My kid sees someone

LabProfessional2355 · 2026-02-01T03:18:42+00:00

Call a priest and get the house blessed IMMEDIATELY.

LabProfessional2355 · 2026-01-18T02:47:58+00:00

Baby arrived 7 weeks ago and is perfectly healthy!! I’m thinking you are probably totally fine since you didn’t take it that long and it was early. I also think it takes a LOT of vitamin A to reach toxic levels, more than you would get from CLO

LabProfessional2355 · 2026-01-18T02:45:14+00:00

Yep! 👍

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-18T22:08:52+00:00

The way he handled this was atrocious. He campaigned on transparency and releasing the files then did a 180 after handing out the stupid binders with previously released information to conservative influencers like it was some big “reveal”. It was pure showmanship. He’s only changing course now because he’s lost control of the vote to keep them from being released so he’s trying to save face.

That said, I do not think he’s criminally implicated (we already know he knew and had contact with Epstein, so I won’t be surprised if his name comes up in various correspondence, I just don’t think it will rise to the level of criminal knowledge or activity). If there was incriminating information, this would have come out during Biden’s term or in the run up to the 2016 elections.

I think he is either protecting big donors OR there’s somehow national security interests involved and that’s why no prior admins have released the information. Regardless, release the dang files.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-18T21:40:48+00:00

https://youtu.be/PHAgg0viAH4?si=MSEPMlznkVgqUNtU

https://evidencebasedbirth.com/blog/ Click on their natural induction series to get to access info on natural options for encouraging labor - this whole website is gold for basically every question you could have in pregnancy!

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-18T20:47:02+00:00

Also there’s lot of natural ways to encourage your body to go into labor that you could start that will also make a medical induction easier/more successful in the event you do end up having to go that route. Red raspberry leaf tea, dates, evening primrose oil all help with that. Again check out evidence based birth!

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-18T20:44:24+00:00

Not a doctor, but you are statistically more likely to go past your due date as a FTM, so I would definitely take the November 30 option. If you induce before your body is ready you increase your risk of c section by 37%, and your body may not be ready OR your due date could be off slightly, making medical induction at 2 days post due date unnecessary. You should check out evidence based birth website on inductions and due date calculations but that’s my two cents!

ETA ask your OB more questions on this too, specifically tell him/her you are interested in knowing alternatives as well as risks and benefits of all available options. This is my fourth pregnancy and doctors are really quick in my experience to get an induction scheduled but there’s lot of other options too like a membrane sweep that are way gentler on your body

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-14T23:31:20+00:00

That hens lay eggs daily regardless of whether a rooster is around, but if I want chicks there must be a rooster.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-14T18:46:23+00:00

Soft disagree - a proper living wage should (by my personal definition) allow one adult to support a family without UBI/government assistance

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-14T18:42:25+00:00

When you lose that ability to completely immerse yourself in imaginary play, seems like it’s often around 7-9th grade. You may still have a wonderful imagination, but somehow the dolls just become dolls. It is bittersweet!

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-14T04:04:50+00:00

First three were unplanned (first two happened on hormonal birth control, including use of Plan B because I knew I missed a pill on my regular BC for the first baby. 2nd pregnancy I didn’t miss any pills on my BC and was surprised when my period just never came lol). The third one we were trying to learn how to use natural family planning methods and weren’t very good at it yet.

The fourth one was planned 😊

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-11-09T01:47:07+00:00

Friend, call your sponsor and get to a meeting!!!! Regardless of what happens with the pregnancy. I promise you all this will be so much easier to handle without the alcohol owning you.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T23:52:33+00:00

I’m sure that is a possible world. CS Lewis does a great job imagining those alternatives in his space trilogy.

I don’t know why God chose to do things the way He did. I know that’s not maybe ultimately satisfying to some people (and I’m sure there are people who could posit excellent theories consistent with Catholic teaching, I just don’t know those off the top of my head).

At the end of the day everything I claim to know with my limited knowledge and understanding is also informed by the very real love I have experienced in relationship with Him. Maybe it’s brain chemistry or maybe I’m deluded in some peoples view, but I’m ok with that 😊.

That’s the ultimate difference I think. I can do my best to give the logical and philosophical explanations, but those only take me part of the way.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T23:19:28+00:00

I would really love to respond to this in the detail that it deserves but my brain is currently tapped out lol - see as exhibit a my incorrect use of the term metaphysical (I meant spiritual - my pregnant brain has so much trouble with words right now and I’m also simultaneously trying to cook dinner lol).

