Hair

These ladies at one time or another have insisted that we who do not cover our heads are not blessed. God's blessing and grace are free, we do not earn them. Somewhere in scripture God says I will bless who I will bless, He bless both the good and bad for His purposes. We do not earn them with good actions (like covering our heads) or disearn(not be blessed) them by our actions(like not covering our heads). We can not earn what God gives freely.

I've seen women here decide to cover thier heads becasue of the pressure of other ladies to do so, seeking approval from people. If you do it because someone else is doing it, it is wrong. Some have not known what to make of the vereses,a dn been told what they must do by those who insist all christan women must wear a head covering.


I think if new people are interested in this topic one of them would start it. But for one to bring it up insisting they had not been involved in this topic before(when evidence suggests otherwise) is wrong.

 

I'm not sure who you are talking about, but
perhaps this was true in the past, but this is a current thread and I have not read where anyone in this thread has said that. I agree with Margie if one does not like this thread or agree with it use the back out button.

We can only be responsible for our own behavior and if someone reads a thread and decides to cover their heads, then it is their decision.

We know and I am sure that HCL will agree that not all Christian women cover their heads.

It is great that we can discuss this without personal attacks.

 

Yes, Donna I have been involved in many discussion that did get around to hair, but to my knowledge there has not been one that has been started to discuss hair. Look at the way this has gone, from hair length on man and women to covering of the hair. That is my point.

I also would like for you to show where I have insisted that I have not been in a topic dealing with this particular subject. If you can show these, I will gladly apologize for my error! </font>[/QUOTE]Walls=

 

I have never heard that the sex of a baby could be changed once God decided what it was to be. Do you have a link for this statement? </font>[/QUOTE]I know this from my days as a premed student, including from a human physiology textbook, but I have no link. If you google the search phrases "sex differentiation" and "dihydrotestosterone" together, you should find some appropriate links, though.

There are six or seven distinct components of sex, all but two of which are biological. The biological components of sex are gross chromosomal sex, general somatic sex, specific genital sex, gender identity, and hormonal sex.

Gross chromosomal sex refers to the presence, absence, or deformation of the sex chromosomes. “Genetic sex” is a misnomer, since the chromosomes may be present for one sex, yet certain genes on those chromosomes may still differentiate a baby to the opposite of that sex. The X chromosome is essential for life, and therefore all human beings have at least one. The Y chromosome is important for male development, and essential for completely normal male development and fertility. The gross chromosomal sex of an individual with two or more X chromosomes, but no Y chromosomes, is female: XX (normal), XO (Turner’s syndrome), XXX (triploid-X), etc. The gross chromosomal sex of an individual with any number of Y chromosomes is male: XY (normal), XXY (Klinefelter’s syndrome), XYY or XYYY (“supermales,” whose aggressive behavior and poor self-control make them comprise a high proportion of men in prison convicted of violent crimes). Note that the absence of a Y chromosome is all that is needed to classify one as female under this criterion.

General somatic sex refers to the prenatal and postnatal effects of genes interacting with hormones to produce a male or female phenotype. At birth, males and females are essentially identical in general anatomy, except that males are typically a little bigger and internally, their pelvises are shaped differently. By adulthood, the size and pelvic differences are far more pronounced, and there develop divergent proportions of upper arm to forearm, head to body ratio, shapes of hands and feet, shape and relative size of ribcage, width of shoulders and so on, breast development, distribution, coarseness and density of body hair, as well as significant differences in musculature and body fat distribution. Also, faces diverge: men develop broader, longer jaws with a pronounced, squared gonial angle and prominently squared and jutting chin, longer maxilla, larger cheekbones and lateral orbital rims, longer and wider lips, larger and wider noses, and much greater frontal bossing, as well as changes in facial hair and scalp hair; women’s jaws narrow, their lips become fuller, and their cheeks plump slightly in a characteristic pattern of fat distribution, while the rest of their facial features and their facial and scalp hair remain juvenile, but for a slight increase in chin prominence and a variable increase in the size of the nose. One can have a general somatic sex that is congruent or incongruent with other biological components of sex.

Specific genital sex refers to the presence and proportions of the genitalia of the two principal sexes. Their development is also dependent during critical windows in the womb and at puberty on genes interacting with the presence and lack of specific hormones at specific times. In virtually all cases, an XX baby with normal hormones applied at the right time will develop genitally into a completely normal baby girl and later woman, and an XY baby with normal hormones applied at the right time will develop genitally into a completely normal baby boy and later man. An XO baby will be born without a uterus, possibly have a blunt vagina, and may or may not have ovaries. Even in the absence of many hormones, a baby lacking a Y chromosome will develop into a girl, unless male hormones are introduced through an anomaly such as adrenal overstimulation.

