“In the U.S., there is still a significant population, mostly Protestant, who look at the Bible as kind of a puzzle, and the puzzle is God’s word and it’s predicting when the end times will come,” said Catherine Wessinger, a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who studies millennialism, the belief in pending apocalypse. “A lot of times these prophecies gain traction when dif...more

“In the U.S., there is still a significant population, mostly Protestant, who look at the Bible as kind of a puzzle, and the puzzle is God’s word and it’s predicting when the end times will come,” said Catherine Wessinger, a professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who studies millennialism, the belief in pending apocalypse.

“A lot of times these prophecies gain traction when difficulties are happening in society,” she said. “Right now, there’s a lot of insecurity, and this is a promise that says it’s not all random, it’s part of God’s plan.”

Past predictions that failed to come true don’t have any bearing on the current calculation, believers maintain.--Fox News reportless

Actually their are "Christian" fundamentalist websites that attack him.

pepper, I know you have no concept of what a Seminary really is but Dallas, at the time Lindsey went their, would ask all its students to agree with their teaching on dispensationalism and their interpretation of Revelation or go somewhere else to complete their final year. We had a guy in my home town who got his doctorate in Revelation from DTS and we talked about the possibility of my attendi...more

pepper, I know you have no concept of what a Seminary really is but Dallas, at the time Lindsey went their, would ask all its students to agree with their teaching on dispensationalism and their interpretation of Revelation or go somewhere else to complete their final year. We had a guy in my home town who got his doctorate in Revelation from DTS and we talked about the possibility of my attending. I decide against it.less

Hyperion, your preoccupation with pedophilia and your need to confuse it with adult sexuality makes me wonder if you are a victim of molestation. If so, I encourage you to seek professional help in sorting through the experience. Simply dumping hate on those who have not harmed you will not bring healing.

Hyper, believe it or not, you are not in charge of God's hit list.

It would appear that in addition to Hypers, lack of education in the sciences, he ignores the impact of culture, media, friends etc., say children learn and develop solely at the discretion of the parents. It is like saying a child develops depression, schizophrenia, a love of sports or a fascination with fantasy gaming based solely upon the parents discretion. Hyperion has no romantic relations...more

It would appear that in addition to Hypers, lack of education in the sciences, he ignores the impact of culture, media, friends etc., say children learn and develop solely at the discretion of the parents. It is like saying a child develops depression, schizophrenia, a love of sports or a fascination with fantasy gaming based solely upon the parents discretion. Hyperion has no romantic relationship and a very damaged (by his reporting) parental role model. Yet he makes pronouncements upon others despite his lack of formal education. He has stated that he only takes Tech courses and has condemned kids who commit suicide after facing massive bullying as cowards. His input on all things related to child rearing should be understood in this light.less

Your uniformed comment ignores research on the impact of hormones on the developing brain during pregnancy as well as differences cited in studies such as these:"Kruijver FPM, Zhou J-N, Pool CW, Hofman MA, Gooren LJG and Swaab DF. (2000) Male to female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 85(5):2034-2041. “Regardless of s...more

Your uniformed comment ignores research on the impact of hormones on the developing brain during pregnancy as well as differences cited in studies such as these:"Kruijver FPM, Zhou J-N, Pool CW, Hofman MA, Gooren LJG and Swaab DF. (2000) Male to female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 85(5):2034-2041. “Regardless of sexual orientation, men had almost twice as many somatostatin neurons as women. The number of neurons in...male to female transsexuals was similar to that of the females…In contrast, the neuron number of female to male transsexuals was found to be in the male range…The present findings of somatostatin neuronal sex differences in the BSTc (a part of the brain) and its sex reversal in the transsexual brain clearly support the paradigm that in transsexuals sexual differentiation of the brain and genitals may go into opposite directions and point to a neurobiological basis of gender identity disorder“."less

Good work alafoli you have done so well the censors had to make their always ineffectual attempt to blot out your thoughts.

Let us not forget Darby and the whole Dallas Theological Seminary cradle that gave birth to Hal Lindsey and many others.

OK, I am trying to remain calm.

