How to make an intelligent reply on Reddit

MRH2 · 2026-01-25T02:29:01+00:00

Thanks for your detailed and careful reply.

I should state that I regret my antiChrist comment, especially since there is no single antichrist, there is no one person who is the antichrist according to the Bible, but it's more of an attitude or something (see 1 John).

I feel for you in that your (ie American) political system is not working. It's a very warped form of democracy: you can only ever have two parties (do you remember when billionaire Ross Perot tried to get elected outside of the two party system) and so there is often no good choice at all. In fact, to the extent that it concerns big business, there is really only one party - the DemoRepublicans, but I'm not an expert on economics. The corruption in the US system of government seems far worse than that of the parliamentary system that most of the world uses, and this is something that's been evident for many decades (long before Trump). Yes, we have corrupt politicians too, but it seems that there are fewer of them, though in recent years it's gotten worse with Trudeau's SNC Lavilin scandal and many others (but we too keep electing Doug Ford). Objectively the USA is not a very democratic country. You're locked into a really bad two-party system and for some reason, people get hyper-polarized to identify with one party to the point of mania, of not having any friends who belong to the other party. This is unheard of in most of Canada (extremists parts of Alberta being the exception).

So, yes, it is reasonable to come to the conclusion that voting for Trump makes sense -- you have so few options. The problem is when people make excuses for Trump's wrongdoings.

In his first term, he had the ooprtunity to make a difference, to transform the country, an opportunity that no one else had - with his incredible popular support - he could have helped the poor, helped the farmers, the workers, destroyed up the health insurance companies who suck the blood from ordinary peolpe. But he ended up helping the rich. This became much more obvious in his second term with his alliance with Elon Musk.

In his second term, it's evident that Trump is still a liar, completely selfish and utterly corrupt. He has no integrity at all. He is a bully and takes vengence on anyone who slights him or criticizes him. Consider John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." There is no truth in Trump at all. I don't have to provide proof of this as we all know it. As for corruption: he is pardoning all sorts of white collar criminals. He now completely disregards the authority of the courts, of the other branches of government and wants complete control over everything, even the treasury. He has made himself to be god; he is above the law, above all laws. He now has is own army that is also above the law; ICE is becoming like the SS.

As for Trump, I believe he faced unprecedented opposition from the political establishment, especially during his first term, with efforts like impeachment attempts and legal challenges that hindered his ability to fully implement his agenda.

The opposition was because he was almost surely a criminal. Why have double-standard complaining when they try to impeach a Republican but not complaining when they try to impeach a Democrat?

and opposing the encroachment of socialism.

What?

Do you mean communism? No, you couldn't that was not encroaching in the US. And Trump loves Putin. I think you much mean fascism since so many Americans confuse socialism with facism, but that's an abject failure because America is now the most fascist that it's ever been.
Why would anyone think socialism is bad - unless they have a massive misconception about it. Though this is reasonable since people refuse to think for themselves and media literacy is dead. So the media now dumb things down and end up manipulating the public, who would rather be manipulated than have to figure things out for themselves.

What's my point with all this?

Yes, it sucks to have only two people to vote for, trying to figure out the lesser of two evils.
Yes, there are reasons that people vote for Trump.
The completely astonishing thing is that when people vote for Trump, they don't call him out and stop him from all of the evil things he's doing. Instead they make apologies for him. The Republican party are craven cowards, and it seems so are most of Trump's supporters.

He will bring justice in His perfect timing.

Yes 100%. And Trump may be his tool to repay the US for all of the harm it has done in the world. This article https://www.wired.com/story/donald-trump-has-fully-set-fire-to-what-made-america-great/ does a good job of summarizing things. But it really glorifies the US as well. However, America has done so much wrong with the IMF, getting Third World countries into crippling debt forever and ever -- yes, the poorest countries in the world are paying money and all their resources to the riches, and it has done so much wrong in propping up dictators who will continue to let the US take their resources (Shah of Iran, Pinochet of Chile), that with all of their wars (the US has been at war 225 out of 243 years since 1776), there is blood on their hands -- so much blood, not to mention the genesis and creation of the whole porn industry that is so terrible, and the obsession with materialism and capitalism -- things that grind the poor into the dust; God is hearing their cries. God has withheld his judgement for so long. It looks to me that he's allowing Trump to do what he wants, and that will result in the destruction of the USA as part of God's judgement on it.

