Holy Moses.
By Angharad.
×” לֹ×-יִהְיֶה כְלִי-גֶבֶר עַל-×ִשּ×ָה, וְלֹ×-×™Ö´×œÖ°×‘Ö¼Ö·×©× ×’Ö¼Ö¶×‘Ö¶×¨ שִׂמְלַת ×ִשּ×ָה: ×›Ö¼Ö´×™ תוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה ×ֱלֹהֶיךָ, כָּל-עֹשֵׂה ×ֵלֶּה. {פ}
5 A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Deuteronomy 22.5 (Wiki)
The preacher thumped the lectern on the pulpit. He stamped and shouted and quoted Deuteronomy and Leviticus and all sorts of modern texts, “This is what happens if we let these people to live amongst us–these sodomites and transvestic perverts–they are all abominations in the eyes of God. They must be cast out from amongst us and from a righteous society.”
His ranting continued and half the congregation were entranced by his fire and brimstone approach and half were embarrassed or bored. This firebrand was the Rev. Harold Burkiss who replaced the rather liberal and laid back Rev. Tom Sloane, who had moved on to pastures new.
I don’t think the conservative minority who had far too much influence liked Tom. He was young–only about thirty two. He’d been a soldier–a lieutenant in the regular army–he’d seen the world and he was single. He had a good friend, John Collins, who used to come and stay with him several times a year. The conservatives wondered if either of them might be a little different, because neither were married nor seemed to be seen in the company of women very much, yet neither were seen as misogynists–getting on well with the women of the parish.
Queen’s Standing was a smallish town, about twenty thousand inhabitants, so when a local bar allowed one of their rooms to be used by a group of cross dressers for a monthly meeting–it soon got out on the grape vine.
The pub quite enjoyed their monthly visitors, they were clean and polite, paid in cash for two rooms and the adjoining toilets; they bought plenty of food and drinks and never left the place in a mess–they were good clients.
Tom Sloane had called by one evening to see for himself and was made welcome–he even invited those who were confirmed to come and take communion the next day–and he didn’t care what they wore as long as it was decent.
Two of the congregants the next day were of the cross-dressed variety, and although well turned out in nice clothing and well coiffured wigs, were obviously men in skirts. The conservatives went ballistic and leant on the churchwardens and other parish committee members to sack their priest.
During the stormy meeting, Tom defended himself by suggesting that his mission was to take the gospel to any and everyone and that Jesus worked amongst far less salubrious types than a couple of clean and presentable trannies–and who in his eyes were doing nothing wrong, just being individualistic.
His opponents threw every cliché they could find at him and finally law 22.5 from Deuteronomy–which were supposedly given to the Israelites by Moses prior to their entry into the Promised Land.
Tom responded that he was a practitioner of the New Testament not the Old, as he was Christian not Jewish. This sadly inflamed the situation and one of the senior churchwardens called for him to resign as a heretic.
“Mr Hassock, as far as I’m concerned, there are only two laws given to us by Jesus. As you appear to be ignorant of them, I’ll remind you: to love God, and to love our neighbour as ourselves.”
“I prefer an eye for an eye, Mr Sloane, and you fraternising with those creatures is despicable and an abomination in the eyes of God.”
“Because they were wearing women’s clothes?”
“Yes–the scriptures proscribe it.”
“I don’t know–you have no objections to me wearing a long dress every time I conduct a service.”
“You joke about holy vestments and how they confer the presence of God in you?”
“Mr Hassock, if you require special clothes for God to be with you, I’m wondering if you’re worshipping the right divinity?”
Hassock blew a fuse and stormed out of the meeting after demanding he resign before they sacked him. Tom looked horrified–wasn’t he just doing his job? If his vestments conferred upon him special status in the eyes of God, perhaps wearing a skirt did the same for the cross-dressers. Mrs Hassock, shrieked and followed her husband out of the meeting.
Tom realised the writing was on the wall, and he began to look for a position elsewhere–somewhere more challenging theologically and less so socially. Tom wasn’t gay, although he knew tongues wagged and his friendship with John made them waggled more freely, neither of them were gay. They were united by a bond of tragedy which meant they’d always be friends.
They knew each other in university and it was obvious that Tom was going to head for the church, despite being a very able student of sociology, he decided he could do more good as a priest. John was a psychologist who was doing quite well for himself at the Maudsley Hospital in London–working mainly with survivors of abuse, who’d gone on to develop other mental conditions. He came to Tom to share their friendship and their sadness and to relax for a few days before he went back to his very stressful job.
