u/Several_Till_6507

I understand that Lutheranism does not fall the Calvinistic idea of double predestination, but I am still trying to understand the Lutheran view. I have have Lutherans give me a few differing explanations on the subject too which only furthered confusion.

One person said that, in alignment with God's desire for all to be saved, that all are predestined to have salvation, but it is a resistible grace; we do not have the ability to choose God but we do have the ability in our sinful nature to reject Him. But this interpretation leaves it still that all can be saved as long as they don't reject Christ.

But then another person explained it that similarly to Calvinism, only a select amount are predestined to be saved, and within that selection, there is still a resistible grace.

The idea of only a select amount being chosen for salvation is something that never sat right with me, a reason I never bought into Calvinism. The Bible makes it clear that God desires all to be saved, but we know not every single person will be, so the only way it makes sense (to me) for both of those things to be true is that it is us humans that have some input in the matter. Now there's the Arminian belief or the similar but different belief in Orthodoxy that you can choose Christ, accepting His gift of salvation (which is something I have long held as my belief. I don't see it as "taking away what God has done" but view it more as accepting it. Like God is a chef who has done every last bit of preparation, cooking, and serving of a meal right before us, and we choose whether to enjoy the free gift or to reject it. No works of us to earn said gift, but still our choose to accept it or not). But as I have been intrigued by Lutheranism (and Orthodoxy) I am trying to understand more and have made a post here in the past about predestination but am wanting some more clarification on the Lutheran stance on it.

So is it that predestination is for all but then most choose to reject? Or that it's only for a select amount and within that people can reject? Or something else? God bless!

I have the 8BITDO SN30 Pro Gamepad I bought years ago and randomly the bluetooth stopped working. It still works when plugged in but now of course the cord with it decided to only work at certain angles so that's not a viable sub anymore either. Not sure why this happened as it was just random. I'd do what I'd always do and press start+X to put it into pairing mode for my Windows PC and it just flashes forever. Tried going into bluetooth settings on computer to manually select it and it just would say it isn't discoverable despite the lights flashing on the controller. Tried "forgetting the device" and pairing it again but it just won't show up at all. Tried following a guide to hard reset the controller and that doesn't work either. Any ideas?

So for over a year I have been looking for an f250 4x4 7.3l powerstroke extended cab, either obs or early 2000s... but with my small area I could almost never find em and when I could they'd be ridiculously priced. Been wanting to pack everything up and road trip in a slide in truck camper so I had settled on the idea of that truck... But with the major increases in cost of diesel and gas and the scarce findings, I have been debating on changing my plans to more of a sedan or suv and towing a smallish trailer (with small little bathroom and kitchen still). But I am not exactly sure then what alternatives to look for. Like, would swappin from an f250 7.3l powerstroke and a slide in camper set up to a sedan or suv with a small trailer even be much more affordable? I just need some help figuring things out. Would still prefer a bit of an older car like 90s to early 2000s for a variety of reasons (less computers, typically better build quality with more metal and less plastic, more preferred aesthetics, etc.). I have a budget around $15k (with a bit of wiggle room depending on quality and condition of car). For the truck I was looking for anything under 200k miles but for the car option I'd prefer something close to or under 100k miles on it.

Some cars I was looking include the 90s 2000s Jeep Grand Cherokee, Toyota 4Runner and Toyota Land Cruiser and Toyota RAV4, and Ford Explorer.

Please just give me any advice. I just wanna be able to travel with some mild comfort of a simple trailer or slide in camper and do some mild off roading and not be entirely destroyed in fuel economy if possible or worried about notorious performance issues or mechanical issues.

Trying to post this here again as I got like no replies last time.

So I got the Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice tea loose leaf bag a few years ago and it easy is one of my most favorite teas. But over the last couple years I have grown more health conscious and out of curiosity looked at the ingredients just to notice it contains artificial ingredients which is immensely disappointing. Was hoping someone could point me in the direction of an equivalent to this tea that is all natural?

So as the title says, I am curious but want to know more so I don't make any mistakes. There's an adorable 3 year old, 66lb Malamute at the shelter near me and I was pulled in by his cute face. But I also know Malamutes are a bit higher energy dogs than I am used to (previously owned dachshunds and shortly a staffie catahoula mix, so I wanted to see if my imagined exercise level would be fit for a Malamute.

