So our (Lutheran) church would bring all of the kids in the congregation up to the front to discuss a theme or passage during each service. We initially had a pretty cool female pastor (who—I later found out—was bullied into leaving because she was a woman 🙃); she at one point told us that to get into heaven, we only needed to ask God to let us in. It made sense to my naive little brain.

When I was 15, some asshole temp pastor called us up and asked if we know how to get in, and I replied with what I was told; he very condescendingly said “uh, no, you need to believe in God”.

I was irritated by his tone, yes, but I also hadn’t heard that before, strangely. His response really disturbed me. I thought, what about people across the world who have other faiths? Or children who die before they even have a chance to believe?? You mean my amazingly kind, Buddhist Vietnamese friend is going to HELL?? What the fuck???

So I began to research alternate viewpoints online, and discovered the ways in which Christianity doesn’t make sense and how it’s often used as an excuse to spread hate and suffering. I just couldn’t justify believing anymore.

On Thanksgiving, my aunt boils broccoli and potatoes and serves them totally unseasoned. Not even salt. 😢

It’s one of many reasons why I haven’t gone in years.

When you could just as easily eat NOTHING and have roughly the same nutritional value

I’m no nutritionist, but that seems incorrect based on my cursory Google search. lol

I actually like canned green beans slightly more than fresh or frozen. It has something to do with the texture, but idk what exactly. Though imo most veggies are definitely better fresh, for some reason I really enjoy canned peas too (I know I’m a weirdo).

That is certainly a naive oversimplification of the concept of free will.

It’s funny that you think you can assume how abuse victims would feel, considering it’s quite obvious that you either 1.) haven’t bothered to educated yourself about the psychology of abuse on even a basic level, or 2.) you did, but just decided you know better than the mental health professionals who have spent years studying the topic.

Either way… it’s clear that continuing this particular discussion with you is a waste of time, at least for now.

There’s a big difference between choosing to not get vaccinated and being coerced into it.

Defending her is not defending the unvaccinated; it’s acknowledging that she was a victim of abuse and that abuse has extreme psychological effects that you clearly don’t truly understand.

Done! 🥰

Nah, but just because it’d also reverse the effects of freezing them. but next time I get them, I’ll try toasting them first!

When it comes to things like chocolate bars, cookies, brownies, pop-tarts, ect., I almost always pop them in the freezer for a bit because it changes the texture.

Cookies/brownies with chocolate chips/m&ms are the best for this, because the chips get crunchy, while the cookie part is chewier.

There are countless full-time jobs that pay so little that it is practically impossible to “live within your means”, at least unless you have multiple jobs or still live with your parents.

I’ll move it to the top of my list!

Arcane, the animated League of Legends show on Netflix.

Oh MY GOD, every element is seriously SO mind-blowingly good. And imo its animation is at least as good as—if not better than—the Miles Morales Spiderman movies… though they did spend six years working on it tbf.

And to be clear, while I’m vaguely familiar with LoL, I’ve never played it so I had zero emotional connection to any of the characters before watching.

Be prepared to cry though. Like the loud, punched-in-the-gut, ugly sobbing kind of crying.

I don’t agree with OP’s premise either, but it’s ignorant and harmful to minimize the side effects of birth control; they can be seriously debilitating.

No. Absolutely not. As much as reducing the rate of unwanted pregnancy is important, bodily autonomy is paramount. Instead, there needs to be comprehensive sex education and effective birth control for men that isn’t as invasive as a vasectomy. That way, the burden of ensuring appropriate birth control—or its side effects—doesn’t always have to be on women.

Funnily enough, I just heard of a new birth control for men that isn’t on the market, at least yet… it’s cleverly called Plan A.

Edit: fixed the link

Idk… “term or phrase” works at least as well as well imo.

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I grew up as a Lutheran Christian in a small, conservative town—and attended Sunday School/summer Bible camp for many years—but became an agnostic after I began questioning things at 16 years old. About a month after that, I became an atheist. I’ve been one since… so almost 14 years.

Unfortunately, I was afraid to tell my parents, so I still went to church with my family almost every Sunday until I left at 18. I was also still effectively forced to be anacolyte/perform piano/sing in the choir/attend most other church activities. Fucking painful.

I still haven’t told my parents, though, and probably never will; it’d cause more pain than anything else, sadly.

I believe this is still legal in multiple states.

I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t begin to imagine what kind of horrible person does that kind of shit to anyone, let alone someone who struggled so much with their mental health.

It sounds like you were a great friend to him.