Their shared sadness was over the deaths of their girlfriends, who being inseparable friends died together in a bus crash in Germany five years before. The loss of his precious Moira caused Tom to have an enormous crisis of confidence in his faith and it had taken an interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury himself to help him see the way to recovery. While John had sunk into a depression of grief which took him months to claw his way back to normal. John’s humanism had helped but he kept Tom at arm’s length–how could some imaginary deity help–if he existed how could he let these things happen? Tom felt he had answers, but not ones which met John’s needs or beliefs. They stayed apart for a year before one day meeting on the anniversary of the accident and realising that their friendship was too valuable to risk, they made it up and had seen each other every year since.
“So they’re really out to get you for allowing a couple of trannies to come to church? How pathetic can you get? Good job they never go to places like Broadmoor where the local chaplain feels he’s achieved something if he can get paedophiles and sex killers to attend his services.”
“Perhaps that would be less challenging than here–they’re all recognised as homicidal maniacs–here no such diagnosis has been made, though I reckon it’s probably just as high.”
Tom moved on–driven out by the conservative communicants and their supporters–they didn’t need his sort in this parish. The next vicar they had would be more to their liking, sort out these layabouts and poofters. They tried to intimidate the landlord of the local pub by boycotting him–but he was not impressed and the meeting with churchwarden Hassock was colourful to say the least.
Mr Hassock had called in the bar and asked to speak to Bob Linus the owner and landlord. “Bob, we’re a bit worried that having these weirdos in your premises might give the wrong idea to people.”
“Wrong idea?”
“You know, they might think you’re a bit–you know,” he raised his eyebrows.
“I think I’d know if my husband was gay or a cross dresser don’t you, Mr Hassock. Mind you, I think he might look quite fetching in a cocktail dress–you I think, Mr Hassock would be more the gold lame sort of look.” She laughed as she embarrassed the self righteous churchwarden and even Bob gave a little chuckle.
“What colour cocktail frock, my love?” he called after her.
“Oh black, definitely, though you’d have to shave yer beard off.” She laughed loudly and went out into the kitchen.
“Mr Hassock, I dunno what your problem is with these tranny types but they behave themselves, pay on the button and are no trouble whatsoever.”
“I think you might need to consider your license in future, Bob.”
“On what grounds?”
“Keeping a disorderly house.”
“You’d better get some bloody good evidence because if I finds out you tried to end my license, I’ll sue you for every penny you and that ugly bloody wife of yours have got, now piss off out of my pub–you’re banned until I say otherwise.”
“You can’t do that?”
“Try me.”
“On what grounds?”
“For being a total arsehole–for starters–now piss off.”
The next week the tranny club meeting was welcomed as always and Bob had some special news for them. “Dunno how many of you would be interested, but a friend of mine manages a nice sized hotel in Bournemouth–complete with ballroom and so on–he could possibly run weekends for you if enough were interested.”
They were and they did.
The Rev Burkiss replaced Tom Sloane and while he was at the doctor’s one morning having his check up–he was a cancer survivor–he asked Dr Taylor a question. “What makes men want to dress up like women?”
“Why, does this concern you personally?”
“Good grief no, I’m no cross dressing queer.”
“I hate to disabuse you, but if I remember correctly, most of them aren’t either. Statistically, most adult male cross dressers are heterosexual and many are married.”
“So why do they do it?”
“Why does anyone do anything–they enjoy it, some find it an antidote to being men all the time; some are expressing a feminine side; some are possibly frustrated women. It’s harmless and non-contagious.”
“What d’you think about the local public house encouraging them?”
“If it gives them somewhere safe to indulge their hobby why not–would you complain if a group of model train enthusiasts used the building?”
“They wouldn’t be transgressing holy laws.”
“I wasn’t aware a group of men in skirts were either.”
“According to the Book of Deuteronomy, it’s an abomination in the eyes of the Lord for a man to wear the clothing of a female and vice versa.”
“What’s that Mosaic law?”
“Yes, given to Moses by the Lord God himself.”
“I see, so you don’t consider that laws which may be thousands of years old might be inappropriate for today’s society?”
“Absolutely not.”
“How’s the implant?”
“It’s fine–I feel quite healthy now.”
“Good–coming back to Deuteronomy, would you consider your church to be a house of God?”
“I would.”
