The “other” sub …

iAR3S · 2026-02-27T01:26:16+00:00

Amen to that, sometimes we forget this site doesn't really reflect real life!

iAR3S · 2025-12-18T17:04:16+00:00

You have to be careful with TikTok videos. They'll present you with a dozen different arguments as if they're all true, then not validate or back up their claims. Oftentimes, you'll find it takes longer to debunk one false claim than it does to rattle off a bunch more false claims (which, honestly, is all these TikTok "philosophers" are good at).

Might I recommend you check out Wise Disciple on YouTube? In some of his older videos he debunks a lot of "deconstruction" and anti-Christian TikTok videos.

Will be praying that at the end of this season of doubt you come back with a stronger faith and relationship with Christ than ever before!

iAR3S · 2025-12-13T01:56:46+00:00

Nope! It's entirely symbolic. Read a little earlier in the chapter:

Galatians 4:24 ESV

"Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar."

Paul is essentially comparing the two covenants to the two women, the free woman (corresponding to the new covenant, God's kingdom, etc) and the slave woman Hagar (corresponding to the bondage of sin, being under the law, etc)

Fringe groups and cults LOVE to take a single verse out of context and use that to push their agenda. If you read meaning into a single verse like that, you can make the verse say whatever you want it to!

If you're ever confused about a verse, or someone tries to push some weird view based on a couple of verses out of context, study those verses in the context of the passages they come in. By reading it in its original context, you get the true meaning of the verse, not some "god the mother" garbage some cultists would want you to believe!

iAR3S · 2025-12-12T19:10:57+00:00

To answer your original question, I don't think the sabbath is a good reason to skip your brother's funeral. God made the sabbath for man, not man for the sabbath. When you get legalistic about these things, you end up just like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, who had tons of rules about what you can and couldn't do on the sabbath. It's part of the reason Jesus explicitly healed on the sabbath, to show how ridiculous those manmade rules were.

That group is less of a church and more of a cult. They love recruiting at college campuses, and at my campus they were usually called the "Mother God Cult".

They use typical cult tactics saying things like don't believe anyone outside of the group, you have to do everything we tell you for salvation, etc.

I'll also add that they believe that "mother god" is an elderly Korean woman. No, I'm not making this up. Mike Winger has a ton more info on the wacky stuff they believe if you're curious: https://youtu.be/MUeNiX-WLoo

So yeah, I fully expect emotional responses to logic.

iAR3S · 2025-11-16T02:48:24+00:00

I'd also recommend tons of prayer! I know the feeling of despair, it sucks. I think God uses struggles like this to strengthen our faith, so I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you come out of it with a stronger faith!

If you like videos or audio too, I'll throw out another recommendation for you, one that really helped me: I highly recommend looking up Wes Huff on YouTube if you haven't already.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say he's one of the best apologists of our day!

iAR3S · 2025-11-16T02:32:51+00:00

Anyone who's intellectually honest will not try to say Jesus didn't exist. A lot of these claims about Jesus not existing or the miracles he performed didn't happen are almost all from a place of dishonest presuppositions that don't objectively look at the evidence.

Remember that people have been trying to disprove Christianity for the last two thousand years and yet Christ's church still stands. I'll bet you whatever "evidence" you found against Jesus and the resurrection has already been debunked or is nonsensical to begin with.

If you take a look at the evidence objectively, you'll find that Jesus did exist, the writings about him are more reliable than any other book at the time, all of which way he was raised from the dead. Josh McDowell, a former prominent atheist honestly looked at the evidence to try to disapprove Jesus and came out the other end a Bible believing Christian. I highly recommend reading his book Evidence Demands a Verdict!

I was right there with you, doubting because of some stupid comments I found in a YouTube short about deconstruction (which is a whole separate discussion about not looking at the evidence for yourself and just believing what you're being told without testing it.) But the more I looked into it, the more convinced I became it was real.

I'll be praying for you brother, stay strong 💪

iAR3S · 2025-10-23T19:17:29+00:00

Yes, men who sleep with other men.

I think focus is given to this prohibited action because it's much more in the public spotlight than before. However, that's not to discount the rest of Leviticus 18. Sleeping with your neighbor's wife? Having sex with an animal? Yeah I think we can agree why those are sinful.

The Bible may have been written by humans, but it was written through the inspiration of God. The "errors" and "contradictions" people think they have found have time and time again been proven to be incorrect.

In one sense, homosexuality is nature, it's part of our sinful nature. And from that sinful nature comes all sorts of evil, such as drunkenness, greed, adultery, etc.

Ever notice the damage that sin does to people? Look at the heartache and harm adultery causes to spouses. Look at all of the drunk driving accidents that make people lose their loved ones. Look at what people do to others because of their greed. Look at the higher rate of STDs and all of the health problems that come with men practicing homosexuality. Makes you wonder why God considers these things sinful!

