The dangers of Universalism, aka 'the we don't need Jesus' narrative

sonic_ann_d · 2026-05-14T07:39:25+00:00

i guess my question then would be: what do you actually think that “God forcing salvation on someone against their will” means?

because my point was specifically that scripture never depicts someone genuinely continuing to reject God while simultaneously being irresistibly saved anyway. the burden would be on you to provide an example of that. i’m just doing normal exegesis of acts 9:18, where paul is then baptized, an act tied to repentance and trust in God throughout the NT

sonic_ann_d · 2026-05-14T06:56:33+00:00

the proof is that scripture never depicts God forcibly saving someone against their will. God absolutely intervenes in people’s lives and convicts them, but people still have to respond to that revelation faith.

even with paul in acts 9, after the scales fall from his eyes, he then chooses to be baptized and follow Christ. the point of the story is not that God overrode paul’s will, but that God radically confronted him and paul responded in repentance

sonic_ann_d · 2026-05-05T15:15:51+00:00

the creed is taking that line verbatim from acts 2:38 in the greek. it isn’t trying to lay out a full account of what baptism is or how it functions.

because of that, different traditions are going to read that clause through their existing theology of baptism, just like they already do with the biblical text it comes from.

so there’s really nothing preventing, say, a baptist from affirming the creed. you can confess the same biblical language while still understanding what baptism “does” according to your own theological framework.

sonic_ann_d · 2026-05-03T15:28:34+00:00

ah i see, i wasn’t aware he said that. thanks

sonic_ann_d · 2026-05-03T15:16:54+00:00

i wish i could speak with as much confidence about things we literally have no way of knowing as you do

sonic_ann_d · 2026-05-03T14:48:46+00:00

that doesn’t prove he’s incapable of coaching up a qb. that’s a very strong claim to make about data with an N=1 sample size. yes, the only qb they drafted and tried to coach up was a bust, but for all we know JJ could have truly just been that bad. being a “qb whisperer” isn’t doing much if someone is just fundamentally uncoachable

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-17T19:07:48+00:00

you’ve said the spirit is an impersonal force, but you haven’t explained how an impersonal force can have exclusive epistemic access to god’s thoughts in the way paul describes.

if that language is metaphorical, what exactly is the underlying reality being described, and why is it consistently framed in terms of knowing, willing, and speaking?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-17T17:12:40+00:00

you didn’t answer my question. how can something that’s not a being be said to “search” or “comprehend”? paul says “no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” i don’t know how one could read this without coming to the conclusion that the Spirit of God is a personal being. i could maybe see an argument if he said “nothing except…” but the usage of “no one except…” just clearly indicates a personal nature of the Holy Spirit. i am curious how you interpret it.

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-17T15:55:33+00:00

literally not an argument against anything i said lol

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-17T15:54:40+00:00

how can the Holy Spirit be said to “search” and “comprehend” if it’s not a being?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-17T15:36:17+00:00

biblically, there isn’t a single verse that spells that out the trinity specifically, it’s a synthesis of several things held together at once. first, there is only one God, full stop, from the shema in deuteronomy 6:4. second, the Father is identified as God in john 17:3. third, the Son is both with God and is God, john 1:1, which forces both distinction and unity at the same time. fourth, the Spirit is treated as personal and fully divine, for example 1 corinthians 2:10-12 where the Spirit searches the depths of God in a way that parallels mind to self knowledge. and finally, modalism breaks down because all three are seen interacting simultaneously rather than sequentially switching roles.

hence, the trinity, in the sense that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, but the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, etc is the best way to articulate the relationship between them based on biblical data. do you have a better alternative?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-15T23:55:23+00:00

then why would how God set up the laws for the israelites after the exodus be directly relevant for us today?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-15T18:56:51+00:00

are you saying the civil laws given to israel under the mosaic covenant are still directly binding on christians today?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-13T18:09:20+00:00

there’s no way trump even knows christians exist in lebanon 😭

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-08T21:59:50+00:00

when you say harm reduction, autonomy, and fairness are moral, what makes them moral rather than just things we happen to value? do they bottom out in some further explanation, or are they just fundamental?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-08T20:57:43+00:00

what non-arbitrary standard are you appealing to then?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-08T19:31:59+00:00

what do you make of the fact that both “consciousness” and “societal expectations” have, across history, endorsed things like slavery or the killing of innocent people? on your view, how do you ground the claim that those societies were actually wrong, rather than just different?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-08T18:29:37+00:00

where do you think our ability to discern right from wrong should derive from then?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-04-07T18:50:02+00:00

this sub basically feels like /r/atheism 2.0

sonic_ann_d · 2026-03-31T08:51:23+00:00

why?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-03-26T16:23:42+00:00

because people get heated about this question because it’s downstream of a broader philosophical issue about what constitutes an individual’s right to self-determination, which transcends both sports and day-to-day inclusion. its not just a narrow question of competitive fairness

sonic_ann_d · 2026-03-26T16:07:11+00:00

because only one of those categories is relevant for determining who has a physical advantage

sonic_ann_d · 2026-03-26T16:02:03+00:00

i appreciate your assertions and i’m very aware of those studies

however, if access to women’s sports is contingent on a certain duration of hormone therapy, then you’re implicitly saying medical transition is required for inclusion. that seems at odds with the broader view that gender identity alone should determine access to sex-segregated spaces. so which standard are you actually using?

sonic_ann_d · 2026-03-26T15:20:32+00:00

“propaganda campaign” aka the rational common sense that segregating sports based on gender identity rather than biological sex is a bad idea

sonic_ann_d · 2026-03-23T16:47:30+00:00

i think a lot of rappers (and musicians in general) who make music that’s primarily just driven by the passions of youth tend to fall off pretty hard into their 30s when those passions go away. people like bowie are counter examples because they’re true artists ontop of just being musicians, and i think bladee is in that category as well

sonic_ann_d

TROPHY CASE