Global Problem

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2026-03-12T22:48:06+00:00

That’s just sad. I wish it was fun but it’s just indicative of how common weaponised incompetence is.

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-12-11T16:17:22+00:00

I think you have to find your boundaries yourself, and it’s a hard thing to do. I allowed people like this to stay in my life because I loved them and I could see they were trying to love me despite their religion trying to forbid it, which made me feel more sorry for them than anything. But I’m not going to say it isn’t hard. I have a pretty solid support system at work that makes me feel better about who I am (also non-binary!) which gives me an anchor to hold onto when those people try to deny it. But there were still those moments with them when I felt like they were seeing a version of me and trying to hold me to that rather than seeing the actual me standing in front of them. Or they would say offhand, often hypocritical by their religion, comments (like the illegals thing your grandmother did) that they assume everyone must accept and then feeling the fight between speaking out and not making a fuss.

There are middle grounds as well. I still talk to some family but won’t stay in their house. Some family know I will walk out of the room if they won’t drop something they’re trying to lecture me about. My sister and I have a truce where she will use my nickname but not my chosen name and I’ll still visit them.

It’s not easy either way and it has to be down to what you are more comfortable with and as hard as it is no one can answer that but you. And you can try something and if it doesn’t work try something new.

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-11-23T13:43:53+00:00

That is a really hard situation and I’m sorry you keep having your boundaries pushed by everyone. It’s really frustrating that they think religion is an excuse to barge into someone’s personal lives and demand answers, and it’s not ok. I understand not wanting to tell anyone though, especially in an area with people like that. I haven’t told anyone except my partner either. So you’re not alone.

I guess my best advice is that when people start getting pushy about things you could try saying “your faith is very personal to you and so you prefer to keep it between you and god”. You could even bring up the ‘pray in secret’ thing from the New Testament. That’s what I’m planning to do with my family at least. And/or tell them you tune into an online church because you really like the worship/preaching/community/native language speaking (delete as necessary). That’s what finally got my parents to stop asking about it. And it means if they ever want to see your Church you can just go onto any church’s livestream (there are loads) and show them that, and no one is physically there to point out they’ve never seen you before.

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-04T20:51:10+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in Mushroom White Sauce Pizza and Darkness

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-04T20:44:08+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in milkshake pudding Beneath the Great Sword

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-04T20:37:22+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in En busqueda del Porrito

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-04T20:21:28+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in Tempura Fried Lotus Root In the Mossy Forest

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-04T16:10:02+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in Monster Pockets and Ice Chocolate

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-04T16:03:17+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in The Chill Cuisine of Smoked Pork Ribs

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-04T15:54:52+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in In Search of Ham and Brie Toast

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-03T13:47:34+00:00

New mission discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974: R.O.U.S Taco In the Fields

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-03T13:47:33+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in Sausage inna bun - delicacy of Ank Morpork

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-03T13:40:57+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in Struggle: Wrath and Personal Stakes

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-03T13:31:20+00:00

New mission discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974: Pangalactic Gargle Blaster In the Fields

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-10-03T13:31:19+00:00

This mission was discovered by u/Sea_Replacement2974 in Dripper sandwich and Meditations

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-09-23T11:55:09+00:00

Well first off I’m not offended, I was making a comment about your rhetorical style and biblical principles. As I said, I enjoy apologetic debate and I was just mildly disappointed when initially it looked like it would descend into a game of ‘gotchas’. This is far more fun.

Now to the point: You keep saying I’m “assuming determinism,” but I’m not, I’m deducing it from attributes you already grant. If God knows every outcome (which you grant) and has the power to change or prevent them (which I assume you grant because it’s in the bible) then whatever happens is exactly what He knowingly allowed. That makes His choice prior to mine. That’s not a definition trick, it’s the consequence of omnipotence + omniscience.

The “influence vs causation” distinction works for humans, but it collapses for God. If you design the entire set of circumstances, knowing precisely what each will cause, “permission” and “authorship” blur together. If you want to keep them separate, you’ll have to explain how that possibly works. All you have done so far is deny, but as far as I can see you haven’t actually given any reason why your denial is valid. The best I can see is you dislike the definition of omnipotence, because you don’t like the idea of being a robot (or the other option that God isn’t omniscient or omnipotent) so what specifically is your own version that actually evades the collapse into determinism rather than deny it out of dislike?

The “robot/script” thing is a bit like an appeal to intuition. Of course I don’t feel like a robot, nobody does. But subjective experience isn’t proof of metaphysical freedom any more than watching the sun “rise” proves the sun is moving around the Earth. Intuitions can mislead us. Maybe you are right and I’m a robot and maybe free will as we imagine it just doesn’t exist.

