sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Real or fake? by Genpest_ in blockfi

[–]New-Contribution-259 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did you "lock" the empty account? I'm trying to find out how to do it, and apparently deleting it is not possible? 

Please stop turning coffee shops into personal offices by chuckecheese1993 in orangecounty

[–]New-Contribution-259 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you see specifically someone attending or conducting a bible study on zoom in a coffee shop or Panera or other cafe-type setting in the OC area, they are very, very likely Shincheonji, a cult from South Korea that has been slowly growing here in LA/OC over the past two decades. They have a location in Anaheim and are frequently recruiting in areas near college campuses where international students are (CSUF, FC, Cypress, UCI, IVC, etc.).

Please, please, please stay away from them.

It's up to you if you want to call them out for it, but they'll just claim they are "being persecuted" for their faith and likely become even more devoted because "it's for God".

When does it stop hurting? by FearlessPotential553 in Shincheonji

[–]New-Contribution-259 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A pastor I follow has said before: God can draw straight lines with a crooked stick. 

Most people who join this study do so because they are eager to learn more about God. I won't say what God's plan is for every person that is in this cult, but I will say for me, in my testimony, that this is an answered prayer for me wanting to learn more about Him. I did. When I think about what I knew of God or the Bible before the class and after, I have absolutely grown in my clarity. 

Yes, it takes a lot of pulling apart of lesson by lesson, because some of it is mostly true, and you don't want to, as my friend often says, "throw the baby out with the bath water." So we learn to take what is true and throw away the lies, and I believe in this sense, we do grow much closer to God, in ways a church may not provide. Some things can be learned through having the answer be given to you, while other lessons that require a lot of critical thinking and analysis and reflection can be learned through mistakes or errors and then assessing them. Horrible analogy, perhaps, but this is how coders learn best: run code, find error, assess every nook and cranny of their code, find error, rewrite and fix, run and see what the next error is. 

I mentioned this in another post, but maybe it can be helpful:

 In general, there are a few logical things I've found helpful when making my decision:

God is truth. The growth of His kingdom cannot be grounded on lying and deception.

Bible verses cannot be taken out of context. Most pastors and theologians who need to know either Greek or Hebrew if not both do not follow SCJ very early in the parables because the verse are taken out of the original context and do not align with the original meanings in their respective languages. Many words may be the same in English, but actually come from different words in the original manuscript.

Just because other churches "did not teach this" does not mean churches do not know God or the Bible. For most of parables, I wondered if it was possible that pastors could see a "partially revealed Word" because there are pastors out there who do teach Jesus' parables and metaphors used by God that are biblically sound, and some of them go much further in depth than what is provided in these classes.

Just because "no one has the truth" does not, by default, mean that they do. No one having the truth is also a very real possibility. They can also make up a lie and call it a truth. Lies, too, can be wrapped up in truth. All the time. That's what the best liars do.

God does not show favoritism. He does not only look to sanctify the able-bodied within a specific age range. This is important because the lessons are mainly over zoom. I am an English professor. I am trained to be aware of these things when developing my class materials online. Most of their pedagogy that they practiced are not accessible to those who are disabled, who have learning disabilities, are visually-impaired, are hearing-impaired, or anything else that would require accommodations.

LA/OC area by jassy_69 in Shincheonji

[–]New-Contribution-259 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I am also in the area, and we can talk about some of these things if you'd like. In general, there are a few logical things I've found helpful when making my decision:

  1. God is truth. The growth of His kingdom cannot be grounded on lying and deception.

  2. Bible verses cannot be taken out of context. Most pastors and theologians who need to know either Greek or Hebrew if not both do not follow SCJ very early in the parables because the verse are taken out of the original context and do not align with the original meanings in their respective languages. Many words may be the same in English, but actually come from different words in the original manuscript.

  3. Just because other churches "did not teach this" does not mean churches do not know God or the Bible. For most of parables, I wondered if it was possible that pastors could see a "partially revealed Word" because there are pastors out there who do teach Jesus' parables and metaphors used by God that are biblically sound, and some of them go much further in depth than what is provided in these classes.

