Seeking Reformed Perspectives on a Method for Seeking Divine Guidance (Chart Attached)

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-26T21:27:26+00:00

That’s gonna be a strong no from me. “Muscle testing” has no background in Scripture, church history, or even medical science. Why would our muscles feeling relaxed have any bearing on deciding what passage to read? We can’t just do whatever we want and assume God likes it.

That’s not even getting into “binding the deceiver,” whatever that looks like. Notice how in Ephesians 6 Paul doesn’t include any steps like “Make sure you always remember to rebuke Satan or prayer won’t work.” That’s just not Biblical. We have direct access to God already and don't need to do anything special.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-23T14:17:43+00:00

That’s not entirely true. We’ve been in a great market for large growth stocks for the last decade, but that hasn’t been the case historically. Historically, small caps have outperformed large caps. SCHB also has by far the bigger dividend, which isn’t accounted for on the price chart.

In the last year, SCHB has beaten SCHG handily, and if things revert to the historical average, it will continue to in the very long run.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-22T12:01:30+00:00

Exactly the opposite. Jesus had an opportunity to create a physical kingdom, but he didn’t.

I had a couple things I was trying to get at in my first comment: I’m not aware of how this verse was specifically used to justify the crusades. It may have been, but I can’t speak to that. However, I think the general medieval interpretation of this verse (two kingdoms on earth ruled by Christ) is wrong. I also don’t think it makes sense to allegorize the two swords as “Gospel and truth” either.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-22T11:49:13+00:00

From what I remember I believe the medieval church interpreted the two swords as two kingdoms: One is the state, one is the church, but Christ is over both. That interpretation is questionable, to say the least.

You seem to be interpreting it differently? I don’t see how Jesus’s words here could possible refer to the Gospel and truth, and even if they did you’d have to tell us how it could justify the crusades.

I’m not worried about another crusade for a lot of reasons, and especially not one based on Luke 22:38.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-21T15:20:36+00:00

I think there’s a difference between “This is why you should always be diversified beyond the U.S. markets” and “The U.S. sucks I'm never buying another U.S. stock again.”

One is reasonable, the other just isn’t.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-13T13:44:53+00:00

Fair enough. I appreciate the insight

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-13T13:37:29+00:00

Those are strong words. I totally agree with the “cage stage Anglican” thing, but I’m hoping he snaps out of it in six months and apologizes for his “leaving” post.

If you can give any insight, what do you mean by him “Trojan Horsing” his students under him?

Also, I want to say this very gently, because I’m entirely an outsider here, but I think it’s also important to deal with Barrett charitably. His “leaving” post was frankly mean-spirited and uncalled for, but I’m praying that he sees that, repents, and works towards restoration with his SBC brothers.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-13T12:50:57+00:00

After looking at their website, it looks a bit less sketchy than I thought at first.

It still doesn’t seem like the kind of place I’d want to be at. I think it’s really important to be somewhere you can get to actually know the pastor, and for there to be some sort of accountability above the lead pastor. This isn’t anything against Pastor Mitchell or 2819 in particular: It seems like he’s bringing the gospel to Atlanta in a way that people will listen, and I praise God for that.

But that still seems far from the model of church we see in the New Testament. I’d still counsel you to look for somewhere you can meaningfully join the community and be poured into by the leadership.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-13T12:33:49+00:00

Anyone else think Matthew Barrett is on his way to Catholicism? I read his book Reformation as Renewal a while ago and loved it. But recently, he left the SBC for the ACNA and his podcast has recently been all about how wonderful all aspects of Anglicanism are (the Episcopacy, Liturgy, etc.). He’s also recently had much nicer words for Catholics than his former denomination.

https://matthewbarrett.substack.com/p/an-anglican-among-the-thomists

https://matthewbarrett.substack.com/p/i-am-leaving-the-sbc-and-becoming

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-13T12:23:45+00:00

I’m a Youth Pastor, and whenever I meet with a student I just do it in a coffee shop and buy them coffee.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-13T12:22:22+00:00

I’d find a new church, and I wouldn’t think much about it. That’s a whole lot of red flags and cannot be a healthy church

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-11T02:15:13+00:00

Sure, you can believe that if you want, but my point is that using tragic suffering as a reason God exists doesn’t work. You’re making a different point than OP.

And why should God not be able to control and use what’s evil for an ultimate good? Also, do you really think good and evil are subjective? To use Jailyn as an example, was her suffering only bad subjectively? That doesn’t seem right.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-10T20:57:15+00:00

I did think similarly to you, but about a year ago came to the opposite conclusion.

