Topic: Welcome/Introduction Thread

@Not_Soos yeah it must be tough to have yourself exposed like that if you suffer with anxiety etc.🤞that you’re able to conquer your fears and put some content out that people enjoy. I reckon that a healthy supply of positive comments on your vids would probably really help you 👍

@lolwhatno

Hahaha! Nice to see you again! Thanks for the warm welcome! Being an English major, it's hard for me to keep my words concise, lol.

My profile pic isn't a creation of mine or anything--it's from a Disney Channel series called Gravity Falls. The character's name is Soos, and yes, he's the lovable, stupid, comic relief character. In one episode, they go incognito, so he slips on a pair of sunglasses, a beard, a trench coat, and tapes the words "Not Soos" to his head. He says, "If anyone asks...I'M NOT SOOS." It's an incredibly funny show, think Family Guy for kids but with an element of mystery and an overarching story that spans two seasons. I highly recommend watching it.

I do have some actual examples of my own artwork somewhere on my Twitter, but it's probably buried under mountains of other posts, lol. I don't think we can upload photos here directly, can we?

So I'm not really denominational, per se. I go to a church called the Church of Jesus Christ, and we strive to follow the Bible to the closest of our ability. I guess people refer to this literal interpretation of the Bible as "fundamentalism," but we don't really use this term. We also don't really believe in man-made denominations. I would not call myself a Luther, for example, because Martin Luther was just a man; we follow after Christ, so we only consider ourselves to be Christian. (Not to throw shade at those who practice a denomination or anything, this is just how we believe.)

One thing that sets us apart from other Christian groups is that we don't believe in the Trinity. If you are a Muslim, that may come as quite the shock to you. I often hear Muslims make the argument that, "How can Christians call themselves a monotheistic religion if they worship three gods?" And honestly, we agree, lol. We believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but we do not regard them as three separate entities that make up one Godhead. Instead, we believe that they are all one in the same. To put it another way, we believe Jesus Christ is the same God the Father who crested Heaven and Earth, who took it upon himself to become flesh and blood and be born into the world as the Son, then gave his life for mankind, his creation, so we could all be saved and receive his Holy Spirit inside of us. I can elaborate in more detail and cite scriptural evidence for why we believe this way if you're interested, but it's a lot to get into, so I won't right now, lol.

Go right ahead and ask any question you have! Both the religious question, and whatever you didn't think was appropriate to ask in response to my introduction. I don't mind! I'm also perfectly fine with debates, and I think there's an important distinction to be made between debating and arguing something. To me, arguing is when a debate stops being civil and is instead fueled by anger, personal attacks, pettiness, etc. I'm not about that though, and you seem like a very respectful person, so I don't think there's any worries there!

I agree with you that discipline is greater than motivation. Perhaps I should start using different terminology moving forward. Having been in therapy, I am trying to learn to be productive even when I don't feel like it and constantly work toward my goals instead of just sitting idly by, waiting for a sudden burst of inspiration and energy. I appreciate the well wishes and hope the rest of your day is great as well!

@colonelkilgore

Thanks so much, man! Until recently, I used to hardly even comment on threads like this. It's only been the past year that I started voicing my political/religious views and stuff on Twitter because I was always so scared of being doxxed, canceled, harassed, etc. I'm learning to be confident with myself and comfortable with my opinions though, so I try not to care so much anymore.

People consider Twitter a very toxic platform, but even though most of my comments go against the grain since I'm a bit more Conservative, I've had mostly positive experiences. I just try to maintain respect and listen to their point of view, no matter how different my opinion is from theirs and how hateful they get, and usually, when they see I'm not gonna attack them back, they come around and actually listen to where I'm coming from. It's been a very eye-opening experience, and I think it's gonna help me in the long run.

I did have a particularly stressful exchange with someone yesterday, though, which was a bit demoralizing. It left me feeling a little depressed today and last night, but I'm trying to keep my chin up and not let it stop me from sticking with my values. I'm learning that even when things don't go the way I want them to or if someone doesn't like me because of my beliefs, I can handle it.

@Not_Soos
Welcome to the site/forums, enjoy yourself.
If you do get a PS5 Astros Playroom is a definite first game to get to, it's every bit as wonderful as you've heard. I don't especially go for that genre but it charmed me no end, played through the whole thing with a grin.

@Sorteddan Thanks so much! And absolutely--the PS5 is so expensive, I'll probably only be able to get one game with my purchase. Would probably get Sackboy, then as soon as I finish that one, dive into Astro's Playroom. Those two should hopefully hold me over long enough till I can buy some more, lol. Quick question--as far as cheap, downloadable games go, is the Jak & Daxter trilogy available on the PS5 storefront? I know it was available on PS4, but I've read some mixed information about whether or not the PS5 supports all PS4 software. I think the collection itself was originally for PS3, which makes it even more complicated, lol.

