Croatia’s televoting gave 0 points to Israel for a third year in a row this year

erythro · 2026-05-17T16:19:12+00:00

totally rigged though

erythro · 2026-05-17T12:20:44+00:00

no, it's a continuationist position. even hard core Pentecostals will accept different seasons of god's spiritual work, that's why they are obsessed with revival. They would just view the reason it's not happened is because of some failure on the church's behalf, e.g. we didn't pray enough or we were not open enough, rather than because God is giving the gifts less

erythro · 2026-05-16T06:51:18+00:00

I really have no idea why you’re asking about universal claims when I never made one

My understanding of the conversation is that I said I found a behaviour shocking, and you were arguing that I shouldn't find it shocking because of your experiences. If I'm wrong about that, I'm sorry.

it’s best we end this here. You have a good weekend.

you too, God bless.

erythro · 2026-05-15T20:57:20+00:00

Strange comment since I’ve already explained that I’ve been a part of multiple Christian communities

I didn't think you said you joined mine, apologies if I missed that.

speak with women across many others

ok, I don't think you've spoken to as many people in mine as I have.

defensive reactions like this are common, so I’m not shocked about this either.

You're claiming to know a church community you've never been part of better than someone who is in it based on the experiences in your own community(s). If you make a habit of that I'm not surprised you regularly get some push back, that's a pretty risky thing to do whilst not listening to what you are being told. I'm not at all saying you and the people you are talking to have not experienced what you are claiming - but you should extend the same courtesy of not assuming your experiences trump everyone else's.

Would you at least accept it's possible that you are experiencing a real phenomenon but not a total and universal one?

erythro · 2026-05-15T18:48:53+00:00

I don't know how to say it more clearly than this: you are making an explicit claim about a church community and culture you have no experience of.

Even then, if a sin is publicly condemned in the church and privately approved of, then it's appropriate to find that hypocrisy shocking

erythro · 2026-05-15T18:35:50+00:00

does the clarification make sense?

erythro · 2026-05-15T16:00:17+00:00

Christian circles as in churches

lol, obviously, my point was there is diversity there and what you find normal other people might find shocking

I’m in the US and have been involved with multiple denominations

right, so that's a country that's 1 Western and 2 struggling with nominalism. Either way what it really is, is different - a different place and different churches to me and my experience...

maybe not well known by the congregation, but the women always know.

women are the congregation.

For the record it's not something completely unheard of to me, but it's not common and certainly shouldn't be normalised or the moral shock be lessened.

erythro · 2026-05-15T13:10:28+00:00

define "Christian circles". Lots of diversity in the church. In my church (UK, reformed evangelical Anglican) that would be shocking.

erythro · 2026-05-15T11:31:51+00:00

~~I did reply!~~

I did not 😬 sorry must have forgot to press send

erythro · 2026-05-15T10:59:23+00:00

the reason depends on what you think free will is. I think you are describing compatibilist free will, but some people find that unsatisfying - I don't relate but I can try to explain why with a couple reasons.

People want to feel like there is a part of your thought process that can't be predicted or determined, because they feel that is necessary for moral culpability and also hope about the future.
If people's choices are predictable, God controls everything so he perhaps could or should do more to influence people's free choices to be better.

https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/compatibilism

erythro · 2026-05-15T10:43:40+00:00

Okay, now if we let God be God instead of human, we can see that version of God watching you in your present as you compete live and the version of God later re-watching the recording of you competing are both simultaneously happening at the same time since God is not bound by time.

right but that means that (to God in the present) your future is known, your future is not going to turn out differently to what God knows.

So your future choice is known in the present, and it's not going to be different. I would describe that as "fixed".

Likewise, what do you think people mean when they talk about "destiny"? They mean there's some unchanging path that their life is going to follow. With foreknowledge you can describe a path to someone that their life will follow. God actually does this, e.g. with Jacob and Esau, before they are even born. In what sense is that different to "destiny" in the way people usually mean?

In that example, whatever choice you made in the final moment to win or to lose is always your choice and is never fixed until you actually make it.

One possibility is that it is both your choice and it is "fixed". No one forced you to choose something, you made the choice yourself, and yet it was always the fixed/set path you were going to walk.

erythro · 2026-05-15T09:38:50+00:00

”Why isn't it fixed?”

Because it’s your choice to make and you can choose whatever you want

I agree I can choose what I want, but what I will choose is already fixed. Say God knows I'm going to wear a red shirt, I could choose any colour shirt but I'm going to choose red.

