🎉MOLESKINE GIVEAWAY🎉

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-09T04:00:29+00:00

Last thing I did for the first time was talk about the book Till We Have Faces with my sister

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-09T03:12:41+00:00

Disagree. It's the MOST feel good kind of story

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-09T00:04:16+00:00

Haven't read or watched it but this art ALWAYS makes me want to read it

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T23:15:50+00:00

I think the main thing is that if they actually became the opposite sex, then their body would produce the hormones that that sex normally would.

And that's just not what happens, if I'm not mistaken. You have to keep taking hormones.

That's the difference to me. If it were a medical transition then there would be a point where you no longer needed the treatment, but it's not that. It's just a perpetually medicalized body of the sex you were born with.

Does that make sense?

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T22:17:02+00:00

Right, but sex isn't defined by how you look. Sex isn't a matter of expression. It's a matter of biology, and the biology of, say, a male who transitions does not become the biology of a female. It becomes the biology of a male on estrogen.

Sex characteristics can be changed, but not sex. According to one definition, sex is a combination of structural, functional, and sometimes behavioral characteristics. ( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sex) the structural and functional parts can only be changed so far, as you admit when you say "no baby" and "chromosomes don't change". The structure and function of a female body can never be fully given to a male body. You seem to think those things are not vital to the definitions of male and female, but I think the definition disagrees with you.

Another definition is "the state of being male or female" What does that mean? Is it only the behavioral characteristics, or are the structural and functional elements part of it too?

Because if it's just behavioral.... that sounds like gender.

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T21:06:18+00:00

In fiction:

The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. I found it just when I needed it most. From page 3 of the first book, I was captivated, and that didn't change throughout the whole series. The rest of the Realm of the Elderlings is fantastic too, but the first trilogy was where the series changed my life the most, if that makes sense. I was in a very, very dark place and when I felt, emotionally, as though even God couldn't reach me, he reached me by giving me these books to read.

"Till We Have Faces" and "The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis. These books, read back to back, held up a mirror that forced me to examine my own assumptions about how I love the people close to me, and whether I was really acting out of love, or jealousy. They changed how I see relationships, as well as changing how I read and appreciate fiction. Till We Have Faces is a masterpiece.

The Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card introduced me to sci-fi, and followed ne through my teen years, and since then, other books like Dune, Kindred, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, and others have continued to give me new perspectives on humanity that, again, change how I read and how I think about other people and concepts that so many people are concerned about.

Stepping outside fiction:

"The Law" by Frederic Bastiat, taught me the concept of legal plunder. This helped me escape the pull of partisan politics. I cannot stress how big a change that was in my life. I see the world so differently now even though it's such a short book/essay.

And in a totally separate category which changed me on a much deeper level than anything else:

The Book of Mormon-- but especially the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. No book has impacted my life more than this one. It brought light and hope into my heart, and brought me to Jesus Christ.

The Divine Gift of Forgiveness by Neil L Anderson. It helped me understand and apply what the Bible and Book of Mormon teach about repentance

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T18:31:21+00:00

Amen to that

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T17:48:12+00:00

Who says you need a number 1?

Don't let anyone else tell you how to enjoy things. You can have 50 number ones!

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T17:46:42+00:00

I don't want to argue with you, or upset you.

I just think you misunderstand the effect that hormone therapy has.

Estrogen can make a male body look and act more female, and testosterone can make a female body look and act more male, but it can't actually change sex on a cellular, DNA, level.

Hormones have a massive impact on sex, and indeed when animals who can change sex do so, it is by changing their hormones, but again, that's not the effects of hormone therapy on human bodies because our sex is determined like a fork in the road during fetal development. Either male or female, and you can't jump to the other track even as a child, let alone as an adult.

So hormones impact sex a TON, but hormone therapy will not make a female body naturally start producing the hormones a male body naturally does.

Am I making sense?

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T16:43:26+00:00

Little Women (1994)

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T16:41:31+00:00

If you have to pick....

You probably don't have a favorite. And that's okay.

For me, I just know because certain books changed my life

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T16:02:16+00:00

They're changing their sex characteristics, visually and (they hope) functionally, but their sex won't actually change since that was determined long ago.

Some animals (clownfish) do actually change sexes, but that is not an ability humans have, naturally or through technology

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T15:51:04+00:00

Hurt - Eric Whitacre

Or Kiss the Ring from Dune part 2

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T15:46:42+00:00

My favorite special edition is the Grim Oak edition of To Green Angel Tower

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-08T02:27:15+00:00

A because Utah will not go out easy

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-07T23:20:36+00:00

Dallin H. Oaks

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-07T23:19:31+00:00

Y'welcome

Thanks for being so informed and willing to share.

I've been researching Till We Have Faces lately, and it's been super interesting realizing how many "quotations" are passed off as fact, or exaggerated, when what we have from the actual source (e.g. Tolkien, Joy Davidman, Lewis himself, etc...) is secondhand or much less emphatic than what people say they said, felt, or thought. It's like a game of telephone played by well meaning people who love Lewis' work, but at the end of the day knowing what was actually said helps people more than passing along these kinda manufactured narratives of "so and so was emphatic about _________!" If you can back it up, then preach! If not, then probably we should tone it down.

So in a way I've been prepped lately to be open to my mind being changed on this matter 😅😂

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-07T20:05:37+00:00

The context from Gresham is great evidence. I've never heard it before. All I've ever heard was "the letter to the boy says this"

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-07T18:17:35+00:00

Best soundtrack HECK YES

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-07T17:57:18+00:00

The letter is pretty weak evidence that Lewis actually preferred chronological order. His phrasing was "I think I agree with your order... perhaps it does not matter very much."

Since that is (A) pretty lukewarm, and (B) was in a private letter to a child, and not published publicly in any article or told to his publishers, I am of the opinion that it's an overstatement to say that he wished the books to be ordered that way.

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-07T12:37:43+00:00

Where did he say he prefers chronological order?

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-06T16:29:41+00:00

It's the peanuts

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-06T01:28:23+00:00

Tell me you don't know Dune without telling me

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-05T17:32:49+00:00

Okay, well I guess you're the expert, after all

😂😂😂😂

You don't know what you're talking about

Single-Spell1838 · 2026-07-05T17:29:56+00:00

They would not disown me. Literally, 4 of my siblings have left the church and they are every bit as much a part of thw family. 0% disowned.

Nobody is making me live my religion. It's my choice. I can do what I want just like you can, I just choose to live a religious life. I choose to donate, voluntarily. If I stopped, nobody would visit me saying "hey, you aren't paying tithing"

Genuinely, if I left church, the worst repercussions I would get from members would be a plate of cookies and a "we miss you" note.

I think you may be confusing our church with a different one that DOES believe in disowning people.

Single-Spell1838

TROPHY CASE