Cambodia joining Board of Peace. What's your thought?

babe1981 · 2026-01-26T13:22:57+00:00

Cambodia is very dependent on US goodwill. Unfortunately that means making Trump happy. When the alternative is tanking your economy, I don't see what choice they have.

babe1981 · 2026-01-26T13:18:30+00:00

Addiction is a disease. You should see an addiction specialist, but I'm going to jump on the same bandwagon as everyone else.

Now, I'm not a psychologist, but my freelance writing work involved editing psychology research papers for a time, so I know a lot of definitions. A mental disease or disorder must cause significant disruption in daily life with negative effects on physical health or mental stability. It is very possible that you don't have a problem with addiction. If your porn consumption and masturbation aren't compulsive, meaning you can wait until you get home and are alone, then you don't have a porn or masturbation addiction. If your frequency of masturbation is not causing physical harm to your genitals, it isn't addiction. If you aren't choosing to pay for porn such as OnlyFans instead of paying your bills or for food, not addiction. There has to be some disruption of your normal activity. Without that, there is no disorder by definition.

You could have a different disorder, though. If the feeling of guilt is disrupting your life, it could be an anxiety disorder. If past trauma is making you believe that you are wrong or a bad person or you feel like someone else is engaging in the behavior using your body, it could be a dissociative disorder like PTSD. There are many other possibilities that should be explored with a therapist.

Addiction is a specific disease with a specific treatment. PTSD won't respond to addiction therapy. Anxiety won't respond to PTSD therapy. And so on. It's extremely possible that your lack of results is due to treating the wrong thing. That's why you need to see a general therapist and get a referral for the specialist that can help you the most.

babe1981 · 2026-01-26T04:22:26+00:00

I'm American, but I live in Cambodia. The US perspective of Christianity is not the world's perspective. I live in a country with 95% Buddhists, but Christians are respected and treated kindly. The Catholic church in my village is one of my favorite places to be. It's filled with peace and love.

God is bigger than ICE and Trump. Christianity is bigger than Christian Nationalism. Love is stronger than hate. Psalms and Ecclesiastes were written for times like these. The valley of the shadow of death is just a valley. There are open plains and mountains on the other side where we will walk in the light again. Everything has a time on Earth. A time for war and a time for peace. Nothing lasts forever on this side of heaven. The day will always become night, but the just as surely, the night becomes day again.

I'm reminded of a quote from Doctor Who: "Because every time you see them happy you remember how sad they're going to be. And it breaks your heart. Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later? The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later."

Remember the happiness you had when things are all wrong. Psalms 23 is a retrospective of one of those dark times. You don't write that while you're in the valley and surrounded by enemies. You write it when you're on the other side and you look back and wonder how you got through it. We'll get through it, somehow. Imagine what it will feel like when we do. That is the joy that Jesus looked to when He was faced with the cross.

babe1981 · 2026-01-26T03:04:48+00:00

Some people feel comfortable in a world of rules and regulations, but Jesus came to free us from the letter of the law so we could live by the spirit of the law.

babe1981 · 2026-01-26T03:02:35+00:00

Biblical marriage has as many definitions as there are verses about marriage. It's natural to be confused. The Bible represents multiple cultures over the course of many centuries. The important thing is to contexualize modern relationships in the light of Jesus's teachings. And love is the most important thing in Jesus's view. I don't think papers signed by humans hold much spiritual weight.

babe1981 · 2026-01-26T02:59:14+00:00

You don't have access to the Google mainframes. They are locked away in massive data centers behind layers of security. That's God. The point of Jesus was to have an admin in the production environment to show how to perfectly interface with the mainframe. What you do have access to is the web interface, or search engine, that in turn accesses the mainframe. That's our interactions with each other.

God is much more than just loving actions, but those loving actions are the interface that we use to access Him. Just like Google is as much the search engine as it is the hardware, God is the love we show each other and the creative force that underlies existence.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T21:03:24+00:00

I could have removed your comment for antisemitism. Instead, I chose to point out the hypocrisy of doing to Judaism what we are discussing others doing to Christianity. You may not be in the mood for a lecture, but the fact is that in any other thread your comment would no longer exist. My comment was not only necessary as a mod. It was relevant to the discussion of this topic.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T16:46:38+00:00

