138 karma · joined March 28, 2024
We are all so worried that if we give strangers(or immigrants) our food, clothes, and shelter - there won't be any left for us! I think we are worried about nothing. If we all pooled our tiny fragments of mustard seed, nothing would be impossible...
Religion is the word we use to describe how us human's have managed to twist and warp and misunderstand that good news. We use it for gate keeping: "sorry this event is for church members only". We use it to put down people based on their behavior: "He seems like he needs religion". We use it to interfere with the law of the land: "Sorry, that law doesn't apply because of religious freedoms". And so on....
I don't think the big man gives one fiddly flying fig leaf about "religion". His son said(over, and over, and over!) that "I desire mercy, not sacrifice.". That means NOT excluding people over religion, insulting or belittling them with religion, or creating an unfair situation with "religious freedoms" in law. He wants MERCY.... that means instead of telling the beggar that religion would help him get clothed, fed, and generally happy - you should be giving him or her your clothes, sharing your food or drink, and welcoming them to your home where they can be safe. Will they abuse your trust? Who knows - and it's not important - your mercy to them was the critical action. You don't get into heaven for being discerning and clever...there is no award for actions like "I didn't invite him home, because he looked like a criminal and I don't trust him...". That's not mercy, that's you finding a human excuse to ignore the least of your brethren.
Those people all did some things we can see and talk about - and possibly many things we did not see, do not know, and can not talk about. At the very least, those people we know are in/destined for heaven: followed God, feared God, obeyed God.
I don't believe their being or not being rich is part of the calculus for "getting into heaven" as you said. Being rich may make you less likely to do those 3 things though, in which case you would correlate richness with not getting into heaven.
If I remember correctly...his first visit was prophesied to end exactly as it did. His next visit is prophesied to be a little different - to paraphrase...he is coming with an army to make war on the beast and all [humans] who follow him. Instead of a spotless robe like earlier depictions - this robe is drenched in blood, and he has a sword coming out of his mouth. Here's the passage immediately following description of this second coming(Revelations 19).
“Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.”
I don't think this visit is supposed to be like the previous one. I strongly encourage you all read this book(the bible) and take it to heart. You aren't my friend, or someone that I know - but it would give me no pleasure at all to know you were spending eternity in hell. We don't get down seeing people suffer, or "you'll all be sorry when you see I'm right!!!" style feelings. If those true believers seem like a bunch of elitist jerks who are always putting you down instead of helping you up, those are /NOT/ true believers. Those are true assholes.
EG.. You are angry at me because I doubled parked. I tell you that the spot I pick was the only one available at the time I took it, and if that is no longer the case(cars have moved) it's not my problem. You are upset about something you do not have the right to be upset about.
I understand the above example is obviously...stupid. I am the stupid person that will argue with you that I didn't do anything wrong, since at that moment in time it was the only option available.
My question is.. how can I stop being like this? It's not good in my life, and negatively impacts my closest relationships.
Next "killer app"...an app you can send a phone call to the moment you realize it's a spammer/collector/etc. The app uses an LLM and voice synth to have the most boring and frustrating conversation ever with the caller. It should frequently ask them to repeat themselves, pretend to misunderstand common words, and for bonus points...speak in a broken accent. I'd pay $20 for that app right now.
I've always thought the exact same thing. The harm was ~800m USD to a private company. Sounds big, but it's nothing compared to actual state sponsored anything.
Just to add some more (possibly useful) context from the encounter....
The FBI was not able to unlock many LUKS secured devices - at all. They had zero success over approx 30 days, and had to explore alternative methods to obtain key material.
The FBI was not able to decrypt blowfish2 (ie vim -x).
The FBI was not able to decrypt ccrypt secured files (ie aes256).
Once upon a time, I was visited very forcefully by the FBI at 0600. They used a battering ram to gain access to my domicile.
During the "interview" that took place later that morning, they requested some information from me. I told them that the information was contained in Signal conversations between two recipients, and the messages in question have "disappearing messages" turned on. tldr; the messages are no longer available.
Relevant parts of conversation that followed:
me: "Do you have signal?"
agent: "I have it on my phone if that's what you mean."
me: "No, do you HAVE it - as in, do you have access to messages sent between other parties?"
agent: "If we do, I am unaware of it, and we certainly don't 'have it' with regard to this matter."
Take that for what it's worth.... my takeaway was that they(the FBI at least) have not compromised Signal. This was late in 2019 for context.
The other takeaway...be careful who you trust. That all happened because I trusted someone I shouldn't have.