“Hmmm, I thought so. I think you need to read Deuteronomy again.”
“And why is that?”
“I think there might be a line about an incomplete man being unable to enter the house of God.”
The priest swallowed hard and went very red. “I don’t remember that.”
“It doesn’t mention bilateral orchidectomy as such but it uses terms which are quite transferrable.”
“Such as?” As those who scan texts to find only those things which support their arguments find out–you need to read the small print as well.
“Well, let’s see, shall we?” ב לֹ×-×™Ö¸×‘Ö¹× ×¤Ö°×¦×•Ö¼×¢Ö·-×“Ö¼Ö·×›Ö¼Ö¸× ×•Ö¼×›Ö°×¨×•Ö¼×ª ש×ָפְכָה, בִּקְהַל יְהוָה. {ס}
The doctor called up the internet on his computer. “Do you not read Hebrew?”
“I’m a bit rusty,” lied the embarrassed priest.
“Oh, okay–it means that any man who is injured or damaged down below, cannot be a member of the congregation and thus may not be allowed to enter the House of God.”
“It does?”
“I’m afraid so. Mind you, I probably won’t mention it to anyone because it’s inappropriate these days–I mean in those days men would have died from testicular cancer, especially in both testes. Come to think of it, most of Deuteronomy is inappropriate for today’s society, don’t you think?”
“I think you may be right, doctor.”
“There we are, another good report, Mr Burkiss, see you in a month or so for your shots–do take care and always read the small print.”
“Yes, oh and thank you, Dr Taylor.”
“Always happy to oblige.” The priest left and Taylor picked up the phone–“Bob, put me down for a dinner tonight will you–oh and you owe me.”
“Why?”
“I’ve rid you of that meddlesome priest, to coin a phrase.”
“Beckett?”
“Good lord no, it’s Eliot.”
Comments
Heh, don't forget to read
Heh, don't forget to read the small print, indeed.
That's really a problem from ...
... both sides.
> Come to think of it, most of Deuteronomy is inappropriate for today’s society, don’t you think?â€
The books of Moses were the "Word of God" to the ancient Israelis; some things were of eternal significance and some were timely to the needs of day. Deuteronomy was especially typical (yes, I recognize oxymoronic juxtaposition of the two words) of this.
If a comparable book were written today, I would expect that it would include bits of the wisdom of the day - maybe excerpts from "Hints from Heloise"; a caution to use jack-stands to support ones automobile when working under it; a command to make back-up copies of one's files (Jesus Saves?), etc.
I'm glad that Angharad included the qualification "most"; many would say "all". Often, one will find Christians who say, like Rev. Tom, that only the New Testament matters, the Old Testament / Hebrew Scripture has been superseded. They forget that Jesus often quoted from the OT in making his points. In fact, the Two Great Commandments were not new scripture; both of them came from the OT, one of them from Deuteronomy - 6:5.
Deni
Struggled a bit ...
... with the last two lines but eventually the penny dropped. You're a bit too clever for me, Ang.
Very nicely done short, short. Thanks
Robi
Superb!
....really masterful (mistressful?) tale. Thank you!
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Oh shoot!
My house is 116 years old and must have been built by someone who didn't read Deuteronomy as it doesn't have a railing around the roof. Perhaps, as the roof slopes at 45 degrees and is 25 feet above the ground, the builder didn't think it necessary.
Also, should I try to sew tassels on to my bikini?
S.
Tassels
Yes, you are quite correct. Anyone who does not have tassels on their clothing is breaking Mosaic Law.
If I had been a member of that congregation the previous Rector would have been getting support from me. I would have even shown up at the meeting wearing my Class A Military uniform and my best Drill Sgt hat. I would even have done it 10 years ago before I had any knowledge of the subject being discussed at that Vestry meeting.
as a christian, i enjoyed this very much
very, very nice, and rather funny.
Dorothycolleen
Slow, Very Slow - And Probably Not Too Smart
Maybe 'Drea can explain this to me. I've driven 450 miles today, and my brain is slower than ever. The upside was that we saw a bunch of drivers getting tickets - probably for speeding. The knives in my drawer are so dull they can't cut warm butter.
Portia
Portia
Please Explain
I and a couple of others still don't get the joke. Would someone please help us out. And, I don't mean show us the door
Portia
Portia
The joke
If that's an appropriate term, the cross purposes conversation between the doctor and the landlord of the pub.