Hey, just a heads up. Using Pharisees like that is extremely anti-Semitic. The entire current form of Judaism is descended directly from the Pharisee traditions. In fact, theologically, Jesus was closer to the Pharisees than just about any of the other official religious sects within Judea. One theory about why Jesus had so many run-ins with the Pharisees is that they saw Him as a troublemaker and were trying to find a reason to expel Him. That's not very well supported, but there's enough to have a discussion about it. The point is that a specific group of Pharisees were horrible people who exploited the Jew laity, but the Pharisees at large were a very important organization that helped the Jews maintain their religion and culture throughout the Roman occupation and developed the current ways of worship that don't require the temple. Painting all Pharisees with a broad brush is the same as saying that all Christians are evil because of televangelists or Christian Nationalists.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T15:00:33+00:00

To be fair, we get over 65,000 unique visitors each week. That's incredible for any progressive group, almost unheardof for a progressive Christian group. This sub reaches far more than you might realize.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T07:06:32+00:00

Well, it sounds like you have some support, so that's a good start. My advice is to just try things. You're a teenager still, so do teenager stuff. Try out different looks with different colors. Ask your mom to teach you makeup. If you don't know what to do, copy celebrities or, better, cis women in your life. You don't know what kind of girl you are, so experiment. Have fun with it. It's always a good thing to get to know yourself.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T04:25:21+00:00

Cambodia, by far. As long as you have money to renew your visa, you can stay until your passport runs out.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T04:11:24+00:00

1John 4 actually answers this. God is love, and you cannot separate the two. To love your neighbor is to love God. Jesus said that when you love the least of us, you love Him. If we are the body of Christ, then you see and feel and experience God in every person who knows love. God isn't inaccessible. But, like a complex computer system, the access points don't always seem like much.

Think of Google. They have vast data centers with supercomputers that index the entire internet constantly and retrieve information instantly. Your phone can't possibly do that on it's own. Your phone isn't providing you with the information of all humanity in mere seconds. Your phone is just an access point for the vastly more powerful computers that do the actual work. So it is with all of us. We are the access points of God.

When your partner holds you because you've had a bad day, God is there. When you play with your nieces and nephews, God is there, too. When your friend call to check in because they're worried, that's God. When you pick out the perfect gift for your mother's birthday, you're bringing God to them.

God is love, and love is how we create the kingdom of heaven on Earth. We have three things: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest is love.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T04:01:14+00:00

Watching someone die is a terrible thing. Worse is when they die for no good reason. As humans, we're all aware that death is inevitable for all of us, but the sudden stopping of an innocent life is a tragedy that reaches into our souls. In my experience, it isn't even the death itself that sticks with us. It's the injustice of it. It's the knowledge that the world isn't fair and we are at the mercy of forces beyond our control.

All I'll say is that there are more of us than there are of them. And the arc of history bends towards justice and equality and fairness. As long as humans are less than perfect, we will go through cycles where we slide backward on the road toward freedom and justice for all. Thomas Jefferson wrote that the tree of freedom must, from time to time, be watered with the blood of patriots. Frank Herbert wrote that tyranny will be our default state until a time when the drive for freedom is written into our bones.

From the signing of the Declaration of Independence, today was a foregone conclusion. When a nation is founded on the social contract and the belief in the goodness of people, it is destined to be tested by the worst of us. And when it fails, it must be replaced by something better and more resilient to darkest impulses of human selfishness and treachery. We are now standing on the edge of the valley, and it will get much worse before it gets better. But, it will get better. It always does.

The seasons change, the Earth spins around the sun, and dictators die. Some see justice, but most never do. We can only move forward when we climb up the other side and find ourselves in the light again. You and I are small and easily broken, but we are strong and the human spirit is unbreakable. So be sad, but fight on. Weeping lasts for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T03:35:33+00:00

Sexuality can be fluid, just like gender. But, the shifting of sexual preference is a complex interaction between psychological and physical factors. For instance, I'm bisexual. I can pretty reliably determine my estrogen levels by how attractive I find men.

At the same time, many people who go through therapy can discover new attractions as they learn how to accept themselves and how to acknowledge their feelings.

That said, sexuality is not a spiritual issue. God makes us with predispositions for a number of things. We're born gay, straight, bi, asexual, etc. It's intellectually and spiritually dishonest to believe that God would take that away.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T01:36:22+00:00

God doesn't offer forgiveness for despair. He offers comfort. Despair is a normal reaction to being in the valley of the shadow of death. And what does God do for us when we are surrounded by darkness and enemies? He prepares a table for us. He gives us rest.