@Keith_Zissou Thank you!! I can see that, there's been nothing but positive vibes so far! 😃 Y'all know how to make a fella feel welcome. There's a lot of good people over at NL, too, though it isn't without the occasional flame war and stuff. I feel like a good number of the rude people have been weeded out over the years, though. Whether that's because they got banned or they willfully left in lament of the good ol' days when Nintendo Life "used to be a REAL gaming site!" while they waved their canes angrily in the air, I'm not sure, haha.

@Not_Soos
Looks like they are available seperately, I just typed in Jak and from left to right I have: Jak 3; Jack II; Jak X: Combat Racing; Jak and Daxter: the precursor legacy.All PS4 versions but they are available on PS5 store but no trilogy collection.

@lolwhatno Yeah, it's a fantastic show! My second-favorite after Avatar: The Last Airbender. I think you'd enjoy it! You can stream it on Disney+ and it also used to be on Hulu. Not sure if they took it down from Hulu or not since Disney+ came out, as I know Viacom took a lot of their Nick content off Netflix when they released Paramount+. Thanks for the info on sharing images! I tried it a while back in comments on regular news articles, but it didn't seem to work. Is that no longer a feature, or am I just an idiot?

Yeah, we're a pretty niche group, I would say. Most would probably consider our beliefs heretical, but there is a lot of scripture to support this idea. For example, in the Old Testament, Jesus' birth is prophecied, stating: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the prince of Peace." This is from the book of Isaiah. How could Jesus the Son and God the Father be two seperate beings when Jesus is described as both God and Father? So to answer your question, since we consider them one and the same, it makes little difference to me whether you say God died for the sins of the world or that Jesus died for the sins of the world. I believe them both to be true.

In addition to how many gods there are, I think we also share common ground in that neither of us believe in physical depictions of God/Jesus. As you know, many churches portray Jesus as a long-haired white main with blue eyes, brown hair, and a beard. Such account of Jesus is not detailed anywhere in the Bible. Many Muslims take issue with this Christian practice, but so do we. The scripture makes it clear not to make graven images or idols. I believe Muslims like yourself take it a step farther and do not believe in depicting the prophets. I would not consider this blasphemous, as these are men and not God.

You sound very articulate to me! Don't be so down on yourself! To address your other question, if I'm being completely honest, I'm not sure which verse specifically references the Earth being the center of the universe. I've read the New Testament in its entirety, but I am admittedly not as well versed on the Old Testament as I probably should be. There are a decent number of Biblical stories I haven't read. When I'm searching the scriptures for biblical wisdom, I often just read the New Testament, since many aspects of the Old are no longer applicable. The New tells us to "bless and curse not" and to turn the other cheek to our enemies. So when I'm reading about the prophets of old praying for God to bring their enemies to destruction and killing them by the sword, it isn't as applicable to me, lol. That's not to say the Old Testament isn't important though, as it lays the foundation for things to come.

So if you happen to know which verse this comes from, let me know and I will read it for myself and answer your question as best I can. What I will say now without looking at it is that while I do believe the scriptures were written by God's inspiration, these were men with finite knowledge that he chose to record his teachings. God endowed these men with spiritual wisdom to understand the godly truth, but that does not mean he increased their knowledge about carnal things like the nature of the universe. That kind of information simply wasn't important enough for God to give mankind as the keys to salvation; those things are up to us to figure out with our inquisitive minds. Now, if the quote came directly from God's mouth, I would probably be a little stumped. But if it was the words of an apostle, I don't think I would get hung up on it. I think the Bible is 100% right where doctorine is concerned, but that's all that really matters, in my opinion.

I haven't used Reddit very much, but I can imagine, lol. Thank you for being awesome, though! 😀

@Sorteddan Thanks! I was hoping you might know offhand, I hate you had to boot up the PlayStation store and everything on my account, but I appreciate it! It doesn't really matter to me how they're packaged, so long as they're on there, which is good.

If you or @lolwhatno happen to know without having to go through the trouble of digging it up, what about the Sly Cooper games? I've read you can access them on PlayStation Now which is like a separate service from the regular online PlayStation subscription...or something? It's really confusing to me. Cause I know PlayStation Plus is also a thing, which I guess is like Xbox Game Pass? My head hurts. 😂 Also, are these classic games on PS Now downloaded directly to your system until you unsubscribe, or am I just streaming a Cloud version of these games and need a really stable internet connection at all times?