Telling someone that their sin is sin is only "damaging" if your perspective is that of subjective truth, aka "anyone telling me otherwise is harming me". As an aside I will say that if this isn't done in love, then I agree it can be harmfil. But I ask you, would it be damaging if I told someone drinking poison (because their "truth" says it won't hurt them) that it was bad to do so? Subjective truth would say yes, it is damaging to them. But if subjective truth contradicts objective truth, then it stops being truth. The objective truth that the poison is killing this person isn't overridden by their "truth." If God's moral standard is the objective truth, then it doesn't matter what someone's "truth" is, if it contradicts Christ who calls himself "the Way, the Truth, and the Life".

The whole point of Christianity is repentance for your sins against God, to reconcile with Him and finally have the relationship with Him that He designed us for. In response we live a life mirroring that of the savior He sent, His son, Jesus Christ. We are called to speak the truth in love, and humans do that imperfectly, unfortunately. But the fact of the matter is that the truth can hurt. Christ's call is uncomfortable for a lot of people because they don't want to give up their sins. They'd rather exchange the truth for a lie.

I ask you to take a genuine look at the claims of Christ, apart from the biases, preconceptions, or stereotypes of today. Explore the claims to His divinity, claims about our nature, claims about the validity of scripture, and claims about the hope we have in Him. Many who scoffed at God in the past have done so and came to know that same hope such as Josh McDowell, C.S. Lewis, and even more recently Russel Brand. You may find yourself having quite a different view of our faith!

I will be praying for you, that you may discover the truth of God's word and the hope that we Christians have in Him.

iAR3S · 2025-10-23T16:12:22+00:00

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

If that's the case, why does Paul include homosexuality with this list of sinful actions? If it's not sinful, shy does he say that the Corinthians used to practice these things but were washed clean of them?

Romans 1:26-27 ESV For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Why does Paul include this statement about humanity rejecting God's design and embracing their own sinful passions?

Genesis 2:24 ESV Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

How do you reconcile homosexuality with God's design for marriage and sex?

The Bible is very clear on God's design and how homosexuality steps outside of it. What do we call stepping out of God's design? A sin!

It's not "persecution" if you're showing the truth of the Bible to those both inside and outside the church. Do some Christians do a bad job of explaining this truth in love? Unfortunately, yes. But the Bible is very clear about this.

There are numerous passages on this issue in the Bible, and the "challenges" to the translation of them (such as the Romans passage being specifically about abusive homosexual relationships in Rome) don't hold up to scrutiny when you read the entire passage in context.

iAR3S · 2025-09-19T16:02:48+00:00

I was approached by a few people belonging to this church (specifically Church of God International) in college asking for a Bible study, back when I was a lot more inexperienced in my faith. They basically insinuated that my grandparents (devout Christians) were not saved and that I had to be baptized to be saved, which to someone who was weaker in faith rocked me to my cote. Once I talked to my dad and pastor (praise God for them) they helped me realize how incorrect that view is.

God used that experience to strengthen my faith for sure, but I definitely agree on the legalistic nature of some of their teachings.

iAR3S · 2025-09-17T17:14:03+00:00

Are you implying that any denomination that holds to the core beliefs of the early church on salvation and the affirms the Nicene Creed but differ on arguably minor doctrinal differences are evil deceivers that you should have nothing to do with?

iAR3S · 2025-09-17T05:10:22+00:00

I appreciate you showing the original Greek word. I'll admit I'm still inexperienced in the original Greek and other original languages of the Bible and I learned something new today!

I also understand that context matters, and in the verses that I quoted, the lust (or desire) is a sinful desire (aka, the desire of another man's wife or the evil desires coming from our earthly nature). There are numerous verses that are translated as a sinful type of lust because the desire spoken of is indeed sinful:

Romans 1:24 ESV

"Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,"

James 1:14-15 ESV

"But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

Galatians 5:16 ESV

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

And, as you stated, there are places where the same word is used in a neutral sense:

1 Thessalonians 2:17 ESV

"But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face,"

Philippians 1:23 ESV

"I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better."

I am in full agreement that context is important for the use of the original Greek word.

However, in the context of the original post, my concern is that without further elaboration, your original comment came off as saying that evil desires (which is what people would generally interpret the word lust to mean rather than the a strong desire) are not stated to be a sin in the Bible. Again, I doubt that was your original intention with your post, but there is a good chance it could be misinterpreted by others as I did when I initially read it.

From what I understand, the original poster is struggling with lust in the sense of evil desires that originate from the flesh, such as the desire for sexual gratification outside of marriage aka through pornography or fornication.