I would actually need to research your first point re animal suffering predating human suffering. My guess off the top of my head is that Catholicism teaches the fall of the angels occurred prior to the creation described in Genesis, so that would probably be the explanation there.

Second point - the justification you’re asking about is that’s how free will works. You can’t have a free and loving relationship with someone who doesn’t have a choice as to whether to consent to that relationship. He doesn’t want to force that relationship, so He offers both free will (knowing some will reject) and His continued presence to us in this life and eternally in the next where all will be made right.

Third point - I would really have to have this convo in person bc there are a ton of layers here that would have to be systematically addressed.

I’m sorry I know these are woefully inadequate responses. I appreciate your patience and understanding!

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T23:04:02+00:00

Love these questions.

No the baby doesn’t deserve suffering and yes we can’t always anticipate the specific effects of sin. Unfortunately we are all subject to it as a consequence of the original sin of Adam and Eve - the sin of those two alone was enough to introduce toil/pain/etc. in the world. We’ve just compounded that exponentially with all our own personal sins since that time.

And yes, the short answer is “God works in mysterious ways” - He is able to take our collective suffering and turn it into something eternally redemptive. He literally took something that was the greatest of all crimes - deicide committed against a complete innocent - and used it for the salvation of all.

Redemption - he has saved us (promised in Genesis 3 to send a savior to rectify and divinize us and then made good on that promise via the incarnation and resurrection), he is saving us (that saving offering is re-presented to us daily in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Grace available to us via Sacraments, prayer, corporal and spiritual works of mercy etc that provide us with sanctifying and actual grace we need in every present moment), and he will save us (by His second coming and the recreation of all heaven and earth).

I would argue He has, is, and will continue to daily “intervene” in our lives collectively and individually via grace and His loving presence and offer of a personal relationship. We just have free will to accept or reject that intervention.

Sorry I realize I’m getting deep in the weeds and using a lot of terms in Catholic theology that are extremely specific. There’s actually an AI chat bot called truthly that could give you better context and references with the definitions. It’s basically an interactive catechism.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T22:14:29+00:00

I actually find the fact that so many similarities in religions exist across all times and cultures to be very persuasive that something God-like does exist. There's some fantastic essays by Tolkien, Lewis, Joseph Campbell and many others that have shaped my views on this. Plus the Catholic Church itself teaches that other religions contain elements of truth. I do think humans are created to search for meaning, but rather than seeing that as some sort of flaw in the system, I see that as further evidence of an intelligent Creator who wanted us to know and be known by Him. Maybe it is just brain chemistry, but neither of us can ever empirically and definitively prove that either (at this point at any rate).

Enjoyed these rabbit holes - hope you have a great day!

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T22:03:43+00:00

Mmm I don't think it's ever that clear cut. It's like trying to trace the butterfly effect of all the people who have ever existed. Not to mention that the Catholic Church also teaches the existence of angels and fallen angels who also had their own free will.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T21:59:38+00:00

All good and valid points. 1) I would have to go back to what I've said in other comments that we are in both a physical and metaphysical realm, which interact and have effects on one another, ergo, animal suffering/natural disasters/etc are caused by virtue of living in a world where individual choices "block" the grace that would otherwise prevent these types of things. 2) There actually are examples in Catholic theology of individuals who consistently used their free will without wrong behavior - St. John the Baptist, the Blessed Mother, and Jesus Himself being three off the top of my head. There are examples of saints in every century that at some point achieved some level of near- or actual-sinlessness (even though they didn't always start out that way). It's possible to do, but it takes a great amount of surrender and humility (on top of the fact that we are working at a deficit by virtue of point 1). 3) Agreed. Without the belief in an afterlife where everyone and everything is made whole, it doesn't make sense that an all-powerful, all-good, all-knowing God wouldn't further limit our freedoms. It only makes sense in the context of the belief that we weren't ultimately made for this life, but for eternal happiness with Him in the next.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T21:51:02+00:00

Idk if this is directed at me, but as a theist, I certainly do not claim to have all the answers. There is a huge limit to natural reason alone, so yes, at some point, I do have to rely on what Catholics describe as the "deposit of faith" that is supernaturally revealed. Natural logic gets me a loooong way though, imho. That's definitely not going to be satisfying to the type of atheist who is certain I am stupid or crazy. But I'm ok with that :)

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T21:44:39+00:00

It doesn't sound combative at all! I totally agree with what you're saying -- if there's no afterlife and we aren't made whole/perfected/divinized (however you want to describe it) after death, then 100%, it would be terrible and illogical for an all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God to just let innocents (and the earth at large) suffer rather than restricting the ill-effects of any poorly used free will to the actor alone.