@Not_Soos
Not a problem, it's not really having to boot up the store. I was already on ps5 so I just paused the game and it's literally a couple of button presses to the store. Sly Cooper PS3 games are currently only available on PS Now by the look of it. PS Now is a subscription service offering access to hundreds games which currently includes those. PS plus is basically paying to play online but also gives you access to two/three 'free' games a month for as long as you are a member. However all rumours for the last year or so point to these two services being combined or replaced by something more akin to gamepass in the near future - stay posted to the news on this site for any information as and when it's announced i guess.
Hope that helps.

@Sorteddan Thanks! So, do you know whether the games on PS Now are streamed remotely or actually downloaded to your system? If it's the latter I'm definitely interested. If it's the former, I recently tried the Kingdom Hearts Cloud demo for Switch thinking it would work fine with my new, high-speed internet and it was a disaster, lol. I heard the rumors they were planning to merge the two services, but I had forgotten. Sounds pretty exciting if true. Especially if they can get a bunch of their legacy PS1 and PS2 games on there (including ones from third-parties like the og versions of Crasg and Spyro). Heck, I'd even be down to try games like Croc and Gex, even though I've heard they kinda suck, lol. I know there was also that rumor about releasing a portable screen, which sounds really awesome. I love the versatility of the Switch, so having something similar where I could play PS games on the go would be such a game changer. Hopefully it would work better streaming from my PlayStation than from the Cloud, lol.

@Not_Soos
Sorry I don't know much about the inner workings of PS Now, it's not a service I've ever used or been interested in subscribing to. I've heard of people having been part way through games that then get removed and that puts me off. Hang around a bit, someone with more knowledge will probably check out this thread and can give you more informed answers.

99% of games on PS Now, it is highly visible when they leave the service from when they first go on there. It is very rare that a game is suddenly pulled from the service.

@JohnnyShoulder Yeah, it’s only me getting kicked out of God of War during an all-nighter trying to get the platinum last minute that it’s ever really affected me. Still haven’t gone back and grabbed it 😂

@nessisonett Maybe not it leave it so late next time?

It is part of the plus collection on PS5, so you could always give it another go before Ragnarok comes out.

@JohnnyShoulder I had to binge the first three games first!

@Not_Soos Dang my reply is late. I know, I figured it out recently as well LOL.

@lolwhatno No worries! We're probably in different time zones, and even if we aren't, my sleep schedule is extremely erratic, lol. I was actually up all night last night helping my brother with his midterm paper for college, so I didn't even go to sleep until well after the sun came up. I slept most of the day away, lol. It's probably not a healthy habit, and I really need to work on it.

Yes, we believe Jesus died to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world. Every Christian believes this, and they believe that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. We are no different except, again, we believe Jesus and God are one and the same. So, we believe Jesus raised himself from the grave because he is all-powerful. So, Jesus/God is very much alive and well, and by following his example of loving God, loving our neighbor, abstaining from fleshly desires like drunkenness, extramarital sex, pride, violence, etc., we have the same hope of being resurrected just as he was.

I agree that no man knows what God looks like, and it would be impossible to depict him. His appearance is far more glorious than our human minds can even comprehend. I don't necessarily agree that there is nothing like him upon the Earth, though. Yours is an Abrahamic faith like mine, so correct me if I'm wrong, but don't we share the belief that humans are made in the image of God? So even though our bodies are far more imperfect, I do think every person bears a resemblance to our creator. I believe he has hair on his head, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, etc. just like us.

I checked out the article, and there's nothing there that really makes me doubt the scriptures. Expressions like "the sun rises in the east and sets in the west" or calling Japan "the land of the rising sun" are still very common in the modern world. I just see it as pretty-sounding literature. There are Bible verses that also talk about people having evil in their hearts. We know that our brain is the organ responsible for carrying out evil ideas and actions, not the heart, but it's still a popular metaphor that we use today. It's more so symbolic than it is presenting something as fact.

That's not to say the apostles didn't think the sun orbited the Earth, but in those days, who wouldn't have? Scientifically, we have progressed very far since then, and unlike the Catholic empire of the Medieval Era, I don't believe in stifling human innovation. I think science and religion can co-exist just fine, as science helps explains why God's creations work the way they do.

One of those verses said God made the Earth so that it would never "totter." I googled the definition, and totter means to "move in a feeble or unsteady way." So this isn't wrong--the Earth moves, but it is always at a fixed, steady, stable rate. It doesn't shift around in random or unpredictable intervals. I was honestly a little surprised just how much these people of the ancient world were actually correct about, such as saying the Earth was circular in shape. I'm not sure if flat-earthers even agree that it is round, lol.

I still think you articulate yourself pretty well! I catch mistakes and have to go back and edit my posts for clarity all the time. I will admit that I did struggle a bit to understand what you were saying about ignorant fools and madmen. It's fine if you can't clarify without name-dropping and you don't want to do that, I was just a bit confused by that part, lol.

