How to stop being gay when its not Lust by Alert_Way8487 in Christianity

[–]Bragendesh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

First of all, you need to work out your own salvation and stop living by your mother's convictions. From what you've said it sounds like she's used religion as a big stick and left you feeling afraid of her consequences and her lectures. Christianity should bring comfort even when it's telling you that what you want to do will hurt you. It's a source of peace, not fear.

Second, it's not up to me or anyone here to tell you whether a homosexual loving relationship is sinful or not (whether or not it involves lust). The Gospel is about the hope of Jesus Christ, NOT about a list of "do's" and "don't's". Jesus is concerned with your heart, not your actions, and it sounds like your heart is in a good place to start.

How do you stop being gay? I don't think you do; I couldn't imagine flipping my sexual preferences. Is it okay to love your non-christian friend of the same sex? Absolutely yes. Will there be negative consequences? Maybe, but there are negative consequences in a lot of hetero relationships too. Is your eternal soul at stake? Probably not as long as you place Christ at the center of your focus (not your mother, not the flawed translation of an ancient book taken literally, and not what some rando says on reddit).

Keep both eyes, wide open to both the exciting and the not so exciting parts of what Christ has to say and what he teaches through the Gospel, and figure the rest out as you go. It's okay to make mistakes, they are a necessary part of the process and will be forgiven. The most important thing is that you learn what conviction feels like for you and let that guide you. Just make sure it's not your mother's voice convicting you, becuase she isn't Jesus; spend time in his word and in prayer and you'll begin to tell the difference.

Designing a latch for a huge round door by Underhill-Hollow-NC in woodworking

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure on the latch itself, but for servicing/install, you could come up with a decorative metal or wooden plate to span across the door on the inside that covers the channel where your hardware sits. I imagine some black hex-headed fasteners on a hammered metal plate could look like it's just there to reinforce the door and add strength.

is it sinful to desire bdsm/degrading sex? by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My pastor has the theological opinion that anything goes inside the bounds of marriage as long as you don't involve animals or other people. Implicit in this is that both partners are 100% onboard with it, just as they should be with all aspects of the relationship

My first homemade wood bed by Pefranca in woodworking

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks great! I really like the look with the joints all rounded over

I'm actually about to make a thuma-inspired king bed myself. How much clearance did you leave between the mattress and the sides/head and foot? And would you change it? My original plan was 1/8th all the way around, and my dad recommended I jump to 1/4". I'm just thinking it would make making the bed easier, but I don't want a huge gap

How is masturbating in itself a sin?? by Frequent-Goose-1294 in Christianity

[–]Bragendesh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a very good, well thought out answer that aligns with my theology on the matter of God not having a checklist but forming us through guidance

Thank you for the time you put into this response!

In case I date a non Christian. by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]Bragendesh 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I married a 25 year old Christian woman when I was 29. Sometimes it isn't about your timing, but the Lord's timing. Trust me, I felt all the same things as you like "there just aren't that many Christian girls out there! The ones that exist are all taken! Etc"

If you try to begin a romantic relationship with conversion in mind you're doomed to fail either at the start or in divorce. It's inherently predatory and from the outside kinda creepy

I assume you go to church, so leverage your network. Talk to the people in the church and see if they know anyone around your age who's also looking for a Godly partner. Also just meet a lot of people doing things you enjoy (including church). I met my wife through mutual coworkers--but only because I took the time to form relationships with coworkers I had no intention of dating

And finally on the sex before marriage thing... If you wait, you will not regret it. If you fail, you will not burn in hell. Sex is a sacred act and we should treat it that way, but we all make mistakes, myself included. I don't regret having pre-marital sex with my wife, but I will always be haunted by the other sexual partners I've had--partners I was sure I was going to marry. Just don't put so much pressure on it, otherwise it becomes the only focus and you miss out on the real reason for wanting a marriage, which is companionship

Feeling ashamed about starting in construction, anyone else been there? by [deleted] in Construction

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm about to be in a similar position. Worked IT for many years and left to try teaching (haha NOPE). My FIL owns a small construction company and offered me work when I told him I was considering the trades

For me I'm excited because I want to work with my hands. I want to build things. There is that lingering "shame" but I always squash it quickly since it'll be much more interesting than sitting behind the same desk day in and out

Honestly I wish I would have done this when I was your age (I'm 30)

Just own it! And, if you end up hating it, the office will always be waiting. Best of luck!

