Matthew does have a “higher” Christology, but how does that mesh with Luke, Mark and John? Can we perhaps notice some patterns in when different gospels were likely written, and how there’s clear evidence of escalation in the claims about what Jesus was, as the texts get further and further away from his actual life?

If the Trinity and Jesus’s divinity are so clearly established in the text, why did it take centuries to come to an agreement on what Christ’s divine nature was? The gospels contradict each other.

Why is God male? Does God have a Y chromosome? Does God produce sperm? Does God have testes?

Where is your textual support for the trinity?

Why did God create a bespoke Y chromosome just for Jesus? Why couldn’t Jesus have been born female? What would that change?

The rapture is unbiblical anyway. None of this really comes from the actual text - it’s squinting and connecting random unconnected Bible verses.

Dont think about ass pennies then.

“Black” just works as a better term. It’s hilarious when people refer to black folks from other countries as “African American.”

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone offended by being called “black.”

Cuz nobody figures out who denied your claim when your dad had to die right?

This is part of the hell that we live in.

If you have a complaint about any corporation, you can’t do anything about it. They all run phone trees designed to waste your time and make it impossible to reach anyone who can actually do anything. They pay call center workers in India nothing to take the frustration which should be directed at the C-suites.

We live in a world with zero accountability for anyone with a sizable bank account.

Chernobyl could have been so much worse.

Considering the unregulated capitalist hell scale we live in, I can’t trust that some mega corp wouldn’t cut corners.

The best class I took in college was an intercession course about the Vietnam War. We had to read an entire book pretty much every day, which was great prep for grad school.

I basically learned that the entire war was completely unjustified, it was horrific and brutal on both sides in ways that aren’t talked about, but that ultimately the United States had absolutely no business interfering. Vietnam had spent years under French colonial control, which they overthrew under their own power. They had already asserted a desire to rule themselves.

Tonkin was also a genuine false flag, which just isn’t acknowledged? We manufactured the cause for an extremely unpopular war. So many young man died or were disabled because of something that was pointless.

That class was first that really got me to question the patriotic narrative I was taught about American history in high school.

It can be very valuable and interesting to study the surrounding context of a war. Military history with battles and kill counts and discussions of tactics is something I find boring af, but there are endless discussions to be had about how the causes of the American Civil War can be traced back to before even the Revolution and tracing the repercussions of the war all the way up through to current politics.

Think about how the Taiping Rebellion, which killed more than 20 million people, would have affected day to day life in 19th century China - which weakened China and rendered it more vulnerable to European powers. Think the Opium Wars. Think about how Hong Kong was just returned to China in 1999 - and all of the complexities that entailed.

Or how the World Wars depopulated Russia. You had a generation dead or traumatized. Russian alcoholism is usually treated as a joke - trauma can have intergenerational changes in genetic expression.

Wars also make excellent chronological signposts. I’ garbage at dates, but usually wars segment significant social/economic/cultural/blah/blah/blah changes that they help me keep events organized in my head.

The UK trying to section off an Indian reserve as a buffer state after the French and Indian War was 100% a cause of the Revolution. Also the UK trying to step in and say “no, you are not allowed to purchase all of Kentucky from one random person.”

Funny how that’s never talked about in K-12 history. Or even undergrad. It’s all about those nasty taxes (after spending how much on troops to kill Indians who kinda had every reason to be pissed off?)

I like that he’s very open about the fact that he’s not an expert/professional historian. He walks the line between storytelling and rigor pretty well for a pop historian. My favorite episode is the one about the Memnonite (edit: Anabaptist) rebellion that ended with corpses being left up for centuries.

It’s less about succumbing to hedonism, and more the fact that he was disobeying God (and trying to screw the women he was banging out of an inheritance).

He was supposed to impregnate his brothers widow to provide her with a son. This was a “levirate” marriage - essentially, the son would considered his brother’s and would inherit his brother’s property. Women didn’t inherit property, so this was a common practice to make sure that widows were taken care of.

Onan pulled out because he didn’t want to get her pregnant - he wanted the inheritance for himself. So he was being a massive douche, and deserved it.

It isn’t something I had ever heard until I attended a lecture by the National Security Decision Making Game folks - they are intense on history. (And I genuinely have a bachelors degree in history - with an American focus)

Essentially, the French and Indian war fucking sucked for the Crown and Kingdom. It was mega expensive and difficult and ya know, the Indians live there. Who knows how many of them there are, if we keep pissing them off it’s going to keep costing us money. Soldiers cost money. Sending soldiers across the ocean costs a lot of money.

The French had a lot more native allies. The Americans were constantly being mega dicks, the French weren’t awesome but they were relatively chill.

Anyway, they finally win this expensive ass war and get some land. Indians live on it. Americans want land now - the Crown wants to not start another war and would in fact like a nice buffer state. At the very least, it’s a good idea to take some time to lick some wounds and figure out what We want to do. (I suspect if George could have foreseen the French Revolution, maybe they would be more agrees - something to try if you play NSDM lol)

The Americans are not happy. And they keep pushing into native lands, making illegal and shady treaties, all the while having a fucking meltdown about having to pay taxes for all these fucking soldiers that are protecting them when people get mad about having their land stolen. The Crown is having to say things like “hey no you can’t buy Kentucky from like one guy.”

It’s one thing to be pissed off about paying taxes - it’s another to have the promise of land. In a way, we were built similarly to Rome.

Exactly. The social situation of the men’s bathroom is such that anyone trying to confront someone about using a stall would automatically make them the weird one. I used to be self conscious that someone would notice difference in splashing sound, but realized that was stupid.

It’s funny, I remember in middle and high school going to the bathroom with groups of friends. It would be totally normal to be chatting, pass a pad or tampon under the stall. Unimaginable in a men’s restroom.

Talked to a social worker - kids in DHS care sleep in homeless shelters, hospitals, DHS offices. Teen group homes are inherently damaging to them; I’ve never seen a good one.

Foster teens. Short term commitment. They will have severe trauma and can be hard to deal with, but you would be amazed at how they respond if you can genuinely provide love. Love and Logic is fucking magic.

If you can’t foster, you can be a child advocate. Many states have CASA programs. Visit the kid once a month, let them know someone cares, and tell the court what you think is best for them. Even just something like a phone call “hey, kid left something behind at the group home - any way we could get that moved?”

Or even just someone to protect them from the group home. A dozen seriously traumatized kids, with staff paid less than $15/hr on a week of training. A place that provides opportunities for people to be around children, who are already isolated and have limited access to supportive adults… and financial incentives to cover anything up.

I don’t think there’s much hope for the future, but we can focus on the now and helping the children who are already here.

I’m a stealth trans man and use a stall. No one gives a shit. I’ve had “I have a medical condition and need a stall” prepped for years, but never has anyone even gave me a passing glance. It’s annoying to wait when I’m about to piss myself and someone is camping in the lone stall, but the only real rule of the men’s bathroom is “don’t acknowledge anyone’s presence.”

Honestly, give me a stable 9-5 office job with a living wage and I’d be happy. “The grind” doesn’t sound so bad if I can have the money for a bed and food.

For sure, this wasn’t out of benevolence. The Brits mostly wanted to avoid more war. Remember why those all those taxes were raised? Sending soldiers over to fight Frenchmen and Indians is expensive. If those backwards colonists keep fucking with them, the Indians are going to cooperate more with the French.

It’s hilarious how everyone knows the Tea Party and all of the taxes, when the real reason the American revolution happened was that England wasn’t going to let us drive Native Americans out