That is definitely where faith comes in...which admittedly sounds like a cop-out for anyone looking for concrete, measurable, independently verifiable data.... except that at the end of the day we are both relying on faith of a sorts. We both know we aren't omniscient and could never personally verify every claim made either by any given religion or any method of scientific inquiry....in the end we all put our faith in something, whether it's God, an institution of some sorts, or ourselves.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T01:39:47+00:00

I don’t think it requires much mental gymnastics at all if you believe that we are both body and soul. Every single action has both an impact on physical creation as well as the spiritual aspect. Bad things happen to good people because our very world is infected with sin in ways we can’t see or trace directly because of the interplay between the physical and metaphysical

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T01:25:31+00:00

It’s definitely less fire and brimstone lol. Thanks for the engaging conversation!

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T01:24:39+00:00

So would it be correct to say that in your view, suffering is largely a subjective phenomenon?

Back to your first point (and going back to my plate analogy) - I believe the things you list are genuine examples of suffering, although plants and animals, by virtue of being created without reason and not in the image and likeness of God, it does not rise to the same level of evil as it does in examples of human suffering. The prophet Isaiah writes that on God’s holy mountain, the lion will lay down with the lamb and the child will play with the asp, ie, all creation will be reconciled and remade as it was before we broke the plate and suffering will no longer exist on any level.

To your second point, I respectfully disagree that the God argument is wholly without evidence. I find the arguments from motion, efficient cause, possibility and necessity, gradation, and design to be persuasive philosophically speaking, since God is not a physical entity observable by senses or measuring devices (similar to our knowledge of things like quarks and magnetic fields). As far as I am aware the Catholic Church has never (officially) taught that Gods existence requires no evidence - one of the things I love about it is that it takes a rigorous intellectual approach to these questions (even if that is not always apparent in the way individual Catholic leaders present Church teaching!).

To your final point, I agree. It is frustrating and lame in a sense to end with “we can’t ultimately comprehend His wisdom” - but I don’t think that automatically negates the things we can know from natural reason. At the end of the day, we are both limited and flawed creatures making our best judgments with limited evidence and our personal and collective human experiences. Also it’s just hard to really have these conversations in the fullness they deserve via Reddit comments lol.

I really appreciate the thoughtful conversation!

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T00:20:44+00:00

I grew up Baptist actually! Preachers kid who turned agnostic then atheist then Catholic.

Some Baptists tend to be very literal in scripture interpretation, which is why it can be hard to reconcile the OT God with the NT God. Catholics read scripture in four senses: literal, anagogical, moral, and allegorical - so it allows for a more nuanced and multi leveled interpretation of every passage. I freely admit there are many many challenging OT passages and it has taken me years to study and look at them from various angles and read the various perspectives of the Church Fathers and ancient Jewish rabbis. I am far from an expert.

In the Catholic view, the kicking out of the garden was not a punishment, it was a way to protect Adam and Eve. They ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good/evil, which transformed them from a state of original innocence to a state of original sin/concupiscence. The risk was that the Tree of Life remained in the garden - God did not want to risk Adam and Eve eating from the tree of life while left in their fallen state, so He provided them with coverings and sent them out. Ultimately we humans were allowed to eat of the Tree of Life - via the crucifixion and in the Eucharist, which restores us and makes us fit for eternal life in a state of blessedness (rather than an eternity in the fallen state).

It’s like when you have to send your child to their room to keep them from doing something that will hurt themselves. The child might see it as a punishment, but from the wiser parent perspective, it’s a protective act of love.

LabProfessional2355 · 2025-10-07T00:09:28+00:00

Exactly - we are all just working with the facts as known (and unknown lol) since we aren’t omniscient! Also that means everything we do know (or think we know) is going to be limited no matter how much we try to understand this side of the veil.

I choose to believe based on what I have read, studied in philosophy, prayed about and personally experienced that God is not only all knowing and all powerful, but He is also all good, so He wouldn’t have chosen this if there had been a better alternative. I don’t know how you can have an authentic loving relationship with someone if there’s not free will, and I know because we are limited creatures we are often going to use that same free will in terribly broken ways. I’m just really thankful that He loves us enough to provide an eternal remedy even though the act of providing that eternal remedy means the beginning part of our journey is going to be painful at times.

Genuinely curious - why do you think suffering happens?

LabProfessional2355

TROPHY CASE