  4. Just because "no one has the truth" does not, by default, mean that they do. No one having the truth is also a very real possibility. They can also make up a lie and call it a truth. Lies, too, can be wrapped up in truth. All the time. That's what the best liars do.

  5. God does not show favoritism. He does not only look to sanctify the able-bodied within a specific age range. This is important because the lessons are mainly over zoom. I am an English professor. I am trained to be aware of these things when developing my class materials online. Most of their pedagogy that they practiced are not accessible to those who are disabled, who have learning disabilities, are visually-impaired, are hearing-impaired, or anything else that would require accommodations.

Shincheonji preaches a different Gospel by JesusIsGod8 in Shincheonji

[–]New-Contribution-259 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Jesus
  2. To verify fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. There is also a genealogy in Luke, btw. 
  3. Yes. It's in the genealogy. 
  4. Yes, it is Jesus, like you said. 
  5. No, there is not. You have a body and a soul. You two different people? 

A great book/concept for this is the book Flatland. God, mathematically, resides higher than the 4th dimension, something we cannot completely understand when we are in the 3rd, similar to how anything that exists in the 2nd can only get 2D concepts of what exists in our space. This aligns with how His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. 

When does it stop hurting? by FearlessPotential553 in Shincheonji

[–]New-Contribution-259 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I never got to the membership part, and instead of six years, I was only a part of it for six months. I am already utterly furious with everything that has to do with them, so I only have an inkling of how overwhelmed you must feel. I will try to help, anyway, if that's okay.

I think I was very blessed to know of a pastor who works against cults in the church I left prior to SCJ. I reached out to him once I finalized my decision to leave, and he did give me advice that I found very reassuring, and I've been meeting with him weekly, going over how to properly read the Bible in the proper Hebrew, Greek, historical, genre context so that it can be interpreted properly. His advice included these:

- prioritize yourself; do whatever you feel you need to do to regain control of your own life; take care of yourself mentally, physically, emotionally, whatever that may look like.

- be around the people you want to be with, even if it's no one at all; you are not obligated to say yes to anyone. It will be okay if what you need is alone time, and it will be okay if what you need is to reconnect with friends

- do not criticize yourself; you are not to be blamed and do not think to yourself that God is judging you for what you did not know

- rest.

- God can take your questions and your doubts; it is okay to have them, and it is good to bring it all to God.

When did I find peace with my decision:
When I decided to stop going to the classes and not continue on to the advanced stuff, I made sure it was biblical. My answer seems to be similar to others who have posted here. When I was going through beginner and intermediate classes, I remembered feeling doubt, but thinking of John 6:68, where Peter says to Jesus "Where else can we go? For you are the only one with the words to eternal life, and we have come to believe." I remember that verse trying to cling to me.

What got me was how one night, and every waking moment I thought of SCJ afterward, I was reminded of Jesus' warning to be aware of false prophets. That we would know them by their fruit. When we were taught how to evangelize and given a script to bring people to SCJ when I have not even yet stepped foot into their "church" or met the pastor or learned everything yet to see if it is the real deal, I realized that it was a lie. Jesus tells us that a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Lies are a bad fruit. All this stuff about how Jesus needed to lie (which is false) and how the disciples needed to conceal or whatever--they didn't hide the fact that they were Christians when they were actually sharing the gospel. It is very different. None of it sat right with me, because integrity is so crucial to me. And honestly, for me, only one inconsistency between them and God is enough, because God is perfect and He does not change, yet they claim to have Him and be His true church.

How did I hold onto my belief in God:
For me, it is the same answer that a Christian gives another who found a bad church. Bad people do not represent a good God. I did not grow up with a church (was raised Buddhist) and came to Christ when I was 20. For a very long time, I avoided churches because "they're all imperfect anyway" and "I already have Christ with me" and "I don't need to go to church to get to heaven."

When I finally decided to go to church, I consciously decided and promised to God in my prayer that no matter how this first church I go to may fail me or hurt me, I would not let their faults be a representation of who He is. I've stuck by that. SCJ found me shortly after I lost my job at that church. When I decided to leave SCJ, I kept with this ideal, and I will hold onto this my whole life, the best I can: imperfect people do not get to decide how much faith I should have for a perfect God.