It's alleged that Henry II asked, "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" meaning his previous friend Thomas Beckett, who was Archbishop of Canterbury. The landlord asks if this refers to Beckett - as in Thomas, but the doctor pretends he's referring to Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot)and says no, Eliot, as in TS who wrote the play about the murder of Becket called, Murder in the Cathedral. It's a bit convoluted and probably too British for Arkansas. But it shows how crazy my mind is to make associations like that.
Angharad
Angharad
That's a Great Explanation
I dint get it cause I'm not to literal.
Portia
Portia
Old Duteronomy
You mean it wasn't a reference to the character Old Duteronomy from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats?
Michelle B
Heard it in church
The missing testicle rule was talked about in church on Sunday, the speaker wanted to know who did the checking?
Since many of the women had mixed fabrics on and probably 20% had periods that week, several people had glasses on he was surprised that we had any people sitting in the auditorium.
Kerry
Checking on the Pope
It's one of the rituals when a new Pope gets elected that he sits in a special chair and one of the Cardinal Physicians feels around to check. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Well - there's ways...
Well, from what I hear, there's ways to pass that test... A few hunks of plastic and such in there. I hear they can make them quite realistic feeling... At least for dogs, who's owners fear their pooches will feel less - after their orchi... If it works for Dogs, why not Papal candidates...
Anne
Actually, the story I heard
Actually, the story I heard about that particular tradition was that once, a woman became the Pope. She eventually got herself pregnant and consequently gave birth to a child, which is how she was outed. The tradition was then implemented on all the successors, to prevent it from happening again.
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Faraway
Big Closet Top Shelf
Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!
Whence the euphemism
"Pulling the Pope"...
Sorry, this story deserves better than a joke like that. Lemme bloviate philosophical here a bit...
The Reverened Butkisses of the world illustrates the human knack for twisting our holy books, philosophical works, codes of conduct, bodies of law into something self-serving and nasty. That all the emphasis on love and acceptance, the warnings against righteous egotism, the Beatitudes and such, can't possibly apply to them- our scapegoat of the hour. No matter how carefully something is spelled out, we can always justify making exceptions. Like how Japanese Buddhists in the years before + during WWII took as obscure doctrine known as Poa & tweeked it to justify killing people, that you were really doing them a favor somehow, getting them off this gross material plane; which far as I can tell is pretty close to what Manson was saying. People sho is crazy!
~~hugs, Veronica
.
And I still dont get the gag at the end, unless it's a reference to Eliot's MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL.
We now return to our regular programming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTl00248Z48
.
Re Ancient Religions' Rules About Dress Etc
Maybe that explains why almost nobody goes to church or synagog or mosque anymore then? And there was me thinking it was for rational reasons, like now that we knew so much more about what makes things happen in our universe, we dont have to imagine an old man up behind the clouds watching us, ever ready to punish us if we do something wrong, or even if we dont, just for the kicks he gets out of it! Silly me - of course the apemen are not that bright, are they. That is why they only use one half of their dual natures. Only we favoured few, who do use both aspects of our Selves, can see things that way....
Briar
Briar
The fact that you have at least five....
...perhaps as many as seven or eight or even more transgendered ministers who either write or comment on this site and others might give you pause to reconsider your comment just now; that you might see that we who are of faith and are transgendered do indeed use both aspects of our selves. If I may, I'd like to include a small portion of a story that I have posted here that demonstrates in fiction what I am saying? The protagonist Lara DiNapoli is a post-operative transsexual who has been appointed pastor of a church:
Making the way to the lectern for the inaugural message, the pastor nodded slightly; an unfamiliar face to many, which evoked a few murmurs and some applause. Instead of the usual casual slacks and button-down shirt and tie of the previous shepherd, the pastor wore black slacks and a teal silk blouse under a white jacket. She smiled.
“Good Morning,†Lara spoke softly, demonstrating a humility that would be a familiar and welcomed part of her ‘pulpit voice,’ as some put it.
“I am honored to be a part of God’s plan for us all. I’ll be reading my text from The Message today, since I believe it speaks to me, and hopefully through me to you, okay?†She bowed her head slightly and said a silent prayer, her shoulders shaking only a little; another DiNapoli ‘trademark’ that would be a familiar part of her ministry.
Just as anyone else, we who hold faith to be important aren't all cut from the same cloth; my presence as an author and a member of this community should help illustrate that. May we agree to disagree, dear friend?
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Which version of which translation was Burkiss reading from?