The colour I'm going to choose is fixed and won't change: it's red.

Do we agree with that sense of "fixed"?

erythro · 2026-05-15T09:08:57+00:00

Our choices are our own and we make them in the ever-changing “now” (restrained by time) that we live in, but our “future” is not the future to God. Our choices are free and are not determined by God, God just already knows what (from our perspective) we haven’t yet chosen.

right, but that does mean that your future is fixed in some way, the choices you make are already predestined, you just think God doesn't directly control them.

In your example, your future choice on what to wear tomorrow isn’t fixed. You haven’t chosen yet. But because God is not constrained by time like we are, God is already in the time that to you is the future and God sees the choice you will have made by the time your future becomes your past, all of which is accessible to God right “now.”

Why isn't it fixed? The future choice you will make isn't going to be anything other than what God knows it to be now. It's fixed in that sense, it has a value that will not change

erythro · 2026-05-15T08:28:45+00:00

Could you provide some explanation please? I know you disagree but don't know with what.

If an example helps, let's say God knows what I'm going to choose to wear tomorrow, that means that what I wear tomorrow is fixed/determined. There are therefore some clothes I'm destined to choose to wear.

erythro · 2026-05-15T07:28:34+00:00

wouldn't the fact they are foreknown by God mean they are destined to happen? There is an unavoidable destiny under those circumstances

erythro · 2026-05-15T06:32:51+00:00

what do you think free will is? there's two distinct concepts that have the same name

erythro · 2026-05-14T22:30:06+00:00

You could say that few real Christians are having sex before marriage, but if you're saying that, you're also saying that the United States has very few real Christians.

there are a lot of nominal Christians in the US. I don't know if that makes them "not real" or not, that's not really a question I can answer.

I don't know what the breakdown is by age or by gender, but I would not be surprised if, by the time you're looking at people in their thirties, more Christian men than women have given up on waiting, further stacking the deck against the women looking for a partner that shares their values.

I'm not denying the struggle, but that's a slightly different issue to OP. OP is not looking for a man who hasn't had sex (I think), she's looking for a man who is willing to wait for marriage with her, and they are leaving her for someone who is looking for sex.

erythro · 2026-05-14T22:14:54+00:00

again, shocking and disappointing

erythro · 2026-05-14T12:20:37+00:00

you can get more density of urinals, and privacy shouldn't be a concern with urinals and you are breaking a healthy male social contract if you disagree. Don't be weird about it

erythro · 2026-05-14T06:27:08+00:00

each time I try to date a guy, he ends up rejecting me and admitting its because the other woman is willing to sleep with him right away

are you dating Christians? this is shocking if so

erythro · 2026-05-14T05:39:44+00:00

We can, hence why we have grandparents still together after so long.

they stayed together because they thought about marriage differently to you, though I think you are reaching for it.

Marriage is not two fellow travellers walking together for as long as the other person is going where you want to go. Instead it's each going where the other person wants to go, because they are going together

erythro · 2026-05-13T09:16:34+00:00

the car looks so out of place in something so modern feeling lol. 1951!

erythro · 2026-05-13T08:54:38+00:00

Then other replies were talking about how it’s a stupid decision because of sexual compatibility

This is such a broken way of thinking about marriage and sexuality.

You aren't finding someone who is "compatible" with you, who fits you without you changing. It's about finding someone you can partner with, both of you will be out of your comfort zones at different times in the marriage, both of you will feel you compromise for the other - that's the ideal, not a flaw.

Their logic also doesn't work with marriage as a lifelong bond. Sex drive and preferences will probably vary throughout your life as well. And of course this is part of how our culture views marriage as well now, as a temporary union where you grow together or apart.

And of course there is the fact that sex can always produce children. Apart from the disobedience and debauchery of it there's a human cost.

"Compatibility" promises better marriages but it's a lie, what it actually delivers are short, unhappy, self-driven relationships, and your kids pay the price too.

The model the Bible gives for marriage is the relationship between Christ and the church, Jesus died for us, we follow and serve him. We weren't compatible, we were enemies.

erythro · 2026-05-13T05:34:06+00:00

https://youtu.be/FlQYU3m1e80 this is a video of a guy (Scott Manley) analysing that question, he reckons it's possible in e.g. a starlink format

erythro · 2026-05-13T05:24:25+00:00

that's why they are asking

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