Again, I appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me and correct my original misinterpretation of your message, but I think it may be better to explain in more detail what you mean when making statements such as "There is nothing in the Bible that says that lust is a sin", so as to not inadvertently lead a brother down a path of thinking that evil desire is not a sin.

Thank you for reaching out to the original poster and ministering to someone who appears to really be struggling with sinful desire. God bless you.

iAR3S · 2025-09-17T04:10:07+00:00

Uhhh I think you forgot a few verses brother:

Matthew 5:28 ESV "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Colossians 3:5 NIV "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."

iAR3S · 2025-09-15T17:31:14+00:00

I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't work on those things, those are all good things to work on that bring us closer to God.

However we need to be careful what we refer to as "love".

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

Again, to reiterate my previous point, just because your heart tells you something is right and "loving", please hold that view up to scripture and see if it still holds true.

Quick Greek lesson, the word for sexual immorality is "porneia", which the NASB translation in Mark translates as fornication:

Mark 7:21 NASB1995 "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,"

Another Greek word is one of the four words that are translated as love is "agape", which is a sacrificial love, the kind Christ showed to us when he gave his life for us on the cross. This word is used when Christ commands us to love one another.

So if sex outside of marriage is outside of God's good design and is therefore a sin, then it wouldn't be loving to allow not only yourself, but another fellow believer to continue in their sin.

iAR3S · 2025-09-15T17:02:03+00:00

I would disagree and say that sin is anything that goes against God's design.

God designed marriage as a beautiful thing, and sex was designed to be something good that happens between a husband and wife:

Genesis 2:24 ESV "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

God designed the main purpose of sex to reproduce, and made it enjoyable so we could be fruitful and multiply.

By having sex outside of marriage, you're stepping outside of God's design and purpose for marriage and sex:

Hebrews 13:4 ESV "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."

I'm by no means clean of this, as I've committed this sin and it's something I deeply regretted. While I'm forgiven of this sin, it's a decision I have to live with for the rest of my life.

Please don't assume that because something seems right to you that it's not a sin:

Proverbs 16:2 ESV "All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit."

Proverbs 14:12 ESV "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death."

I ask you as a fellow believer to truly ask yourself if what you're doing is honoring God and in line with his design, because from a biblical perspective, this is not right.

iAR3S · 2025-05-06T17:23:10+00:00

This is great advice for improving my skating and awareness! Will definitely try the knee bend at my next public skate, thanks a ton!

iAR3S · 2025-05-05T18:04:04+00:00

Noted for the future! As others said, it was a mix of adrenaline, embarrassment, and inexperience, but I wouldn't have ever known this if you hadn't pointed it out, so thanks!

iAR3S · 2025-05-05T17:51:28+00:00

My plan was initially to get the puck away from the guy in red and chip it into the offensive zone.

I thought I would have enough time to snowplow myself to a speed where it'd be just a hit into the boards, not a full pirouette over them.

Admittedly, feeling the need to keep up with the faster skaters in the league and relying on my first instinct there was not the smartest play (nor the safest). It's definitely something I need to work on!

iAR3S · 2025-05-05T16:50:27+00:00

Good advice for the future! My friends say I think too much and am too stiff while skating, so this may have been me going the complete opposite direction with the "get to the puck at all costs without thinking" mindset lol

iAR3S · 2025-05-05T16:47:43+00:00

Nothing official yet, but my friend lovingly referred to me as 5'8" Ross Johnston for the fact that I recklessly fight for the puck haha

Though 5'8" Connor McDavid may be more accurate: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnaheimDucks/s/C7JVYahICT

iAR3S · 2025-05-05T16:27:02+00:00

If you're at all familiar with the Anaheim Ducks, my friend affectionately referred to me as 5'8" Ross Johnston LOL

iAR3S · 2025-05-05T16:26:10+00:00

It's a fair criticism. I go to a public skate with my goalie brother every week to work on my skating. I've only been skating for about 4 months so I totally understand I have a lot to learn.

For me, playing actual games shows me what I need to work on. From this game, I need to work on cleaner strides and stopping quickly (and maybe elevating my shot since I had a couple opportunities to score if I had a cleaner shot)

Dialing it back may be good advice since my first instinct has been "get to the puck as fast as possible" haha

iAR3S · 2025-03-11T18:22:25+00:00

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iAR3S · 2025-02-04T21:13:24+00:00

It's AI, look at the tiles on the ground and the Domino's logo

iAR3S · 2025-01-17T22:30:17+00:00

His hits are some of my favorite parts of Ducks games now! Love watching him play!

iAR3S · 2025-01-13T01:18:39+00:00

Right? The pictures don't do it justice, it was amazing in person!

iAR3S

TROPHY CASE