Bunny Trails

[Sudsy]

Maybe Sudsy is rich. Old retired rich people are known to become cranky over small things.

Yes, I'm old, rich and cranky. Others are younger, poor and cranky. I guess we have the cranky in common.

[Sudsy]

This event is another example of how quickly life can come to an end for some and it could have been much worse at another time of day. We have a new bridge being built 30 miles from my home over the river between Windsor and Detroit. It is quite amazing to watch on the steady flow of Internet videos. I hope to live another year or so and use it. I often wonder just how often people consider eternity as they cross these bridges. I know I do. Jesus is our Mediator (I Timothy 2:5), the connection, the bridge, between God and us. He is a bridge that will never fail.

Amen. The most terrifying bridge I have ever traveled was the Seven Mile Bridge to the Florida Keys. I was riding on a bus and it was on the old, narrow two lane bridge. I kept thinking that if anyone veered an inch or two out of their lane, there would be a horrific crash into the water. I closed my eyes and prayed until we were past it.

My most unsettling ride was over the Mackinac bridge in Michigan. When windy they have a lead car control the speed. Some small cars have blown off it. I remember playing in a hockey tournament in Saute St Marie Ontario years ago and one of our hockey players drank a lot of beer before he rode over the bridge with us. He was a big talker but when we got to the bridge, not a peep.

[Joy]

I think that was the one I drove across, years ago. But it wasn't as scary as the Jacksonville, FL, bridge, which has quite a rise in elevation, and the first time, it was very windy. You'd better believe I did some praying!

[RZehr]

Maybe Sudsy is rich. Old retired rich people are known to become cranky over small things.

Yes, I'm old, rich and cranky. Others are younger, poor and cranky. I guess we have the cranky in common.

Could be, could be.

[Sudsy]

I think that was the one I drove across, years ago. But it wasn't as scary as the Jacksonville, FL, bridge, which has quite a rise in elevation, and the first time, it was very windy. You'd better believe I did some praying!

Here are some I would avoid -

https://www.google.com/search?q=scaries ... Nx_AM,st:0

[temporal1]

In another moving display of Christianity in politicians:

2024 / New York City’s mayor gets baptized in jail by Rev. Al Sharpton on Good Friday
https://apnews.com/article/eric-adams-n ... fa84560aed

2017 / Hillary Wants to Preach
“Religion is playing a big role in Clinton’s post-election tour. What does she have to gain from sharing her faith now?”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ls/535941/

^^This came to a screaching halt when the book of devotionals she was working on turned out to be plagiarized.
(All reports lay all the blame on her pastor.) Like so: https://apnews.com/united-states-presid ... 011cb89126

2016 / Just Remember That Dubya and Hillary Belong to the Same Church
https://um-insight.net/perspectives/jus ... same-chur/

i’ve never gotten caught up with politicians and their claims to faith. i leave that entirely in the hands of God.
i see no reason to change now.

i pray for all leaders to be inspired by God to righteousness, to be guided onto right paths.
God has no limits.

[Ken]

I think the Bible is very clear that we were created as male and female.

Well yes, Genesis actually says this. But what do you think it actually means? That one portion of the population has XY sex chromosomes and another portion has XX sex chromosomes? No, one who isn't delusional disputes this. Not even trans people. They are perfectly aware of the chromosomes that they were born with and know perfectly well that we do not have the scientific ability to change out chromosome #23 in the 20 or 30 trillion cells in the human body. Although not everyone is actually born that way. Due to nondisjunction during meiosis we also see people who have XO, XXX, XY, XXY, XYY, and OY combinations of sex chromosomes. Just like we see people for whom nondisjunction produces an extra 21st chromosome (which we call Down Syndrome). Are these people God's mistakes? Are they not human?

Sex and gender

In the English language, the terms sex and gender are often used interchangeably in the vernacular. However, in a medical and technically scientific sense, these words are not synonymous....

That strikes me as deeply wrong. I think our bodies know if we are male or female, and I think that is rooted in God's creation.

Why do you see this as wrong? It is factual. Especially when it comes to gender roles, most of which are the invention of society and not biology. My body "knows" nothing. It is not separately self-aware from my mind. And there is nothing in my chromosomes that dictates or "knows" what type of job I want to have, how I want to dress, what role I want to have in child rearing, or how I see myself in society. In fact, much of what we call gender is a social construct and not biological. Pink vs. blue, skirts vs. pants, long hair vs. short hair, sugar and spice? or snips, snails, and puppy dog tails, cooking in the kitchen vs. hunting in the field, etc. etc. etc.

In reality, gender (as opposed to biological sex) is a continuum defined largely by society and not chromosomes. We all come down somewhere on it. Few of us at either extreme end. I'm not trans or gay. I'm a pretty ordinary guy. But there are socially masculine things that leave me cold. Hunting, for example. Which I did a lot as a kid to make my dad happy and later with friends because it is what one does in Alaska. I never found it particularly interesting or rewarding. By contrast I spend a lot more time in the kitchen than my wife who has little patience or interest in cooking beyond the the simply necessary. She is very creative, but that creativity doesn't extend to cooking.

When it comes to trans people. I think the actual Christian response should be to give them the dignity to determine for themselves who they are. Who are we to say? If you take a literal reading of Genesis, it was a world of two people living solo and naked in the jungle. That isn't the world we live in today.

I'm frankly puzzled by why this has become such a lightning-rod issue for conservative Christians. What happened to "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" What happened to "love one another even as I have loved you?" What happened to "he who is without sin cast the first stone". What happened to "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." What happened to "live and let live?" and so forth.

I have three kids and the chance that one of them might be led by society against their will down some path of gayness or trans or any other flavor or LGBT is not even in my top 1,000 list of concerns. We actually live in a society in which nearly every pressure and role model is in the opposite direction. And if one of them had turned out to be trans or gay, I would have wanted the space for them to sort out who they are with the love and support of their family. And not have the enormous coercive force of the state come crashing down on them.

That said, I do think there are some actual issues that need to be sorted out, especially when it comes to competitive athletics. That is an area where I think the "trans community" such as it is, has pushed too far. But I think that will also sort itself out over time. Sports isn't the most important thing in the world.

I also think that future generations (your children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren) will look back on this time period with the same horror that we look back into the past and see how Christianity (and Bible verses) were weaponized to support segregation and discrimination on the basis of race.

[Josh]

I'm frankly puzzled by why this has become such a lightning-rod issue for conservative Christians. What happened to "life liberty and the pursuit of happiness?" What happened to "love one another even as I have loved you?" What happened to "he who is without sin cast the first stone". What happened to "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." What happened to "live and let live?" and so forth.

I checked my Bible and several of these quotations weren’t in there; perhaps you’ve gotten mixed up with one of Trump’s Bibles?

[Bootstrap]

I think the Bible is very clear that we were created as male and female.

Well yes, Genesis actually says this. But what do you think it actually means?

From the OP:

Please do not debate whether the Bible teaches that - start a new thread if you want to do that.

I don't think you face the issues that I want to discuss in this thread. I think your solution is to not have the beliefs that are at the core of this thread. So this thread probably won't make much sense to you.

[Ken]

I think the Bible is very clear that we were created as male and female.

Well yes, Genesis actually says this. But what do you think it actually means?

From the OP:

Please do not debate whether the Bible teaches that - start a new thread if you want to do that.

I don't think you face the issues that I want to discuss in this thread. I think your solution is to not have the beliefs that are at the core of this thread. So this thread probably won't make much sense to you.

I'm not debating what Genesis 1 says. I'm asking you what you think it MEANS.