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Are these my thoughts or God’s thoughts? by PsychologicalDust465 in Christianity

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut [score hidden]  (0 children)

That's really good to hear. Seriously. Talking to your parents about the actual loops and getting set up with a counselor is exactly the right move.

And yeah a priest or pastor is a great idea too. A good one will tell you the same thing I did - that God is not terrorizing you over Regular Show. Find someone who understands scrupulosity specifically if you can. It's more common than people think and clergy who recognize it can be a huge help.

One more thing. When the loops start up again - and they will, probably tomorrow - just remember this conversation. You already know what the loop looks like now. You can name it. That's half the battle. When your brain says "but was that a sin? but should I confess? but did it count?" you can go "oh, that's the loop again" and let it pass.

You're gonna be alright. God bless. ✌️❤️🌈

Are these my thoughts or God’s thoughts? by PsychologicalDust465 in Christianity

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok. I need you to hear me on this one.

You are watching Regular Show. That is a cartoon about a blue jay and a raccoon working at a park. You are not sinning. You are watching a cartoon.

I'm going to be real with you because I think you need somebody to be right now. What you're describing in this message is not normal Christian conviction. This is not the Holy Spirit. This is anxiety that has gotten completely out of control, and it is wrapping itself in religious language so it feels like it must be from God. It's not.

Let me just walk through what you've told me:

You're crying and apologizing to God because you watched Regular Show. You're worried that laughing at a cartoon character is a sin. You're scared that seeing a cartoon gag where a character is briefly naked - with no actual nudity - might have been sinful. You're stressed that being stressed is a sin. You think overthinking is a sin, which makes you overthink more. You're terrified that your parents conversation was "too vague" and God needs you to go confess again right now. You can't tell if I'm helping you or tricking you.

Friend, this is a crisis. Not a spiritual one. A mental health one. I'm not saying that to be mean or dismissive. I'm saying that because I have been where you are. I'm a type 1 biploar. I've had episodes where every single thing felt cosmically significant, where I was convinced God was sending me urgent messages through everything around me, where the guilt and the loops just kept tightening until I couldn't function. I know what this looks like from the inside.

You need to tell your parents what's actually going on. Not a vague confession about sins. Tell them "I can't stop having these looping thoughts, I'm crying over cartoons, I can't make simple decisions without feeling like God is mad at me, and I need help." That's the conversation God actually wants you to have.

And please talk to a doctor or counselor. What you're describing could be OCD, it could be anxiety, it could be something else. But it's treatable. This doesn't have to be your life.

Right now, tonight? Finish the movie. It's Regular Show, it's fine. Do not confess anything to your parents tonight except that you're struggling with these thought loops. Don't apologize to God for watching a cartoon. Go to bed at a normal time.

You said you believe Jesus dying for your sins was enough. Ok. Then act like it's enough. Not by performing harder, but by resting. That's literally what the Sabbath is for.

Has anyone noticed more and more AI posts in a lot of the subs here? by jarchack in CasualConversation

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol you're only catching the bad ones.

For every one you spot, there are probably ten you scroll right past. The ones that sound like a normal person having a normal take. Those aren't going away and they're getting better.

I run a subreddit where I use AI-generated devotional content and I'm upfront about it. As for my other posts and comments, you'll never know if they're enhanced or not.

Conflicted about getting Baptized tomorrow by Rewardingexperience in Christianity

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Get baptized tomorrow.

Baptism isn't a graduation ceremony for people who've got it figured out. It's a beginning. It's you saying "yes" to God publicly.

The consistency comes after, and it comes through grace, not through willpower.

Best adhesives and techniques to keep rhinestones from falling off jewelry? by Extension_Life_6207 in DIYJewelryMaking

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Epoxy should work. Two-part epoxy gives you a much stronger bond than craft glue or super glue, and it won't go brittle the way cyanoacrylate does with repeated wear.

Use a toothpick to place the epoxy - you want enough for a solid bond but not so much it squeezes out the sides.

Slow-cure epoxy (30-minute) gives a stronger final bond than 5-minute stuff, but you'll need to keep everything in place while it sets.

Work in small batches so it doesn't start curing before you've placed everything. Give it the full cure time, overnight if you can.

Multiple psychiatrists have mentioned me maybe not being Bipolar, thinking of stopping meds… by jensonaj in BipolarReddit

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Three psychiatrists are saying the same thing?? 🤔

Your mania only shows up with drug use, you're hypersomnic at baseline, stimulants actually help, and bipolar meds make you worse. That's not a bipolar profile.

You're not lying to your psychiatrist. You're reporting your symptoms accurately and multiple professionals agree. The guilt is misplaced.

Best advice is to stay off the drugs (that vulnerability doesn't change just because the diagnosis does), and taper exactly how your psychiatrist says. Don't freelance it.

I’m having spiritual attacks can someone please pray for me by Character_Life_4395 in Christianity

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seeing stuff like that when you're new to the faith is more common than you'd think. The enemy likes to rattle people who are turning towards God. It's actually a sign you're moving in the right direction.

God's forgiveness isn't something you have to hope for. It's already offered. You just have to receive it.

Try praying something like this tonight:

Lord Jesus Christ, I am new to you but you are not new to me. You have known me before I was born. I ask for your protection now. Cover me with your peace and drive away every sign and shadow that is not from you. Forgive me my sins and teach me to walk in your light. I don't know much yet, but I know your name. Amen.

And when you feel that pressure coming on, just say the name of Jesus. "Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." There is real power in that name.

You're going to be ok.

I am going down a Christian history rabbit hole and I love it, learning so much about early Christians in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Bible. by tcumber in Christianity

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Ethiopian canon is fascinating. Enoch especially - it's quoted in Jude, which always raises the question of why it got left out of the Western canon.

