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Bizpac June 3 2015
In light of recent news this is something to ponder on...
A friend of mine has a co-worker that had his penis removed and had reassignment surgery and now years later regrets it. I hold to a Reformed position on corruption which includes the biological and spiritual within present humanity but to assume the fall has effected one so much that his/her sex is scientifically wrong is very questionable indeed.
With the Biblical concept of a fall from Genesis, Scripture documents the idea of God creating male and female in the image and likeness of God; with the creation of the sexes, gender is definitive and definite and cannot be entirely altered. This is as well a New Testament concept (Romans 1-6).
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Former Johns Hopkins chief of psychiatry: Being transgender is a ‘mental disorder . . . biologically impossible’
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'The former psychiatrist in chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital is pouring rain on the Bruce Jenner “Call Me Caitlyn” parade that’s sure to have the former Olympic athlete’s cheerleaders steaming.
Not only does Dr. Paul R. McHugh consider changing sexes “biologically impossible,” he thinks being what is popularly called “transgender” these days is actually a “mental disorder.” McHugh, who has authored six books and at least 125 peer-reviewed medical journal articles, made the statements in a piece he penned for the Wall Street Journal that argued surgery is not the solution for patients who want to live life as the opposite sex. Such people, he wrote, suffer from a “disorder of assumption” in believing they can choose their sex.'
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'He also cited a study that said transgendered people who have reassignment surgery are 20 times more likely to commit suicide than non-transgendered people,'
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'He went on to write that changing sexes is impossible and that what transgendered people actually do is “become feminized men or masculinized women.”
While there are scientists who disagree, it is important to question whether health professionals, politicians and the media are doing more harm than good by enabling people who believe they were born the wrong sex to go to such extremes. For millennia, the first rule of Western medicine has been summed up as “do no harm.” There’s a reason for that.'
I think it is a difficult one. Changing sex obviously can be subject to states of emotional imbalance although not on every occasion. I think the way nature created you has to be the way you were meant to be but having said that there are no absolutes within nature and even for a creationist, one who believes a deity created nature, then the Great Creator allowed for errors within that creative process. That being so I think someone considering a sex change should go through rigorous psychological tests to enable doctors to establish if the desire for sex change is not merely, and I don't dismiss this issue lightly, one of depression but a genuine occurrence when a female, with all the associated desires and feelings, is born male. Obviously, this is different to homosexual or bisexual needs. Those are factually inherent in all animals not just Hominids but transgender operations are a different matter entirely. A knotty problem indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Russell
ReplyDelete'I think it is a difficult one. Changing sex obviously can be subject to states of emotional imbalance although not on every occasion. I think the way nature created you has to be the way you were meant to be but having said that there are no absolutes within nature and even for a creationist, one who believes a deity created nature, then the Great Creator allowed for errors within that creative process.'
We have some agreement...
Contrary to what I reason I am hearing from Albert Mohler and The Briefing, for example, if I understand him correctly, and his American Evangelical position, I do hold that not just human spiritual nature was corrupted in the Genesis fall, but in my Reformed position, all of humanity is fallen, including the biological. This makes sense in light of Romans 1-6 and the resurrection passage of 1 Corinthians 15:
NASB
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown [l]a perishable body, it is raised [m]an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, [n]earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, [o]we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
Even from a secular position, human nature, all of it, the biological and the spiritual/mental could be deemed imperfect.
I am for significant freedom of individuals as you know, Russell, I do not want to see persons overly ruled by government, corporations, religion or other. But freedom and rights does not make everything right to pursue in significant freedom.
Even though some persons may be born or evolve into having male and female (masculine and feminine) traits of nature, based on what I am seeing from science I am not convinced that one is not anything other than male or female, and cannot be truly changed properly to the other sex.
'That being so I think someone considering a sex change should go through rigorous psychological tests to enable doctors to establish if the desire for sex change is not merely, and I don't dismiss this issue lightly, one of depression but a genuine occurrence when a female, with all the associated desires and feelings, is born male.'
Good point on the need for psychological tests.
Thanks again, Russell.
Russ
Your points are interesting. Broadly speaking we agree that the males are born males and females likewise. Not sure what I think of 'spirituality.' Again, not to dismiss another's point of view but as you know better than I, using the wonderful Bishop John 'Jack' Spong as one source of reference, the scriptures were written some five thousand years ago, the New Testament ones, 2,000 years or thereabouts. Much of what is taken literally is in reality symbolic. Hebrews (then) used symbolism as a tool for making a point (Abraham and Issac for example) so, without wanting to appear contentious, much of this ...."42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown [l]a perishable body, it is raised [m]an imperishable body; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, [n]earthy; the second man is from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, [o]we will also bear the image of the heavenly." would surely fall into the Hebrew cannon of symbolism? Am I right? Belief in Adam and Eve, beautiful story though it is, disregards evolution entirely and surely God created evolution? Please don't think I am being argumentative here, I am not. I have been reading and watching a great deal of Theological debate recently and am genuinely interested. 'Spirituality' then. First I would need to understand what it means for you. I think I know but it seems very different to my own moralistic life style.
ReplyDelete'Your points are interesting. Broadly speaking we agree that the males are born males and females likewise.'