The Bible, especially the Old Testament, has been translated and transcribed so many times, who knows what the law was originally? If you go back to the original Aramaic, you would find that the law originally was to keep men from avoiding their service in the army.
Foods to avoid and eating Kosher were for health reasons, not something to do because God said so. the people of the time needed a law, not logic.
A well written story, Angharad, as always.
Much Love,
Valerie R
Much Love,
Valerie R
Original Aramaic ?
Most of it was written in Ancient Hebrew, before Aramaic was used by the Jews about 2000 years ago. Much of it is more like 4500 years old, and a good part was first written in even older languages using cuniform writing on clay tablets, as used by the Hittites. The World's oldest surviving tale is the Epic of Gilgamesh, which has very close parallels in some of the tales in the Torah - that is the "original" Jewish bit of the Black Book. I agree about it all being misltranslated from one to another language many many times though. Bits also got left out in some and new bits added, to suit the demands of whoever was King or whatever. There is so much nonsense in the Black Book, if I had my way it would be available only to scholars studying ancient languages, kept locked up in University libraries.
People needing to understand our world of today would be better advised to read The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin, A Short History of Time, by Steven Hawkings, even Das Kapital by Karl Marx, though that is too long and very boring, I much prefer the works of Groucho Marx, with whom I agree when he said "I dont want to be a member of a society that wants me as a member!"
I was forced to study the Black Book at primary school - it came in useful for criticising and exposing the errors in the dominant christian religion I was forced physically to participate in until I found ways to be absent from them physically as well.
Briar
Briar
I feel saddened.
I feel saddened that it appears your only real exposure to religion has been by bigoted morons who choose to selectively use only that which suits them rather than truly study their religion.
The moral I got out of this story was not how stupid Christianity is, but rather, how you should be very certain, if you are a Christian, that you truly do know exactly what it is you profess to believe in. Be like the old pastor that got chased off by the bigots, not the new one that the bigots installed in his place.
I'm not trying to convert you or anything, but please, when you blanket all religious people with derogatory remarks like these, it only makes you out to appear to be just as bad as they are.
Abigail Drew.
Oh my
The Hebrew 'bible' will always be a bunch of contradictions that any asshat can twist to their own satisfaction. I mean, really, if we enforced Deuteronomy for males who disobey their parents, well, there would be a lot fewer men in the world as the penalty is death ..... errrmmmmm, maybe that is ... oh never mind ;-)
If people truly are Christians then they realized the Old Testament is not applicable as Christ has forged a new covenant with man and old testament rules don't really apply any more. Like this story says, the Old Testament was a means of enforcing social rules that helped preserve social structure 2000+ years ago more or less. Pork for example is deplored because it is unclean say, due to trichinosis maybe(?) as an example whereas modern pork is likely not to have it anymore.
Anyhoo, haters will hate and will grasp at any straw to rationalize it.
Kim
re: pork
Actually, pork does have trichinosis in it still, it is a natural part of the meat. That is why pork should always be cooked well-done.
I grew up on a pig farm. :p
Did you know that pigs and bears are as closely related to people as apes are? We often had to give the pigs medications, many of which we could just buy in any drug store.
Never let anyone serve you "long pig", that is the euphemism for human meat. [ cannibalism ]
Stupidity is a capital offense. A summary not indictable.
Holy Moses! Angharad has
Holy Moses! Angharad has turned out another great short!
Kris
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}
And some of us thing the
And some of us thing the entire thing is a badly done fairy tail, but this isn't the place for it, I suppose. good story btw
I Used My Own Reasoning
What a Minister said to me
Was that most of Deuteronomy, was to tell the Israelites how to conduct their settlements and temples,(and really should not have been included in the bible) and that the rule of gender clothing was to prohibit them to becoming worshippers of Astarte a religion in the area when they first came to Caanan, which it was said their priests cross dressed in honor of their goddess. Interestingly a Jewish cross dresser once told me most Jews don't even follow Deuteronomy as it is as said Mosiac law which isn't used as much any more.
Deut and the Jews
Actually, the only ones that ignore that one are the Conservative and Reformed... probably also the Egalitarians.
In the Orthodox and Chassidic world, that one line is still rock solid, and many young men have been tossed out in the streets if caught.
He just wants his balls back
Ugh... Well kind of understandable in a twisted way. He wants his cojones back :D So he can't understand people who would "give away" their maleness.