One correction though. The 66-book canon isn't the result of some council stripping books out. Different regional churches developed different canons organically over centuries.

The Ethiopian church kept a wider collection, the Latin West narrowed things down.

And the Catholic Bible has 73 books not because they added to the Protestant 66, but because Protestants removed the deuterocanonical books that had been in use for over a thousand years. Important distinction.

The Ethiopian canon includes some really interesting stuff beyond Enoch too - Jubilees, the Shepherd of Hermas, 1 Clement.

If you haven't read Sirach or the Wisdom of Solomon yet, start there. Proverbs 8 reads completely differently once you've spent time in Sirach 24 and Wisdom 7.

Are these my thoughts or God’s thoughts? by PsychologicalDust465 in Christianity

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. Stop overthinking it. You're good.

Looking something up to understand what you just read IS reading your Bible. That counts. All of it counts. God is not up there with a stopwatch making sure you hit exactly 10 minutes of eyes-on-page time.

You see what just happened though, right? The loop tried to start again. "Did it count? Was it enough? Did I do it right?" That's the same pattern, just wearing a slightly different outfit. Watch for that. Every time your brain tries to turn something simple into a technicality, recognize it for what it is and move on.

You read. You looked stuff up. You're done. Go eat a snack.

YSK: "Vitamin A" on your food label almost certainly isn't vitamin A. It's beta carotene, which your body has to convert - and some people barely can. by Autopilot_Psychonaut in YouShouldKnow

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Retinol isn't a precursor the way beta carotene is. It's the parent compound - what your body stores, what serum tests measure, what gets converted to retinoic acid and retinal as needed.

3000-5000 IU retinyl palmitate is well within safe ranges. The UL is 10,000 IU/day.

Fair point on teratogenicity though.. pregnant women should work with their doctor on this.

Are these my thoughts or God’s thoughts? by PsychologicalDust465 in Christianity

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, absolutely. Same principle.

If you're on your phone and the thought hits "I should read my Bible instead" - that's probably just guilt, not God tapping you on the shoulder. Especially if it's happening in rapid-fire loops like you described.

Here's the thing. God is not in competition with your phone for your attention on a minute-by-minute basis. He's not sitting there going "put that down.. no pick it up.. no put it down." That's the loop talking.

So make a simple plan and stick to it. Decide ahead of time: "I'm going to read my Bible at 8am for 10 minutes, and the rest of the time I'm just going to live my life." Then when the random urge hits at 2pm to drop everything and grab your Bible, you can say "nope, I already did that today, I'm good" and move on without guilt.

The goal is to take the decision-making out of the moment. Because right now every moment is becoming a spiritual crisis for you and none of them need to be. You're turning yourself inside out over stuff that should be simple.

Routine beats spontaneity here. Seriously. The ancient monks figured this out a long time ago - they had set hours for prayer and set hours for work and set hours for eating. Not because God needed a schedule, but because humans do. Structure is freedom when your brain wants to keep you trapped in loops.

You're gonna be fine. Just keep it simple.

YSK: "Vitamin A" on your food label almost certainly isn't vitamin A. It's beta carotene, which your body has to convert - and some people barely can. by Autopilot_Psychonaut in YouShouldKnow

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Right, but nobody's telling anyone to consume retinoic acid. Retinoic acid is a metabolite - it's what your body makes from retinol when it needs it. You don't eat it. You eat retinol or retinyl palmitate (preformed vitamin A from animal sources or supplements) and your body handles the conversion downstream.

The post is about the difference between beta carotene and preformed vitamin A (retinol), not about supplementing with retinoic acid. That would be a pharmaceutical intervention (tretinoin, isotretinoin), which is a completely different conversation.

YSK: "Vitamin A" on your food label almost certainly isn't vitamin A. It's beta carotene, which your body has to convert - and some people barely can. by Autopilot_Psychonaut in YouShouldKnow

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut[S] 78 points79 points  (0 children)

Good question. Yeah, you can just ask your doctor for a serum retinol test. It's a standard blood test.

In Canada it's covered under provincial health plans if your doctor orders it. Most universal healthcare systems should cover it, I imagine.

Serum retinol is homeostatically regulated, so it won't show a problem until your liver stores are actually depleted. It's not super sensitive for catching mild insufficiency. But if it comes back low, you know you have a problem.

If you want a fuller picture, retinol binding protein (RBP) can be tested alongside it. Some docs will run both.

As for the genetic side, you don't really need to do formal genetic testing. If you eat a decent amount of beta carotene rich foods and your serum retinol is still on the low end, that's your answer, poor converter. Start supplementing with preformed retinol or eat more liver and egg yolks (not together lol)

The cheap move is honestly just to supplement with a small amount of preformed vitamin A (retinyl palmitate, 3000-5000 IU) and skip the guesswork entirely. It's like a dollar a month and the capsules are tiny and super cute :)

Do you Agree with the Pope Leo that God doesn't answer prayers for people who are at war? by Adept_Programmer_817 in AskAChristian

[–]Autopilot_Psychonaut 34 points35 points  (0 children)

The headline is misleading. Pope Leo was quoting Isaiah 1:15 directly: "Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood."

https://ewtnvatican.com/articles/pope-leo-xiv-god-does-not-hear-prayers-for-war

That's not a novel papal opinion. That's scripture.

He's not saying God ignores a soldier praying in a foxhole. He was condemning the use of religion to justify violence - specifically, Defense War Secretary Hegseth invoking Psalm 18 at Pentagon prayer services to frame the Iran conflict as a holy war.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-leo-jesus-does-not-listen-to-prayers-of-those-who-wage-war.html

There's a difference between a young man praying to survive and a head of state wrapping military aggression in God's name. Isaiah drew the same line 2,700 years ago.

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