ReplyDeleteThanks, Russell.
Yes we have some broad agreement.
'Much of what is taken literally is in reality symbolic.'
I am not a fundamentalist, my view as a Biblical Christian:
Scripture would be viewed as religious history, therefore not myth, therefore all literal, but mostly plain literal, prose, such as most of the death and resurrection story of Christ to demonstrate it as crucial historical religious history.
Adam and Eve are viewed as plain literal persons tied into the fall, sin and the need of Christ to die for sin. Adam and Christ in Romans 5 is an absolutely crucial connection.
However, this does not mean that all of the Genesis creation story is necessarily plain literal, but it cannot be mythological fiction, it has to be at least figurative literal religious history to be tied to the historical death and resurrection of Christ and the future second coming and related eschatology.
Not all of Revelation is plain literal, but uses figurative literal language.
Otherwise the whole faith and philosophy collapses into ‘country club’. A waste of time like extreme liberal Christianity is...
Parts of Genesis and Revelation use figurative literal language. How creation begins and ends is described in metaphorical, figurative means. The Bible is not a science text but is religious history. Although inspired and guided by God through the Holy Spirit it was not dictated but God used the people of its day.
1 Corinthians 15 is attempting to establish the plain literal historical fact of the resurrection of those in Christ, so it would not be highly figurative. It would be primarily plain literal although it is somewhat poetic, it has a plain literal idea of describing the human resurrection in Christ. Crucial.
Darwinian evolution would be disregarded, yes. But surely with at least three major races (black, white, Asian) human beings have evolved from the first persons and I have written on this online from scientific sources previously. One, associated with a Christian ministry postulates humanity began perhaps 100, 000 years ago, so not in agreement with much of Darwinian evolution but it also would take a figurative literal (not mythological) reading of some of the beginning of Genesis.
Thanks, time to get ready for work my friend.
I appreciate the comments...
Russ
A married couple went to the hospital to have their baby delivered.
ReplyDeleteUpon their arrival, the doctor said that the hospital was testing an amazing new high-tech machine that would transfer a portion of the mother's labor pain to the baby's father.
He asked if they were interested. Both said they were very much in favor of it.
The doctor set the pain transfer to 10% for starters, explaining that even 10% was probably more pain than the father had ever experienced before.
But as the labor progressed, the husband felt fine and asked the doctor to go ahead and kick it up a notch.
The doctor then adjusted the machine to 20% pain transfer. The husband was still feeling fine. The doctor then checked the husband's blood pressure and was amazed at how well he was doing.
At this point they decided to try for 50%. The husband continued to feel quite well.
Since the pain transfer was obviously helping the wife considerably, the husband encouraged the doctor to transfer ALL the pain to him.
The wife delivered a healthy baby with virtually no pain and the husband had experienced none. She and her husband were ecstatic.
When they got home they found the mailman dead on the porch.
THE GYNECOLOGIST WHO BECAME A MECHANIC
ReplyDeleteA gynecologist had become fed up with malpractice insurance and HMO
paperwork, and was burned out. Hoping to try another career where
skillful hands would be beneficial, he decided to become a mechanic.
He went to the local technical college, signed up for evening classes,
attended diligently, and learned all he could. When the time of the
practical exam approached, the gynecologist prepared carefully for
weeks, and completed the exam with tremendous skill.
When the results came back, he was surprised to find that he had
obtained a score of 150%. Fearing an error, he called the Instructor,
saying, "I don't want to appear ungrateful for such an outstanding
result, but I wonder if there is an error in the grade?"
The instructor said, "During the exam, you took the engine apart
perfectly, which was worth 50% of the total mark. You put the engine
back together again perfectly, which is also worth 50% of the mark."
After a pause, the instructor added, "I gave you an extra 50% because
you did it all through the muffler, which I've never seen done in my
entire career".
When you throw a baby in the air, she laughs because she knows you will catch her. That's TRUST
ReplyDeleteEvery night we go to bed, without any assurance of being alive the next morning but still we set the alarms to wake up. That's HOPE
ReplyDeleteDingggggggggg donggggggggggg!
ReplyDeleteDingggggggggg donggggggggggg!
ReplyDeleteTech support: What kind of computer do you have?
ReplyDeleteCustomer: A white one...
Tech support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?
Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'can’t find printer’.
ReplyDeleteI've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it..
Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.
ReplyDeleteTech support: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer: OK
Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes
Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in..
Customer: I can't get on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteTech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five dots.
Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?
ReplyDeleteCustomer: Netscape.
Tech support: That's not an anti-virus program.
Customer: Oh, sorry.... Internet Explorer..
Netscape?
ReplyDeleteIs this from 1999?
Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a screen saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.
ReplyDeleteTech support: How may I help you?
ReplyDeleteCustomer: I'm writing my first email.
Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the little circle around it?
A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer..
ReplyDeleteTech support: Are you running it under windows?
Customer: 'No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point.
The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.'
Tech support: 'Okay Bill, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThat brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter 'P' to bring up the Program Manager.'
Customer: I don't have a P.
Tech support: On your keyboard, Bill.
Customer: What do you mean?
Tech support: 'P'.....on your keyboard, Bill.
Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT