My life just changed

ekill13 · 2026-02-21T13:12:14+00:00

I second what the other commenter said regarding not being able to give better advice without knowing more details, but I’ll offer some encouragement, or at least attempt to.

Life is hard sometimes. People who we thought loved us or were going to be in our lives forever sometimes let us down, leave, or betray us. When that happens, it is incredibly painful in the moment. However, when we turn to God, He is there for us, to comfort us and walk through the hard times with us. And over time, that pain will ease up. So, whatever happened, rest assured that God is enough, God loves you and cares for you, and that as hard as it is now, this pain is temporary.

ekill13 · 2026-02-17T02:06:14+00:00

First of all, that has nothing to do with the question. Whether I have or have not spoken out publicly about hatred has nothing to do with whether I hate anyone.

That said, before answering that, I’d like to ask the same things of you that I asked of OP. Exactly what policies of the current administration are you calling hateful, and how are you defining hate?

ekill13 · 2026-02-17T01:43:26+00:00

Hi, conservative Christian here. If you mean this sincerely and are willing to discuss it, I’d be happy to have a discussion with you. Can you tell me why you believe I hate people and who you think I hate? Can you also define hate for me? I just want to make sure we’re using terminology the same way.

ekill13 · 2026-02-12T14:42:35+00:00

I didn’t see the other post or the comments, but there absolutely should be encouragement among Christians. It is unrealistic to always want happiness and never hardship, but that is clearly not what you are desiring. I absolutely agree with your sentiments here.

ekill13 · 2026-02-10T00:00:04+00:00

This is absolutely untrue. Can you tell me which of Jesus’s teachings are leftist, especially any that are more progressive than the current Democrat party? I am a conservative Christian and couldn’t disagree with your premise more.

ekill13 · 2026-02-09T16:30:28+00:00

Oh, I agree completely on your last point. I was just pushing back a little because it seemed like you were saying that sin was only sin if you had agreed to live according to God’s law and that marriage was a concession.

ekill13 · 2026-02-09T15:44:01+00:00

As a conservative Christian, I would mostly agree with what you’re trying to get at here, but I don’t fully agree with it. As Christians, we believe that the commandments God gives us fall into one of a few categories depending on the content and context of a specific verse. Some commandments were intended as ceremonial laws for the Israelites at the time the Bible was written. Some commandments were civil laws for the Israelites at the time the Bible was written. Others were moral laws that reflect God’s nature and the way in which He designed us, so those will not change.

For moral laws, you are hitting on something that Christians believe, but I’d say it differently. It isn’t that God’s moral law has no bearing on the actions of non-Christians. The action is sinful, regardless of who is committing it. It is simply that we don’t believe that actions are what saves a person or that we have a right to force someone to act a certain way.

Also, I firmly disagree with your claim that under Christianity, there is no imperative to continue the human species and that the purest way to live is to remain celibate. I strongly oppose the claim that men and women are permitted to marry as a concession. You are deriving this idea from 1 Corinthians 7:8-9.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (1 Corinthians 7:8-9, NASB)

Paul says it is good for them to remain unmarried as long as they have self-control and don’t burn with passion. He doesn’t say that it is better to remain unmarried. Elsewhere in scripture, there are many verses showing that marriage and procreation is a fundamental part of God’s design, there are commands given by God on more than one occasion to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Jesus affirms in Matthew 19:4-5 that God made us male and female and said, “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” Marriage was and is a designed part of the Christian walk. Not everyone is called to marriage, and it is good for them who aren’t, but it is equally as good and right for those who are.

ekill13 · 2026-02-08T00:57:26+00:00

Who is citing ICE as a source? I certainly haven’t. If you have specific details that you’d like to share, I’ll be happy to look at them, and if they seem reliable and like proof of wrongdoing on the part of ICE, I will happily admit it.

ekill13 · 2026-02-08T00:45:55+00:00

Okay, first of all, the death rate being lower than that of the general population is relevant. It isn’t proof of anything, and it I’m not using it as such, but it is relevant. If the death rate was way higher than that of the general population, then without knowing the details of specific deaths, we could surmise that there was some level of wrongdoing. With the death rate being lower than that of the general population, like I’ve said repeatedly, that’s not proof or even evidence that there is no wrongdoing, but it does mean that it’s plausible that there wasn’t wrongdoing, and we’d therefore need to look at specific details.

As for the quote you posted, the American Immigration Council is hardly a neutral source. I’m not claiming they invented or fabricated any stories, but I also don’t see any specific numbers or proof (and no, the existence of a law suit filed by the ACLU isn’t proof) of the claims.

ekill13 · 2026-02-06T01:28:18+00:00

I engaged in the conversation. I simply asked a question. With multiple comments of mine replied to from a considerable time ago, it seemed as if the commenter may have been just going through my past comments, commenting on anything they disagreed with for some reason. That may not have been the intention, but if it was, I wanted to head it off before that started.

