "if all goes well", in a male. A complete female or male developmental process entails the expression of female and male sex hormones, respectively, and of their corresponding receptors in the target tissues. Without these hormones and their receptors, the internal and external sex organs, and psyche, will not develop as expected. Sex hormones, their receptors, and downstream signal transduction proteins are coded by genes that may be genetically defective.
All these factors mean that genetic mutations can block the sexual development process at three stages: (a) before the development of the internal sex organs; (b) after the development of the internal sex organs but before the development of external sex organs; and (c) after the development of external sex organs but before the maturation of the sexual component of the psyche.
While in (a) the XY human will be indistinguishable anatomically and psychologically from a female;
in (b) the individual may either be born with ambiguous external genitals or have genitals apparently in the normal range at birth but, at pubertal age, not develop secondary sexual characteristics at all or develop secondary sexual characteristics that do not match the external genitals; and
in (c) the individual will be transgendered (formerly referred to as transsexual).
There are other intersexual states that are not the result of the genetic configurations above.
Our Sex organs are not ONLY external. We have sex organs inside as well Things like: A prostate, ovaries, fallopian tubes, and the uterus. So a person's sex is not defined only by what they LOOK like.
Also------ One of the compnents of sexual development is the psyche! Does the bible dispute any of this ? No. The bible categorically separates us into two sexes because the authors of the bible had no knowledge of biology. In the time the bible was written people thought that the male "seed" contained everything needed to make a baby and that a woman's womb was basically the incubator.
They didn't think the woman had any input in the baby's makeup whatsoever. To me this ignorance is proof that the bible is NOT the word of God .... but the word of MAN "inspired" by the word of God. So where is the word of God so we can read it then? Simple. The word of God is in us. It was included in the creation .... as stated, "the word of God is written into the hearts of all men."
In particular, where either the individual is a genetic mosaic (resulting from a fusion of two distinct embryos, one male and one female, during fetal development), or the individual contains duplicated chromosomes in the genome (XXY; XXXY). In the former case some tissues will be in the XX and others in the XY configuration; in the latter, all cells contain the Y chromosome and may or may not use it. This is a gynandromorph, which has both female and male characteristics at all four levels and may have either ambiguous sex organs (the XY/XX configuration may not be evenly distributed throughout the body) or unambiguous male and female sex organs (hermaphrodite).
So please tell me where God said if someone is attracted to a sex that doesn't match the sex that you have assigned to them then it is a sin? Also remember God made definitive males and females, but God also made these people who are not definitieve males and females either. Every human is not born according to definitions and categories predetermined for them by other people. They born according to the way God arranged them genetically.
Klinefelter syndrome, 46/47, XXY, or XXY syndrome --------------is a condition in which human males have an extra X chromosome. While females have an XX chromosomal makeup, and males an XY, affected individuals have at least two X chromosomes and at least one Y chromosome.Because of the extra chromosome, individuals with the condition are usually referred to as "XXY Males", or "47, XXY Males".
In humans, Klinefelter syndrome is the most common sex chromosome disorder in males and the second most common condition caused by the presence of extra chromosomes. The condition exists in roughly 1 out of every 500-650 males but many of these people may not show symptoms.Principal effects include hypogonadism and reduced fertility. A variety of other physical and behavioural differences and problems are common, though severity varies and many boys and men with the condition have few detectable symptoms.
Intersex, in humans and other animals, is the presence of intermediate or atypical combinations of physical features that usually distinguish female from male. This is usually understood to be congenital, involving chromosomal, morphologic, genital and/or gonadal anomalies, such as diversion from typical XX-female or XY-male presentations, e.g., sex reversal (XY-female, XX-male), genital ambiguity, or sex developmental differences. An intersex individual may have biological characteristics of both the male and the female sexes.
Intersexuality as a term was adopted by medicine during the 20th century, and applied to human beings whose biological sex cannot be classified as clearly male or female. Intersex was initially adopted by intersex activists who criticize traditional medical approaches to sex assignment and seek to be heard in the construction of new approaches.
Some people (whether physically intersex or not) do not identify themselves as either exclusively female or exclusively male. Androgyny is sometimes used to refer to those without gender-specific physical sexual characteristics or sexual preferences or gender identity, or some combination of these; such people can be physically and psychologically anywhere between the two sexes. This state may or may not include a mixture or absence of sexual preferences.
The condition affects only genetic males (that is, those with a Y-chromosome) because DHT has no known role in female development.
5-alpha-reductase deficiency
Individuals with 5-ARD can have normal male external genitalia, ambiguous genitalia, or normal female genitalia. They are born with male gonads, including testicles and Wolffian structures, but usually have female primary sex characteristics. As a consequence, they are often raised as girls, but usually have a male gender identity.
