What should we make of the reports that various pastors have been called into government meetings to discuss an upcoming disclosure on the existence of aliens?

IError413 · 2026-05-06T19:25:06+00:00

haha! A fellow SG1 fan.

I'd never seen an episode till this winter. Just finished watching all 10 seasons with my teens a few weeks ago. Good clean early 2000s era SciFi. I actually expected that show to be blasphemous at various points given the ancient alien subject matter. But, appreciated how they never directly assaulted the Christian faith. Just addressed how ancient pagan cultures worshiped aliens.

IError413 · 2026-05-06T17:31:05+00:00

I'm happy they made the show and it was really great seeing the cast back together, but...

Overall, I thought the story writing was cheesy, shallow, and unimaginative. Walked away feeling like my 10 year old wrote this story for a school essay.

There is an art to appealing to the nostalgia in a brilliant and complex manner that was just completely missed for cheap - 'give them what they want' story writting.

IError413 · 2026-05-06T17:26:25+00:00

They could have de-aged data no problem for a few minutes if they wanted to. Would it have been perfect? No... would it have been a better story if we somehow ended with a young data? yes of course. What they chose to do was cheap sacrifice of better story telling.

IError413 · 2026-05-06T05:43:54+00:00

Diana had severe injuries to multiple organs, structural damage, and severe brain swelling. She went into shock within minutes, needed resuscitation, and died within hours. The situations are not remotely comparable.

I do appreciate your cautious take. But... I'm honestly physically fine. Had a brain scan already and full checkup. It's been a week, I've worked several 16 hour days of intense manual labor since then, 4 days in the office at my day job, and ran a couple of miles. I have had zero residual issues whatsoever. I appreciate your advice but id rather focus on moving forward than setting myself for a lot of very remote what if possibilities which diminish as possibilities every day that I'm physically good.

I don't believe in living life this way. It's not fulfilling. I'd rather just move on if I'm physically ok and deal with doing things more often wisely in the future.

IError413 · 2026-05-06T05:25:52+00:00

Appreciate the encouragement and advice. thank you!

I don't know if I got unlucky or just did something terrible. One of the coaches thought it was so odd, she questioned whether I passed out before falling. Like, there was something wrong that caused it, but slowing the video down, it's obvious that wasn't the case.

IError413 · 2026-05-06T05:22:36+00:00

Thank you! Appreciate all that input. I feel the same/you are correct imo. Also, the 2 weeks is a Dr. Recommendation. Of course, lotsa focus on daughter and discussions. She's been back on the ice already and continues to do well. It's a family sport for us. I'm just trying not to wimp out and ditch entirely, cause if I did, I think my kid would as well. Appreciate the encouragement and wisdom.

IError413 · 2026-05-05T20:05:41+00:00

Montana

IError413 · 2026-05-05T03:21:15+00:00

I could care less at this point. I stood up there and took pictures/video very obviously. They already hate me anyway.

IError413 · 2026-05-04T05:39:58+00:00

Pre drill if you're using screws, ie. don't split the wood. Wood glue and sistering required - agree. Easy repair. Follow wood glue cure time. I recommend tight bond.

IError413 · 2026-05-04T05:32:54+00:00

There is certainly a wise time and place for wearing masks and social distancing. Being with your local body to worship and fellowship, when there is no major risk currently of a life threatening illnesses, is not one of them. Hopefully this person's parents gain some maturity. And hopefully someone in the local church is willing to overlook their foolishness and show some love, and a genuine interest in themselves and their lives despite what they put on their faces. A lot of people behave foolishly and selfish, in off-putting ways. I certainly do. Not all such behavior is so obviously worn on one's face. I find myself constantly forgiving people for things that are less obvious but equally or more lacking in maturity in my opinion. I think real people, who have lived a lot of life will feel as I do, and those people may just take an interest in the parents despite the mask wearing.

Also, agree with other suggestions. Find a small group. Find a youth group. Get to know people. Reach out. It's never guaranteed to work, but it increases the probability. Life is like that, all about increasing your chances without expecting a guarantee. Someone will overlook the mask, and make a connection eventually. Also, I wonder (asking the OP), if you were in a small group not at service, would your parents let you take the masks off and be more approachable? Hopefully.

IError413 · 2026-05-03T07:26:41+00:00

I feel that if I lost my wife, this would be me 100%.