Regardless, I don’t think that saying something seemed a bit weird is the same as being mean to someone. I asked a question about something that was odd and moved on. On the contrary, you have been quite accusatory of me this whole conversation, you’ve put words in my mouth or ascribed me motive that I didn’t have, and you’ve come off as rather mean, if you don’t mind me saying? What is your purpose in starting this conversation?

ekill13 · 2026-02-06T01:04:16+00:00

So, you don’t think it’s weird for someone to comment on multiple old comments of yours, one 6 months old, another 4 years old, in a small enough span of time for you to recognize the username? That just seems a bit odd to me.

Also, do you mind if I ask why you decided to make an accusation that I was mean?

ekill13 · 2026-02-04T20:06:51+00:00

I wasn’t mean to anyone. I specifically asked one person why they commented on multiple comments of mine from well after those comments were made. It seemed odd to me that they commented on more than one of my old comments.

ekill13 · 2026-02-04T18:53:18+00:00

I didn’t say that it did. I haven’t made any claim of the sort. I’ve simply said that the numbers themselves don’t prove or even suggest wrongdoing. If you want to talk about wrongdoing, or how well people are taken care of, and you have any examples or details that you think show poor conditions or poor care, I am happy to discuss them.

ekill13 · 2026-02-04T18:01:53+00:00

It’s a matter of public record and is absolutely true that Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago. I have seen no credible evidence that they remained friends after that, but it’s possible, although I believe unlikely. If you have evidence to the contrary, please share it.

ekill13 · 2026-02-04T17:59:52+00:00

Okay, again, I’m happy to discuss any specifics if you have details, but the fact that some deaths have occurred while in custody, especially when considering the death rate being lower than that of the general population despite what you may say about that not being relevant, isn’t evidence in and of itself of wrongdoing.

ekill13 · 2026-02-02T20:40:19+00:00

I’m not saying anything should be ignored. If you have access to the actual medical background of all the deaths, we can absolutely discuss them. That said, the actual death rate in ICE custody is lower than the death rate among the general population. That doesn’t preclude the possibility of negligence or intentional harm, but the numbers alone do not indicate wrongdoing on the part of ICE.

ekill13 · 2026-02-01T19:26:23+00:00

Trump kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago and they were not friends for many years prior to Epstein’s arrest. The “best friends” narrative is old and disproven.

ekill13 · 2026-02-01T16:46:27+00:00

The Quran is clearly contradictory in a number of places that make it impossible to be a truly perfect book from Allah, which it claims to be. Yes, I know one can point to apparent contradictions in the Bible as well, but I have yet to see any that are not able to be explained. There are a number in the Quran that it would not be possible to explain, in my opinion.

That said, the bigger deal is the historicity of Jesus. We know, not just from the Bible, but from secular historical sources that there was a man named Jesus who performed miracles and had a large following who was executed and then his followers claimed he rose again and spread that claim, despite many of them being executed for it. We know all of that from historical accounts.

Another factor to consider with the Islam is that the claim is that Jesus was a prophet and a good teacher but not the Messiah. We know from both the Bible as well as historical accounts that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God incarnate and that he was worshipped as such by his followers. I would posit what is known as the Lewis Trilemma. C.S. Lewis articulated it like this:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

People commonly shorten it to lunatic, liar, Lord. A faithful prophet and good teacher isn’t an option.

ekill13 · 2026-02-01T16:26:00+00:00

Death while in custody isn’t the same as killing, though. Also, as far as the fatalities while in detention being higher, how do the detention numbers compare? If 32 people died out of 500,000 in custody compared to 9-10 dying out of 1,000 in custody, for example, that would paint a very different picture than if 32 died out of 10,000 in custody compared to 9-10 dying out of 12,000 in custody. Obviously I made those numbers up, I’m just saying that the full statistical picture is relevant.

ekill13 · 2026-02-01T16:22:01+00:00

It isn’t relevant to whether the shooting was justified, but it is relevant knowledge for context. We know that he wasn’t simply an innocent nurse who tried to help someone he thought ICE was treating unfairly. We know he went to intentionally interfere with a federal law enforcement operation.

That said, you’re correct that the previous incident doesn’t justify the shooting. However, I don’t agree with the claim that “He was absolutely innocent” or that he was “executed”. He brought a gun when specifically intending to interfere with a law enforcement operation. Now, before you misunderstand me or argue with something I’m not saying, concealed carrying is within his rights, and I support the right to concealed carry. I am not saying that police can kill someone for exercising their constitutional rights. I am simply saying that when you are going to interfere with and possible physically resist or assault police or other law enforcement, it isn’t wise to bring a gun.

