u/Key_Day_7932

Here me out.

Link's Awakening is considered one of the best Zelda games. At least according to what I read, the Zelda games were never my cup of tea.

I remember having this game back when I was 9. It was my introduction to the series. I guess I was a dumb kid because I couldn't figure out how to get past the first dungeon.

To me, something about the game seemed to to unsettle me. Idk if it was the surreal and cryptic vibe of the game or what. Maybe it was the lack of civilization other than the village (idk if there are other villages in the game since like I said I never made it past the first dungeon.) I also didn't really understand what was going on since I didn't have great reading comprehension and never played far enough to learn about the greater mystery of the island. All I knew was that I had to awaken the windfish somehow.

I know it's not some creepy horror game, mystery or an Easter egg like most posts on this sub, but I still wanted to share my opinion about this game and wonder if anyone else feels the same way.

In a way, it kinda seems silly to say this game is unsettling when there's other stuff like Majora's Mask, the Redeads, and Dead Hand.

Hello!

I'm Baptist, but also in the process of deconstructing my faith. I'm undecided at the moment, but wondering if Church of Christ might be a good fit for me?

I have no direct experience wirh the CoC, but I was exposed to Max Lucado through my mom, though I understand he kinda deviates from standard CoC views.

A lot my own views have been heavily influenced by Dr. Michael Heiser. He was an evangelical, but challenged many dogmas and presuppositions commonly held by Protestants such as penal substitutionary atonement and an overly Reformed/forensic view of justification. While he didn't like traditons or denominations (since they color one's interpretation of the Bible) I think I see some similarities between his teachings and the Church of Christ. I think some of his other teachings, however, might be controversial in the CoC, such as the divine council and his use of extra-biblical sources for hermeneutics.

I want to ask a couple of questions to better determine if the Church or Christ is for me:

1. What is the CoC'a understanding of free will? I common accusation I hear is that y'all are semi-pelagian. Is that a strawman? How do you understand original sin?

Personally, I am a Provisionist, albeit tentatively. I just know I'm neither a Calvinist nor an Arminian.

2. Is there a spectrum of views about baptism? I heard the CoC teaches baptismal regeneration. I think I'm somewhere between the Baptist view and the CoC. I don't think the rite of baptism itself regenerates or washes away sin, but it's still a core part of the conversion process. It is still necessary for obedience to Christ. So, I do think if someone claims to be born again but refuses the opportunity to be baptized, then their faith isn't sincere.

3. Are there any parts of the CoC faith I might be overlooking and need to consider before deciding?

So, I have been listening to arguments for both open and closed borders. It seems some open borders libertarians support a private property view of borders.

How would this work in theory? How does one enforce and uphold private property without a state?

Probably is simpler and straightforward than I think, but I am having a hard time wrapping my head around it since I am used to the idea of state and society being intertwined.

For those who don't know, Dr Michael Heiser was a biblical scholar who specialized in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near Eastern worldview, which he believed is essential for understanding the context of the Bible.

He considered himself a conservative evangelical, but wasn't beholdened to any particular tradition and jusy wanted the text to speak for itself rather than using one's tradition, confessions or biases to read their own views into the text.

He seems to have a mixed reception. Most accept that he is scholarly and that his views have backing in academic circles, but some of his ideas would seem strange and foreign to the average lay Christian who only hears what's taught in Sunday School.

I think, from a Protestant perspective at least, the areas where he ruffles feathers the most are his views on the Divine Council and salvation.

He argues that there are actuslly multiple "lowercase G" gods and they are real. However, this does not contradict monotheism, since unlike YHWH, they are not eternal nor equal to him. They were created by him. What he calls gods are what most of us would think of as "angels" which he says isn't a very good term. These gods were appointed to oversee humanity and creation, but some fell through rebellion by leading people into idolatry, and became the figures we think of as Baal, for example.

As for salvation, he still affirms a person is saved by faith alone and not by merit. Where he differs from the traditional Protestant view is that he understands faith as loyalty to God rather than mere intellectual affirmation of doctrine. Loyalty implies an active obedience to God and his commands rather than a passive acceptance of truth. He also doesn't have a forensic view of justifixation (or at least downplays it.) I don't think he rejects penal substitutionary atonement, but he nuances it and sees the different atonement theories as a mosaic rather than competing viewpoints.

What are your thoughts on Heiser?

Hello!

I've been focusing on bachelorettes like Clorica, Forte and Dolce, and finally got all three of them to seven hearts.

I hear you can date more than one character at once, but gets harder after you're already in a relationship, so I want to know who I should pick first?

It seems kinda random because I asked Clorica and she accepted. Then I restarted that day and she turned me down. I tried it with Dolce and she said yes (which surprised me because I didn't expect that at a level as low 7.)

I like all three of them about the same and for different reasons. I think Clorica is the most upbeat and whimsical. I find Forte's hidden vulnerable side cute, and I like Dolce because I've always liked ice queens (plus she's classy.)

Who do you recommend for a first playthrough?