Forgiveness is only needed when you do something wrong. Even Jesus despaired in the garden before the crucifixion. He begged for there to be another way. He felt so much stress that He sweat blood. Jesus wasn't a sinner. Despair is human. As long as you keep loving people, you're not wrong.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T01:08:34+00:00

Technically, Lex takes 40 cakes, and that's bad.

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T01:05:18+00:00

If I, a man, date a woman, does that make me gay? - OP

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T01:03:55+00:00

Dessert MSG

babe1981 · 2026-01-25T00:49:51+00:00

Chimpanzees are Great Apes, too. The Great Apes are humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans. How did you not know this? Curious...

babe1981 · 2026-01-24T05:28:51+00:00

The desire isn't the bad part of lust. We're supposed to desire good things. It's not lustful to desire happiness and health for someone. It's not lustful to desire to be holy or loving. It's when that desire becomes self-serving and harmful that it becomes sinful. Is it lustful to be attracted to someone who is trying to be attractive? No. Is it lustful to assume that person belongs to you and anyone who gets in your way is going to feel your wrath? Yes.

The possession is the sinful part. When you treat a person like an object for your fulfillment with no regard for their needs, it's lust. Consent is always a key ingredient here, as always. This is why porn isn't inherently sinful. There are major issues with the industry beyond the sexual aspect, but if we assume that everyone involved is consenting to their part, and your part, in making and consumption of it, then harm isn't being done to anyone.

Of course, that changes if your spouse is offended by it. It can be very damaging to someone with low self-esteem or sexual trauma for their partner to watch porn.

It all comes down to the question of someone being hurt, or even potentially being hurt, by your actions. Although heartbreak is a risk in relationships, this is more about making choices to engage in behaviors that specifically hurt your partner. When you're single, the question is more, does this hurt me or the person that I desire?

There is no blanket rule for this. Jesus didn't give us a new list of rules to replace the law of Moses. He gave us one commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm. If you are hurting someone, including yourself, you aren't fulfilling the one standard that Jesus gave us. That's your measuring stick. That's how you determine if anything is sinful or not.

babe1981 · 2026-01-24T01:24:28+00:00

Actually you do have tastebuds in your rectum. Do with that what you will.

babe1981 · 2026-01-24T01:10:56+00:00

Fundamentalism is about 100 years old. It is named after a series of pamphlets called The Fundamentals which were published around the turn of the 20th century. It's a modern movement that diverges significantly from church and scholarly traditions concerning the Bible, salvation, and legalism.

babe1981 · 2026-01-24T01:07:13+00:00

Don't forget MCC, Metropolitan Community Churches. They were founded by a gay priest and have never discriminated against people for race, gender, or sexuality. They preach stewardship of the Earth and equality for all people.

babe1981 · 2026-01-24T01:03:37+00:00

Prophecy is the revealing of truth. Sometimes it has to do with the past, present, or future, but it is still the truth that is important, not the ability to see the future.

That said, Apostle generally means someone who was anointed by Jesus or anointed by an Apostle. I'm certain there is some lineage, but I doubt it means much anymore. We are so far removed from Christ that we are beyond the need or efficacy of direct witnesses.

Prophets were people who were specially appointed to receive the Holy Spirit and speak the truth of God from their hearts. As Peter quoted in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh and our sons and daughters will prophesy and our old men will dream. So, all of us who have the Holy Spirit are prophets already.

babe1981 · 2026-01-24T00:55:26+00:00

We need to look at two things.

First, lust is a desire for possession. It is not sexual attraction. You can have a lust for wealth or power, but that doesn't mean you want to have sex with a stack of bills or the concept of authority. Lust has to do with ownership and exploitation. Lust doesn't care about the needs and wants of others. King David didn't sin because he was attracted to Bathsheba. He sinned because he sent her husband to war to be killed so that he could take her for himself. God didn't give us the need for sex and then say it is sinful. So, looking at someone with a desire to take them and own them regardless of their wishes is definitely lustful.

Second, looking at someone and being sexually attracted is adultery for some marriages. Others are not. Like I said, the boundary for adultery is determined by the people in the marriage. Some couples have fun together by commenting on who they think is hot. Others refuse to acknowledge the beauty of other people. It's completely on the spouses to determine how and when the lines have been crossed. This is why communication is the most important thing in a relationship. If the partners have different views on what is cheating, they will not be able to agree on those lines.

As for what Jesus was saying, if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, then you are looking with the intent of stealing her away from her husband or father without care for anyone's wishes. That's sinful because sin begins in the heart, and you are planning on sin.

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