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The Bible is an old book that mixes history, mythology and cultural traditions without regard to the boundaries between each. If religion is your only basis in arguing your position you'll find that you are quite ineffective in convincing others; those who share your blind faith in the Bible will already agree with you and the rest of us can only be convinced by arguments based in logic, rationality and reason.
Your position is also rather... offensive, in my opinion, as well. Your argument implies that societies/cultures which ascribe to norms that are based out of sources other than the Bible are inherently immoral. In doing so, you are saying that ancient cultures and the countries in which they can be found are immoral; India, China, Japan, etc. are all evil and immoral by your account. This is the height of arrogance and is, quite frankly, an immoral position in and of itself.
Finally, why don't you read the Bible? Specifically, read Leviticus, the book of the Old Testament which condemns homosexuality, more carefully! The same book which condemns homosexuality also condemns the eating shellfish, the wearing of clothes made of two types of cloth, lying in bed with a woman who is on her period AND the same book which condemns homosexuality claims that slavery is MORAL! So, unless you don't eat shellfish, unless you don't wear clothes made of more than one type of cloth and unless you don't support slavery as a moral form of servitude then you are being rather hypocritical!
Yep...and you can stone to death a woman who's been raped, too.
Many new archaeological digs are affirming that, before about 8,000 years
ago, all civilizations worshiped the Mother Goddess in some aspect. The
evidence goes back to the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 140,000 years-
ago. Jericho is to date the oldest village known, and at almost every level of habitation there were what many called "fertility goddesses." So for the largest portion of the history of homo sapiens, worship of the divine in a
feminine form was the norm, not the exception.
Once these societies were overrun by the more violent Sun (or volcano in some cases) worshipers, those goddesses became the wives and mothers of gods; they lost their former positions of respect and veneration. The act
of sex, once considered to be the heiro gamus or sacred marriage, became
in the hands of Roman Christians an obscenity, but that's because the Catholic Church was essentially a branch of what had been the Roman Senate. The Romans viewed females as chattel, and that belief fed into the Roman Catholic Church. Saul of Damascus didn't help.
The "traditional gender roles" are an artificial construct; Greek writers who visited Egypt complained that the women ran the businesses while the men
were the artisans.
Interestingly, excavations at sites in Eastern Europe reflect the same worship of the divine feminine; their villages were situated in terms of aesthetics and not protection. Perhaps the easiest example to share would
be Minoa and Malta, in the Mediterranean. James Mellaart, a British archaeologist, did extensive work at a site called Catal Huyuk in Turkey; he
was not a feminist, but his work has been continued by women such as Marija Gimbutus.
These theories are naturally controversial, but perhaps it suggests that,
rather than losing their masculinity, men are regaining their humanity, as
many of the "unmanly" traits that I've seen mentioned here are considered
"feminine:" tenderness, mercy, understanding and sensitivity to name a few. On the other hand, women have been forced into a model of submission; only in the past 300 years have women been allowed to read or write. Queen Elizabeth rocked the 17th century by being fluent in five
languages, and clearly being a superlative ruler.
Just sayin'.....it's something to think about or even look into.
And the the number of beautiful women increases exponentially
Some people that think "Things were better back in the day"
are not confident of who they are
and think that all men have to act a certain way
because it might confuse them and question their own sexuality.
Their idea of "Making men more manly"
actually mean "Give men more power over their women" = "Take women's rights away"
Some people that think "Things were better back in the day"
are not confident of who they are
and think that all men have to act a certain way
because it might confuse them and question their own sexuality.
Their idea of "Making men more manly"
actually mean "Give men more power over their women" = "Take women's rights away"
The Effects of Antenatal Exposure to Phytoestrogens on Human Male Reproductive and Urogenital Development (http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/phytoestrogens.html - broken link)
It seems to me that because pressure to conform to societal norms has lessened over the years, both men and women are just free to be themselves, in their full range of emotions and behavior, which is what you are observing.
People will adapt and behave according to the cultural norms of their day in order to be accepted. In the past (and still in some places today), men were required to act according to the exagerrated male stereotype (violent behavior, speaking loudly, dominance over women, etc.) or else face being ostracized.
Today, in absence of a rigid social structure, you can finally see the full spectrum of behavior from men, including those "un-manly" traits that were repressed in the past. Most would agree that a well rounded person should be capable of a expressing a full range of emotions.
Yep...and you can stone to death a woman who's been raped, too.
Many new archaeological digs are affirming that, before about 8,000 years
ago, all civilizations worshiped the Mother Goddess in some aspect. The
evidence goes back to the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 140,000 years-
ago. Jericho is to date the oldest village known, and at almost every level of habitation there were what many called "fertility goddesses." So for the largest portion of the history of homo sapiens, worship of the divine in a
feminine form was the norm, not the exception.
Once these societies were overrun by the more violent Sun (or volcano in some cases) worshipers, those goddesses became the wives and mothers of gods; they lost their former positions of respect and veneration. The act
of sex, once considered to be the heiro gamus or sacred marriage, became
in the hands of Roman Christians an obscenity, but that's because the Catholic Church was essentially a branch of what had been the Roman Senate. The Romans viewed females as chattel, and that belief fed into the Roman Catholic Church. Saul of Damascus didn't help.
The "traditional gender roles" are an artificial construct; Greek writers who visited Egypt complained that the women ran the businesses while the men
were the artisans.
Interestingly, excavations at sites in Eastern Europe reflect the same worship of the divine feminine; their villages were situated in terms of aesthetics and not protection. Perhaps the easiest example to share would
be Minoa and Malta, in the Mediterranean. James Mellaart, a British archaeologist, did extensive work at a site called Catal Huyuk in Turkey; he
was not a feminist, but his work has been continued by women such as Marija Gimbutus.
These theories are naturally controversial, but perhaps it suggests that,
rather than losing their masculinity, men are regaining their humanity, as
many of the "unmanly" traits that I've seen mentioned here are considered
"feminine:" tenderness, mercy, understanding and sensitivity to name a few. On the other hand, women have been forced into a model of submission; only in the past 300 years have women been allowed to read or write. Queen Elizabeth rocked the 17th century by being fluent in five
languages, and clearly being a superlative ruler.
Just sayin'.....it's something to think about or even look into.
Interesting! Thanks.
""rather than losing their masculinity, men are regaining their humanity,"
Well said! That's what I was trying to say in post 331...
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