Hello! I picked up Platinum and tried to do a normal run through it since I've never beaten it.

I want to try again, but do things differently. What advice do you have?

Last time, I tried to make a team without using the regional staples like Staraptor. My team wasn't super original and I still used a few of them, I just tried not to have the exact same team as every other Sinnoh player.

My last team consisted of Torterra, Gyarados, Rapidash, Togekiss, Luxray and Weavile

I quit because I was still under leveled by the time I got to the Elite 4 and I didn't want to spend hours grinding. Like, I couldn't even beat Aaron. I tried to train my whole team at once so they'd all be roughly at the same level.

Should I catch my core team early in the game or catch higher level later game Pokemon as soon as they are available?

For the starter, I'm torn between Turtwig and Chimchar. I like Turtwig more, but Chimchar might be more useful due to the region's lack of Fire types. It's not as bad in Platinum as it was in Diamond and Pearl, but still.

Hello!

I've been deconstructing my faith lately, and have some questions.

I still consider myself an orthodox evangelical as I still affirm the Trinity and affirm the authority of Scriptures, etc. However, I am starting whether I am a good fit for the SBC, a denomination that always had some kind of presence in my life.

The main thing is I am agnostic about the traditional view of hell (also known as eternal conscious torment) or annihilationism (like Kirk Cameron.) I see arguments for both sides. I think the important thing is that you still affirm that the rigtheouss will have eternal life while the wicked will face eternal punishment (be it either eternal torment or being erased from existence.)

Also, while I am a complementarian, I am skeptical about the recent amendment that was passed. It seems a bit to top-down to me, and we were already able to discipline churches that ordained women pastors like Rick Warren's Saddleback Church.

Is the SBC still a good fit for me, or is it time to start looking for another denomination?

Bit of a weird question, I know.

If you aren't familiar with Soren Kierkegaard, he was a Christian philosopher from the 19th Centrury and often regarded as the father of existentialism.

He had a lot of critiques of Christendom in his day. Most of it I was aimed at the Evangelical Lutheran because he was Danish and that was his church, but his criticisms could also apply to just about every tradition of Christianity.

He thought faith and reason were opposed. In other words, he believed no one could come to know Christ through mere human reason alone (since we are fallen creatures separated from God) but instead we must take a leap of faith.

He felt the church had emphasized stale dogmas and rote traditions over a genuine and living faith.

He also took shots at Bible scholars who over-interpreted Scripture rather than actually hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to them through the text.

Heiser is a biblical scholar who goes deep into the text. I haven't read any of his stuff about fideism, but what I can gleam, he doesn't see faith and reason as opposed to each other.

So, can one adhere to the teachings of both individuals, or are they disagreeing with each other?

So, I am studying Protestant soteriology, particularly concerning predestination and free will.

I'm a former Calvinist, and now lean toward Provisionism. However, Provisionists believe in libertarian free will where an individual can freely and equally choose between X or Y.

Compatiblism, otoh, says that man is a free agent in the sense he is not compelled by God to anything and makes choices through his own volition, but he his choice is constrained by his nature and cannot act against his own nature.

Despite no longer being a Calvinist, compatiblism has always made more sense to me than libertarian free will from both a theological and philosophical standpoint.

Can you be a compatiblist but not a Calvinist?

So, I am in agreement with pretty much everything Baptists teach except for maybe eternal conscious torment.

I affirm conditional immortality or annihilationism, though my view is different from the Adventist version.

For one, I reject soul sleep. I still think the deceased person still experiences a conscious spiritual reality in the afterlife. Rather, the unrig will eventually cease to exist without being sustained by God. Only the saved will experience a true immortality.

Can I affirm such a view and still be a Baptist in good standing?

So, I'm playing Explorers of Sky and made it to Quicksand Cave. Either I suck or there's been a spike in difficulty.

Someone suggested I take advantage of Electivire's link shop, which I've been putting off because I'm not sure what moves I should be linking.

For some additional context, I'm a Riolu with a partner Vulpix.

My moveset is Endurence, Bite, Forcepalm ans Reversal. idk if I can re-learn Counter. What move should I get rid of to re-learn it?

What moves should I be linking?

So, I think I'm autistic (retroactive diagnosis.) Basically, when I was five or six, I was diagnosed with PDD-NOS. The doctor thought I was too high functioning to be autistic. After researching the condition, though, I learned PDD-NOS is now considered part of the spectrum, so I guess I am autistic after all.

So, anyway, special interests. What are they and how do they differ from passions or hobbies?

Idk if I have special interests or not. When I was kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs, robots, chess, but I gradually lost interest in them.

During my teens, I was a geography nerd. I liked maps and atlases, and collected them.

I'm almost 30, and I feel like my special interest is harder to identify now. If I had to guess, it'd probably be linguistics. I love reading about languages and how they are structured (syntax, morphology, syllable structure, etc.) I'm not a linguist except maybe in a strictly hobbyist sense, but I think I have a more in depth knowledge about how languages work than most non-linguists do. I can only English, a little bit of Spanish, though.