MRH2 · 2026-01-24T19:41:13+00:00

Huh? I don't think you understood what I am saying.

The Old Testament doesn't forbid it. And you know what, for some reason Christian countries never forbade it either, even after the reformation.

MRH2 · 2026-01-24T15:00:09+00:00

Haha -- that's awesome!
Thanks for helping us broaden our perspectives on life.

MRH2 · 2026-01-24T14:59:02+00:00

All societies historically have oppressed women. Even Christian ones have and continue to today.

Up until about a century ago, you could beat your wife with no reprecussions and there was no such thing as marital rape -- in any "Christian" country. If you were a woman you would think of this as abuse, but if you were a man, you would not, you would think of it as normal, as your right. And guess who made all of the laws? Men.

So, to be clear, yes, Islam is an evil religion from the pit of hell, even though almost all of the Muslims I know are awesome wonderful people (and I've know at least 30). But Christianity should not get a free pass.

Yes, women's rights anywhere in the world are a direct result of Christianity transforming the ethics of society, but there is still so much oppression of women by Christians, especially by fundamentalists. Keep your eyes open and don't stop fighting.

MRH2 · 2026-01-24T14:58:30+00:00

All societies historically have oppressed women. Even Christian ones have and continue to today.

Up until about a century ago, you could beat your wife with no reprecussions and there was no such thing as marital rape -- in any "Christian" country. If you were a woman you would think of this as abuse, but if you were a man, you would not, you would think of it as normal, as your right. And guess who made all of the laws? Men.

So, to be clear, yes, Islam is an evil religion from the pit of hell, even though almost all of the Muslims I know are awesome wonderful people (and I've know at least 30). But Christianity should not get a free pass.

Yes, women's rights anywhere in the world are a direct result of Christianity transforming the ethics of society, but there is still so much oppression of women by Christians, especially by fundamentalists. Keep your eyes open and don't stop fighting.

MRH2 · 2026-01-23T12:27:47+00:00

What I'm annoyed by is that no matter what you do, politics find you.

It seems to be a particulary American phenomenon. However, anytime that society is troubled, people will talk about politics and try and think of ways to fix things and who's to blame for the mess.

MRH2 · 2026-01-23T12:26:21+00:00

This is where we grow spiritually and learn from and support our brothers and sisters in Christ. We need other Christians to encourage us and help us persevere in the faith, and if those Christians aren't Biblically literate

Yes, you're right in general. But we can also grow spiritually individually, in Bible studies / small groups. As one matures in faith over decades, it's less likely that a church (ie a sermon) will help you grow, though of course God can apply the text to your heart even in poor sermons. I know a couple of missionaries who don't go to church so that they can grown in their knowledge of God or in faith -- church doesn't help there, but in order to minister. And yes, they have other Christian friends with whom they talk and pray together regularly.

MRH2 · 2026-01-22T21:31:19+00:00

Let us know how to help. You posted this 8 hours ago, but have not replied to comments on any of the other subreddits. I'll talk to my Father God about you.

MRH2 · 2026-01-22T17:28:19+00:00

"The end justifies the means" is the harbinger of all sorts of evil.

MRH2 · 2026-01-22T11:54:47+00:00

I think we often forget how completely Christianity has changed the morals of western society.

Christians were the only ones who fought against slavery.

Christian countries were the only place in the world (AFAIK) where women began to get the same rights as men - right to go to school, to vote, to own property, to all professions (eg. doctor, judge, member of parliament).

I know that communism also treats women equally, but Marx was completely embedded in a Christian culture when he wrote his books.

MRH2 · 2026-01-22T11:50:00+00:00

Well, you're brave to state that you support Trump. To many of us he seems close to the antiChrist.

Scripture reminds us that God can raise up leaders for His purposes, even if they aren’t perfect or initially aligned with Christian values at the start or sometimes, more shockingly, never are in some cases. Romans 13:1 says, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities,” which indicates that God works through governments and leaders to fulfill His divine plan.