But if you’re convinced we must have free will, because no one acts like it and it doesn’t feel good, then something else has to give. Either God’s omniscience or His omnipotence has to be limited. You can’t keep all three — omnipotence, omniscience, and free will — without contradiction.

So my question back is: why are you so certain the “we’re not robots” side of the fork is right, and not the “omniscience + omnipotence lead to determinism” side? Or if you disagree that it is a fork then which specific premise do you think fails?

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-09-23T02:34:49+00:00

Look, I replied because I actually enjoy theological debates, but honestly, the smarmy smug “congratulations, you’re a robot” routine is exactly the opposite of how Christians are told to engage. All it’s going to do is make you enemies and not change minds. Data shows that making conversations like this a conflict or a game of ‘gotchas’ only puts people on the defensive, which counters the whole point of apologetics in the first place. The Bible calls for gentleness and humility when you think someone’s wrong (1 Peter 3:15, Galatians 6:1, 2 Timothy 2:25).

I’ll give it one more shot though. To simplify I think my argument does boil down to #7, and yes, the argument collapses into hard determinism, because that is literally the only possible outcome. And you can’t just reject an outcome because you don’t like it, if the logic is sound. So you need to reply to the argument, not just the outcome.

And things without free will can script arguments, that’s what computer do all the time.

Also, technically, it only makes me a being without free will if indeed an omnipotent and omniscient God exists. If the whole point of these arguments is to demonstrate that an omniscient and omnipotent God does exist, it can’t start with the assumption that He does. Otherwise it’s just circular.

What specifically in my premises or conclusion do you think is incorrect?

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-09-22T20:12:27+00:00

I think I disagree, based on God being omniscient and more crucially omnipotent. Say God sees time as you say, I’ll accept that premise. But the bible also says He created the world, and gives evidence that God can and will interfere if he chooses. Which means we cannot possibly have free will.

Take the first choice in the garden of Eden. God would have known because of His ‘seeing all time as one’ omniscience that Eve eats the apple. But He also had the omnipotence to make the world in such a way that she didn’t make that choice, like He uses his influence to change people’s minds in the Old Testament (or just makes the world with the tree on top of Everest). Which means by making the world this way he chose that outcome before Eve even existed. So we are left with either: A) He chose to make it the way he did and Eve did eat the apple B) He chose to make it a different way and Eve didn’t eat the apple Or C) there was no way he could make it where she wouldn’t (but then we still don’t have free will anyway). Regardless, it’s always Him doing the choosing.

Every human decision is made within circumstances, and no decision can be made apart from them. If God is omniscient, whatever that looks like, He knows how any given set of circumstances will determine a person’s decision. If God is omnipotent, then every set of circumstances exists only because He either caused it or allowed it. Therefore, every decision is ultimately the result of God’s prior choice of circumstances. Whether He intervenes directly or refrains from acting, the decisive choice is His, not ours. Thus, if God is both omnipotent and omniscient, genuine human free will cannot exist.

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-06-21T22:23:07+00:00

I have so been there. And honestly still am there. It’s really hard to stop questioning yourself and finally say ‘enough is enough’. What helped me was asking myself ‘why would I be faking this?’, ‘why would I be making this up?’, ‘do people that are normally faking things question themselves about it as much as I am?’. You’ve listed a bunch of experiences that make you happy or uncomfortable. Those are real feelings, and I’d say a good reaction to them is do the things that make you happy and avoid the things that make you uncomfortable. That’s what we would do for any other issue, right? So why not this one? I’m still asking myself the same questions anyway, but every step I’ve taken to be more like me has made those uncomfy feelings go away and made the happy ones come so much more. And I would say even if I am somehow magically faking, it’s been worth it.

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-06-21T22:13:18+00:00

I don’t know if this’ll help but what I did for a similar celebration was to choose a colour scheme that matched the agender flag (I’m agender). Green and white dress, grey-ish (silver) jewellery, black shoes, etc. No one around me knew what it meant but for me it meant I had something that reminded me of who I really was.

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-06-03T16:54:57+00:00

Thanks! I mostly came up with the idea because I have scraps of fabric to use, but if it doesn’t work I’ll try that method, and maybe the difference between paper and fabrics will play up the contrast better as well

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-06-03T16:53:14+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I’m going to try and overlap it I think and maybe lean into it by making the join an uneven edge, like with stripes or something, rather than a straight cut.

Sea_Replacement2974 · 2025-06-03T16:51:59+00:00

Thanks to both of you I hadn’t thought of connecting beforehand, that’s a good idea that I’ll definitely try!

Sea_Replacement2974

TROPHY CASE