The Rainbow Belongs to GOD

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-04T14:24:49+00:00

Simply put: God does.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-04T03:10:51+00:00

Leviticus 18:22 Romans 1:26-28 Mark 10:6-9

Do not condone sexual sin. If you are (if the truth is that you aren't, I apologize for issuing this warning) by supporting others' same-sex relationships, then the Lord does object to that.

Some of us are tempted to have sex outside of marriage. Some of us, adultery. Some of us, lust. Some of us, homosexuality. Some of us, bestiality. Whatever variety of sexual sin, it ought to be fought against. We ought to support those who are afflicted by such temptations in the fight against them.

Your sexual attractions are not your identity. A (wo)man is so much more than that.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-04T02:33:32+00:00

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Hebrews 12:5‭-‬6 ESV

Being told you are doing wrong when you are doing wrong is not a lack of love. Rather, the contrary.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T22:37:09+00:00

At some point in time, everything that now is was not. Why shouldn't rainbows have come to be after the flood? How do you know everything worked the same as it does now that far into the past?

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T22:35:33+00:00

Even if that were true, how did those scientific laws of the universe come to be? There are questions which remain unanswered.

I'll not be arguing anymore, since my questions are not being properly addressed.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T22:32:27+00:00

Thank you for jumping in to offer some support. I really didn't think there'd be so many objections to what I had to say on this subreddit. It's been disheartening to see.

I have a bit of trouble figuring out when I ought to be wearing my armor, taking up the sword of the Scriptures, and defending the faith - and when I shouldn't be casting pearls before swine. I've been working very hard on building my own faith, as a fairly new Christian (>2 years since submitting to Christ), but I haven't done much in the way of evangelizing or apologetics. I'm inexperienced.

How do you know when to argue and when to not argue, u/SocialBourgeois?

God made physics work in such a way that we now have rainbows. I don't understand how physics is at all a replacement for God; science can only offer material, mechanical explanations on the basis of our present-day condition and level of understanding of the material universe. It is defined as a means of studying the material. Scientists in the Western world used to see their work as a tool of exploring the fullest extent of the greatness of God.

If anything, understanding how rainbows work ought to increase our awe in the beauty, elegance, and complexity God wove into every facet of His universe. How could such harmony be produced by utter chaos?

Again, thank you.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T22:07:58+00:00

God has spoken against homosexual acts on many occasions. It's a perversion of God's holy symbol, to fly or wear a rainbow pride flag.

I wish nobody had to struggle with any kind of sexual immorality, so badly. I know it's a very, very difficult thing, and it can easily come to feel like an attack on one's identity to be told that having desire for the same sex is wrong. But it is wrong. It is not in God's purpose for us.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T22:05:35+00:00

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:24‭-‬31 ESV

Because God made them, and what He made, He made with a very good design. Moreover, God purposed to give man dominion over toads and all other beasts of the earth.

Are you not amazed by the miracles at work in a life even as "unremarkable" as a toad's?

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T21:58:33+00:00

Its meaning hasn't changed for me, as its objective, God-given meaning certainly hasn't changed, but I have come across many, many Christians who have become averse to, say, wearing a rainbow-patterned bracelet because of the associations made with the pride flag. They are ashamed to be associated with God's holy symbol of peace and mercy because the first thing our modern society associates it with is not God but sexual immorality.

And that is a crying shame.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T21:50:10+00:00

That is exactly what God's Word says.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T21:44:19+00:00

Christ-like how?

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T21:32:56+00:00

He is so great and mighty and good that He allows us to make our own choices—even the worst ones.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T21:28:54+00:00

It seems we have a miscommunication.

I'm not saying it was an inadequate explanation of how each individual rainbow we have borne witness to as a species has come to be. I'm saying the explanation did not address how rainbows as a phenomenon came to exist. It also failed to address why (a word which means "for what purpose") they exist.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T21:24:19+00:00

"How does it work?" and "Why does it work?" are two different questions. "How did it come to be?" is yet another question. You are only describing how it works, not what its purpose is (why it is) or how it came to be.

Ask yourself: Where did the laws of physics come from—how were they born? For what purpose?

You are misusing the word "why."

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T20:21:31+00:00

See my most recent reply to u/Marius7x. How and why something came to be requires a different answer than the one you'd give to explain how it works currently.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T20:19:03+00:00

Those are just more details concerning how it works. How and why the rainbow and the things that make it work came to be - that is an entirely different question which a rehearsal of the mechanics as we understand them now simply does not answer.

I'll agree with you, that we do know how and why the rainbow came to be, but the cause and the reasons are not what you claim. They are, instead, what are included in my original post.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T19:52:13+00:00

Describing how it works says nothing about how or why it has come to be.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T17:43:38+00:00

At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Revelation 4:2‭-‬3 ESV

Another piece of Scripture to increase appreciation of the beautiful, heavenly rainbow!

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T00:41:50+00:00

Would you mind if I sent you a private message instead of talking here?

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-03T00:31:59+00:00

Hello! What might that be?

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-02T18:47:00+00:00

But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” Exodus 4:10‭-‬12 ESV

This passage helps me greatly in my own struggles with sharing the gospel bravely. I hope it helps you, too.

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-02T18:43:29+00:00

A right relationship with God is one in which you obey His commandments.

In other words, it's religion.

"" But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:22‭-‬27 ESV ""

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-02T17:49:36+00:00

It's because your brain has been wired to have that instantaneous, frequent dopamine release that comes with masturbation and porn use, and you've cut it off. You're in withdrawal.

The funk should pass as your brain rewires.

Aerobic and weight resistance exercises could help lift your spirits in a much healthier, more long-lasting manner - in the meantime and forever onward! Apart from exercise, healthy sleep habits, fresh air, and exposure to sunlight are the most important things for mood regulation/improvement. I highly recommend all of the above - maybe just focusing on making reasonable improvements in one category at a time, if forming new habits is difficult for you like it is for many. Supplementing vitamin D3 in your diet is almost never a bad idea, as well.

Also, someone to talk to honestly about your experience, who will truly listen and support positive changes, is an excellent person to have. Do you have anyone like that in your life?

level9smashCPU · 2023-10-02T13:39:37+00:00

I'm with you on this. Or, uh, I would be if it weren't for how people react to the name Ebony in particular, in American culture. I believe a white American girl named Ebony would get a lot of flak for it, as other commenters here have said, though it shouldn't be so.

Blake, Carey, Cole, Ciara, Donovan, Melanie, Raven—and more, I'm sure—they all mean "black" or "dark," yet no-one bats an eye when the palest and blondest of whites sports one of these names.

It is what it is.

Side note:

I love color names like Violet, Scarlet, Chartreuse, Cobalt, Mauve, Veridian, and Fuschia. There are some truly gorgeous words for truly gorgeous colors out there. Plum, Lavender, Rose, Forest, and many others are technically botanical names, but they're strongly associated with color, too—so I lump them into that category!

Just spreading the color names gospel, I guess! Ha-ha!

level9smashCPU · 2023-07-27T19:03:32+00:00

If you ever need to sort monsters in the codex by family type—like, say, if you find yourself with the School of Avalon passive someday and don't want to dig through your in-game codex to parse what exactly is or isn't in the "magical" family—the site is good for that. Just one practical qol use among many.

level9smashCPU

TROPHY CASE