All behavior has meaning but that does not mean the same behavior always means the same thing. Boys crossdress for different reasons. Some do it as sign of rebellion(think glam rock aficionados). Some do it because of a sexual excitement, a type of fetish. A segment of the gay community crossdresses for performance art, to express their delight in fashion or demonstrate their freedom from conf...more

All behavior has meaning but that does not mean the same behavior always means the same thing. Boys crossdress for different reasons. Some do it as sign of rebellion(think glam rock aficionados). Some do it because of a sexual excitement, a type of fetish. A segment of the gay community crossdresses for performance art, to express their delight in fashion or demonstrate their freedom from conformity. Finally there are persons whose physical gender does not match their internal sense of being male of female. It is important to understand why your child crossdresses. Does he wish to do it all the time? Does he wish to completely appear as female or does he want to be seen as a male in women's clothes? A counselor with a background in gender issues may be helpful. You can contact a psychological association and get a referral.
I understand the position you have taken. Please be aware that a lot of kids who crossdress end up on the street, abused or involved in prostitution to support themselves if they cannot find some degree of support at home. I have no idea how much the need or desire to dress as female motivates your child. But please remember, clothes are an expression of identity. If your child at fifteen is able to express the reason behind the behavior, you can begin to discuss options.less

You have no concept of Agape.

I hope you have some experience of humanity during your life pepper.

Never saw anyone die accidentally from an E-Z Bake Oven. Is that Chef on the 'reality" show masculine enough or does he need a gun? We have a lot of guys taking guns to school. Guess they got the message guns make the man.

No more than the majority of pedophiles having sex with girls makes the act heterosexual. Hyperion, perhaps when you yourself have an adult sex life you will be better able to understand. But I fear your own issues continue to find expression in your need to scapegoat gays.

Hyperion exhibits his ignorance since HIV is a virus with not prejudice. But in Africa, home of the largest number of infections, it is largely transmitted by male-female intercourse. When a bigot tries to use medical information to justify hatred it is reprehensible. But one could note that since lesbians tend to have a lower rate of HIV transmission, we see that Hyper is focused on gay male in...more

Hyperion exhibits his ignorance since HIV is a virus with not prejudice. But in Africa, home of the largest number of infections, it is largely transmitted by male-female intercourse. When a bigot tries to use medical information to justify hatred it is reprehensible. But one could note that since lesbians tend to have a lower rate of HIV transmission, we see that Hyper is focused on gay male intercourse. This is interesting in light of his own comments about his sexuality.less

Actually Bill W used a good deal of Jungian thought in designing the 12 steps. I doubt Jung would be considered a theist by most of the fundamentalists who post here. Yet his work is of great importance to those battling addiction.

Interesting to note that Laurie has been on the receiving end of fundamentalist criticism because of his connection to Rick Warren and other emerging church stalwarts.

I think that is because they view the changing world as a threat to their world view. Unwilling or unable to embrace change they externalize their personal conflict into a battle of apocalyptic proportions.

"Thus the experience of extreme gender variance is increasingly understood in scientific and medical disciplines as having a biological origin. The current medical viewpoint, based on the most up-to-date scientific research, is that this condition, which in its extreme manifestation is known as transsexualism, is strongly associated with unusual neurodevelopment of the brain at the fetal stage. Sm...more

"Thus the experience of extreme gender variance is increasingly understood in scientific and medical disciplines as having a biological origin. The current medical viewpoint, based on the most up-to-date scientific research, is that this condition, which in its extreme manifestation is known as transsexualism, is strongly associated with unusual neurodevelopment of the brain at the fetal stage. Small areas of the brain are known to be distinctly different between males and females in the population generally. In those experiencing severe gender variance, some of these areas have been shown to develop in opposition to other sex characteristics and are, therefore, incongruent with the visible sex appearance." GRIES website commenting on the study below.

Kruijver FPM, Zhou J-N, Pool CW, Hofman MA, Gooren LJG and Swaab DF. (2000) Male to female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 85(5):2034-2041. “Regardless of sexual orientation, men had almost twice as many somatostatin neurons as women. The number of neurons in...male to female transsexuals was similar to that of the females…In contrast, the neuron number of female to male transsexuals was found to be in the male range…The present findings of somatostatin neuronal sex differences in the BSTc (a part of the brain) and its sex reversal in the transsexual brain clearly support the paradigm that in transsexuals sexual differentiation of the brain and genitals may go into opposite directions and point to a neurobiological basis of gender identity disorder“.less