Since all fetuses are sexually undifferentiated until a certain point in pregnancy, and the basic human template is female, for a fetus to develop into a boy baby requires the absence of certain hormones that develop tissues he already has that are destined to become fallopian tubes, a uterus, and upper vagina (in the absence of these hormones, these tissues degenerate) and the presence of certain hormones that cause the labia to fuse into a scrotum, spermatic cords to develop, the urethra to be enveloped by the phallus, the phallus to masculinize in size and shape, the testes to descend from their ovarian position, and the lower vagina to degenerate.

Interfering with this process at any point will result in the birth of an intersexed baby, who may be clearly a mildly deformed boy, appear a normal girl, or have ambiguous genitalia; in the latter two cases, the baby is a male pseudohermaphrodite. In the former case, the diagnosis may simply be that of a bifid scrotum, micropenis, hypospadias, and undescended testes. The labia can be surgically unified into a scrotum, and the hypospadias can be surgically corrected as well--however, the micropenis and undescended testicles may have to wait on nature, or male hormonal injections right after birth may help. (A female pseudohermaphrodite develops because the fetal phallus masculinizes instead of slightly regressing and reshaping into a clitoris, the labia fuse instead of splitting, and the urethra may be contained within the phallus, usually due to the presence of adrenal androgens during a critical fetal window of development.)

A fetal male’s internal reproductive system is dependent on the presence of testosterone. If enough of it is present, this system will develop. The blood pressure drug spironolactone, antihormones such as cyproterone, or excessive levels of estrogen may prevent this development.

A fetal male’s external reproductive system is dependent on the presence of dihydrotestosterone. If enough of it is present, this system will develop. The DHT-blocking agents finasteride (Propecia/Proscar) and dutasteride (Avodart) may prevent this development, resulting in the birth of a baby with female external genitalia.

When this result happens naturally, it is usually caused by complete or partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS)--the girls born with this disorder have no uterus and have short vaginas, and instead of ovaries they have testes still in the location of ovaries, whose female hormones are metabolized by the body and results in hyperfeminine somatic sex (large breasts, for example, and long legs, typically the build of swimsuit models) and gender identity, but whose male hormones are genetically incapable of being used by the body.

When it happens artificially, as with the drugs above, the presence of testosterone at puberty acts as a backup mechanism for the absence of dihydrotestosterone in the womb, and the female genitalia spontaneously change to male genitalia, and the testes descend into the new scrotum. Since most teens with this anomaly were raised as girls from birth because of their female natal genitalia, this sudden natural sex change is extremely traumatic for them.

Finally, gender identity refers to the effects male or female hormones had on the hard-wiring of certain centers in the brain that results in the person feeling and acting either male or female. It may be congruent or incongruent with other components of sex, and may be affected by hormonal imbalances and the presence of certain drugs, both during fetal development. And hormonal sex refers to the dominance of either male or female hormones in either the bloodstream or metabolic activity.

So technically, when I said that finasteride and dutasteride could change a boy fetus into a girl baby, that would depend on how many biological components of sex they alter, which depends on how much is present at what point in fetal development. Various scenarios could result including a variety of male pseudohermaphroditic conditions that would cause the baby to be identified at birth as a girl and raised as such. Depending on other factors, there could be a horrible surprise at puberty, or, like most girls with partial or complete AIS, they might not find out until several years into their marriages when seeking fertility testing to find out why their husbands have been unable to get them pregnant, or went to a gynecologist to find out why they haven't menstruated, or they may never be told of their disorder, but be led to believe that their ovaries and/or uterus (that they never really had) had been surgically removed because of disease (when actually their useless but cancer-prone undescended testes were being removed), and that’s why they must take daily hormone pills. And any scenario in between. Sorry for my earlier imprecision.

Oh, and note that none of this discussion has pertained to true hermaphrodites, who may be either XX or XY (or XX/XY mosaic, which means some of their cells are XY and others are XX), and have one testis and one ovary, or a pair of ovotestes, any combination of internal and external genitalia, and any combination of the other components of sex, including a differentiated male or female gender identity or an undifferentiated intersex gender identity, and hormones that go either way or are almost evenly divided. (And note that nothing in this entire post has anything to do with sexual orientation--it's an entirely separate issue.)

*sigh* Sometimes I miss being premed.

 

Oh heaven's no. Remember rule #2:

God don't make no junk!!

 

(Moderator hat on)

Ladies (and Gentlemen); I previously said if this thread degenerates into name calling, personal attacks, or gets ugly I would close it.

I do NOT want to do this, so PLEASE take this as an advisory warning:

Please address the issues and not any person in particular-in a derogatory way. We do not have to agree with each other in order to discuss this topic as sisters in Christ.

State your opinions, beliefs, and convictions; but do not tell someone else they are wrong, or any less Godly, if they do not agree with you, OR that you are right and more Godly because you do this or that...

God speaks to each of us differently, at different times in our lives, about different things. Can we all keep this in mind when posting?

I have received a Moderators Alert. If I receive another one...this thread will be closed. Thank you all for your cooperation.

(Moderator hat off)

§ue