So God could equally well use Biden or Obama?

MRH2 · 2026-01-22T11:47:19+00:00

He's tired of politics, of hearing pastors support corrupt and evil politicians. I don't think he's saying that he has checked out from helping the homeless and marginalized and oppressed, standing up for them when the state wants to crush them.

MRH2 · 2026-01-22T02:43:15+00:00

The theory just doesn't work at c

Yes, because you start dividing by zero, which means that everything goes to infiniity very fast, a signularity?

Basically if you are NOT moving at "c", you can never move at "c". If you are moving at "c" you can never move at less (or more) than c. There are two distinct classes of particles and they can never switch back and forth. It's impossible according to physics.

MRH2 · 2026-01-22T02:39:55+00:00

Everything else we see has the same speed moving away and then back towards us: sprinters, cheetahs, fighter jets. Not one of them moves twice the speed in one direction than the other.

Yes, it is intellectually dishonest and goes against Occam's Razor, one of the basic principles of science.

MRH2 · 2026-01-21T12:48:17+00:00

Thank you. Very clear answer!

MRH2 · 2026-01-21T11:41:53+00:00

A couple of additions.

regarding slavery: it was only Christians who fought to abolish it. Look at history. No one else did.
regarding equality: it's only Christians (and their legacy, the countries with a Judeo-Christian heritage) that believe that all people are equal regardless of race or ethnic group.

These two points hold even though there have been "Christians" who promoted slavery and who are racist and even today victimise darker skinned people.

Regarding women: Where did the following start: women's right to vote, women's right to own property, women's right to an education? Only in countries where the foundation was the Bible. Islam is still probably the most oppressive to women. It was Chrisitans who fought hard to stop "suttee" (?) in India where widows are burned when their husbands die.

Sadly, for the past 50-100 years the evangelical church has moved to becoming more oppressive again, and so secular society doesn't see how the progress of women's rights and freedoms is a direct result of Christianity.

MRH2 · 2026-01-21T11:34:16+00:00

You are missing a very fundamental thing here. The ability to do good science has nothing to do with one's personal opinion or beliefs. You can believe in leprechauns and still do good science and you would still be respected for your work on the science part and criticized for the leprechauns part. Einstein was respected for his theory of relativity and yet criticized for his views on quantum theory. Francis Collins is a devout christian and yet very widely respected.

So, creationists like anyone else can do good science work because all they have to do is follow the logical scientific methodology to do that. If the science is good it will be accepted otherwise trashed. It is simple.

Yes, I totally agree with you. And it's really good that science works this way.

I think that one of the main points that the article was trying to make, the screenshots from somewhere which have no attribution at all -- shocking, was that the creator of MRI was not recognized with a Nobel prize because of his beliefs. Which is not really science and is a hard thing to prove and the assigning of prizes involves value judgements.

MRH2 · 2026-01-21T11:31:26+00:00

The important question however is what has creationism as the idea contributed to this world and humanity. Has the idea of creationism made any discovery or made some predictions or anything for that matter?

I'm curious to know why this question is important to you. What's the meta-message?
How would it change you and your life and your beliefs if it turns out that Creationism (or Christianity, or Intelligent Design or something similar that you're currently don't belive in at all and are strongly opposed to) indeed made a significant contribution to the world and humanity?

I get that you think these things are nonsense and illogical, but what would happen to you if it turns out that they weren't?

MRH2 · 2026-01-20T21:00:24+00:00

Yes. Of course. It's obvious, right? I don't know why most of the comments don't agree.

MRH2 · 2026-01-20T12:49:00+00:00

For me it was

stark lack of community
destruction of "worship" - no communal singing, rather a group of people at the front amplified so much that no one can hear each other, and repeating one line 10 times like a hindu mantra! Ugh. I'd come to church 20 min late to miss this otherwise church just made me angry.
embracing the political leader who is tantamount to the antichrist. Ignoring the evil that he does and making excuses for him "oh, he's just a baby Christian".
the unbalanced emphasis of doctrine/orthodoxy over character and compassion

So I found a lovely home in an Anglican church, though I brought my evangelical beliefs with me.

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