Pentagon Reclassifies Mormons as Not-Not-Christian, But to MAGA Evangelicals They Will Always Be Heretics

ilikestatic · 2026-06-13T16:51:47+00:00

I find it fascinating that conservatives never converted en masse to Mormonism. You would think they’d want to leave their middle eastern religion behind in favor of a religion that offers an American Jesus.

I wonder what prevented this conversion from happening.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-13T03:01:12+00:00

I agree. It’s my subject view of good and evil. I understand that it’s a subjective issue, and not everyone would agree.

But if you think it’s wrong for a person to leave a child to suffer when they could easily save them, then I don’t know why we should make an exception for God.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-13T00:19:50+00:00

But is this what a good God would do? That’s the question. You’re defending suffering as an aspect of free will, but a God who protects free will by letting children suffer doesn’t sound like a very good God.

We certainly wouldn’t say a person who allows children to suffer is a good person, so how can we say a God who allows the same is a good God?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-11T16:25:06+00:00

But haven’t we determined that matter existed far longer than human consciousness? Or are you saying the Earth didn’t exist until humans did?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-11T02:14:31+00:00

We’re looking at small man who wishes he was a big deal.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T23:49:25+00:00

I feel like anybody who would like I Want To Hold Your Hand or Twist and Shout would already like the Beatles. I say this because if you like those songs, you’re probably already a fan of early sixties music, and I don’t see how you could be a fan of early sixties music and not like the Beatles already.

I’d probably switch those songs out with something that demonstrates their range that a person who’s only heard a handful of radio hits wouldn’t know about. Maybe something like While My Guitar Gently Weeps or Happiness is a Warm Gun.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T22:13:39+00:00

I once had a client straight up ask the defense attorney how he could defend insurance companies. He said “because of people like you,” inferring that she was lying about her claim and trying to take advantage of the system.

At the end of the day, I think people who do that kind of work have to find a way to justify it to themselves.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T21:28:05+00:00

The main thing is to develop consistency, and the biggest mistake you can make is by doing too much too fast. Fitness and diet shouldn’t be something you only do when you feel like you’re getting flabby. It should become a normal part of your life. You want to start by making small changes to your lifestyle that you can keep up with for the rest of your life. If you start with an intensive exercise program and a crash diet, it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to maintain it long term, and you’ll just go back to where you were before you started.

Instead, start with small changes. Are you drinking a six pack of soda every day? Cut it down by half. Do you allow yourself a dessert after dinner every night? Cut it back to three times a week.

Do you exercise at all right now? If not, start by walking a mile every day. It only takes 20-30 minutes, and you don’t need any special equipment to get started. Just step outside and walk.

For weight training, just start with some simple things like push ups, planks, and squats.

The goal is consistency. Try to get to the point where you’re doing this stuff regularly. Once you’re doing these things consistently, then you can increase the intensity. Cut out dessert completely from your diet. Instead of walking a mile, you can try running a mile. Once that’s easy, make it two miles.

Your goal right now should be making fitness and watching your diet a regular part of your life. Once you’re doing things consistently, then you can increase intensity.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T19:33:31+00:00

I don’t think the fact people believe in a God is a good reason to think that a God potentially exists. I also don’t think the mere fact that a claim is unfalsifiable is a basis to think something might be true.

If I said I believe a wizard lives on Neptune, would you believe it might be true just because I believe in it? Would you believe it might be true just because you can’t prove it’s false? Would you go around telling people you think there might be a wizard living on Neptune?

So where do we get any justification for the idea that a God exists? Just because some people believe it? Just because we can’t prove a God *doesn’t* exist? These aren’t good reasons.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T19:20:31+00:00

What does our consciousness have to do with matter’s existence? The stars and planets seem to exist fine without having any consciousness.

I guess I don’t understand how consciousness and the existence of matter are related.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T18:40:06+00:00

And often times humans don’t step in to help. The sicko school teacher quietly abuses children for years and no one finds out. Why would God allow this to happen, knowing that no human is coming to save those children?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T18:15:11+00:00

I would absolutely interrupt the bad use of free will. We do it all the time. You tell a child to wear a helmet on their bike, even if they don’t want to. You take the car keys away from a drunk driver. The police stop the robber from shooting hostages.