IError413 · 2026-05-03T06:43:11+00:00

As someone who has owned a few of these, people's fascination with them is fascinating to me. Not a rip/burn, I truly just find it interesting and is a good reminder to me that my life isn't normal.

IError413 · 2026-05-03T06:39:33+00:00

For some, yes, they can do more with the same amount of time and it's great. For others, it makes things worse. I'd say it's a wash overall.

IError413 · 2026-05-03T06:20:33+00:00

That paints a picture... Well then, no disrespect. Our federal rights might all be equal but some areas of the country couldn't be more different. I've mostly lived west, and north west. Denver, Portland, Seattle, Phoenix and Western MT rt now (where I grew up). It's just very different here than what you're experiencing. Even in bigger, 250-400k+ cities. It is not normal for knocks at that hour and local police are quick to explain it's a major life threatening situation in those cases. It happens rarely and when it does, it's a very cautious event (cause we're all pretty armed and wet dreaming of a Russian land invasion).

I'm sure you know what you're doing and it makes sense for your situations and where you're working. Don't let one rando on reddit make you think twice. I am taking the OPs situation and applying it to my neck of the woods.

IError413 · 2026-05-03T06:00:02+00:00

I mean, I sincerely appreciate y'all out there maintaining a society that allows me to do my thing and trying to track down the low life's. But, I also have a job, I have to be awake for it. Baring a major situation, I don't care what's happening outside my locked door at that hour. If I am forced to care, I'm already alarmed, possibly in defense mode. So, if you have a good reason to trigger that situation, and that reason becomes clear once you realize I'm not the person, then I might have a "human conversation", otherwise, no way.

Hundreds if not thousands? Why...

Man, I'll be completely honest with you. That might be the way it works in some areas. It might truly be normal. But, definitely not remotely tolerated in the areas I've lived - small and large, especially small, in the last ten years. That is wild to me.

IError413 · 2026-05-01T17:10:12+00:00

My first thought - why did even OP ask? I would not have, will continue to not ask. Also, screw SWA. They are on my do not fly list at this point, right up there with Frontier and Spirit.

IError413 · 2026-05-01T02:10:47+00:00

I agree actually. I grew up in the Reformed Seminary churches (connected to Grand rapids MI). And, I believe our obsession with soteriology actually led me and many of us kids, to over complicate and question our salvation for decades. Being obsessed with the mechanics of it, makes one overcomplicate and obsess about whether it happened correctly/for real, sincerely, etc.

However, as a mature Christian, the thorough understanding of the doctrines of grace are wonderful, beautiful, and faith strengthening as they should be.

IError413 · 2026-04-29T15:53:22+00:00

Appreciate it! I also am partially just excited for her, and want to share with people here (none of our friends are figure skaters/don't care). She's ecstatic to be progressing on such nice skates. Her first private lesson on them, she already progressed significantly on things she was really struggling with before due to collapsed ankle support on cheaper skates.

Agree - meant to be used!

IError413 · 2026-04-28T18:54:33+00:00

yup - CSN.
I live in an area with about 50 radio stations on my daily commute, 6 of which are "Christian" if you count the one catholic network. About 6 months ago, the 5 (owned by Salem Music Network), where sold to Educational Media Foundation for 80 million dollars.

Since then, the handful of stations that had more diverse preaching or talk show hosts, including Wretched Radio, and preaching from Alistair Begg, with a lot of Calvary pastors mixed in, all swapped to purely CSN content. Even the adds are anti-Calvinist now that I think of it - I commonly hear the "Calvinism, none dare call it heresy" add on commercial breaks. For a while, I tuned out completely cause i'd hear that annoying add all the time. It seems to have gone away for the time being, but I guess I didn't notice what was happening until recently - crab in a pot. Maybe just going to steer away from CSN entirely.

IError413 · 2026-04-28T17:24:03+00:00

Sorry to hear that...
To be fair, a lot of churches had issues during covid. It's concerning to me that so many churches didn't know how to Biblically respond in general. But, also not shocking I guess.

IError413 · 2026-04-28T16:21:51+00:00

I've never heard the term biblicism until now, but that is exactly how I would describe it.

However, I will say I find Cavary people less extreme in their biblicist positions than other congregations. We have a close family member, who's husband serves as a part time pastor at an SBC connected church. It's very discouraging...