So, what are special interests like for you?

Hello! I'm a SC native, born and raised, but I never really followed state politics closely. I want to change that.

What do you recommend for me to become more familiar withe issues and politicians in our state?

I know depending on who and where I ask, I'm gonna get a different answer from one side of the political spectrum or the other, so I want a balanced perspective.

A problem I have noticed in my own writing is that my sentences seem too stilted and disjointed. Maybe I'm being overly-critical of myself, but I feel like I try too hard with my sentences.

I sometimes re-read what I wrote and find it could be written better to flow more, or that I could express it in a less clunky way.

This may be personal bias, but I think I write better in first person than third person.

For now, I'm not too concerned with getting better at imagery or descriptive language. I just want my sentences to sound better.

What tips do you have for improving sentence structure?

So, out of curiosity, is anyone here who is ADHD or autistic but lean right wing politically?

It seems most neurodivergents I've encountered online are leftists, but it seems left wing politics is the predominant viewpoint of most online spaces and doesn't necessarily reflect real life.

I'm neurodivergent myself. Specifically I have ADHD. I think I am also autistic despite not being officially diagnosed. According to my mom, I was tested and tbe only reason I didn't get the diagnosis was because the doctor wasn't aware of high functioning autism, so I got diagnosed with PDD-NOS, instead.

Idk if I'd describe myself as conservative or right wing, but I did grow up in a conservative environment and it probably did influence my own views. Still, I try to think for myself and gather all the information and make sure I'm open to being wrong. It's more I find the left/progressives, at least online and in media to just be that goddamn insufferable that I don't want to give them any satisfaction.

I also think there's the identity politics aspect that I'm obligated to support the left due to my neurodivergence, since conservatives are seen as against my own interests. Fuck that. I don't want to be told what to think or who to support.

What about you?

So, I'm gonna be 30 in a couple of months and have nothing to show for it. I have no marketable skills and no education beyond a high school diploma. The only jobs I can get are dead end entry level stuff.

I have ADHD, so taking initiative and seeing things through to the end have never been my strong suits

I made a plan to go to trade school, but my GPA is low enough that I am (once again) on academic suspension.

I've attempted community college several times and it never worked out. The first few times I only went because my mom pushed me, so I didn't really want to be there.

I went again for IT but discovered it wasn't my thing. I waited too long to drop the classes and now it affected my GPA. At this point, I've lost track of how many times I have applied for college. I've attempted college at least six or seven times.

I went to vocational rehab, but they closed my case because I got a new job and kept missing appointments (I worked 12 hour shifts and kept oversleeping.) I tried going back, but they didn't seem that interested in helping me again.

I just really don't know what to do. It just seems like whenever a door finally opens, it gets abruptly slammed shut in my face again.

I know that work and sleep are just part of adulting, but surely there has to be more to life than this?

At this point, I just want an employable skill, I don't care what it is (automechanics, HVAC, welding, whatever.)

What do I do?

So, I'm a Southern Baptist. I always figured if I weren't in the denomination, I'd just be non-denominational.

I'm concerned about the direction the denomination is moving in. I don't mind Calvinists and see them as fellow brothers in Christ, but I see an increasinglynCalvinist faction that wants to push the denomination unti a more Reformed direction.

I also don't agree with the new amendment that was voted on. Sure, I don't think women pastors are biblical, but I think the amendment would concentrate more power in the denomination vs local church autonomy. Not to mention. the SBC was able to expel churches that ordained women pastors like Saddleback without the need for an amendment.

Am I fretting over nothing?

So, I was reading up about the presidential form of government and learned that a few of them have a "prime minister."

It's not the same as in a parliamentary system and the prime minister exists primarily to serve the president. But, how is a prime minister in these systems different from a vice president?

Hello!

I registered for some welding classes at my local community college, but my semes doesn't start until a couple of months from now.

One thing I am concerned about is that I don't have very good hand-to-eye coordination and jt seems like precision is necessary for welding. Will this hold me back, or are the plenty of welders who also have that problem?

Also, idk if it's relevant, but I am neurodivergent.

Hello!

I have a really old laptop. It's a HP Notebook. It's pretty slow and won't let me upgrade to Win 11.

I'm thinking of putting Linux Mint on there, but I am wondering if I could still put Win 11 by installing it through other means?

Thing is, I want a gaming PC, but I'm on a budget. I have a monitor, but no CPU tower, so I am thinking about hooking the monitor to the laptop as a kind of a temporary thing until I actually get a tower. Problem is, the laptop is pretty slow, so adding a monitor won'f really fix anything.

I'm not planning to build the PC from scratch. I just need to acquire some more peripherals and such.

I know an HP Notebook is terrible for gaming, but I had to make do with what I have, and I have been able to get Valkyria Chronicles to run on it.

I know Linux is generally better than Windows, but gaming seems to be the one advantage Windows has over Linux.

Are there any third party OS's you could recommend as well?