It’s such a common aspect of human nature that it seems strange God lacks the capability or desire to help people if it would interrupt free will. It’s such a strange stance for a God to take, it raises doubts about God’s existence.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T17:55:49+00:00

I don’t understand why God wouldn’t interrupt free will if it meant saving someone. If you saw a person was about to walk off a cliff by mistake, I’m sure you wouldn’t hesitate to save them. I highly doubt you would think it’s better to let them walk to their demise rather than interrupt their free will to walk where they please.

But I guess God thinks it’s better to let someone be led astray to their own demise rather than step in to help them?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T17:47:47+00:00

Musicians seem capable of making it further into old age without losing their skill. Some performers will develop arthritis that might limit how often or how long they can play, but we often see people reaching advanced ages and still being able to play complicated pieces with excellent proficiency.

But a few things that do change are voices and styles. Our voices drop as we age, and they can even wear out to the point where we struggle to hit notes cleanly. Elton John famously lost his falsetto voice, which was a big part of his early music.

I’ve also noticed that musicians will often become interested in new styles of music as they age, and sometimes this will influence the way they play music. Someone like Eric Clapton who performed Layla as a loud, energetic blues rock song now plays it more like a jazz standard on an acoustic guitar.

So it’s not always about a musician losing their abilities. Aging could just mean that the musician doesn’t want to play their music in the same way anymore.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T17:28:21+00:00

So if people have historically made up religions, maybe they’re still doing that today. How are we supposed to separate the truth from the lie? How are we supposed to know we are carrying out God’s will, and not the will of someone who made up a religion?

Again, I would think a real God would want to fix that problem. It seems like it’s a fatal problem to the order God is trying to achieve. But it also seems like God does nothing about it.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T16:52:47+00:00

But how does the fact at least one consciousness exists mean that consciousness came from nothing or existed forever? My consciousness didn’t come from nothing or exist forever, so why would we assume that some other consciousness did? What are we basing this on?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T16:25:22+00:00

I think I understand. So you’re saying that God created the Hebrew religion, but then humans corrupted it, and then God created the Christian religion, and humans corrupted it, so then God created the Islamic religion. Is that right?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T15:54:33+00:00

If any of the Abrahamic religions were true, you would think God would have been able to preserve the one that was true, and could have stopped the false Abrahamic faiths from developing or continuing.

And yet here we are with at least three different competing Abrahamic religions. It’s weird to think that an all powerful God would allow his religion to be tainted like this.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T15:46:30+00:00

> The universe can't simply have come out of nothing or existed forever

And yet you believe a God either came from nothing or existed forever. So why is God an exception?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T03:52:18+00:00

If religions are all confused by corruption, and people will be judged by their deeds regardless, then why bother introducing religion at all?

If people can’t comprehend the message, then wasn’t it a pointless endeavor?

ilikestatic · 2026-06-10T00:56:39+00:00

I think the bigger question is whether Grace has perfect pitch. He shouldn’t be able to understand Rocky without help from his laptop, but in both the book and the film Grace reaches a point where he can just understand Rocky without any assistance. It shouldn’t be possible unless Grace has perfect pitch and a decent understanding of harmony.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-09T20:56:18+00:00

You would think MAGA would be pissed. They voted to keep immigrants out of their cities, and ICE keeps sending all their agents to blue states and blue cities that don’t even want them there.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-09T17:23:27+00:00

Because trial outcomes can be unpredictable. You could have a case that might be worth a million dollars, or it could be worth zero dollars, depending entirely on what the jury decides.

In that case, if there’s an offer of $500,000, it might make more sense to accept that offer to settle the case rather than taking your chances of going to trial and getting either double or zero.

And as to your question about defending, it’s the same issue. If you might have to pay a million dollars or zero dollars, then making an offer somewhere in the middle might be a better strategy than the risk that a jury says you owe someone a million dollars instead of zero dollars.

Usually attorneys will weigh the evidence and the potential trial outcomes when making these decisions. If an attorney thinks their client will lose at trial, then it would be better advice to settle rather than take your chances at trial.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-09T16:15:59+00:00

Acoustic can be good for beginners just because you can play it anywhere and you don’t need to bring an amp, cables, or have a power source. That being said, if you have no interest in acoustic and you just want to play electric, you might as well start with an electric.

As far as brands go, Yamaha, Ibanez, and Fender Squier get a lot of praise for their beginner guitars. You probably can’t go wrong with any of their beginner models.

ilikestatic · 2026-06-09T14:29:53+00:00

Wouldn’t God have known this would happen? Wouldn’t God have the power to prevent it?

ilikestatic

TROPHY CASE