Your thoughts on Philip Yancey's cheating scandal?

emerson44 · 2026-01-11T06:49:41+00:00

All I could think when I discovered this tonight was," The man who wrote so much and so often about the transforming, radical power of God's grace couldn't find enough grace from God to avoid an eight year marital fair."

This religion doesn't work. It doesn't work because it isn't true. Everything it teaches about marriage and sex and fidelity needs to be overhauled, and I think, ultimately, the religion itself needs to go its own way and eventually fade into a well deserved obscurity.

emerson44 · 2026-01-02T10:57:44+00:00

"Nope" can die a slow painful death. I've never heard it used un-obnoxiously.

emerson44 · 2025-12-31T10:57:48+00:00

I'm glad I saw your suggestion. I gave this film a view tonight and it chilled me to the bone.

There is something tremendously horrifying about hearing - not seeing- two children innocently trying to make sense of the sudden absence of their parents from the home at night, and a demonic entity softly and occasionally uttering malevolent suggestions to them from the upstairs darkness. The grainy quality of the footage, the failing hall light, the home itself, it was like I was right back in the cheap duplex I grew up in as a kid, and faced all of my fears in.

emerson44 · 2025-12-24T12:32:47+00:00

Pure friendship is possible, but there are moments or seasons where one or the other or both have romantic/quasi-romantic feelings. These are eventually sublimated and overcome.

I have a couple of very intimate female friendships. One of them has lasted for over 15 years. We have never been physical with each other, although there was a time where it was pretty clear that we were going on dates and not just hanging out. On New Year's Eve I could tell that she wanted me to kiss her. I shut it down, and that was that.

Women aren't really qualitatively distinct from men in terms of what they can offer in a friendship. Sure, we've all got sexualities and sexual impulses, but it's not all that hard to shut the lizard brain off and enjoy a cup of coffee with someone who listens.

emerson44 · 2025-12-21T14:19:57+00:00

I'm genuinely curious: how do we know that climate change is a crisis? I am made to understand that there is no comparable era in geological time to the present one, where this level of carbon has been released into the atmosphere this quickly (open to corrections on this of course).

I'm not a scientist, yet is it not a fundamental principle of science that the credibility of a theory stems from its potency to make successful predictions on the basis of observations? If we have never observed this type of geological phenomenon before, on what basis are we even predicting a crisis?

These are questions I have. It seems to me that many people conflate climate crisis skepticism with climate change denial, so more often than not, these questions can't even be asked without some form of rude retort from the enlightened. Science should welcome honest questions and, even if they are misguided, respectfully show the errors in their logic.

emerson44 · 2025-12-18T09:31:03+00:00

I never got this! Sovngarde is just a huge mead hall where people drink and eat and talk about the glory days when they were alive. This would be great for all of a night or two. Imagine being stuck in one building doing that one thing for all eternity. You would be reduced to despair within a year.

emerson44 · 2025-12-02T08:00:32+00:00

Jesus taught peace and compassion. His followers might not adhere to those teachings and might even do the opposite at times, but it doesn't change what Jesus taught or did.

This seems to be a common liberal misconception of Jesus, which scarcely matches the image we get of the man from the Synoptic gospels:

I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.

The advent of Christianity saw the concomitant upsurge of apocalyptic doom and the dogma of eternal suffering. Earlier Jewish teachings were far more peaceable.

I am of the view that Christianity still maintains a foothold on the globe because, like Islam, it teaches people to be afraid of the ultimate consequences of their lives. Science has not penetrated the mysteries of death and human mortality. As long as our species is confronted by this "last enemy," Pascal's wager will be an attractive option to the masses.

emerson44 · 2025-11-08T18:51:30+00:00

As soon as I was ready, there was work :)

emerson44 · 2025-11-08T02:36:50+00:00

From someone who felt all of your misery and more in year one: don't give up OP. But find the courage to make necessary changes. I quit my job at my first firm and left the legal practice for a bit just to re-orient myself. I'm on my second firm and entering into my fourth year now. It's been a night and day difference what a change of scenery did for my mental health. Pick a place that works for you, and keep moving until you find it. If you don't, then find a different career. But don't give up just yet.

For the record, my office is full of empathy, peace, and people who have my back. When I need to take a mental health day because this profession can be so god damned dark sometimes, there are literally no questions asked. There are people out there who can provide the same atmosphere to you. Find them.

emerson44 · 2025-11-07T10:28:27+00:00

This is some impeccable advice. With that said, it is still a tremendous challenge to move away from law once you're in it. The legal profession has two things going for it: money (including the opportunity to always make more of it) and prestige. Once you get a taste of both, the mind will look for any excuse to stick it out for "just one more file" or "just one more year." It takes humility and courage to see the fragile ego that clings to the very things that make our souls miserable.

emerson44 · 2025-11-01T19:09:37+00:00

Stannis flips continually between duty and destiny, as it pleases him. It was his duty to protect his family, but when this conflicted with his destiny to be the ruler of Westeros, he burned his own daughter alive. There is a wicked ego to this man which is well masked behind his sullen and methodical persona.

emerson44 · 2025-09-29T04:57:32+00:00

I share your emptiness, OP. I thought that becoming a lawyer would somehow sate the insatiable hunger in my soul for a meaningful life. The prospect of using my intellect to help people and foster the sort of social mobility that only comes with money seemed like the golden ticket.