In general, individuals with 5-ARD are capable of producing viable sperm. In individuals with feminized or ambiguous genitalia, there is a tendency towards a macroclitoris or microphallus, and the urethra may attach to the phallus. This structure may be capable of ejaculations as well as erections, but may be insufficient for intercourse.
At puberty, individuals often have primary amenorrhoea, and may experience virilization. This may include descending of the testes, hirsutism (facial/body hair considered normal in males - not to be confused with hypertrichosis), deepening of the voice, and enlargement of the clitoris. In adulthood, individuals do not experience male-pattern baldness. As DHT is a far more potent androgen than testosterone alone, virilization in those lacking DHT may be absent or reduced compared to males with functional 5-alpha reductase. It is hypothesized that rising testosterone levels at the start of puberty (around age twelve) are able to generate sufficient levels of DHT either by the action of 5-alpha-reductase type 1 (active in the adult liver, non-genital skin and some brain areas) or through the expression of low levels of 5-alpha-reductase type 2 in the testes.
Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a condition that results in the partial or complete inability of the cell to respond to androgens.The unresponsiveness of the cell to the presence of androgenic hormones can impair or prevent the masculinization of male genitalia in the developing fetus, as well as the development of male secondary sexual characteristics at puberty, but does not significantly impair female genital or sexual development. As such, the insensitivity to androgens is only clinically significant when it occurs in genetic males (i.e. individuals with a Y-chromosome, or more specifically, an SRY gene). Clinical phenotypes in these individuals ranges from a normal male habitus with mild spermatogenic defect or reduced secondary terminal hair, to a full female habitus, despite the presence of a Y-chromosome
Aphallia is a congenital malformity in which the phallus (penis or clitoris) is absent. Aphallia is a rare birth defect of unknown cause. It is not linked to deficient hormone amounts or action, but rather to a failure of the fetal genital tubercle to form between 3 and 6 weeks after conception. The urethra of an affected child opens on the perineum.
Clitoromegaly (or macroclitoris is an abnormal enlargement of the clitoris (not to be confused with the normal enlargement of the clitoris seen during sexual arousal). Although clitoromegaly denotes just a clitoris larger than expected (thus involving some uncertainty about what can be defined as normal), it is commonly seen as a congenital anomaly of the genitalia.
In Atlas of Human Sex Anatomy (1949)by Dr. Robert Latou Dickinson, the typical clitoris is defined as having a crosswise width of 3 to 4 mm. (0.12 - 0.16 inches) and a lengthwise width of 4 to 5 mm (0.16 - 0.20 inches). On the other hand, in Obstetrics and Gynecology medical literature, a frequent definition of clitoromegaly is when there is a CI of greater than 35 mm2 (0.05 inches2), which is almost twice the size given above for an average sized clitoral hood.
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) refers to any of several autosomal recessive diseases resulting from mutations of genes for enzymes mediating the biochemical steps of production of cortisol from cholesterol by the adrenal glands (steroidogenesis).[1] CAH is one of the possible underlying synthesis problems in Addison’s disease. CAH is a genetic disorder in which girls are masculinized because the adrenal glands secrete large amounts of androgen during prenatal development. The extra androgen does not affect a baby boy's physical development, but in baby girls it can enlarge the clitoris so that it resembles a penis. The girls sometimes have surgery during infancy to correct their physical appearance, although this practice is highly controversial, and they can receive hormone therapy to correct the imbalance of androgen. During childhood and adolescence, girls with CAH prefer masculine activities and male playmates to a much greater extent than girls not exposed to these amounts of androgen.
***Most of these conditions involve excessive or deficient production of sex steroids and can alter development of primary or secondary sex characteristics in some affected infants, children, or adults.
Gonadal dysgenesis is a term used to describe multiple reproductive system development disorders. They are conditions of genetic origin. It is characterized by a progressive loss of primordial germ cells on the developing gonads of an embryo. This loss leads to extremely hypoplastic (underdeveloped) and dysfunctioning gonads mainly composed of fibrous tissue, hence the name streak gonads.
It originally referred to Turner syndrome, but use of the term has expanded to cover other conditions.
During embryogenesis, without any external influences for or against, the human reproductive system is intrinsically conditioned to give rise to a female reproductive organisation. As a result, if a gonad cannot express its sexual identity via its hormones—as in gonadal dysgenesis—then the affected person, no matter whether genetically male or female, will develop both internal and external female genitalia.