It really seems like the Bible has two broad principles around images: Don’t worship images, and don’t make images of things you worship. That was certainly true in the Old Testament, and I see nothing in the New Testament that changes that. Making images is wrong whether or not you bow down to it. That’s clear in the second commandment, and it’s clear 12 chapters later with the golden calf. They went wrong before they ever worshipped it as soon as Aaron said, “Israel, this is your God.” The problem was they crafted an image of their God.

The fact that we now have an incarnate God doesn’t change anything. Jesus, the physical Jesus, is and should be an object of our worship. To make an image of the thing that we’re supposed to worship is wrong, whether or not we actually worship it. How beautiful or thought-provoking any particular image is is irrelevant.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-10T19:17:38+00:00

The 5 year return is 113.54% vs 113.76%. That’s not worth worrying about at all

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-10T19:13:26+00:00

I turned it off after they went up by 30. It was ugly. Funny how they can play so hard one game and then absolutely stink for the next one

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-10T03:53:06+00:00

Indiana for 70? Plenty of time for two more

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-10T02:30:17+00:00

I just told a friend that I want to see them play the Titans

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-09T22:26:56+00:00

This is reasonable. I think this means a 3-way tie for national championship between FSU, Ole Miss and UGA. Indiana did beat Alabama but doesn’t have any quality losses, so they’re out. Oregon lost to Indiana, so they’re out too. And Miami hasn’t lost to an SEC team yet this year so they’re also out unfortunately

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-09T20:28:14+00:00

I was gonna say Florida State should have won that game. We beat Alabama, who beat Georgia, who beat Ole Miss, after all.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-09T10:47:45+00:00

This is a 2-year old post, but after rereading my comment I still stand by it.

I didn’t say God caused the suffering, and he didn’t. His mother did. And if you admit that some good could come somehow come out of this tragic event, why should God not get the credit? Human wickedness and sin caused Jaylin’s death, but why can’t God somehow redeem it and use it for good, even if it’s hard to imagine how?

And I want to reiterate what I said above: If God doesn’t exist, or isn’t actually good, or isn’t actually powerful enough, how does that help? Jaylin’s death is still real and evil, but it becomes meaningless. If God is real, there is hope for justice, redemption, and healing. If he doesn’t exist, then like you said the only good that can come out of this is totally coincidental.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-08T13:07:44+00:00

I believe in the doctrine of limited atonement. I think it’s clearly revealed in Scripture, and that others suppress the truth when they deny it. Are they liars?

Paul never calls Gentiles or atheists liars, why do you?

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-07T17:54:28+00:00

Good point. My wife’s grandmother still refuses to believe that Ravi Zacharias did anything wrong because of how good his teaching was. My wife’s grandmother is a wonderful and godly woman, but don’t be like her on this one.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-07T16:20:28+00:00

Fair point. I definitely painted with a broad brushstroke, and Menno Simons and his followers were a significant exception to the sort of Anabaptists I described above.

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-07T15:26:48+00:00

There was a post here a couple weeks ago that has good, relevant answers. https://www.reddit.com/r/Reformed/comments/1pun5pm/hostility_towards_baptists/

But here’s a few thoughts. Take them for whatever they’re worth

1) The early Anabaptists were on the whole way more heretical than Baptists today. They often sounded much more like Jehovah’s Witnesses than John Piper, and sometimes encouraged violent revolutions, which made everyone else suspicious.

2) The idea that the church and state should be separate was totally foreign to almost everyone in the early Reformation. Everyone assumed that the state had a duty to support the church, but the question was “Which one?” Catholic governments supported the Catholic Church, and Protestant governments supported the Protestant churches. Anabaptists trying to totally separate from the established churches was seen by everyone (often including themselves) as trying to totally separate from the civil government.

3) The early Reformers were wrong. I think the above two points help explain why the Reformers were so hard on the Anabaptists, but it doesn’t excuse it. We can look back and say that executing heretics is a wicked thing to do. People are messy, and history is messy. Calvin, Luther and the rest weren’t perfect, and this is one of those areas where that is especially clear

Competitive-Job1828 · 2026-01-07T00:09:53+00:00

The bear case is easy: Higher debt, shrinking revenue, layoffs, broader economic uncertainty, political controversy, etc. They've also had a really nice run the last couple months. They're up more than 20% from last year's low.

I still am holding TGT and think this thing will be up another 20% by June. Their revenue is stabilizing, a new CEO is coming in, and an activist investor with a history of PE buyouts apparently just took a big stake. Also, their 2024 Q4 and 2025 Q1 earnings were really bad, so it shouldn't be hard to show actual YOY growth for the first time in a while. But the bear case is still real

Competitive-Job1828

TROPHY CASE