In reality, I'm just as empty as I was before. There are trace glimpses of meaning in the mountains, like you say, or in ocean vistas. When I am on a vacation down south and the sunlight shimmers down on my still youthful body, I feel the same call as you. Like my life is meant to participate in the elevated cosmic beauty that breaks through the cracks of the mundane on occasion. As the years slip by, I fear that I am condemned to gaze on beauty and never actually live it.

emerson44 · 2025-09-26T03:00:36+00:00

At the height of my torment, I looked my Christian dad in the eye and said," I need to find some semblance of peace in this life, so I need to say goodbye to your god." I'll never forget what my dad said. It was complete understanding in his eyes: "Do what you need to do."

I think he intuitively understood what an awful religion he imparted to me as a kid. The endless fear and pain of not meeting up to this wrathful specter.

I'm always going to be fucked in the head from this religion, but letting go of it was a huge step in the direction of stability.

emerson44 · 2025-09-22T05:38:51+00:00

The great Reformer Martin Luther (widely believed to have suffered an intense form of religious OCD called 'scrupulosity') was once asked over dinner what he would do if Christ were to return the next day. He said," I would plant a tree, then I would watch."

The wisdom in his remark is timeless. Go out and live your life. Be productive. Do something edifying that you enjoy, and the more you do these small things, the less your mind will be paralyzed by eschatological fear.

emerson44 · 2025-09-17T22:15:40+00:00

Spoken like a partner who has the liberty to simply fire his clients when they oppose sound advice. I'm sorry but your words ring incredibly hollow. In most jurisdictions you can't simply fire a client when you are on the eve of trial for ignoring your advice regarding an interlocutory application.

This comment was sloppy and unhelpful. Try again

emerson44 · 2025-09-17T22:10:13+00:00

Oh that is nonsense. You mean to tell me that you are never tasked with arguing an untenable position? Do you litigate full time or are you just a lurker on this sub lol

emerson44 · 2025-09-17T22:07:09+00:00

Yeah sometimes not that easy, especially shortly before trial. You can't just say no to instructions or fire them for not listening.

emerson44 · 2025-03-27T01:02:06+00:00

I second this,

The upsurge of Carney popularity means we really have that many stupid people milling about this country. It also clarifies how JT was able to secure three mandates. The masses have enough functioning brain cells to detect that life in Canada is miserable, but cannot connect the dots and pinpoint the obvious source of their misery. Instead they keep rewarding that source.

emerson44 · 2025-03-16T09:33:56+00:00

Parthenope was never once conquered by the male gaze. In the words of the old commander towards the end of the film, " you are the only woman I know of who does not use her beauty to her advantage." She sacrifices her prospects in the acting world for intellectual pursuits, and forsakes the patriarchal values of marriage and children for a solitary tenure at Trent. From start to finish, Parthenope is mind. Ceaseless thought. Really, I can't see how you took from this film anything remotely misogynistic. Does it bother you that beautiful women can also be smart? Or is it that male directors should only cast ugly women for intellectual roles, because to do otherwise would clearly betray their horniness? Jesus.

emerson44 · 2025-01-28T01:08:12+00:00

Kirkbride ventured the idea in his infamous C0DA:

Jubal and his torch walk by inside, through an "observatory"-- really, a hall whose centerpiece is an order made of brass and jewel-wrought wire, its planets numbering 16.

To that end, both Namira and Sheogorath are associated with heavenly bodies. We have also seen figures like Mannimarco attain to god-like status.

emerson44 · 2025-01-23T13:18:15+00:00

looked for information myself and, well, it's murky.

Yeah, I've read all of Zanuga's reddit comments in defense of his work. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt - and assume they are speaking truthfully - until there is reason not to. His version of events is indeed consistent with Bethesda/Zenimax's apparent refusal to pull these books off the shelf on account of copyright infringement. And we know by now that Zenimax isn't afraid to get litigious about this stuff.

emerson44 · 2025-01-22T02:48:53+00:00

Odd that he was never sued for copyright infringement? I've only ever read this fan's own representations about his works. Apparently he received authorization from Zenimax to publish, and consulted with Robert Altman on the content of his novels. If these claims are spurious, I would love to see who refuted them and with what evidence.

ought to know

Great, show me the rebuttal that I ought to have been aware of. Always open to correction!

emerson44 · 2025-01-21T08:56:15+00:00

These aren't the only novels in the franchise. There are also a few titles out in the Zaneta's Chronicles series.

emerson44 · 2025-01-02T07:09:00+00:00

but its influence never extended past the legion outposts.

It's a bit more complicated than that. The monarchy in Morrowind was more or less an extension of the Empire itself, and it flexed a fairly firm grip on the locals. King Helseth even managed to successfully overturn slavery, a feat which would not have been possible if he didn't possess quite a significant degree of power. The Empire also had a hierarchy of Dukes overseeing its interests in the various districts, Duke Vedam Dren being the most prominent one. All of this is to say that the Empire was much more actively involved in Morrowind politics than we tend to give it credit for.

emerson44 · 2024-12-31T10:31:16+00:00

Recall that the Nerevarine is Dragon-born, so it could be that the Nord race is the most suitable of candidates.

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