this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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If I ever encounter someone making stuff up like that, I want to ask them to back it up with the Bible, because I have a very strong feeling they're going more on gut instinct than scripture.
I only hear about these kinds of people online, though. Well, except the one time I heard a guy condemning Magic: The Gathering, but he was at least making sensible points about it.
They just block you. They aren't looking for a debate, they look to be validated through the identity they craft for themselves.
I meant in person. I haven't had trouble dealing with this kind of person online in the few times I've interacted with them, probably because they give me the benefit of the doubt for being a Christian myself.
It'll be like playing chess with a pigeon. They'll just shit all over the board and strut like theyve won.
These people don't follow the Bible. They follow what their pastor/parents/husbands say and hang onto every word unquestioningly like it was literally gospel. They won't hear a single word against them or their teachings.. They're the definition of brainwashed.
Does it have to be xtian shit because I'm kind of working on a pastafatian spinoff that would work around worshiping delicious food and also maybe I could run a restaurant
For me it does, because Christianity is the only religion I can truthfully claim to be a fellow believer in.
You don't believe good food is godly? Heretic! (ง'̀-'́)ง
Not godly, but a gift from God at least.
We're gonna have to have this out over some gyros
I'm down, but only if it's in walking distance from my dorm.
I have and it doesn't matter. Neurology backs me up on this. You and your god believe exactly the same thing. The Bible isn't there to tell people what to believe it is to confirm what they already "know".
I've been corrected by the Bible before. The big reason my beliefs line up with the Bible so well is because I've dedicated myself to following what it teaches and grew up around people who legitimately do the same.
The entire field of neurology backing you up on the idea that I reshape my idea of God to suit whatever I want to believe doesn't explain me reshaping what I believe to match God.
Uh huh right. So why are you on the internet? You should have given away all your possessions and just depend on God.
Consider the lilies, they toil not, nor do they spin.
Sorry for the textwall. Bible context and explanation, y'know.
John 21:3-12:
Jesus never told them to give away their net or boats. It was through the fishing equipment they had and the work they did that he provided for their needs.
My laptop and internet connection are how God provides for my needs, by allowing me to have work as a programmer and enough income to survive and pay for my college education, which will in turn allow me to get better pay so I can give more to the poor. That, and it gives me access to the largest mission field I'll ever reach.
Excess possessions should be given to the poor, yes, but wisdom is required in all things. I can do more for the Kingdom with the internet than I could with the few hundred dollars I might earn by selling my laptop.
Gotcha. How convenient for you. Your moral code requires you to act exactly how you want to act.
Do you get it now? You want a computer programming degree and your god wants you to have a computer programming degree. They always match up! You didn't align yourself with the Bible, you quote mined to find the text that backed up the decision you were already going to make.
And hey I am not even judging. I was a theist. I did the same thing. Turned out God wanted me to become a Biblical Scholar and then God changed his mind and decided I could serve better an as engineer. Which coincidentally happened the moment I found out what the pay difference was. I remember exactly how you feel now. Feeling like the creator of the fucking universe gave a shit if I jerked off or not.
Do what you want. Prayer is just talking to yourself. Hope you see the light one day. Face existence, cold unfeeling, indifferent, but real.
Unironically, thanks for the reminder of the life I don't want to slip into.
I chose a computer science degree because I've been a programmer from a young age. I haven't felt a divine calling towards a profession, just my natural interest and talent (the latter of which does qualify as a gift from God,) and the knowledge that whatever work my hands find to do, I can do it to the glory of God in some way.
I never saw a verse in the Bible say you need a divine calling before you choose your profession. God calls people sometimes, but sometimes people mistake their own feelings for God, which I guess can happen if you haven't heard God. The way I learned to recognize Him speaking to me started with discerning whether the message lines up with the Bible and whether it's something I want to ignore because it's inconvenient or hard.
I'm sorry you went through what you did. I can't say with certainty that being a biblical scholar wasn't actually a divine calling, but if you couldn't tell the difference between that and the "call" to engineering, there's a good chance that you got it from being swept up in a moment at church or some retreat.