re: Would you change churches

But all baptists ignore each other at the liquor store.

That's why I always preferred non-denom to baptist churches. It's really just code for "We do the same shite but with beer" in my experience

No problem, that's the point. Good things are generally better with beer.

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That's why I always preferred non-denom to baptist churches. It's really just code for "We do the same shite but with beer" in my experience

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Leaving the baptist church for my current Bible church has been awesome. Still good doctrine without the unneeded guilt for drinking beer and mild profanity.



Speaking of..... Roger, am I going to be allowed to buy you beers upon entry to the area?

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What you are trying to imply is that there is something biological that makes someone a homosexual and it just isn't there.

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A gene is but a piece of the puzzle, but is not the sole factor in what shapes your personality. A "gay gene" is a myth. I don't feel like going down the rabbit hole there either, but genes direct amino acids, which form into proteins, which shape you. There's a lot that can happen during this process that shapes someone's personality and way of being. It doesn't start and end with an individual gene.

Environment is something that shapes you, and can leave with no choice. From the huffington post:

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Your upbringing can influence what you find desirable and what you find repulsive. Most Americans would be probably be nauseated if they learned that, when they thought they had been eating beef, they were, in fact, eating dog, even though there is nothing inherently unhealthy about dog meat.

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this is not biological; it is environmental. Becoming nauseated by finding out you've eaten dog meat is not something you have any control over. It is an automatic response based on pre-existing factors. Same can be said with drug addicts, alcoholics, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I still fully believe it's biological in many cases, and where I think you're losing sight is that just because we lack an actual discovery of a "gay gene", there are still dozens of signs that are being uncovered each year. And it's not always a matter of genetics, even when biological.

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In August 1991, LeVay, a neuroscientist who now directs the Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education in southern California, published in the magazine Science findings from autopsies of men and women of known sexual preference. He found that a tiny region in the center of the brain--the interstitial nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus (INAH) 3--was, on average, substantially smaller in nineteen gay men who died from AIDS than among sixteen heterosexual men.[

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The most convincing evidence he puts forward to support his view comes from women with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. This condition, in which masculine characteristics, such as androgenized genitalia, including clitoral enlargement and partially fused labia, become pronounced in women, is caused by excessive testosterone production and leads, in adulthood, to an increased frequency of lesbianism affecting up to half of all the women who have the condition. The theory, still unproven, that is proposed to explain these behavioral effects of hormones is that one or more chemical signals act during a brief early critical period in the development of most males to alter permanently both the brain and the pattern of their later adult behavior. Unless this hormonal influence is switched on, a female pattern of development will follow automatically.

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You should read into the bailey and sucker 1995 study in which male and female children who showed signs of gender non comforming and see the results on how many of these children, >12, turned out to be gay.

Bailey and Pilliard have another study on the effects on the various types of twins, and how certain factors relate to gender identity.

It's actually pretty fascinating, and I think it's naive to just assume that the evidence is "not there", when in fact there is a lot of evidence available, but we are still working through it.
LINK
LINK

LINK

Sorry for the novel. I worked form home this morning and finished lunch early.

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non-denom

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went to one with my mom years ago and found it weird. Reminded me of Penecostal church with folks passing out, speaking in tongues, etc

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I won't turn down beer

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I knew the way to your heart.

I'll message you on tArk when I know residents are in town

non-denom
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went to one with my mom years ago and found it weird. Reminded me of Penecostal church with folks passing out, speaking in tongues, etc

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"Non-denominational" can cover the entire spectrum of Protestantism, from hyper-charismatic/pentecostal as you experienced all the way to non-denominational liturgical churches - and anything in between.

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"Non-denominational" can cover the entire spectrum of Protestantism, from hyper-charismatic/pentecostal as you experienced all the way to non-denominational liturgical churches - and anything in between.

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true that.

my boss, myself, and a coworker all go to 3 different non denominational churches.

my church is filled with former baptists, catholics, and CoCs. We pretty much adhere to baptist doctrine except are a bit more reformed and don't preach against drinking.

my boss' church is charismatic and a good bit loosy goosy.

my coworker's church is a bit more unitarian i believe.

All 3 call themselves "Bible Churches" so yes, it's a wide spectrum

It's not that it's barbaric, it's a combination of being barbaric and flat out crazy. Plus, I just don't believe a lot of it. I have to believe God has foresight. All of that crazy shite was written by someone else, not God.

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Apply some discernment

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That's exactly what I did.

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If you read them with the mind of a child.....

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I would argue it takes the mind of a child to be able to look past many things written throughout the OT. Most people begin to question these things as they age.

I don't know how on one hand you can realize that these are antiquated views, yet on the other hand, apply it to your current daily life, in such a meaningful fashion.