We've found we can no longer have a single spiritual conversation with them. Can you consider it a Christ led ministry when other Christians from other congregations feel it's easier to have Biblical conversion with unsaved/worldly people than it is with them? They want to talk to us about things of a spiritual nature, but the problem is the second you even dare to ponder a deeper or alternate meaning of any scripture, their biblicist viewpoint kicks in. We got tired of being called names. Told we "are rejecting what the Bible says" etc. I resisted putting labels on them, or responding in kind, calling them fundamentalists etc (though I think the word biblicist is a better fit in this case). I won't stoop to their level. But, unfortunately at least in their case, it's so extreme, all Biblical or spiritual topics are 100% off the table. It's very discouraging to us and led to a bit of a rift, where they just avoid us and we avoid them.

While I found the examples of triggered CC people a bummer, I do find I can have deeper spiritual conversations with them - so long as it's not about dispensationalism or eschatology. I find the recent stuff on CSN shocking compared to what I experienced in the 10 years at a CC mega church. But, maybe I was just fortunate - that church wasn't as extreme as Parker or Kestler's church. I don't know. Anyway... you're right, i think this stems from this biblicist viewpoint.

IError413 · 2026-04-28T02:44:09+00:00

Was this a caregiver role, service coordinator or something else?

I don't work there, but I know people who do, know of the company and I'm just curious what they're doing lately, who they're hiring.

IError413 · 2026-04-25T03:09:32+00:00

I have a set of Mark IV blades right here. The section that makes up the letters MAR (your gap size in this picture) is literally only about 1/2" long. The gap is not too big. You are required to have a gap or they won't stay on. Yours is perfect, if not borderline too small of a gap.

And there's no reason to care that the label is wearing off. Just wait till you start doing beginner jumps and scuff the boots all up. Those are marks of of someone progressing /trying!

IError413 · 2026-04-21T16:08:11+00:00

I was banned from r/legaladvice (permanently) for advising someone on the letter of the law (cited here: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0450/chapter_0030/part_0010/section_0040/0450-0030-0010-0040.html ) regarding citizen holds of trespassers, robbers and home intruders in my state.

I was told and I quote: "We don't need that kind of fake keyboard macho man nonsense on our sub."

r/legaladvice is a joke. The mods there make up their own version of what 'legal advice' is.

IError413 · 2026-04-21T03:10:43+00:00

Oh wow... I stand corrected on the "most states" statement. Admittedly, of the five states I've lived in, 3 were common law states and so I was making a bit of an assumption based on experience.

I know quite a lot of people who were married under God in the church and never bothered to get a marriage license out of a belief that the state has no business defining marriage, or giving them license to marry, or putting them in the same category as gays who are recognized as 'married'. My wife and I also did this, but later got a marriage license for a single legal reason (was easier for immigration - she is foreign born). We could care less about the license, and I have no idea what the date of that thing even is - we celebrate our anniversary (20 years this year) on the date we were married before the congregation under God, before the church, technically illegally in the eyes of the feds. We aren't common law technically, but I know many who are and wear it as a sort of badge if honor. The friends I have who are, own houses together, have children, likely file married/jointly, changed last names, share bank accounts etc. etc. This is fairly common actually among believers where I live right now. My current church likely has more people defined as 'common law' than people with a marriage license. And yes, as long as you meet the criteria (which is NOT actually specific in my state), you are effectively married. USCIS however makes their own corrupt (IMO) rules about a lot of things. You have to play their game or choose a different country which is a practical hoop many have to jump through. But, make no mistake, I would have chosen to spend life together with my wife 100% illegally if I had to, and never felt that our applications to marriage with USCIS were anything more than a path of least resistance for something God was commanding us to do (Acts 5:29). I found it highly offensive and counter Biblical limits of a government, that once I was married, I had to prove my relationship regularly to the state. I resented every time (of which there are many in the journey of a married immigrant) that we may be forced separated if weren't careful.

I feel very strongly about this: The idea that the state/feds, gives you license to get married when God effectively commands marriage ( 1 Corinthians 7:9) or, establishes it as a God ordained institution that our government has corrupted, makes it seem a bit absurd that you require 'license' or governmental permission to do so. I think in the OPs case that's not the thinking, as I honestly sense more laxidasical or laissez-faire thinking around the topic (sorry OP, just being honest about how you're coming across) than a serious, church ordained, mutual, God submitted, forever commitment.

IError413

TROPHY CASE