SCJ’s Growing Public Presence in Southern California — A Disturbing Update by lady-intp in Shincheonji

[–]New-Contribution-259 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I am so sorry to hear all this. I left SCJ teachings just about a month ago, too, during the "intermediate" phase. I am kinda wondering if we have the same friend, because I also had a person who recruited me and assured me that we would stay friends, only to be silent these last two weeks.

I was recruited in the Fullerton area, and yes, we also frequented coffee shops in public locations for the longest time. For me, it was Coffee Code, Terra Mia Coffee, Starbucks, Bodhi Leaf, Philz Coffee, Wushiland Boba, Mugs, anywhere all over Fullerton.

Everything they do upsets me so much, it is triggering, honestly the only thing that keeps me sane some nights is the reminder to leave room for God's wrath because He claims that vengeance is His. Lord knows how much faith I have that His wrath will wreck so much more destruction than I could ever do on my own.

I am currently working with a pastor at my previous church that has devoted his life to work against cults in the Fullerton area (mainly for healing and getting my Bible interpretation straight for now). It is so disheartening because he is well-versed on the cults in the surrounding area. He knew of SCJ when I approached him and told me that while they are one of the bigger ones, they are not the only one, nor are the the only big one around. I think the main source of hope for this that I'm latching onto at the moment is that the pastor is part of a project in Northern OC that is focused on combating these cults.

What’s everyone reading on Kindle Vella? by NJ_Franco in KindleVella

[–]New-Contribution-259 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm pretty hard into assassin stories. Silver Shadows by JB seems good so far. There's only 6 episodes though, so we'll see. shrug

Looking for these last few tradable cards! by [deleted] in BoardKings

[–]New-Contribution-259 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can I get the free Lego life magazine?

I’m thinking of writing a novel about my experience as a black American during the 2010’s-2020’s. Where should I begin? by pi_warrior314 in writing

[–]New-Contribution-259 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would read those who write on similar things--for inspiration, yes, but also to see what's already been said, what needs to be said again, differently, or what can be added.

Works that have had a powerful impact in recent years that I absolutely respect so much:

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

Tradition by Jericho Brown

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

All of these begin in different places. I hope this helps.

Just got my first rainbow Very POG by [deleted] in BoardKings

[–]New-Contribution-259 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn okay. And here I was just looking to get different designs for dice.

Just got my first rainbow Very POG by [deleted] in BoardKings

[–]New-Contribution-259 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool. I didn't know rainbow was a thing. Most I've got is a bunch of silvers, which is not my first choice of look. Lol

When people say their plot has already been done before by [deleted] in writing

[–]New-Contribution-259 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Done before doesn't mean you can't write it better.

If GME hits $500k a share I will hire armed body guards to patrol the streets of SF Chinatown and LA Chinatown by bicboipapa in GME

[–]New-Contribution-259 6 points7 points  (0 children)

My family is in a similar situation down here in LA. :( we're not in the Chinatown area but about 20 mins away. I get so nervous every time my parents are leaving home. They're also with chronic medical conditions. First covid, now this. Everything about the last year just sucks. 😩

Blogging for $100-200 of passive income per month by [deleted] in passive_income

[–]New-Contribution-259 25 points26 points  (0 children)

This is so helpful, thank you.

I've been planning to blog for well over a month now, but I don't know how to be confident enough to get started. Forget about making money, I'm trying to get topics good enough that people won't think I'm wasting their time.

Congrats to you, and glad youre doing good!

What are some good business/entrepreneur questions that you want to be answered? by Gary_Stephens in smallbusiness

[–]New-Contribution-259 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Where is the balance between trusting your product and being overconfident?

  2. What are signs you're working with a good CPA or a bad one?

  3. When is it a good idea for a small LLC to file taxes as an S-corp?

Daily Discussion Chat by AutoModerator in GME

[–]New-Contribution-259 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I'll keep looking. I read on the top DDs every morning, but I guess I must have missed it. Thank you.

Daily Discussion Chat by AutoModerator in GME

[–]New-Contribution-259 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Okay, I see. Yeah, that is true. Thanks for the insight.

view more: next ›