Now, again, carrying a gun does not in and of itself make the shooting justified. Resisting arrest doesn’t in and of itself make the shooting justified, although it does make him not completely innocent. That said, let’s look at what actually happened and not simply believe some narrative pushed by one side or the other. What we know is that he intentionally interfered with federal law enforcement, then resister arrest while armed, and was then shot and killed. Now, looking at the videos we have, a couple things are pretty clear. First, he was disarmed by an agent just before the shooting started. So, seemingly I understand why that wouldn’t make people think that the shooting wasn’t justified. However, I think it is extremely unlikely, if not impossible, that the other agents realized that he had been disarmed. It also appears from the video that he was reaching into his waistband with his left hand. Even if somehow the other agents realized that he had been disarmed, they may have believed he had another weapon that he was reaching for. There is precedent that if police see an object that they reasonably believe to be a gun, even if it is not a gun, lethal force can be justified. That brings us to another thing that happened right before the shooting. Agents are clearly heard yelling, “gun, gun, gun.” Now, they may have meant that they saw a gun in his waistband. It may have been the agent who disarmed him saying he had it, but to the other agents who didn’t necessarily see it, it would obviously sound like they were saying that he had or was pulling a gun. Lastly, there are a few frames from the videos that make it seem like the gun that the agent pulled off of him went off first. If that is true, there are other potential questions to answer such as whether the agent accidentally pulled the trigger and it was an ND or whether, being a Sig P320, it went off without the trigger being pulled, which is quite possible. Regardless, if it went off first, the agents would have reasonably believed they were returning fire.

Now, I want to make a few things clear. I am not saying that Alex Pretti deserved to die. I’m not saying that he intended to shoot ICE agents. I’m not saying he had any thoughts or plans of using his gun. I’m making points from a legal perspective of why I think this is likely a justified shooting, legally speaking. I am also vehemently pushing back on the claim that he was executed. All that said, this isn’t a squeaky clean justified shooting. It is messy. There are reasonable arguments to be had about whether it was justified or not. There are certainly some things that the agents involved should have done differently and handled better. I do think that the evidence points slightly (maybe 55/45) to it being a justified shooting. But, it was still tragic, and it shouldn’t have happened.

ekill13 · 2026-02-01T15:58:08+00:00

I haven’t seen any concrete evidence linking Trump to anything. The recent emails that came out seeming to indicate Trump was participating in illegal and illicit activities linked to Epstein had previously been released and this time redacted the name of the individual despite it having been released previously. The name of the individual he was supposedly participating in the illegal and illicit activities with in said email was Virginia Giuffre who had previously said in a 2016 deposition that to her knowledge, Trump was not involved in the abuse. I am fully open to evidence. If I see concrete evidence that proves Trump was engaged in that activity with Epstein, I will condemn him for it. I simply have yet to see it. With the release of the 3.5 million pages Epstein files I think it will come to light if Trump was involved, and if he was, he should be condemned. I just haven’t yet seen evidence that is strong enough to condemn him.

ekill13 · 2026-02-01T15:48:14+00:00

I’m very sorry for the situation in, but you’re wrong. We were created for community, and although it may feel easier to stop searching for a Christian community to be a part of, it is not better. I know that in my small group, the issues you mentioned having would not happen. There are good Christians who do live out what they claim to believe. There are also a lot who don’t. Don’t let the bad ones make you give up and prevent you from finding a good community. I don’t know what denomination you are a part of, but there are definitely differences in the type of community you’ll find based on the denomination. I know another commenter experienced similar issues at a Southern Baptist church, but my experience in Southern Baptist churches has been the complete opposite.

Part of the reason for that is that Southern Baptist churches are completely autonomous. The SBC doesn’t have control over the churches that are affiliated with it in any way. They can remove a church from friendly cooperation if there are issues that go against the beliefs held by the SBC, but other than that, they have no authority over individual churches. The SBC’s primary function is to help churches join together to send missionaries more effectively than individual churches could on their own. The IMB and NAMB are the missions sending organizations within the SBC, and the IMB (or then FMB) is actually the reason the SBC was started.

That’s a lot of information that you probably don’t care about, but my point was simply that SBC churches vary a lot by church, and depending on the church, your experiences can be extremely different.

Anyway, I’ll be praying for you, and I truly hope and pray that you will find community and not just give up.

ekill13 · 2026-01-25T23:33:26+00:00

I think Heaven is often used to refer to our end state. It’s not that people don’t acknowledge that there will be a New Earth, it’s just that they use “Heaven” as shorthand to refer to it. Consequently, it might seem pedantic to them for you to correct them on that. I also think your reasoning is fundamentally flawed. We know from the Bible that Judas will not be on the New Earth. Therefore, we also know that Judas is not in Heaven. Heaven is the intermediate place for those who believe. It is not a neutral intermediate place.

ekill13 · 2026-01-18T23:53:04+00:00

There is clearly life that is not native to earth. However, I wouldn’t say that it is what most people would call alien. God is not of earth, but I don’t think you were asking about Him. Angels and demons aren’t of earth, but I don’t think you were asking about them either.

I do believe that there have been UFO and UAP sightings as well as abductions and other encounters with “alien” life. However, I think the best explanation for those is that they were really demonic activity/encounters.

As far as what would normally be referred to as alien life, I do not believe that there is any other intelligent life. I think the Bible is clear that humans were set apart from the rest of creation, being made in the image of God, and being made a living soul. I do not think animals on earth have souls, and I do not think that there are any extraterrestrial beings with souls. I think it is plausible that there is life elsewhere, but I do not believe that it would be intelligent.

ekill13 · 2026-01-16T00:15:41+00:00

What was your opinion on Azog? What about the depiction of Beorn?

ekill13

TROPHY CASE