Unbelievable I start to pity a hatesprouting priest. But awesome that he was bound by the same stupid law he quoted to discrimminate other people.
Thank you for this interesting tale.
Beyogi
Great story
Another great short story Ang. Perhaps Mr Hassock is just yearning for a cassock.
This story brought back memories of when I used to help run a TG group in Southampton. It was held in a church house so I had to pick the keys up from the church warden. After the first couple of times I never saw him again, just his wife, who handed the keys over.
He must have known I enjoy eating shellfish, so was going to hell.
Love to all.
Anne G.
Holy Moses
Thanks for posting
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
Gengrl had it right.
Deuteronomy 22.5 was written to forbid the Isrealites from worshipping the goddess Estarte. Estarte was a goddess of fertility. The inhabitants of the land the Isrealites invaded believed that demons could steal their fertility. To fool the demons they dressed in the garb of the opposite sex during rituals. The rituals included intercourse in one of the hilltop temples or beneath trees, also considered a holy site.
Since the Israelites were superstitious people they hedged their bet by worshiping many of the local gods, hoping to have large numbers of children to help with the work of survival.
The admonition was not so much about the clothes as it was about a competing religion.
Is anything ever as simple ...
... as it first appears? Well, maybe SOMEtimes.
In this case, no. Were it only about worshiping the Canaanite goddess, why the similar prohibition for women?
Then, as ever since, a certain subset of the female population was not content sitting on the sidelines while their families and very person were at risk. To take a colonial reference, more than a few women, having seen their husband, brother, etc., take a ball from a Red-coat soldier's musket, were much inclined to pick up a rifle and launch a ball or two back into the red-coat lines. Some even took to passing as men in order to be able to do so on a regular basis.
At the time of Deuteronomy's recording, Israel was a small society, whose only practical way of increasing it's size was from within - progeny. It could ill afford having it's women putting themselves at risk; hence a second reason for 22:5 (or was that the third?)
Note that modern Israel isn't so rigid about the matter; but then again, modern Israel is a rather secular society (and modern war usually isn't ~quite~ so close-and-personal as it was then.)
Deni
Uhm...
Because BOTH men AND women participated in this goddess' rites by swapping genders. Though I suppose keeping women away from harm's reach could have been another reason.
I don't really know that much about Jewish customs to know if they do anything similar, but there's actually special endowment garments individual to men or women who go through the LDS temple. It could also refer to those rather than outer garments, since back then, everyone wore non-descript robes pretty much as outer garment.
Abigail Drew.
Eating Crow
For several years I've thought Angharad carried an anti-cross-dresser bias, since her stories seemingly showed a notion of CDing being a stopping place on the road to the higher calling of transsexual.
Several people who I consider friends have told me that I was imagining things and that Angharad is a gentle person and someone I would like if I gave her a chance.
This story has done a lot to convince me that she is a fine writer who has no anti-cross-dressing agenda.
It appears I was WRONG and owe her an apology.
I'm sorry. And . . . I'm very happy you've started writing more short stories.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
About Deut. 22:5
Over the years I have come to realise that the correct interpretation of that scripture is a good test of the scholarship of a religious student. According to a TG person I know, Deut 22:5 actually says that "men shall not enter the women's tents".
This person is TG as I said, and also a person who reads, and speaks, Hebrew, Aramaic, and several other ancient languages, and whose father was a Jewish Rabbi. She is also one of those MENSA folk, and one of the most mild people I know.
Its gotten so that I can barely remain respectful of a person who says it pertains to women's clothes. To me it just marks them for extreme scorn.
G
I've heard this before...
I really should probably find a way to confirm it for myself, but, to be frankly honest, I just can't be bothered. As has been mentioned, much of Deuteronomy was written specifically for that time, or because the Jews were not at that time ready to fully accept the higher law of charity.
Personally, I've always seen that particular part of it as, if it were about clothing, to be of the portion no longer really applicable, and if it's actually supposed to be about tents... well, doh!
Of course single men shouldn't enter the single women's tents, or the other way around. This is still true in my mind today. I know, I know, virginity before marriage is no longer held in the same esteem by most of society, but I still consider it important. I do believe most if not all Judeo-Christian religious groups still do as well, at least officially.
Abigail Drew.
Holy Moses
Like the story.
May Your Light Forever Shine
May Your Light Forever Shine
:D
I think I've eaten enough shellfish to go to hell on behalf of EVERYONE. Prawns for supper tonight. Again. Still as delicious as ever. ^_^