@RogerRoger Thanks so much, man!!

@lolwhatno Well, he paid me for helping him, so it was a mutual arrangement I guess, haha. He's older than me, so he's got his life together better than I do right now, but he went back to school to get his Bachelor's whereas I already have mine. Now that I'm out of college, I'm still living at home and trying to find my first real job. So I hated to take the money, but I could also really use it right now, lol.

That's very interesting. So, what texts do Muslims believe in that are shared between Christians and Jews? Obviously, we have the Old Testament of the Bible, which the Jews call the Torah (if I understand correctly). I know you have the Koran, but what would the people have read or believed before Mohammed? If you are an Abrahamic religion, then we must surely share some of the same stories in our faiths. I think I remember reading that the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac is taught in Islam like it is in Christianity.

The idea that humans are made in God's image comes from the book of Genesis in the very beginning of the Bible detailing the creation. Considering this event predates the time of Abraham and Isaac, I am surprised it is not also believed upon by the Mulsim faith. I figured most religious differences would have been over things that happened much later in history. Starting with Isaac's sons Jacob and Esau. Jacob's descendents became the Jews, and out of Esau's seed came the Muslim faith, right? I'm not sure which ethnicity this is attributed to.

So the Bible warns a lot about false teachers, those who will abuse and pervert the scriptures for their own benefit. Whether that be for money, fame, or power. The Catholic empire is a good example of this. Many people of the Christian faith believed it at the time because to doubt was considered heresy and punishable by law. So, they pretty much had no choice. In those days, the Catholic church kept Bibles out of the hands of the common people so they could not read God's Word for themselves, and they engaged in corrupt practices like claiming that if you paid the church enough money, your dead loved ones would be pardoned of their sins in the afterlife and make it into Heaven even if they didn't repent while they were alive. It was pretty messed up stuff.

So, understand the group of "Christians" who were so adamant the Earth was the center of the universe could probably be compared to a modern Islamic extremist organization like the Taliban or something. These people in power were no more true Christians than you would consider Al-Quaeda to be true Muslims. I myself do not identify with the Catholic faith as I have a lot of issues with it. I have nothing against anyone who happens to be Catholic and don't think they are a terror to the modern world or anything, but it has an undeniable history that is ridden with corruption. (I hope I'm expressing that in a way that won't offend anyone like I'm trying to say all Catholics are evil or anything like that.)

I was unaware about the news that a teacher was murdered for depicting a prophet, so thanks for the clarification. Perhaps it is because your culture is very different than mine, but you made it sound like the news was common knowledge, haha. Or maybe I just don't follow current events closely enough, which is also possible, lol. It doesn't surprise me this happened, though. The world is full of extremist nutjobs in every religion--like the ones under the guise of Christianity that I called out.

It sounds to me like those people who put the teacher to death are not only guilty of murder, but they give too much reverence to the prophets. I know respecting the prophets is very important in Islam, but that sounds almost like idolatry. Not that it would have made it any better for them to kill someone who depicted an illustration of God, but still. This is another issue I take with Catholicism, actually, because of how highly they regard Mary, the mother of Jesus. They pray to her like they do God, but in my faith, that would be idolatry. She had an important role to play, but she was still just a person and not divine.

I think I may have knew that Algebra originated somewhere in the Middle-East (maybe Arabia? Egypt?), but I had forgotten, lol. That's really neat, but it was my worst subject in high school, so I'm in agreement with you there. 😂

I couldn't tell you offhand whether the scripture makes any specific scientific claims or not. God says there are 24 hours in a day, which we know is true, but that was probably common knowledge even back then and nothing new. I would have to think on it and get back to you.

For an essay I had to write in college about the Bubonic Plague, I remember reading a source that discusses how at that time, it was not common knowledge that diseases could be transmitted from person to person since they didn't understand the concept of germs. Scientists were just starting to figure out how plagues spread, but some Christians were resistant to the idea. They believed only the people God punished could get sick and that you could not spread disease from being in close proximity to others. But other Christians argued against this, explaining how under the Law of Moses, God commanded them to seperate sick livestock from the rest of the herd so they would not become "unclean." Jews who had diseases were also ordered to quarantine for a period of time. I guess it wouldn't have made a lot of sense to the Jews back then, but with advancements made in medicine hundreds of years later, we now understand why that would have been important. So I guess that's a pretty good example.

I hope everything made sense, and--again--if any Catholic person happens to read this, that none of my opinions come across as offensive or anything. Just expressing where I come from in regards to my faith and why I personally don't regard myself as Catholic, but I still love and respect everyone, whether their religious background is like mine or not.