In both sexes, the commencement and progression of puberty require functional gonads that will work in harmony with the hypothalamic and pituitary glands to produce adequate hormones. For this reason, in gonadal dysgenesis the accompanying hormonal failure also prevents the development of secondary sex characteristics in either sex, resulting in a sexually infantile female appearance and infertility.
Hypospadias is a birth defect of the urethra in the male that involves an abnormally placed urinary meatus (the opening, or male external urethral orifice). Instead of opening at the tip of the glans of the penis, a hypospadic urethra opens anywhere along a line (the urethral groove) running from the tip along the underside (ventral aspect) of the shaft to the junction of the penis and scrotum or perineum. A distal hypospadias may be suspected even in an uncircumcised boy from an abnormally formed foreskin and downward tilt of the glans.
The urethral meatus opens on the underside of the glans penis in about 50–75% of cases; these are categorized as first degree hypospadias. Second degree (when the urethra opens on the shaft), and third degree (when the urethra opens on the perineum) occur in up to 20 and 30% of cases respectively. The more severe degrees are more likely to be associated with chordee, in which the phallus is incompletely separated from the perineum or is still tethered downwards by connective tissue, or with undescended testes (cryptorchidism).
Ovotestis or hermaphroditic gland (in Latin language: glandula hermaphroditica), can be found as normal anatomical features in the reproductive system of some gastropods such as the land snail Helix aspersa.
Maternal use of androgens or high doses of certain weakly androgenic synthetic progestogens (progestins) structurally related to testosterone can masculinize (virilize) the external genitalia of a female fetus during susceptible times in pregnancy.
Some degree of fusion of the labioscrotal folds and urogenital folds and clitoral enlargement can occur if exposure occurs from the 8th through the 12th week of gestation, but only clitoral enlargement can occur if exposure occurs after the 12th week. This can in some cases result in ambiguous genitalia.
Fetal masculinization of female external genitalia is usually due to enzyme abnormalities involved in adrenal steroid biosynthesis, resulting in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH); fetal masculinization of female external genitalia is much less frequently due to maternal use of androgenic steroids.
Progestin-induced virilisation
Fetal masculinization of female external genitalia due to maternal use of androgenic steroids is generally less advanced than that due to CAH, and unlike CAH, does not cause progressive virilization.
Affected females mature normally with normal fertility, there is almost total regression of the genital anomaly in cases of simple clitoral enlargement, and in even the most severe cases, surgical correction of labioscrotal fusion is relatively simple.
Swyer syndrome, or XY gonadal dysgenesis, is a type of hypogonadism in a person whose karyotype is 46,XY. The person is externally female with streak gonads, and left untreated, will not experience puberty. Such gonads are typically surgically removed and a typical medical treatment would include hormone replacement therapy with female hormones.
Turner syndrome or Ullrich-Turner syndrome (also known as "Gonadal dysgenesis") encompasses several conditions in human females, of which monosomy X (absence of an entire sex chromosome, the Barr body) is most common. It is a chromosomal abnormality in which all or part of one of the sex chromosomes is absent (unaffected humans have 46 chromosomes, of which two are sex chromosomes). Normal females have two X chromosomes, but in Turner syndrome, one of those sex chromosomes is missing or has other abnormalities. In some cases, the chromosome is missing in some cells but not others, a condition referred to as mosaicism or 'Turner mosaicism'.
Occurring in 1 in 2000 – 1 in 5000 phenotypic females, the syndrome manifests itself in a number of ways. There are characteristic physical abnormalities, such as short stature, swelling, broad chest, low hairline, low-set ears, and webbed necks. Girls with Turner syndrome typically experience gonadal dysfunction (non-working ovaries), which results in amenorrhea (absence of menstrual cycle) and sterility. Concurrent health concerns are also frequently present, including congenital heart disease, hypothyroidism (reduced hormone secretion by the thyroid), diabetes, vision problems, hearing concerns, and many autoimmune diseases. Finally, a specific pattern of cognitive deficits is often observed, with particular difficulties in visuospatial, mathematical, and memory areas.
So as we see people are born with a host of different possibilities in regard to sexual development. We know sexual drive and response is directly related to hormones. To say that someone "chooses" their sexual orientation would be the same as saying people with the above disorders "choose" their sexual response, which is basically saying that these people "choose" the way their genes and chromosomes are developed in the womb. It takes a very ignorant person to say and believe such erroneous information when there is a wealth of information available and proven. i have always said that hate comes about because it is the "easy" road to take. It is easy because it is always easy to formulate an opinion on things one knows nothing about and decide to hate it in an effort to keep from putting forth the initiative to learn about things we don't know. Hate comes as a result of laziness. People who hate don't know, don't want to know, and don't want to learn.
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