Bad Arguments

I am not a Christian, but I have seen one argument from liberal Christians/non-Christians that really gets my knickers in a bind, that of interpreting what Jesus said in the first six verses of Matthew Chapter 7, which first verse states:

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

I think that many liberal Christians/non-Christians have taken the interpretation of the meaning of this verse too far and have gone so far as to say things like, "No one should ever say that homosexual behavior is sinful, even if the Bible says it is, because to be saying that it is [even if the person saying it means it in general terms] judging people!"  It was Jesus that said that phrase, but he in John 8:11 told Mary Magdaline "go, and sin no more!"  In that verse, he was clearly referring to the prostitution she was engaging in and he was making a definite statement that prostitution was wrong.

Liberal Christians/non-Christians talk about how Jesus spent time with prostitutes and others, but they ignore that they largely stopped their practices which were considered sinful while in ministry with him and instead are trying to shut down any argument about what the Bible does say (and there is a lot of question about what it does say) about certain behavior being sinful or not, and simply want to stop their ears and go "Nyaa nyaa nyaa!  You're judging!"  I think they also forget another passage in the Bible when they do this (2 Timothy 3:16-17):

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Notice "for correction" and "for instruction is righteousness"?  The Bible itself is stating that simply labeling a behavior as sinful (provided you can back it up with Scripture) is not wrong at all.

I am not a Christian and so I am not going to be part of the debate about whether this or that is sinful according to the Bible, but I do want to point out what seems to me to be a dishonest argument by the liberal Christians/non-Christians twisting the Bible around to shut up the pastors in the churches, so that they may not again argue that certain behaviors are sinful, because the liberal Christians/non-Christians do not want them labelled as such.  It is disappointing to hear these arguments pushed around by otherwise smart people.

Interesting Article

I read an article on the transkids.us website. It discussed some interesting points, but I do wonder if it misses the point as well. Here are some questions (bulleted) it says the concept of gender identity raises followed by my answers (normal text):

• Why are intersex children subjected to unconsented traumatic genital surgery to prevent the "cognitive dissonence" of gender ambiguity which is assumed to result from their unacceptable genitals while phenotypically normal adult males who have been effectively socialized as men generally become very gender variant as a result of voluntary transsexual medicalization?

I think that this person mischaracterizes the views of some of these people, assuming they all hold the same views. It has long been my understanding that most transsexuals do NOT favor forced genital surgery on young children, however.

• Why is the "gender expression" of spontaneously feminine boys labeled Childhood Gender Identity Disorder and most often therapeutically discouraged and the "gender expression" of adult male crossdressers and autogynephilics socially and legally sanctioned?

You can thank your close ideological buddy Zucker for that one, as he is closely tied to Blanchard, Bailey, and Lawrence. It's Zucker that pushes for disorders like Childhood GID, while transsexuals generally oppose GID being where it is.

• Why do the treatment protocols for m2f transsexuals fail to address treatment of extremely feminine boys at a meaningful age, when it will help them achieve good social and sexual function as girls, while facilitating feminization of adult men who will become less socially and sexually functional as a result?

You make it seem like the adults who receive such treatment benefit from that exclusion. None of them favor that either, and they wish they had more acceptance of their feelings as children as well.

• Why are intersex children of all socio-economic backgrounds subjected to unasked for destructive surgery early to "correct" their bodies and gender development before they can express gendered behavior, while hsts transkids expressing early and unambiguous feminine gender behavior are denied obviously helpful medical procedures as teenagers because they are "too young"?

You can blame a combination of social conservatives (who mean well but misunderstand the condition in question) and over-cautious medical practicioners who are worried about the legal consequences.

This article, seemingly compelling at first, comes out with all sorts of mischaracterizations of the motivations of m2f transsexuals and doesn't even attempt to discover why some m2f's wait so long.

Some References Regarding the Second Amendment

Here are some good sources regarding the 2nd amendment:

This makes a great argument regarding interpreting the 2nd amendment and making clear that the amendment does not refer to the select militia, but rather The Militia of the People, composed of all able-bodied adult males (and which today might be interpreted as also including able-bodied adult females).

This talks about the fact there is no argument, not even one regarding the public safety, for the machine gun ban of 1986.

Gays and Lesbians Vis-a-vis the State

I think those in the LGBT movement should take note of this blog post. Especially the following statement:

[The situation referred to in the blog post] happened because the state has monopolized the definition of marriage--and imposes irrational, unjust, crushing tort liability on the heavily-regulated medical industry--so everyone follows the state's definitions partly out of fear of reprisal and liability. The state ought to no more recognize marriage any more than it ought to recognize what religion you are officially a part of.

Those in the LGBT movement should take heed when they think they can use the government for good, such as passing anti-discrimination laws that actually restrict the freedom of association for private citizens, just like Boromir thought he could use the One Ring for good in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Dresden

Vault-co has an article here. I don't know how here in America, we still continuously praise the military and think that the best thing that can happen to someone is joining it. I've noticed that even with the general skepticism of government that I see in most people I know in America, the military is seen as very special in that regard, such that it is seen as the greatest, noblest thing--when in reality, it is a big socialistic bureaucracy itself and that when it takes over other countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, it often establishes socialism in those countries, imposes gun control, etc. I think it is disturbing the way they do this--at a gun show I went to recently, which was populated with lots of people who were very nervous about the U.S. government, they still saw fit to practically worship the military. What they don't realize is that military is the standing army, the select militia, the Founding Fathers warned us about and, with the control on military-grade weapons placed by the federal government through the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the machine gun ban of 1986, this volunteer force is complicit in the continued efforts of the federal government to keep us deprived of our natural right to keep and bear arms which was made explicit in the 2nd Amendment.

Sexual Behavioral Differences in Men and Women

I recently engaged in a conversation on Zoe Brain's blog here. It's interesting that men generally focus on the appearances of their partners while women generally focus on how they appear to their partners, and that male-to-female transsexuals seem to focus more on their appearing as women in their sexual fantasies, pleasing their partners. BBL thinks those fantasies mean autogynephilia, that they do the transsexual transition because they get hot at the thought of themselves as women, but they're really men deep down. But reading the whole information, it does appear to be the case that those fantasies are part of a general tendency of male-to-female transsexuals to think of themselves as women.