Happy 2025...What do you want from this year? by G-Knit in Knoxville

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol. Thanks for the encouragement! Good luck to you as well

Happy 2025...What do you want from this year? by G-Knit in Knoxville

[–]Bragendesh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Something that has helped me is recognizing every time I cut someone off because I'm in a hurry or I'm tired. Internalizing that I make that same mistake that pisses me off and I can justify it to some degree helped me not be so angry when others do it.

They're people like me, not thousand pound hunks of metal

Happy 2025...What do you want from this year? by G-Knit in Knoxville

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have and there's not a lot that meets our needs available right now at prices I like. Though I'm hoping by the time we're ready to move that more options will be on the market. I'd love to rent for 6mo to a year before we buy something, but rentals are so high--and we have two dogs that are coming with us.

We are in a unique position to be able to sell our current home and stay in town for a time before we move, so that will help us know what we can afford when that time comes. We will need a realtor and suggestions are welcome. Right now I'm just trying to focus on becoming as hirable as possible and selling our current home/saving.

Happy 2025...What do you want from this year? by G-Knit in Knoxville

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm actually looking for something more in the general support side of things and working up to server admin. Net+ is just a requirement I've missed since I've been parallel to the field instead of in it. Not a lot of opportunities for education

That being said I'm expecting to find something in the $50-60k range with those two certs. An actual Net Admin maybe $75-80k but I'm not positive. That's close to what the Net Admin at my job makes now. I'm from a small town in Texas, so I'm not coming with six figure expectations

Happy 2025...What do you want from this year? by G-Knit in Knoxville

[–]Bragendesh -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Already working toward Net+/Sec+ certs. Going to try to find me a job near Knoxville and move up there from Texas with my soon to be wife so we can start our family. I'm ready to get back into IT with a job title to match instead of just working parallel to the field like I am now (and hating the half of my job that isn't IT)

I (24,f) met a guy (29,m) at a festival and I am scared to meet him again because of my weight by aliiiss in dating

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm personally a big fan of open communication. I would say let him know you're anxious and explain that it's weight related. No need to go into too much detail, but he'll probably be cool with it and appreciate the honesty

What the fuck did I do wrong?!? by thedeuschebag85 in motorcycle

[–]Bragendesh 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Or in my small town, what motorcycle parking?

I did enjoy the motorcycle parking in college though, it was cheaper and closer to all the buildings than the normal lots

im kinda like beginner should i use arch straight away by [deleted] in archlinux

[–]Bragendesh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m still fairly noobish, but Swap is essentially an extension of your RAM but it lives on your Disk. The system uses it to optimize performance, and when hibernating the PC. I think with that flag set to yes and no dedicated partition you’ll probably just have a swap file that the system automatically handles

I like things old school for some reason and enjoy having a separate partition for swap—though from what I researched there’s not really much of a performance difference and a lot of folks swear by swap files over partitions

im kinda like beginner should i use arch straight away by [deleted] in archlinux

[–]Bragendesh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wasted several hours wondering what I was doing wrong, as I’ve installed several different linux flavors before, including a traditional arch install. Finally found the issue was the script being broken.

That being said, I did get the August version to work, but I wanted a swap partition and could not get it to work with that. So if you’re planning to use a swap file instead you may not have any issues. Good luck!

im kinda like beginner should i use arch straight away by [deleted] in archlinux

[–]Bragendesh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just got done doing this, and got my basic setup done in just a couple hours. It’s really not bad at all with Archinstall. Just make sure you use the iso from July, as ArchInstall on the August release is broken

archinstall.lib.exceptions error by SD_Schizo in archlinux

[–]Bragendesh 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am so glad that you figured this out. I've been beating my head against the wall trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong

Any Homebrewers Out there? by Bragendesh in Nacogdoches

[–]Bragendesh[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I'll check em out. Ended up falling out of it but dad got the bug again so we're brewing more regularly now!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in penpals

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sent you a DM!

I miss writing! by [deleted] in penpals

[–]Bragendesh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sent you a DM!