In my mind, I was thinking 3-4 long walks per week, 3miles minimum but often closer to 5 and working up to a lot more as I am doing more hikes (one reason I wanted a dog is for a hiking buddy and safety as a woman) but on both the days I am walking and the days I wouldn't, I would have good chunks of play time with him. And on hikes I was reading of training him to carry a dog backpack around since while they aren't like super fast working dogs like herding breeds, they are working dogs with endurance and giving them jobs like that can help fulfill them. Also, I have a fenced in front yard (which is another partial concern on if he could jump it since it's like 4ft tall, but ofc that would also depend on his training to behave and not want to escape in the first place) and a whole half acre field behind the house that, if he becomes trained enough to be trusted to not get into trouble, can be let to run around in even when I am not able to directly supervise. I already have plenty of durable dog toys as well for him to play with. There are also fenced in dog parks (if he's able to play friendly with other dogs) for him to burn off more energy that we can walk to and/or drive depending. I am also working my way up to hopefully at least 5 days as I am on a journey in improving my physical health after being on workers comp for a back injury for 2.5 years and in addition to wanting a dog for the usual things like companionship and maybe "security" as dogs can sense things we can't (speaking of, while I ain't wanting a malamute for a guard dog necessarily, curious how people have or have not experienced them being protective at all?), I also wanted a dog to help with motivation to be more active. I had previously wanted a cattle dog as I find them so adorable too but I know those guys are super high energy and work best with a job and high speeds so I knew I wouldn't be fit for one of those, but I want to give the same consideration to a malamute.

Also rest assured I am not planning on adopting this dog at all until I also learn more about his personality from the shelter because I know each dog varies and some will handle certain socialization and environments better than others, so obviously all that would be accounted for as well. I am more curious here just if there is any good chance for me with a malamute or if I should look elsewhere.

I am trying to be super careful before making any new adoptions because back in January I had adopted a staffie catahoula mix (40lb which also makes the jump to a malamute a lot more than I ever have had in the size department so I know that's something to be conscious of) that I jumped into a bit too soon (the breed I looked into but didn't know enough about the specific dog since he was at the shelter for a short time, so I didn't know that he'd have major separation anxiety, be super reactive to other dogs and people and animals, and could jump my fence and would if something caught his attention. The reactivity I was willing to try to train out but with him jumping the fence and with my neighbors having animals, as a lone person in the house I couldn't risk leaving him home alone ever and wouldn't be able to be around consistently to train that out of him as I was afraid to ever leave the house even to get groceries. I tried for a full month with him, pretty much ignoring social events and more to stay home before I made the tearful decision to bring him back. I want to make sure I don't do something that'll hurt me like that again or get a dog's hope up (which I mean it was only a month so I am HOPING that that wouldn't have been long enough for him to get too attached and I kept in contact with the shelter and they say he's doing much better and they have great info from my experience with him to give him a good description to find a good adopter for him and are also working on his reactivity and more). In addition, back in like the 80s my dad had a malamute for a short while that he had to give to a coworker who had a family since he was finding himself not having the time to properly spend with him and train him. My dad is wanting me to, understandably, do all my research before adopting a dog like this given his experience. I am currently unemployed after being bought out on workers comp and am focusing on physical therapy to get better before another job and thought this could be a good time to adopt since I would have more time to bond with a dog and establish a routine. Anywaaaaaaaaaaaays lol. Sorry for all that, but just adding emphasis on my desire to learn as much as I can so I can make a well informed decision.

So, given that idea, do you think that'd be enough for a malamute? The last thing I would want to do is get a dog and not meet their needs. I am more than open to advice here :)

So grew up in a nondenom church and have been looking more towards denom churches and so far the one that has intrigued me the most is the LCMS. A question I have though is regarding the church's stance on predestination. From what I gather, LCMS affirms single predestination over double predestination like Calvinism. But I am not entirely sure what single predestination means.

For a while, despite growing up surrounded by Calvinists, i leaned more arminian. Believing that it makes sense for us to have the choice to accept God's gift through faith or not, mirroring the choice in the garden of Eden, especially given what the bible says about God's desire for all to be saved. But with my intrigue into Lutheranism, I have been trying to understand their view of predestination as we know that it is indeed in scripture, albeit debated as to the meaning. Like another interpretation I have looked into is the Orthodox meaning which leans more arminian like albeit not exactly as it predates arminianism (less of just free will of choosing God's gift and more of a "synergy" of sorts? Like they don't believe in total depravity and that God's spirit is everywhere which equips people to do good, etc. Don't entirely get it yet either lol.) But yea the concept of single predestination confuses me.

Single predestination states that God chooses to predestine and select elect into salvation, but doesn't predestine the rest to condemnation... But then there's the obvious confusion of, since he made us in this world of sin and condemnation without salvation, if he's specifically choosing only some to save, isn't that the same as effectively condemning the rest?

I saw another person in this sub in some comment section explain that single predestination is God electing ALL mankind to salvation, BUT we have the choice to resist and reject it (unlike Calvinism with the concept of irresistible elect) which stays in line with God's desire for all to be saved and the fact that humans without God can only do evil and have total depravity, so it comes more down to either continuing in God's gift or rejecting it in sin against the holy spirit (reminiscent of the garden of Eden where Adam and Eve were living in perfection not of their own doing until they chose evil which caused the rift of man and God.) But then I see others in LCMS who instead say it is just Him electing a few and the paradox is something we just need to accept... which, admittedly is not a satisfying answer lol. Was hoping for maybe more help in this subject?